Martin Luther's Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:9
June 10, 2013
June 10, 2013
"But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire." 1 Corinthians 7:9 (HCSB)
Is 1 Corinthians 7:9 the best bible verse for those who want to stop masturbating? Martin Luther seems to think so.
For those who want to gain perspective and understanding on masturbation and the Bible I highly recommend reading Martin Luther's commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:9. It is located on pages 25-31 of Volume 28 of Luther's Works. If you cannot obtain this book from your library you can purchase it online in hardback or Kindle. Book ISBN is 0-570-06428-7.
Paul's letter to the Corinthians contained advice and wisdom on Christian sexuality, singleness, and marriage in addition to other issues. There is no commentary or sermon on 1 Corinthians 7 so balanced, practical, and straightforward. Martin Luther's words were written for an audience in the 16th century but they are just as valid and helpful today as they were over 400 years ago.
For the purposes of education a few selected paragraphs of Luther's writings will reprinted here along with a modern response and explanation.
Please remember that Luther did not write this commentary to explain how to stop masturbating. He was writing his own commentary on a Bible text found in the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians. The original author of the book 1 Corinthians was a Palestinian Jew who murdered, imprisoned, and persecuted Christians during the first century in an effort to stop the spread of Christianity. Amazingly, during his violent mission he was converted and became a follower of Jesus Christ. Known as the apostle Paul, he would become the most influential theologian and missionary in over 2000 years of Christian history. One sentence that he wrote to the church at Corinth is now the focus of our study.
Martin Luther begins:
Is 1 Corinthians 7:9 the best bible verse for those who want to stop masturbating? Martin Luther seems to think so.
For those who want to gain perspective and understanding on masturbation and the Bible I highly recommend reading Martin Luther's commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:9. It is located on pages 25-31 of Volume 28 of Luther's Works. If you cannot obtain this book from your library you can purchase it online in hardback or Kindle. Book ISBN is 0-570-06428-7.
Paul's letter to the Corinthians contained advice and wisdom on Christian sexuality, singleness, and marriage in addition to other issues. There is no commentary or sermon on 1 Corinthians 7 so balanced, practical, and straightforward. Martin Luther's words were written for an audience in the 16th century but they are just as valid and helpful today as they were over 400 years ago.
For the purposes of education a few selected paragraphs of Luther's writings will reprinted here along with a modern response and explanation.
Please remember that Luther did not write this commentary to explain how to stop masturbating. He was writing his own commentary on a Bible text found in the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians. The original author of the book 1 Corinthians was a Palestinian Jew who murdered, imprisoned, and persecuted Christians during the first century in an effort to stop the spread of Christianity. Amazingly, during his violent mission he was converted and became a follower of Jesus Christ. Known as the apostle Paul, he would become the most influential theologian and missionary in over 2000 years of Christian history. One sentence that he wrote to the church at Corinth is now the focus of our study.
Martin Luther begins:
paragraph #1
"Indeed, it is well to remain like St. Paul. but he goes right on to say why it is not well to remain so and better to marry again than to remain a widow. Here St. Paul has piled all the reasons for marrying in one heap and set the goal for all the glory of chastity when he says: “But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry.” This is as much to say: Necessity orders that you marry. Much as chastity is praised, and no matter how noble a gift it is, nevertheless necessity prevails so that few can attain it, for they cannot control themselves. For although we are Christians and have the spirit of God in faith, still we do not cease to be God’s creatures, you a woman, and I a man. And the spirit permits the body its ways and natural functions, so that it eats, drinks, and eliminates like any other human body."
"Indeed, it is well to remain like St. Paul. but he goes right on to say why it is not well to remain so and better to marry again than to remain a widow. Here St. Paul has piled all the reasons for marrying in one heap and set the goal for all the glory of chastity when he says: “But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry.” This is as much to say: Necessity orders that you marry. Much as chastity is praised, and no matter how noble a gift it is, nevertheless necessity prevails so that few can attain it, for they cannot control themselves. For although we are Christians and have the spirit of God in faith, still we do not cease to be God’s creatures, you a woman, and I a man. And the spirit permits the body its ways and natural functions, so that it eats, drinks, and eliminates like any other human body."
The notion of sexual purity is so highly praised today just as it was in Luther’s time. However as Luther correctly points out, and will emphasize more later, that so few people can obtain it in reality. It would be nice if everyone could stop masturbating as easily as flipping a light switch but that is not realistic and Luther will now begin drawing his audience back to reality.
