A Reading of 1 Corinthians 7: 1-16: Implications for the Unmarried and Married in Ghana

Godwin Cool Kofi Deffor ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.9 No.1 January 2023 Issue  Article 5 pp 37-44
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2023915 |   Published online 25th January 2023.
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views: 373
140 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF

This paper studies Paul’s view on marriage as the way forward for dealing with sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 7:1-16. In Ghana, it is generally observed that sexual immorality at times leads to separation in marriage or divorce. Some schools of thought posit that any polygynous man who converts to the Christian faith, should maintain his first wife and separate or divorce the other wives as keeping them would constitute sexual immorality. The paper employed a literary reading of the text and it proposed that marriage is not an order from God to curb sexual immorality rather Paul proposed it to the Corinthians who could not avoid sexual immorality. Again, the text shows sexual intercourse as a specific marital role for each spouse without an excuse. Implications are drawn from the reading for Ghanaians. The paper concludes that marriage is not a panacea for sexual immorality.

Keywords: Sexual Immorality, Marriage, Separation and Divorce

Aland, K., Matthew, B., Carlo, M., Bruce, M., & Allen, W., (Eds)., The Greek New Testament. Stuttgart: Biblical-Druck GmbH Stuttgart, 1983.

Barrett, C.K., The first epistle to the Corinthians. New York: Harper and Row, 1968.

Bruce, F. F., New Century Bible: 1 and 2 Corinthians. London: Butter and Taner Ltd, 1978.

Darku, N and Darku, M., Biblical marriage in an African context. Accra: SonLife Printing Press and Services, 2005.

Dunn, J. D. G., 1 Corinthians, Sheffield Academic Press, 1995.

Fagothey, A. S. T., Right and reasons: Ethics in theory and practice. Saint Louis: The C. V. Mosby Company, 1976.

Freed, E. D., The New Testament: A Critical Introduction, Belmont: Wadsworth

Publishing Company, 2001.

Igenoza, A. O., Polygamy and the African Churches: A biblical appraisal of an African marriage system. Ibadan: The African Association for the study of Religion, Nigerian Publication Bureau, 2003.

Kisembo, B., Megesa, L. and Shorter, A., African Christian marriage. Southampton: The Camelot Press Ltd., 1977.

Fee, G. D., The first epistle to the Corinthians. Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1987.

Newman, B. M., A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament. Stuttgart: Biblia Druck Stuttgart, 1983.

Sarpong, P., Ghana in retrospect: Some aspects of Ghanaian Culture. Tema: Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1974.

Lull, J. D., 1 Corinthians. St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2007.

Godwin Cool Kofi Deffor (PhD) is a Lecturer in New Testament in the Department of Religion and Human Values, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. His research interests include Contextual Bible Studies, New Testament and culture, New Testament and marriage and Early Christian History.

Deffor, G.C.K. “A Reading of 1 Corinthians 7: 1-16: Implications for the Unmarried and Married in Ghana,” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, 9 no.1 (2023): 37-44. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2023915

© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Articles in this Issue

About Journal