Science has found many ways to boost our immune systems. One method? We can eat more jalapeño peppers. If that sounds too spicy, other options include apples, cranberries, garlic, and chicken soup. My favorite choice is music. Studies have found that both performing and listening to music can positively impact our immunity.

Spiritually, we also need healthy “immune systems” to guard against temptation. First Corinthians 7 gives a specific example of the principle we learned yesterday—we must be on guard against Satan. The context here is marriage. A husband and wife by mutual consent might set aside the gift of sex in order to devote themselves to prayer. This is well and good, but if overdone, warned Paul, it can create an opening for Satan to tempt them.

How? Through a lack of self-control (v. 5). The desire for sex, which should be fulfilled exclusively with one’s spouse (vv. 2–4), might in this situation of temporary abstinence lead to a desire for adultery, pornography, or another form of sexual immorality. This temptation includes sin in both thought and deed. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount: “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).

The background principle here focuses on mutual submission and obligation (v. 3). In marriage, the husband’s body belongs to the wife and vice versa (v. 4). This is not an excuse for selfish demands by either spouse, but rather a recognition that sex within marriage is an exclusive, mutual right and a God-given protection against lust, immorality, and sexual impurity. Such things were apparently common in Corinth (v. 2), as they are in our own culture. Husbands and wives need to take care that good actions with good intentions don’t create gaps in their spiritual “immune systems.”

When I was young, while fishing with my father and grandfather, I hooked a large muskie. My little fishing pole bent under the strain, but I managed to reel it in close to our boat. But the muskie escaped before we could get it in the net, and it became “the one that got away” in family stories for many years after.

In this world, we are a lot like that muskie, tempted by colorful baits and lures. In Proverbs 1, we read about evil men enticing a person to “ambush some harmless soul” (v. 11). They’re scheming to rob, swindle, or otherwise exploit their victim for their own greedy and selfish purposes. It sounds like a criminal plan, and it is, but there’s more to it than that. This is basically the way our fallen world works. Fallen people tend to “look out for #1” and do whatever they can get away with.

How should we as followers of Christ respond to worldly temptations? First, we should stand our ground. “Do not give in to them” (v. 10), wrote Solomon. “Do not set foot on their paths” (v. 15). Second, we need to keep our eyes open. Those who choose evil are spiritually blind (v. 17). Even a bird can see and avoid a net or trap set in plain sight, but not the “sinful men” in this narrative. Wrong goals, wrong methods, wrong actions, wrong results—all these temptations are to be righteously avoided. After all, sin is self-defeating: “They ambush only themselves!” (v. 18).

Proverbs 16:29 summarizes: “A violent person entices their neighbor and leads them down a path that is not good.” Finally, the best defenses against such temptations include wisdom, versus the foolishness behind wickedness; and love of God, versus the love of power and material benefit behind worldliness (see also 1 John 2:15–17).

Conflict is inevitable in any close relationship, but when we navigate conflict well, we can emerge with even greater understanding and intimacy. One key to addressing conflict is to remain relationally attuned, to continue to see the other person as a person and an ally, even though you think differently about an issue.

Following his rebuke of the Galatians in 3:8–11, Paul reminds his readers of their relational history. The strong emotion continues, but his frustration softens into a jealous plea for their hearts. He calls them “brothers and sisters” and entreats them: “Become like me, for I became like you” (v. 12). He implores them to follow his own example of Christlikeness. When Paul says, “I became like you,” he is likely describing his willingness to live like a Gentile, to remove himself from the burden of the Jewish Law, and to embrace them as family.

Paul also wrote about his model for incarnational ministry in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23. “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (v. 22). Among the Galatians, Paul lived out his faith in their presence, providing a concrete example of what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. Next, Paul reminds his readers of the unique circumstances surrounding their time together. Paul unexpectedly was in Galatia because of an “illness” (Gal. 4:13). It may have been a sickness or an injury inflicted by enemies of the gospel. Regardless, the providential result was his ability to preach the gospel to the Galatians.

Paul commends the Galatians’ sacrificial care for him, even using hyperbolic language in verse 15 (“you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me”). But then, in sharp contrast, he delivers another harsh rebuke: “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (v. 16).

I’ve been teaching long enough that I can often predict how a semester will go. I know which assignments students will breeze through, and which will give them trouble. And I can anticipate what questions they will ask in response to certain content.

Clearly, Paul knew his Galatian readers well. In today’s passage, he asks two rhetorical questions, which he believed were still burning in their minds. After his instruction on the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic Law, Paul’s first question is broad and blunt: “Why, then, was the law given at all?” (v. 19). Why did God’s people need the Law if it didn’t improve upon the covenant? His answer is just as abrupt: “Transgressions” (v. 19). In a limited and temporary way, the Law was intended to address sin until Jesus—the promised redemption— would come (v. 19).

Paul does not specify how the Law addressed sin. But from other Scripture passages, we form a more complete understanding. The Law warned God’s people against sin and taught them what it means to follow God and obey (Ps. 51:13). The Law restrained God’s people, protecting them from the full power of their sin nature. It highlighted their sinfulness, revealing the need for redemption and grace, preparing them for the coming of Christ (Rom. 5:20).

But ultimately, the Law was insufficient; it required a human mediator (v. 20). Only redemption through Jesus would remove every barrier and bring a direct, intimate union between God and His people. Paul’s second question states: “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God” (v. 21)? He answers, “Absolutely not!” The Mosaic law and the Abrahamic covenant were not contradictory or mutually exclusive. They were always intended as two distinct things. The Jewish Law could not transform people’s hearts.