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paragraph #2
Therefore, mankind is not deprived of its male or female form, members, seed, and fruit, so that the body of a Christian must fructify and multiply just like that of other human beings, birds, and all the animals, as it was created by God to do according to Gen. 1:28. So it is by necessity that the man is attracted to the woman and the woman to the man, except where God performs a miracle by means of a special gift and withholds his creatures from one another. When St. Paul says, “But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry,” it is as though he were to say: “Those to whom God has not given a special gift but lets their bodies retain their way and nature, for them it is better, yes, necessary, to marry and not remain a virgin or widow. For it is not God’s intention to make this special grace a general one; rather marriage is to be general according to God’s original institution and creation in both bodies. He will not cancel and deny his creation in everyone.
paragraph #3
Furthermore, a Christian is spirit and flesh. According to the spirit he has no need of marriage. But because his flesh is the common flesh, corrupted in Adam and Eve and filled with evil desires, therefore because of this very disease, marriage is a necessity for him and it is not in his power to get along without it. For his flesh rages, burns, and fructifies just like that of any other man, unless he helps and controls it with the proper medicine, which is marriage. God suffers this raging passion for the sake of marriage and its fruits. In Gen 3:16 he indicated what he would suffer from man in that he did not take away the blessing of procreation but rather confirmed it, knowing full well that man’s nature was corrupted, full of evil desires, and unable to carry out this blessing without sinning.
Therefore, mankind is not deprived of its male or female form, members, seed, and fruit, so that the body of a Christian must fructify and multiply just like that of other human beings, birds, and all the animals, as it was created by God to do according to Gen. 1:28. So it is by necessity that the man is attracted to the woman and the woman to the man, except where God performs a miracle by means of a special gift and withholds his creatures from one another. When St. Paul says, “But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry,” it is as though he were to say: “Those to whom God has not given a special gift but lets their bodies retain their way and nature, for them it is better, yes, necessary, to marry and not remain a virgin or widow. For it is not God’s intention to make this special grace a general one; rather marriage is to be general according to God’s original institution and creation in both bodies. He will not cancel and deny his creation in everyone.
paragraph #3
Furthermore, a Christian is spirit and flesh. According to the spirit he has no need of marriage. But because his flesh is the common flesh, corrupted in Adam and Eve and filled with evil desires, therefore because of this very disease, marriage is a necessity for him and it is not in his power to get along without it. For his flesh rages, burns, and fructifies just like that of any other man, unless he helps and controls it with the proper medicine, which is marriage. God suffers this raging passion for the sake of marriage and its fruits. In Gen 3:16 he indicated what he would suffer from man in that he did not take away the blessing of procreation but rather confirmed it, knowing full well that man’s nature was corrupted, full of evil desires, and unable to carry out this blessing without sinning.
In the last two paragraphs Luther pops the
fairy tale balloon of escaping from the physical urges for sex. Many
people do not like Luther’s comments because they want to live in a
fairy tale world where it is believed that exercising one’s spirituality
frees you from your physiology. That is simply not true. If you become a Christian your heart will
still beat, your lungs will still breath, you will still require the
same amount of calories per kilogram of bodyweight and when you use the
toilet your excrement will still stink. Contrary to the thoughts of
some, God does not and will not take away or interfere with the sexual
desires. Men and women of faith must get married if they want to satisfy
their desires. The answer is not counseling, books, or sermons; the
answer is marriage.
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(paragraph #4 deleted)
paragraph #5
There are many other reasons why people marry. Some marry for money and prosperity. Many people marry because of sheer immaturity, to seek sensual pleasure and satisfy it. Some marry to beget heirs. But St. Paul gives but this one reason, and I know of none fundamentally stronger and better, namely, need. Need commands it. Nature will express itself, fructify, and multiply, and God does not want this outside marriage, and so everyone because of this need must enter into marriage if he wants to live with a good conscience and in favor with God. If this need were not there, all the other reasons taken together would make very poor marriages. This is particularly true of that smart immaturity which leads fools to take lightly such a serious, needful, godly estate; but it is not long until they realize what they have done to themselves.
paragraph #5
There are many other reasons why people marry. Some marry for money and prosperity. Many people marry because of sheer immaturity, to seek sensual pleasure and satisfy it. Some marry to beget heirs. But St. Paul gives but this one reason, and I know of none fundamentally stronger and better, namely, need. Need commands it. Nature will express itself, fructify, and multiply, and God does not want this outside marriage, and so everyone because of this need must enter into marriage if he wants to live with a good conscience and in favor with God. If this need were not there, all the other reasons taken together would make very poor marriages. This is particularly true of that smart immaturity which leads fools to take lightly such a serious, needful, godly estate; but it is not long until they realize what they have done to themselves.
