Sermon Discussion Questions:
1. How does understanding God's perspective on time, as mentioned in 2 Peter 3:8, influence your approach to daily challenges and the concept of waiting for certain things?
2. How can Christians navigate the tension between engaging with the world and recognizing its transient nature?
3. How can the idea that marriage is important but not ultimate impact the way individuals approach relationships and expectations within marriage?
4. How do you balance engagement with the world, including political involvement, with the understanding that the present form of the world is passing away? How might a heavenly perspective impact your participation in worldly affairs?
5. Read back through Calvin's reflections on the passing transience of the world and our possessions. What stands out most?
“The days are long, but the years are short.”
These are words all parents of young children hear. Usually, it is given by someone older and wiser when the young parent is looking particularly haggard and road weary. The child tries to flush their shoe down the toilet or stick a crayon up their little brother’s nose and the older parent puts a hand on the shoulder of the younger and reminds them: The days are long, but the years are short. Which, if I’m honest, when you are in the long days, doesn’t feel very true. Sometimes, it just feels the days are long and the months are long and the years are long. If you told Han Solo as he was about to be frozen in carbonite: The days are long, but the years are short! He wouldn’t be very comforted.
But it’s true. My wife’s favorite past-time is to lay in bed and look back through old pictures on her phone where we can go back in time and wonder how our kids who once were these soft, squishy babies, have turned into rowdy, rambunctious kids in the blink of an eye. Time is weird. It can seem to go slow, it can go fast; it can seem slow in the moment, but then later you look back and it feels like it went by in a flash. And you don’t need to understand Einstein’s theory of relativity or even have children to understand how time can expand or contract. If you are told to sit in a room with the expectation that you will only have to wait a minute before having to leave, but are left there for fifteen minutes? Those fifteen minutes will feel like an eternity. But sit in the room with the expectation that you must stay there for a long time, but you are let out after fifteen minutes? It doesn’t seem that long.
Expectations and perspective affect a lot of how we perceive time. Remember what Peter told us when some people were feeling impatient about God’s promise to return: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,” (2 Pet 3:9). As some count slowness—how do you “count” slowness? That’s the question here. God has a perspective that we don’t have: “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” (2 Pet 3:8). God can perfectly zoom in and out of time. He doesn’t rush through the day, nor does He drag His feet. He has the ultimate perspective and therefore the perfect set of expectations. And this, Peter teaches, should be our perspective that should temper our expectations. Paul’s teaching we are going to look at today offers us a unique teaching on the Christian perspective of time and the expectations of life we should then have.
25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
- 1 Cor 7:25-31
What Time Is It?
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. (1 Cor 7:29a)
What is the appointed time?
Paul used the same word for time earlier: “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes,” (1 Cor 4:5). There, the special time is the arrival of Christ for His Second Coming and the final judgment. The same word is used by Paul in this way in Romans 13:11, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”What is salvation? You might say, Salvation is being saved—and that is correct. But saved from what? Salvation is to be saved from the final judgment our sins deserve—it is future oriented. That’s why Paul can say it is nearer. What is nearer? The second coming of Jesus Christ. And today, that final day is nearer now than when we first believed. We are one day closer to the fullness of our salvation.
So here is our question: does Paul mean the same thing about time here? When Paul says that the time has grown very short, is he saying: Look, there isn’t much time left before Jesus returns? Well, it seems odd if that is what he means, since here we are, 2,000 years later and Jesus has yet to return. Plus, it seems like he is explaining what he just said: This is what I mean, brothers… And what did he just say? “I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is,” (1 Cor 7:26). What is that referring to? Many think it could be referring to a widespread famine that took place (cf. Acts 11:27-28) that would have led to both the danger of starvation and the civil unrest that comes from that kind of instability.
Perhaps the “appointed time” is just referring to this “present distress” and Paul is saying: Here is what I mean, the appointed time of this present distress is very short, it won’t last long, so hold off on marriage for now.
That would solve the strangeness of Paul claiming that the world is apparently ending any minute now, while we stand here two millennia later, right? But Paul insists otherwise in our final verse: “For the present form of this world is passing away,” (1 Cor 7:31). What does that mean? The “present form” represents the world as it is. If Jesus’ life and death represented the final fulfillment of time, the end of an age, and in the Bible the next major event is the Second Coming of Jesus and the New Creation, then Paul is saying that world as we know it is fading away. Paul likely viewed the “current distress” that the Corinthians were in as a further sign that the end of the ages were upon them. Jesus, using the coming destruction of the temple as a figure of the final judgment, explained: “there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people,” (Luke 21:23) and He taught that famines in various places was itself a sign of the “beginning of the birth pains” of the final judgment (Matt 21:7-8).
Does Paul really mean the world is ending?
“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come,” (1 Cor 10:11).
