OK. Let’s talk about that gift. You know the one. But if we are going to talk about it, then let’s really talk about it. Let’s do the deep dive, ask the hard questions, and see where we land.
Check out this excerpt from the Focus on the Family website:
Singleness is circumstantial. […] Celibacy, on the other hand, is a vocation. It’s a rare gift that God grants only to a few special individuals (see Matt 19:10-12; 1 Cor 7:7) [1]
For the moment let’s focus our attention on that (in)famous verse from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:
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. 1 Corinthians 7:7, ESV
The Focus on the Family quote above is just one example within a very broad contemporary consensus of interpretation of this verse.
We are told that Paul wishes everyone could be as he was (i.e., unmarried) while also knowing that isn’t possible because, after all, not everyone has been given “the gift”. What is this gift? Well, whatever sermon you listen to, book you read, commentary you consult and podcast you tune into to, you’ll almost certainly be told that it is something along the lines of a:
- special spiritual gifting of supernatural empowerment
- for a select and called few
- to remain unmarried and sexually abstinent (for life)
Click the button below to read the full article (as part of a longer series on the topic).