How unpopular Luther would be if he were
here today! He again emphasizes that marriage is a necessity for those
who cannot control themselves. The physiological need for sex is the
best reason for marriage because God does not want sex to happen
anywhere else. Yes there are other reasons to get married but in
Luther’s opinion they are very poor reasons. People live inside human
bodies and those human bodies have sexual desires and those desires need
to be satisfied in God’s intended manner: sexual intercourse between a
male husband and a female wife.
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paragraph #6
But what do these words mean: “For is it better to marry than to be aflame with passion.” I have no doubt that everyone who wants to live chastely, though unmarried and without special grace for it, will understand these words and what they convey. For St. Paul is not speaking of secret matters, but of the common, known feeling of all those who live chastely outside of marriage but do not have the grace to accomplish it. For he ascribes this flaming with passion to all who live chastely but without the necessary grace, and prescribes no other medicine than marriage. If it were no so common or if there were none other advice to be given, he would not have recommended marriage. This thing is known in German as “the secret disease,” but this expression would not be so common either if the ailment were truly rare.
But what do these words mean: “For is it better to marry than to be aflame with passion.” I have no doubt that everyone who wants to live chastely, though unmarried and without special grace for it, will understand these words and what they convey. For St. Paul is not speaking of secret matters, but of the common, known feeling of all those who live chastely outside of marriage but do not have the grace to accomplish it. For he ascribes this flaming with passion to all who live chastely but without the necessary grace, and prescribes no other medicine than marriage. If it were no so common or if there were none other advice to be given, he would not have recommended marriage. This thing is known in German as “the secret disease,” but this expression would not be so common either if the ailment were truly rare.
This
website is titled “How To Stop Masturbation.” People come to this website
because they want to stop masturbation for various reasons. This is of
course very noble and worthy of praise.
No doubt everyone visiting this website understands how difficult it is
to control the urges for sex. This is what Paul addressed and what Luther is
here addressing. Both Paul and Luther
provide only one answer to that problem: marriage. They do not provide multiple
options or various ways to stop this urge for sex. Unfortunately for us, Paul
and Luther did not foresee the difficulties arising when nine year old boys and
girls would have access to high speed internet porn. They probably did not
foresee that children today are so bombarded with sexually stimulating messages
and media that addictions to masturbation are almost inevitable. The times in which we live are unprecedented. Neither could
they know that porn has so warped our minds about sex that when people get
married now they bring into the marriage a multitude of ungodly, unhealthy, and
unrealistic attitudes and expectations for sexual intimacy. Are there many difficulties to getting married in the 21st century? Certainly, but that still does
not invalidate Paul’s and Luther’s biblical principles.
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paragraph #7
There can also be no doubt that those who have the grace of chastity still at times feel evil desires and are tempted. But it is transitory, therefore their problem is not this burning. In short, “aflame with passion” is the heat of the flesh, which rages without ceasing, and daily attraction to woman or to man; we find this wherever there is not desire and love for chastity. People without this heat are just as few and far between as are those who have God’s grace for chastity. Now such heat is stronger in some, and weaker in others. Some among them suffer so severely that they masturbate. All these ought to be in the married estate. Truly it can be said: for every chaste person there should be more than a hundred thousand married people.
There can also be no doubt that those who have the grace of chastity still at times feel evil desires and are tempted. But it is transitory, therefore their problem is not this burning. In short, “aflame with passion” is the heat of the flesh, which rages without ceasing, and daily attraction to woman or to man; we find this wherever there is not desire and love for chastity. People without this heat are just as few and far between as are those who have God’s grace for chastity. Now such heat is stronger in some, and weaker in others. Some among them suffer so severely that they masturbate. All these ought to be in the married estate. Truly it can be said: for every chaste person there should be more than a hundred thousand married people.
Only 1 in 100,000! According to Martin Luther’s estimation, only one person in 100,000 has the gift to live without sexual urges. He also points out that some people have the natural willpower to say No to their urge to masturbate but that still does not release them from the urge. Others however “suffer so severely that they masturbate.” Even in Luther’s day he noticed that some people just do not have the level of willpower to say No. Many people wanted to stop masturbation but they could not. They simply could not stop. How many God fearing Christians are there today who have a sincere desire to stop pornography and masturbation but cannot find freedom? According to stats on this website the overwhelming gender of this group is male. It is not a coincidence that women are taking over the churches because so few men attend church. Could it be because pornography and masturbation are eviscerating the masculinity of the church body?
