Hi Mike,

Concerning marriage in the following verses:

Heb 13:1  Let brotherly love continue.
Heb 13:2  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Heb 13:3  Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
Heb 13:4  Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

We had a discussion about the first four verses in Sunday school class, and when we got to verse four I said in the spiritual sense, I thought it was talking about about being pure in God’s word and accepting false doctrines and following them.   They brushed it off and went on discussing things in the physical sense. Was I wrong with my assumption?

Sincerely,

P____

Hi P____,

Thank you for your question.

You ask if Heb 13:4 is a spiritual statement:

Heb 13:4  Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

You are right; it is primarily a spiritual statement. Paul himself tells us this is so. He tells us that when he is speaking of marriage, he is really speaking primarily of Christ and the church. Paul gives an in depth admonition to husbands and wives in Eph 5. Near the end of that admonition we have this instructive statement:

Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Add to that these words of our Lord which will not pass away, and you have the answer to your question:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

I hope this helps you to see that God’s words are all ways primarily spiritual. Yes, Paul really was dealing with the subject of marriage, but He tells us that physical marriage is his secondary subject. I thank God that He is opening your eyes to see the things of the spirit. Don’t even expect your Sunday school members to be able to see spiritual matters. It is not given to them to do so:

1 Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Spiritual discernment is a gift from God, which He gives to but “few chosen.”

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

God bless your desire to see and hear the things of the spirit. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in Truth:

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

You continue seeing the spirit behind the letter, and let God judge between you and your Sunday school class.

Your brother in Christ.

Mike >