The author of Hebrews likewise explains that Jesus, “appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” (Heb 9:26b). Because the “end of the ages” has come upon us, we are then in the “last days,” “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,” (Heb 1:1-2).
The Old Testament looked forward to the day when God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh, and when God did this, it would be a sign that the final day—the day of the Lord—was near (Joel 2:28-32). So, when the Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost, Peter gets up and reads the prophet Joel, “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,” (Acts 2:17).
So, Peter in his own letter explains that Jesus was “made manifest in the last times for the sake of you,” (1 Pet 1:20) and more dramatically, “The end of all things is at hand,” (1 Pet 4:7).
John, mirroring Paul’s wording, explains “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever,” (1 John 2:17).
The testimony of the New Testament is abundantly clear—the old age is passing away and the new age is dawning. This is the cosmic import of the resurrection of Christ. When Jesus died He paid the debt our sin had owed, He absorbed our penalty for sin, so now Satan has no claim over us. Even more, when He rose from the dead He broke the power of death and blazed a trail that we now follow towards the New Creation. So now, when you and I die, if we trust in Jesus Christ, we will not die, but live forever—the world is passing away, but the one does the will of God abides forever. The work of Jesus Christ has closed the chapter on the great struggle between our sin and the everlasting punishment we deserve. It is finished. The orientation of the Christian towards the enemy of Sin, Satan, and Death should be like that of a Hobbit after the dragon under the mountain has been slain, or the Ring has been destroyed, the Dark Lord defeated. The forces of evil have lost. You still have to make the journey back to the Shire, there may be some villains you still have to deal with, but the problem has been dealt with already, the battle already won, you are just on your way home. Friends, the knots that held Satan’s kingdom together have been loosed and it has already begun to fall apart. We are just on our way home and we stand at the doorpost of Zion.
But how do we square that with the fact that 2,000 years have passed and here we are? We have had to wait so long. In what meaningful way can we say that the time is short or that we are in the last days if we have been in them for several millennia? Well, perhaps history is much older than we thought, and in the grand scope of time, a few thousand years is the equivalent of a few days, or perhaps the time is short from God’s perspective…a thousand years is as a day to the Lord.
This should temper us from a fearful sensationalism that thinks that while sure the last two thousand years we have been in the last days, but we really are in the last days. In all of Jesus’ parables about His absence and return, what does He look for when He returns? Are the servants conducting the business He left them to complete? Are the virgins keeping their lamps lit? Are you Christian being faithful to obey the command to love God and neighbor, to reach the lost, to pray for your city, to work hard at your job, to raise children in the instruction of the Lord. When Peter tells us that the end of all things is at hand, he then tells us: “therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace,” (1 Pet 4:7-10)
But this should also temper us from a worldly doubt in the imminent return of Jesus. Jesus repeatedly tells us in the book of Revelation, I am coming soon (Rev 22:7, 12, 20). Jesus repeatedly taught in the gospels that we should be ready at any moment for His return. Jesus wants us to be on alert. And if we think that, Well, He said that two thousand years ago, I doubt He is coming back. First off, of course, you have no idea—that is Peter’s point, don’t think God is slow as some count slowness. Don’t confuse God’s patience with slowness. But also, consider that if God inspired the apostles to speak as if Jesus was to return at any moment, then that probably means that the healthiest and safest posture a Christian must have to survive in the world is to have a posture of eager readiness.
What time is it? I love Paul’s image he gives us in Romans where he tells us: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light,” (Rom 13:11-12)
It is the dawning of the New Creation.
How Should We Then Live?
What is Paul saying here?
Paul now turns to addressing the “betrothed,” literally “the virgins.” These are individuals who are unmarried or possibly in a betrothal to marriage—our modern equivalent of engagement.
“I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is,” (1 Cor 7:26).
Whatever the circumstances were of “the distress” the Corinthians were in, there is a level of danger and distress that leads Paul to offer some surprising advice: Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. (1 Cor 7:27-28)
Now, in the passage we will look at next week, Paul will say something to the effect of being married is difficult in general. But here, the difficulty he is talking about is more than that—it is the difficulty that comes from the “current distress” that the Corinthians are experiencing. Paul sees the current tribulations and suffering and knows that if the young Corinthians pursue marriage they will be raising children in pain, danger, and deprivation—and he would spare them of that plight.
And then he explains: “This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away,” (1 Cor 7:29-31).
This has to be up there with some of the strangest things Paul has said. How can a Christian husband “live as if he has no wife”? Go home and try to apply that, brothers, let me know how it goes. This is where it is important to remember that we always interpret less clear passages in light of clearer ones. The same person who wrote these verses also wrote to husbands that they must love their wives as Christ loved the church, provide for them, and cherish them (Eph 5:22-33). We cannot use parts of the Bible to the exclusion of other parts.