Nowhere does Luther tell people who cannot control themselves to stop going to church or stop following Christ. Both Luther and Paul are observing physical realities and offering the best possible solution in a world that is not perfect. |
paragraph #8
It will be best to give you an example. St. Jerome, who glorifies chastity and praises it most solemnly, confesses that he was unable to subdue his flesh with fasts or wakes, (15footnote) so that his chastity became for him an unimaginable plague. Oh, how precious time he must have wasted with carnal thoughts! But he insists that chastity is something that we can achieve and a common possession. You see, this man lay in heat and should have taken a wife. There you see what “aflame and passion” means. For he was of the number who belong in marriage, and he wronged himself and caused himself much trouble by not marrying. We can read of many more such incidents in the lives of the fathers.
It will be best to give you an example. St. Jerome, who glorifies chastity and praises it most solemnly, confesses that he was unable to subdue his flesh with fasts or wakes, (15footnote) so that his chastity became for him an unimaginable plague. Oh, how precious time he must have wasted with carnal thoughts! But he insists that chastity is something that we can achieve and a common possession. You see, this man lay in heat and should have taken a wife. There you see what “aflame and passion” means. For he was of the number who belong in marriage, and he wronged himself and caused himself much trouble by not marrying. We can read of many more such incidents in the lives of the fathers.
How many people are struggling to stop
masturbating when they should in fact be struggling to get married?
Instead of making an effort in vain to turn off sexual desires, the
effort should be made instead to make one’s life attractive enough
sufficient to get married.
Luther here makes a reference to Jerome who "glorifies chastity" despite being unable to "subdue his flesh" with fasting. Now every scientific study conducted today that includes any form of fasting or caloric deprivation always notes decrease in libido in study participants. Prolonged fasting is %100 guaranteed to remove your sexual desires but that is not a guarantee of a clean thought life. Fasting would be a #1 recommendation to stop masturbating except the effect is not permanent. Fasting will help you eliminate sexual desires and urges for a while but they will return with resumed normal calorie intake. Want to learn more? Watch a fascinating video LINK about the famous Minnesota Starvation experiment. Want to read Jerome's writings that Luther uses as an example? Go here LINK and scroll down to paragraph 7. Jerome Letter 22 to Eustochium. |
paragraph #9
So this is St. Paul’s conclusion: Where there is not a special gift of God, one must either be aflame with passion or marry. Now it is better to marry, says St. Paul, than to burn. Why? Because the burning, even if no act were to result from it, is still lost chastity, because it is held to not from desire and love, but from great dislike, unwillingness, and pressure. Before God this will be counted as unchastity, because the heart is unchaste and the body simply was not permitted to be unchaste. What use is it that you hold such enormous, sour, unwilling effort to a lost and unchaste chastity? It were better to marry and rise above such unhappiness. For although in marriage there is also trouble and unhappiness, still one can enter into it with good will and at times have peace and happiness. But outside marriage, where there is no grace, it is impossible to have good will toward chastity and live happily in it.
paragraph #10
Consider how foolish are those teachers and administrators who drive young people to chastity in monasteries and nunneries, claiming that the harder it is for them and the more unwilling they are, the better their chastity is. They should play around with other things and take something besides chastity, for it cannot be voluntary without special grace. Everything else can be voluntary, if only faith is present. They act like the Jews who burned their children in honor of the god Molech (Jer 32:35), so that I sometimes think that St. Paul used the word “aflame” because he wanted to touch upon and refer to this abomination. For what is it to allow a young person to suffocate in such heat in a monastery or elsewhere his whole life but to burn a child to death in honor of the devil by making it observe a miserable, lost chastity?
So this is St. Paul’s conclusion: Where there is not a special gift of God, one must either be aflame with passion or marry. Now it is better to marry, says St. Paul, than to burn. Why? Because the burning, even if no act were to result from it, is still lost chastity, because it is held to not from desire and love, but from great dislike, unwillingness, and pressure. Before God this will be counted as unchastity, because the heart is unchaste and the body simply was not permitted to be unchaste. What use is it that you hold such enormous, sour, unwilling effort to a lost and unchaste chastity? It were better to marry and rise above such unhappiness. For although in marriage there is also trouble and unhappiness, still one can enter into it with good will and at times have peace and happiness. But outside marriage, where there is no grace, it is impossible to have good will toward chastity and live happily in it.
paragraph #10
Consider how foolish are those teachers and administrators who drive young people to chastity in monasteries and nunneries, claiming that the harder it is for them and the more unwilling they are, the better their chastity is. They should play around with other things and take something besides chastity, for it cannot be voluntary without special grace. Everything else can be voluntary, if only faith is present. They act like the Jews who burned their children in honor of the god Molech (Jer 32:35), so that I sometimes think that St. Paul used the word “aflame” because he wanted to touch upon and refer to this abomination. For what is it to allow a young person to suffocate in such heat in a monastery or elsewhere his whole life but to burn a child to death in honor of the devil by making it observe a miserable, lost chastity?
