1 Corinthians 7:28

‘And if a virgin marry she has not sinned. Yet such will have tribulation in the flesh, and I would spare you.'

There is no question of it being sinful for a virgin to marry, he points out. God does not require perpetual virginity. Paul's only hesitation is as to whether it will put her into a position of greater hardship. (Here the virgin must be a woman as it is paralleled to a man's behaviour).

‘Such will have tribulation.' This may be just a general statement suggesting the preferability of not being married, having in mind such things as the pains of childbirth, the distress of infant mortality, and the possibility of future family problems and dissension, or it may be suggesting that the present or impending distress will lead to such tribulation of the flesh.

As, if there was a period of distress, we do not know what the distress was, or was expected to be (if it existed), we cannot interpret the latter in more detail. The Corinthians would have known. But the principle applies in all difficult times. It was no doubt applied by some Christians in the two world wars of the twentieth century who would argue that in the circumstances it was better not to marry. Certainly many who did marry had ‘tribulation in the flesh' when husbands were killed or severely wounded.