The first thing that we need to emphasize is that God highly esteems marriage and even though He permits divorce and remarriage under certain circumstances His word carefully guards against any frivolous reason for ending a marriage, including ending a marriage with the possibility of remarriage.

This is why, in Matthew 19:3 the Pharisees came to Jesus with a hidden agenda and asked Him “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

This question can be traced back to Deuteronomy 24:1.  In Jesus’ day the readers were interpreting this “uncleanness” (Heb. ervah-sexual shame) as anything from their wives raising their voices to burning dinner.  So Jesus was quick and clear with His response.  He said in Matt.19:9 “And I say to you, whosoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality”.  That was Jesus’ commentary on ‘ervah’ back in Deut.21.

So it is clear that DISLOYALTY is a biblically recognized reason for divorce and remarriage.  (According to Matt. 19;9 a person would not be committing adultery if they remarried. Mark 10 also talks about this including the woman’s perspective.)

Romans 7 and 1Corinthians 7 both talk about DEATH as a situation that ends the “bond” of marriage (“released from the law of her husband”) from God’s perspective (1Cor 7:39).

1 Corinthians 7:15 says “But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart, a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases.”  So that answers the question of DESERTION.

Now how about DANGER?  Would God comment at all about the marriage status of a woman who was being beaten everyday by her husband?  Would he care about the knocked out teeth, scull fractures, acid burns, slashed faces, children in the home placed in peril because of this husbands “friends” who may be abusing them on routine bases?  This is the reality for some women in America and certainly globally, where often laws protecting woman are much less vague or strictly enforced.

So where would God talk about that?  Is there a chapter, a verse?  Ever notice how Paul in 1 Cor 7 while talking about marriage repeatedly says, “Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord.” Or, “But to the rest I, not the Lord, say”.  Or “Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord.”  The reason why Paul says this is because marriage is such a complicated issue.  It is really impossible to list all of the individual and specific scenarios and problems.  That is the purpose of 1 Corinthians 7:10-11.  It is obviously a more general instruction, and might be considered something like a “protection of woman clause”.  And its requirements are tough.

Verse 10 “A wife is not to depart from her husband.”  Verse 11 “But even if she does depart.”  Now the next thing you would expect to read would be something like. “but even if she does depart, she has done wrong!”  But it doesn’t say that, the passage says, “But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried.”  So for whatever reason this “departing” represents, while the built in consequences are tough (remain unmarried), there is no condemnation for this action by the woman.  The only other thing that Paul says is, “or be reconciled to her husband”.  This is the protection clause for any woman in a marriage relationship.  If there is a situation that is serious and legitimate where she determines that she must “depart” (like the DANGEROUS situations I mentioned above) she can end the marriage, but she cannot just find someone else.  There is provision built in for some hope for the relationship (some reconciliation), if conditions improve, at lease as long as the man remains alive.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

The answer to this question lies in a proper understanding of 2 things:

1. God’s desire for reconciliation with mankind
2. Our health throughout our relationship with Christ as Lord and Savior

Because of our sin, we are positionally disconnected from God before we place our trust in Christ. Once we have made a commitment to God, through repentance and faith, we enter into a righteous standing with God because of Jesus’ work on our behalf. This means that we cannot be made positionally unrighteous again because we have accepted Christ’s sacrifice as sufficient.

After we have made this commitment though, John talks about the importance of still confessing our sins to God (remember Christ modeled this as well in Matthew 6:9-13). John says If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is teaching us two things about the importance of confession of sin as a Christian:

1. The first is that it speaks to us as a reminder that we are still sinful and in need of God’s grace and forgiveness.
2. The second thing it does is help maintain a level of health in our relationship with God. The relationship exists already because of our acceptance of Christ’s work on the cross, but the relationship keeps a level of healthiness through a continuous process of confession of our sins and a continuous forgiveness from Jesus.

Think of it this way: I have entered in a marriage covenant with my wife where we have agreed to love one another through sickness, health, poverty and wealth. Those vows mean that my wife and I are in a relationship where we have committed to sticking it out no matter what happens (similar to the commitment that God makes to us). Now, if I sin against my wife in some way, shape or form, she and I are still committed to one another through our marriage vows, BUT it is still wise to confess my sin to her and ask for her forgiveness so that we can maintain healthy trust and communication with one another. In the same way, when we sin against God, we cannot destroy the covenant, but confession does assist in the healthy communication of our relationship with God.

Grace and Peace!

