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About Jesus - Steve Sweetman
Fulfilling
Your Marital Duty Before I begin I'd like
to say that I'm approaching this subject from a man's perspective.
I'm doing so because I am a man.
I realize that this subject can also be, and should be,
approached by a woman's perspective as well.
In 1 Corinthians 7:3 the
Apostle Paul said the following. "The
husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the
wife to her husband (NIV)." In
context, the marital duty spoken of here is sexual relations between the
husband and wife. There's no
doubt about that. The Greek word translated
as "duty" here means a "debt that is owed".
We may not like the word "duty" in this verse as it
relates to marital bliss. We
might not like the idea that sexual relations are a debt that is owed,
but that's how Paul puts it. For
some it might suggest a lack of romance, something you have to do even
though you don't want to do, and sometimes that might well be the case.
It appears to me that the
general consensus is that men tend to stray from Biblical thinking in
matters of sex more than women. In
these days of rampant sexual expression outside of marriage I believe
sexual promiscuity among women is just as prevalent as it is among men.
Here's my point, if a
wife wants to help her husband not to respond to sexual temptation, the
best way to do so is to "fulfill her marital duties" to him as
Paul suggests. This isn't
rocket science. It's a
matter of simple biology. If
a man is happy sexually at home, he won't stray from home to find sexual
fulfillment. A wife might say that
it's the Holy Spirit's job to help a man be loyal to his wife.
I certainly agree that the Holy Spirit has a vital role to play
in this matter. That's a
fact, but the fact remains that an easy and simple way for a wife to
help her husband in matters of sexuality is to be sexually active with
him. I've never heard this
verse preached from a pulpit, but in our day of great sexual temptation,
it's a word to the wise.
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