1 Corinthians 7:26

νομίζω οὖν τοῦτο κ. τ. λ.: “I consider therefore” the formula by which one gives a γνώμη (contrast the παραγγέλλω, διατάσσομαι of 1 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Corinthians 7:17) “this to be good because of the present straits”: καλὸν ὑπάρχειν, “good in principle” or “in nature” (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:7; 1 Corinthians 12:22); the existing situation is such as to make the course recommended entirely right and honourable (see note on καλόν, 1, also 1 Corinthians 7:8; 1 Corinthians 7:38). The ἀνάγκη narrowness, “pinching stress” (Ev [1111]) belongs to the καιρὸς συνεσταλμένος (1 Corinthians 7:29), the brief earthly continuance visible for the Church, a period exposed to persecution (1 Corinthians 7:28) with its hardships and perils; this “might or might not be the beginning of the ἀνάγκη μεγάλη predicted by Jesus” in Luke 21:23 (Lt [1112]). ἐνεστῶσαν signifies “present” rather than “impending” (see 1 Corinthians 3:22; Galatians 1:4); the distress of the time, which P. was feeling keenly at Ephesus (1 Corinthians 4:9 ff., 1 Corinthians 15:32), portended a speedy crisis. ὅτι καλὸν ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ οὔτως εἶναι is open to three constructions, as ὅτι is rendered that, because, or which (ὅ, τι): (a) makes the clause an expanded restatement of τοῦτο καλὸν ὑπάρχειν “I think then this to be good … that it is good (I say) for a man to remain as he is” (so Mr [1113], Ed [1114], El [1115], and most); (b) makes it the ground, lying in the principle stated in 1 Corinthians 7:1, for Paul's specific advice in the matter of the παρθένοι “I think this to be good (in their case) … because it is good for one (ἀνθρώπῳ; see note on 1) to remain as one is,” sc. to continue single (Bz [1116], D.W [1117], Gd [1118]); (c) by attaching ὅ, τι as relative to the antecedent τοῦτο, and defining it by the subsequent τ. οὕτως εἶναι, Hn [1119] gets another rendering “I think this to be good (in the case of maidens) because of the present straits, which is good (as I have said, 1) for one generally, viz., to remain unmarried.” (b) and (c), yielding a like sense, avoid the anacoluthon the former at the expense of leaving τοῦτο undefined, the latter by an artificial arrangement of the words; both explanations are somewhat wide of the mark, for διὰ τ. ἐνεστ. ἀνάγκην supplies here the ground of advice, and 1 Corinthians 7:1, on which they are based, is differently conceived (see note). In giving his advice “about the maidens,” P. suddenly bethinks himself to widen it to both sexes (see 1 Corinthians 7:27 f.). So he recasts his sentence, throwing the ὅτι καλόν κ. τ. λ., with characteristic conversational freedom (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:9), into apposition to the incomplete inf [1120] clause: “I think this to be good because of the present straits yes, that it is good ἀνθρώπῳ (for any one, not τ. παρθένοις only) not to change one's state”. οὕτως εἶναι, “to be just as one is” (see parls.) a state defined by the context.

[1111] T. S. Evans in Speaker's Commentary.

[1112] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1113] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[1114] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[1115] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[1116] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1117].W. De Wette's Handbuch z. N. T.

[1118] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[1119] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1120] infinitive mood.