Of second importance no where in Scripture do we see any Apostolic authority establishing that the provocation of any of the above movements of the Holy Spirit would cease after an established period of time (although we know that they will not last forever, 1 Corinthians 13:8) or be isolated to any particular geographic location (Jerusalem, Ephesus, Corinth, etc.) this biblical fact does not lend itself to support a secession of the gifts (including and not limited to speaking in tongues) at the conclusion of the Apostolic age nor does a simple absence of biblical proof against their continuation prove that these gifts are still being expressed through the faithful today.

The Bottom line is that we should never read the Scripture based on any preconceived notions lest we impose on the text and therefore dishonor it. What is of true importance when trying to understand the gift of speaking in tongues or any Spiritual gift is that every gift is dispensed by God’s grace (1 Corinthians 12:27-31) and not by man’s will (Hebrews 2:4), that they are dispensed by God for the personal and communal edification of believers, and that any gift bestowed upon a believer needs to be handled with propriety and practiced biblically under the instruction of the Scriptures.

For a detailed understanding of the use and practice of speaking in tongues please read 1 Corinthians 14:5-29.

This question is one of both deep philosophical and theological investigation, and it’s one that’s surfaced countless times over the history of those two disciplines.  We’ll hardly pretend to have the lynchpin answer for this ongoing conversation, and with that in mind, let’s begin by making several observations about God’s initial act of creation here at the outset. 

First, when Satan was created, he was not created as “an evil spirit.”  1 John 3:4 tells us that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”  Everything that God created, including the host of angels of whom Satan was a member, were created without sin.  The Bible is clear that God is incapable of producing evil.

 Second, just as God is a being with personal volition, angels (and Satan) were created with a freedom of choice.  In Isaiah 14:12, Satan is said to have spoken the words: ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north.  ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’[1]  Satan made the unmitigated decision to oppose God by use of his freedom, distorting a gift which God meant for holy purposes, into something that would cause colossal damage to himself, and eventually humanity.

 Third, it’s certain that God knew how the events proceeding the fall of man would come about.  Isaiah 40:28 tells us that “The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”  God’s understanding exceeds the limits of human comprehension.  He was not surprised by Satan’s rebellion, or his instigation of humanity to rebel.

 In the end, no matter how well the question is clarified, we will ultimately end with the question of, “why did God create things in the way that He did?”  It’s here that we begin to tread some heavily philosophical terrain; because if God is omnipotent and wholly good, then the world as He initially created it was the best possible world which could have been created. 

 When Jesus tells us that “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him,” [2] this is because God is not coercing us to worship Him.  To force us to love Him would make God anything but good or loving; He would then be a tyrant unworthy of worship.  It is the highest definition of love that two freely acting persons should give themselves to one another, and this is what God made possible by creating the world in the manner He did.  For us to wish for a world with no evil, is to wish for a world of not more abundant love, but less.

 No one hates or suffers from evil more than God Himself.  Yet he was willing to endure it all (even to the culmination of all evil in His Son’s murder), so that He might seek and find those who would love Him without coercion, and eventually give them the object of all their desire when they love Him freely, and spend their eternities with Him in His coming glory.

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[1] This passage has historically been cited as a double reference to both Satan and the King of Babylon who states the same about his own earthly kingdom, though not all scholars agree with this application.

[2] John 4:23

God has given us His Word as a guide for our lives, so of course He would give us an example of what godly feminity looks like, single or married, children or no children, divorced or widowed.

The first passage that comes to mind would be Titus 2. Titus is a book on conduct, the way we ought to live as models of christian living.Verse 5 says, “This instruction is so that the Word of God may not be dishonored,” and verse 8, “So that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.” Verse 10, “So that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.” And we see in verse 11, “God’s grace has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.” It is through our conduct, our obedience to the Word of God that the opponent is put to shame and God’s salvation is brought to people.

John MacArthur says, “If the saving grace of Christ is to reach all men, it’s going to depend on the character of the church. If we honor the Word, silence the critics and demonstrate that God is a saving God by our transformed lives, then the gospel will be powerfully effective.”

In Titus 2 we are given very specific roles and responsibilities, a job description if you will. We see there are instructions for older men, younger men, older women and younger women. The phrase ‘older women,’ refers to women who are past child bearing/child rearing age which during that time, a time of no birth control, women could be having children late into their forties and thus rearing them until their teenage years which means ‘older women’ are those probably above the age of 60. So, I will assume that you are among the ‘younger women’ in that passage and although it does include responsibilities for both a wife and a mother, it also includes other helpful information for living a life that is pleasing to God as a woman who is single or not. ‘so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.’

sensible – to have sound judgment, common sense, right thinking, right priorities, very basic. (i.e. knowing your priorities, thinking right and applying wisdom.)
pure - morally pure, virtuous, sexually faithful to their husband (or if they are single, to their future husband.) In 1 Timothy 2, you see the words “modestly and discreetly,” that there is thought behind your actions, your dress, your words, and that thought is: “I never have intentions of distracting someone from worshiping God or potentially causing another believer to sin.”
kind – gentle, tender-hearted, merciful, thoughtful

A perfect Biblical example of those characteristics would be Ruth. Ruth was a widow, but single nonetheless so studying her life is a great way to see how God desires a single woman to honor Him.

