¹I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. ²For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. ³But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

No choice—that is what Paul’s readers, the Corinthians, have. Paul wants to use a teaching technique whereby he plays the role of a fool, but he does not wait for their permission to do so. If they want to finish reading this letter, then in fact they must hear him out. Not that this is a new technique with him, for he had previously said something similar to them: “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you” (2 Cor. 5:13).

Specifically the apostle mimics their jealousy of one another. The pattern of the Corinthians’ behavior has certainly been of the nature where jealousy over spiritual gifts, personal allegiances, and social positioning have been rampant. So Paul springboards off this manifest characteristic of theirs by using this word poignantly.

The word “jealous” often means a negative desire for something someone else has, where the object of the jealousy is not the thing desired, but the person who possesses it. Thus in human relationships the term is often used for one person who is jealous of another who wins or possesses the affections of a mutually desired individual. At its core is the idea of strong desire. In fact, Paul used the same word in a positive way when he wrote, “But earnestly desire the greater gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31). Paul’s desire for the Corinthians is a “godly jealously.” He takes personal responsibility for their relationship with Christ, as the one who introduced them and coaxed them into faith in Him. And he doesn’t leave his work at that. He pictures them as “betrothed” to the Lord, but the relationship not yet consummated.

It is not certain that Paul was envisioning the future marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9) coupled with Ephesians 5:26–27 and the goal of the church as His bride being presented “in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” He could simply mean that his desire for preaching the gospel to them included a desire to present new believers as “pure virgin[s].” Either way, Paul fears the Satanic deception, as with Eve, that the Corinthians will stray from the simplicity of life as God designed it into the complications of living sinfully by the flesh.

Lord, I confess to making my life complicated by living at times by the flesh, and I desire to return to the simplicity of bringing my mind captive to Your truth.