I’ve played enough games of Monopoly during my lifetime to appreciate just how powerful the Get Out of Jail Free card is. Having that trump card in your hand can make the difference between climbing to the heights of Mayfair or slumming it on Old Kent Road for most of the game. That one magic card has also taken on a life of its own beyond the Monopoly board. It has become a metaphor – a meme ­– for a quick, easy or simple fix that gets us out of a less-than-ideal situation.

I think we Christians can be tempted to think of 1 Corinthians 7:9 as our own Get of Jail Free card.

In 1 Corinthians 7:6-9, Paul turns from talking about the sexually active lives of married Christians to the sexually celibate lives of single Christians.

‘Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am’ (1 Corinthians 7:6-8).

But then, right on the heels of saying how much he wishes everyone was single like he was, the apostle goes on to say:

‘But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion’ (1 Corinthians 7:9).

When it comes to our understanding of this passage, it can be all too easy to give the first three verses fairly quick and hurried treatment – ‘Yes, yes. Singleness is good. Paul says so…’ – before verse 9 quickly steals the majority of our focus and attention–­ ‘… BUT, it’s better to marry than to burn with passion. Which means that even as Paul wishes more people were single, he knows that most people aren’t cut out for it.’

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