Ruth was loyal, sacrificial and selfless (she gave up EVERYTHING to follow after God – what do we need to give up in order to follow whole-heartedly after God?), she is a woman of action, a hard worker, responsible and diligent (she would have had to get up early in the morning and would have worked in the fields all day in the heat…), she wasn’t looking for hand outs and was willing to do whatever it would take to make sure that those she loved (Naomi – mother-in-law) were taken care of, she made no excuses, we never see her complain about her situation which was devastatingly bad from a world’s perspective, a giver (2:18), through her suffering she maintained emotional stability and made good decisions (especially important with women and our tendency to run off of emotions), she is a risk-taker (chapter 3), respectful: seeks the advise of an older, wiser follower of God and heeds her advice, she is sweet, tender, gentle, we see her patiently seeking God, waiting, listening to and loving God, she has integrity and character (3:10 – she could have had any guy she wanted), she had a great reputation (3:11 – people knew who she was and were in awe of how she was sacrificially, selflessly living; so much so that they were talking about it)… most importantly we see from the very beginning and throughout the book, Ruth’s love and pursuit of God “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”

1 Peter 3 says ‘but you worry about the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, precious in the sight of God, for in this way in former times, the holy women also used to adorn themselves.’

Focus on your pursuit of God, of becoming more like Christ rather than the external, rather than what the world and our culture tells us what defines and makes up a woman, what we should act like, look like. Look to the Bible for your answers to those questions, not the world, and you will no doubt be molded into exactly who God wants you to be.

Spiritual gifts are for the edification of the church (1 cor 14:12). So any spiritual gift that is given is for the external manifestation of ministry to build the kingdom of God. We are all given spiritual gifts and we should not covet others’ but pray to ask God to reveal our own so that we may serve our part in God’s design.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. “

Gifts are given so that we may complete the work that God has given us. This is why we should not covet others’ gifts, because each part has its own function and eternal end.

Speaking in tongues is a sign for unbelievers not believers (1 cor 14:22). The use of tongues biblically is always applied for the spirit to remove the language barrier between people so that those who do not speak the language may hear and understand the gospel. The perfect example of this is in Acts 2 at Pentecost. Many of the believers were in the upper room and they all started to speak in tongues, the direct effect of them speaking in tongues was that Jews from “every nation under heaven” heard the gospel in their native tongue/language.

Paul gives the tongues rule book in 1 Corinthians 14. First, tongues must be interpreted if it is in a church setting so the edification can come. Paul says in vs. 16, how can i say Amen, if i don’t know what was said. Also if an unbeliever walks into a service and hears the tongues without interpretation he would think everyone is crazy(vs.23). Tongues are not a spiritual aptitude to know that we are believers, we are all given spiritual gifts and it is in the manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit that we know believers, not in a specific gift.

We Are To Multiply

In order to gain a context for the answer to this somewhat controversial topic in question, we immediately need to be pushed back to Genesis 1:28 “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth…” So what is the obvious point that God is making in this verse?  We are to procreate as human beings, as creations of God.

There may be some random passages which speak about mismanaging a sanctioned opportunity to procreate like the strange account of Onan in Genesis 38:9-10, but that seems to be addressing a specific failure to continue a generational family line.

God Values Embryos As Life

Abortion as birth control is obviously forbidden, as well as something like the “morning after pill” because they both tamper with a developing child already conceived (see Exodus 21:22 “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely…”  Notice the woman is referred to as being with child).  Psalm 139:16 says “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed…” (my substance, being yet unformed is all one word in the Hebrew: golem – something rolled together, an embryo, a fetus. The interlinear actually reads: “My embryo saw your eyes”).  So we can see that God has great respect for the pre-born, biological development of a human being, which He calls a child.

Silence On The Subject

There doesn’t seem to be any specific, technical mention about birth control in the Bible. So, while avoiding the problems mentioned above, it seems that God leaves things up to the discretion of the couple. Medically speaking, when making the decision to decide on the right birth control pill, a married couple should do research to make sure that the pill chosen does not tamper in any way with an already conceived embryo. That would be the Biblical thing to do.

