Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Corinthians 7:36

δέ. On the other hand.

ἀσχημονεῖν. See Lucian, De Sacrif. c. 7 ἡ Ῥέα δὲ πῶς οὐκ�; Our modern colloquial English has imitated this expression. It is ‘bad form’ to do this or that. See ch. 1 Corinthians 12:23; 1 Corinthians 13:5, and Romans 1:27; Revelation 16:15. See also εὔσχημον, 1 Corinthians 7:35 and ch. 1 Corinthians 12:23-24; 1 Corinthians 14:40.

τὴν παρθένον αὐτοῦ. I.e. his daughter. The advice here given is to parents. In St Paul’s time, and in most continental countries now, it is the parents who decide on the marriage of their children. In France, and in some other foreign countries, the young people very often do not even see one another before they are contracted. But St Paul thinks it might in some cases be ‘unseemly’ conduct on the part of a parent to refuse a proposal of marriage for a daughter who desired to serve God in the married state. ‘That the maiden’s will should be left entirely out of account by Paul can surprise no one who is aware of the power given to fathers among the Jews (comp. Ewald. Alterth. p. 287) and Greeks (Herm. PrivAlterth. § 30 ff.).’ Meyer.

ἐὰν ᾖ ὑπέρακμος. Either (1) as A. and R.V., if she be past the flower of her age, or more probably (2) if she have reached the age of maturity, implying her having past the period at which she attained it. The word is not found in classical Greek. In Eustathius, the well-known commentator on Homer, the word is used in sense (1). Here the context seems to require (2). The classical equivalent for (1) is παρακμάζω. Aesch. Epist. 10 uses ὑπέρωρον in sense (2).

καὶ οὕτως ὀφείλει γίνεσθαι. Literally, and so it ought to be; that is, if it be fair and reasonable that the wish of either or both parties should be carried out, and it would be harsh to act otherwise. Some think that the reference is to the disgrace incurred by a maiden, especially a Jewish maiden, who had passed the age of maturity and was still unmarried—a disgrace which also attached to a Jewish father who had not provided a suitable marriage for her. Cf. Sir 7:25, ‘Marry thy daughter, and thou hast performed a weighty matter.’ The Rabbis advised rather that a slave should be released as a husband for the daughter, than that she should remain unmarried. Others, again, think that the danger of sin (1 Corinthians 10:2; 1 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Corinthians 10:9) is here referred to. See Sir 42:9.

γαμείτωσαν. I.e. the daughter and her suitor.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Corinthians 7:36

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