1 Corinthians 7:27,28

1 Corinthians 7:27-28 apply in detail the advice just given, and first as it bears on men, then on maidens. δέδεσαι, λέλυσαι, pf. pass [1121] of present state determined by the past; μὴ ζήτει, pr [1122] impv [1123], “do not be seeking”. The two directions of 1 Corinthians 7:27 reinforce, from the new point of view, the instructions of 1 Corinthians 7:10-16; 1 Corinthians 7:8 respectively. λέλυσαι, as opp [1124] of δὲδεσαι, applies either to bachelor or widower.

[1121] passive voice.

[1122] present tense.

[1123] imperative mood.

[1124] opposite, opposition.

In 1 Corinthians 7:28 the general advice of 1 Corinthians 7:27 is guarded from being overpressed; cf. the relation of 1 Corinthians 7:2 to 1 Corinthians 7:1 and 1 Corinthians 7:9 to 1 Corinthians 7:8. The punctuation of El [1125] and Nestle best marks the connexion of thought, closing 1 Corinthians 7:27 with a full st p, each of the parl [1126] ἐὰν … ἥμαρτες (- ν) clauses with a colon, and separating θλίψιν δὲ and ἐγὼ δὲ by a comma. In the second supposition (both with ἐὰν and sbj [1127] of probable contingency) P. reverts to the case of “the maiden,” from which he was diverted in 1 Corinthians 7:26; he makes her, by implication, responsible for her marriage, although in 1 Corinthians 7:36 ff., later, the action of the father is alone considered. γαμέω is used in the act. here, and in 1 Corinthians 7:39, both of man and woman; cl [1128] Gr [1129] applies it to the latter in pass [1130] ; cf. note on the double ἀφιέτω in 1 Corinthians 7:12 f. ἔγημα and ἐγάμησα are the older and later aors. The aor [1131] in the apodosis ἥμαρτες, ἥμαρτεν is proleptic (Bn [1132] § 50; Bm [1133], pp. 198 f., 202), rather than gnomic (Mr [1134], Hn [1135], Ed [1136]), as though by way of general reflexion: the Ap. addresses specific instances “thou didst not … she did not sin”; cf. for tense, John 15:11; Revelation 10:7.

[1125] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[1126] parallel.

[1127] subjunctive mood.

[1128] classical.

[1129] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[1130] passive voice.

[1131] aorist tense.

[1132] E. Burton's Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in the N.T. (1894).

[1133] A. Buttmann's Grammar of the N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans., 1873).

[1134] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[1135] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1136] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

The marriage Paul discourages is no sin, but will bring suffering from which he would fain save his friends. “But affliction for the flesh such (as may marry) will have, but I am seeking to spare you.” With θλίψις cf. σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί (2 Corinthians 12:7; also 1 Corinthians 5:5 above); there is some thought, possibly, of recompense to “the flesh” which has had its way against advice. The affliction that Paul foresees is aptly indicated by Photius: “More easily and with small distress shall we endure if we have no wives and children to carry along with us in persecutions and countless miseries”. At such times, for those who have domestic cares, there arises “the terrible alternative, between duty to God and affection to wife and children” (Lt [1137]). φείδομαι appears to be a conative present (see Bn [1138] § 11; cf. Romans 2:4; Galatians 5:4).

[1137] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1138] E. Burton's Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in the N.T. (1894).