This is just one’s humble opinion. Do your own research, formulate your own conclusions, and pray that God will give you insight.

Great question!  This is one that many of us ladies ask at one point or another in our spiritual journey… especially if we live in warm climates!  As we grow in our Christian faith, we begin to look at others and their needs and as a result, these types of questions arise…

First, let’s look at Romans 12:9-11-“Let love be without hypocrisy.  Abhor what is evil.  Cling to what is good.  Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord…”

What a great passage on the way we are to treat one another!

• “Let love be without hypocrisy” – remember love is not a feeling but an action/choice to put another person’s needs above your own. It could be defined as “a self-less humble service to meet another’s need no matter how lowly the service or how undeserving the person served.  It is a willful, joyful desire to put others over yourself, your feelings, your desires, your ambitions, etc”.  (1 Corinthians 13:1-7)
• “Abhor what is evil.  Cling to what is good” – Bikinis are not evil.  In fact, no piece of clothing is evil… but as you said, the response it prompts in the hearts of some is evil (Romans 14:14-16).  This verse reminds us that we are to pursue what is good over what is evil.
• “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love… giving preference to one another” – We are to treat every other believer like a family member… these are the people we look out for the MOST!  We are to prefer others over ourselves.  (Philippians 2:3-4)

That being said, let’s look at the principles of Christian Liberty (Romans 14:1-15:13, 1 Corinthians 10:23-30)

1 Corinthians 10:23- All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me  but not all things edify.

In Paul’s day, the argument in the Christian world wasn’t about bikinis but about whether or not it was sinful to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols in the pagan temples.  Ex-pagans who were now Christians thought it was a horribly sinful practice whereas ex-jewish Christians realized it was yummy meat and not a big deal.  Kind of like today; some Christians have no problem whatsoever wearing bikinis while other Christians really struggle with the idea because it’s a temptation to their brothers.  Let’s briefly look at 4 principles from 1 Corinthians 10:23-30

1. It is better to build up (“edify”) someone else than to gratify yourself (make yourself feel good) (v23)
2. Put others over self- this is a no-brainer and a key to the Christian life (Philippians 2:3-4).  We are always to prioritize the needs of others over our own desires and needs (v24)
3. Beware of legalism – following rules for the sake of rules – bikinis are not sinful, they are pieces of clothing and we must beware that we don’t have a legalistic attitude about them. (v25-27)
4. It is better to limit your “freedom” as a Christian in order to protect another Christian than it is to fit in with nonbelievers (v28-30)

Remember that we need to love others and put their needs above our own in everything we do… in our speech, in our attitudes, in our time, in our financial giving… and yes, even in our dress.

Galatians 5:13 - For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Romans 14:15 – Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. [for this question, translate “food” as “clothing”]

If you know that wearing “revealing” clothing causes your Christian brothers to stumble into sin and temptation (Romans 14:21) and your conscience is telling you that it’s wrong, then you have to follow what your conscience is saying and “limit your liberty” to wear certain things in order to protect your brother in Christ.  However, we always must be careful not to condemn others if their conscience does not tell them something is wrong (Romans 14:3)

Remember, our goals are always to love and serve others… we can always measure these types of issues by asking “am I showing love to my brothers and sisters if I do ___________?” or “am I serving others if I do ________ or am I serving myself?”

Human beings are engineered, within this life, with the way we are made at this time, to be able to sin.  Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world…”  God created people with the capacity to choose, part of the being “made in the image and likeness of God”.  Most people are very positive about possessing this ability to choose, even if it can get us into trouble.  Which it has.  But the ability to choose is the preferred design for humanity, not a pre-programed ability to always make the correct choice (like a machine, a robot).  So even though Adam and Eve were perfect, they possessed the ability to disobey and become imperfect, because of their humanness.

The biblical solution seems to be, obtain a regenerated spirit (Ephesians 2:1, theologians view our human spirits as the part of us being made alive), achieve a transformed mind (Romans 12:2), and then one day, become privileged with a newly designed body, a resurrected body (1Co 15:42 “So also is the resurrection of the dead.  The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.”)  Having a resurrected body, seems to be the final step in the path to perfection (1Co 15:53).  Practical perfection, not positional perfection which we receive at the moment of salvation (Colossians 2:10 “and you are complete in Him…”  ‘complete’  pleroo  full, complete, perfect)

God is Spirit and does not have a mortal human body like ours (John 4:24), and therefore has never possessed the capacity to sin. When He did become incarnate through Jesus, as Jesus, (1Tim 3:16  “God was manifested in the flesh” NKJV ), Deity dominated and the incarnate God could not and did not sin (Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin’.).