Chastity “cannot be voluntary
without special grace.” This means that unless God does a miracle and
intervenes in your physiology and turns off your sexual hormones you
will never be able to escape the urge for sex. Your best option is to
get married to find satisfaction and relief.
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(paragraph #11 & 12 deleted)
paragraph #13
…The truth is, as the Scriptures and all experience teach us, that this life on earth is a miserable life, full of misery and suffering regardless of what estate you choose for yourself (provided it is godly)....
paragraph #14
It is the same with this burning. Those who are married, they are rid of this; they can extinguish what burns them and pay no more attention to such torment (just as a woman after a birth sees things quite differently than before and in the birth), but instead they see nothing but the trouble and unhappiness of their married estate. When good is present, it goes unobserved; when bad is over, it is forgotten. But those who are still caught in passion and have no hope, must they not make fun of those fools who are married and yet still complain about marriage? For the former must hold what cannot be held, and do it all for nothing and waste all the bitter effort – that is indeed a terrible pity! Would they not much rather bear all the unhappiness of marriage than such burning? That is what St. Paul is speaking about when he says: “It is better to marry than to burn,” as though he were saying: “Marriage is a bad thing, but burning is still worse.” In short: Better an unhappy marriage than an unhappy chastity. Better a sour and difficult marriage than a sour and difficult chastity. Why? The latter is a sure loss; the former can be of use.
paragraph #15
I say this only of that burning which those suffer who control themselves – of whom there are few; for the majority do not suffer such heat, neither do they control themselves, but they do as they please and relieve themselves; of this I shall not write at present. But if they relieve themselves outside of marriage, then the pangs of conscience are soon there, and this is the most unbearable torment and the most miserable of earthly estates. This is the unavoidable result, that most of those who live without marriage and without grace in celibacy are forced to sin bodily in unchastity, and the others are forced to outward chastity and inward unchastity. The former must needs lead a damnable life, the latter an unholy useless one. And where are the spiritual and secular rulers who consider the plight of these poor souls? Every day they are helping the devil to increase this misery with their pressures and compulsion.
paragraph #13
…The truth is, as the Scriptures and all experience teach us, that this life on earth is a miserable life, full of misery and suffering regardless of what estate you choose for yourself (provided it is godly)....
paragraph #14
It is the same with this burning. Those who are married, they are rid of this; they can extinguish what burns them and pay no more attention to such torment (just as a woman after a birth sees things quite differently than before and in the birth), but instead they see nothing but the trouble and unhappiness of their married estate. When good is present, it goes unobserved; when bad is over, it is forgotten. But those who are still caught in passion and have no hope, must they not make fun of those fools who are married and yet still complain about marriage? For the former must hold what cannot be held, and do it all for nothing and waste all the bitter effort – that is indeed a terrible pity! Would they not much rather bear all the unhappiness of marriage than such burning? That is what St. Paul is speaking about when he says: “It is better to marry than to burn,” as though he were saying: “Marriage is a bad thing, but burning is still worse.” In short: Better an unhappy marriage than an unhappy chastity. Better a sour and difficult marriage than a sour and difficult chastity. Why? The latter is a sure loss; the former can be of use.
paragraph #15
I say this only of that burning which those suffer who control themselves – of whom there are few; for the majority do not suffer such heat, neither do they control themselves, but they do as they please and relieve themselves; of this I shall not write at present. But if they relieve themselves outside of marriage, then the pangs of conscience are soon there, and this is the most unbearable torment and the most miserable of earthly estates. This is the unavoidable result, that most of those who live without marriage and without grace in celibacy are forced to sin bodily in unchastity, and the others are forced to outward chastity and inward unchastity. The former must needs lead a damnable life, the latter an unholy useless one. And where are the spiritual and secular rulers who consider the plight of these poor souls? Every day they are helping the devil to increase this misery with their pressures and compulsion.
Luther says that if you cannot stop masturbating then you must get married. That’s the answer.
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