I think the interpretive key to make sense of this teaching is the final phrase: For the present form of this world is passing away. So we orient ourselves to marriage, to our emotions, to our possessions, and to the world in light of the dawning New Creation that is about to break in at any moment. Paul is speaking with an exaggerative flourish, much in the same way Jesus did when He taught that in order to truly love Him you must hate your wife, parents, children, family, and even your own life (Luke 14:26). It is comparative exaggeration. In light of our love for Jesus, our love for family and self almost looks like hatred. Augustine elaborates: "We cannot love what is eternal unless we cease to love what is temporal . . . Learn to dismiss it before you are dismissed by it." So too, in light of the New Creation that is coming, our whole life is different.
So, if our perspective is that the time is short, that soon we will be walking into the riches of the New Heavens and New Earth, how should that change our expectations of marriage, emotions, possessions, and the world?
Marriage
So, what does it mean to obey this in light of marriage? It means that your marriage is not ultimate. If you are unmarried, you are not living a subpar life, and if you are married, you are not superior. You receive your wife or husband as a gift from the ultimate Giver, the true and final Spouse, the Lord. So you don’t expect your spouse to give you what only the Lord can. You don’t look to them to complete you, to heal every pain, to deliver you from your insecurity, to give you an identity. You look to the Lord for that. This is one reason why I think the Christian perspective on marriage is one of the most practically helpful approaches to marriage out there.
When you know that your marriage is important and sacred, but not ultimate, it frees you from smothering your spouse, idolizing them, or hating them because they have disappointed you. This also frees you to enjoy your spouse instead of using them. When you see your spouse as a fellow sinner and recipient of grace from the true object of your worship, you will have a closer intimacy and unity than if you see them as the sum of all your affection and adoration.
Emotions
Paul tells us that those who mourn should live as if they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as if they were not rejoicing. This means that whatever is bringing you sorrow will not ultimately last, the pain will eventually give way to peace. This also means that whatever is causing joy won’t last. At least, whatever is in this world, since it is passing away. The thrills and laughter that come from this life only, this world under the sun, will one day cease. The book of Ecclesiastes makes it clear that all of the pleasure and joy and riches that one can have under the sun all are full of vanity and emptiness. They don’t last.
When we are in the throws of an emotion it can be tempting to feel like it will last forever. We will be lonely forever, we will be sad forever, so why bother with doing anything? Or, we will feel happy forever, so why bother with changing anything?
But there is coming a day very soon where the pain and anxiety and depression and boredom of this life will drop from our shoulders, and the hollow happiness of the world will be replaced with solid, bright, eternal joy with God forever. One day, the tangled mess of our emotions will be repaired and we will feel everything the way we should!
Possessions
Paul says that those who buy should live as though they had no goods. We should orient ourselves to our money and our possessions with the reminder that our life is short, and soon we will pass into the next, where none of our possession will follow. John Calvin writes, “All the things that aim toward the enjoyment of life are sacred gifts from God, but we spoil them and abuse them. If we look for the reason why, it is because we always dream that we will live forever in this world. The result is that those things which should be supports for our earthly journey become shackles to enchain us. Therefore it is with good reason that the apostle, in order to shake us from this stupor, calls us to consider the brevity of this life, and he infers from this that we ought to use all the things of this world as if we were not using them. For people who consider themselves to be pilgrims in this world use the things of this world as if they belonged to someone else—that is, as things that are lent to us for a single day. The main point is this: the mind of a Christian should not be occupied with earthly things or seek satisfaction in them. For we should live as if we were going to depart this life at any moment.”
World
How do we deal with the world as though we had no dealings with it? I think this means that we do not orient ourselves to everything around us the way people do who believe that this world is all there is. We orient our lives fundamentally out of a posture of the soon arriving New Creation.
Let me make one practical application from that. I think people are starting to get burnt out by politics—its just too exhausting to keep living like every election is more important than the last one, especially when it generally feels like the options you have of who to vote for are less than stellar. If Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine are on the ticket, what do you do? It can feel tempting to walk away from the whole thing out of cynicism or despair. On the other hand, there is still a good slice of the country that is doubling down on politicizing everything and pressuring you and everyone else to join them.
What should Christians do?
There is a lot that could be said, but just to stay in the spirit of what this passage is teaching us, remember that this world is passing away, the time is short, but the kingdom of God is forever. I don’t think that means that we retreat from the world. I think it is a practical application of loving your neighbor to vote and take a hand in the political process, to overturn injustice, to try and make school boards and public libraries better, and to pray for righteous governors to be raised up. But I do all of that as an emissary, an ambassador of the heavenly kingdom where my real hope and my real citizenship lies. So if America sinks beneath the waves—which I pray it doesn’t—I don’t lose my hope. And that gives me the ability to be sane and politically crazy world.
Jesus Christ is king, and He is returning soon, and that puts everything into perspective, and gives me proper expectations for this life.
