Giftermål i Korinth: En studie av Paulus syn på giftermålet utifrån 1 Kor 7 och samtida äktenskapstraditioner

Sammanfattning: This essay seeks to investigate and understand Paul’s view on marriage in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 7. The aim was to investigate if the current form of marriage in the Christian Church is rooted in the Bible and, in particular, the New Testament. The Greek verb γαμέω (meaning ”to marry”) is considered, the verb that Paul uses in his ‘marriage discussion’ in 1 Corinthians 7. Also considered, is the context in which Paul wrote his first letter to Corinth, including the diversity of Corinth’s culture, religions, politics and social conditions of the inhabitants (and thus the congregation). This indicated that Paul sends his greetings to a congregation that was made up of members of Roman, Greek and Jewish communities. These groups had different marriage traditions, which are also each considered, as well as (through the researcher Will Deming)the Stoic-Cynic marriage debate. The conclusion is that the current form of Christian marriage, which was established as a sacrament in the 1200s and is today practised in the universal Church, is not rooted in the first Christians’ view of marriage, including Paul’s. With Paul's eschatological worldview and minimal interest in the issue of marriage, it is probable that there was no established ”Christian” marriage system in Corinth and Church members accepted local traditions.