1 Corinthians 7:32-34

θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς κ. τ. λ. (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:7): “But I want you to be unanxious (ἀμερίμνους);” cf. φείδομαι, 1 Corinthians 7:28. This is the reason why P. labours the advice of this section; see our Lord's dehortations from ἡ μέριμνα τοῦ αἰῶνος in Matthew 6:25-34; Matthew 13:22.

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 describe, not without a touch of humour, the exemption in this respect of the unmarried: he “is anxious in respect of the things of the Lord” not “of the world, as to how he should please his wife!” After bidding the readers to be ἀμέριμνοι, P. writes μεριμνᾷ τ. τοῦ Κυρίου, with a certain catechresis in the vb [1178], for the sake of the antithesis. The accs. are of limitation rather than of transitive obj [1179] πῶς ἀρέσῃ is indirect question, retaining the deliberative sbj [1180] “is anxious … (asking) how he should please,” etc. For the supreme motive, “pleasing the Lord,” cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:9, etc. ὁ γαμήσας, aor [1181] of the event (pf. in 1 Corinthians 7:10 : cf. note), which brought a new care. Accepting the reading καὶ μεμέρισται. καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄγαμος, with the stop at μεμέρ. (the only possible punctuation with ἡ ἄγαμος in this position: see txtl. note), then it is added about the married Christian, that “he has been (since his marriage) divided,” parcelled out (see note on 1 Corinthians 1:12): part of him is assigned to the Lord, part to the world. Lt [1182] says that this rendering (R.V. mg.) “throws sense and parallelism into confusion, for καὶ μεμέρισται is not wanted with 1 Corinthians 7:33, which is complete in itself”: nay, the addition is made just because the parl [1183] would be untrue if not so qualified; the married Christian does not care simply for “the things of the world” as the unmarried for “the things of the Lord,” he cares for both “and is divided,” giving but half his mind to Christ (so Ewald, Hf [1184], Hn [1185], Ed [1186]). The attachment of καὶ μεμέρισται to 1 Corinthians 7:34, with the Western reading (see txtl. note), retained by Mr [1187], Bt [1188], El [1189], Lt [1190], Sm [1191], A.V., and R.V. txt., in accordance with most of the older commentt., gives to μερίζω a meaning doubtful in itself and without N.T. parl [1192] : “And there is a distinction between the wife and the maiden”. Gd [1193] escapes this objection by reading μεμέρισται κ. ἡ γυνὴ as a sentence by itself, “the wife also is divided” then continuing, “And the unwedded maiden cares for,” etc.; an awkward and improbable construction as the text stands (but see Hn [1194] below). Txtl. criticism and exegesis concur in making καὶ μεμέρισται a further assertion about ὁ γαμήσας, revealing his full disadvantage.

[1178] verb

[1179] grammatical object.

[1180] subjunctive mood.

[1181] aorist tense.

[1182] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1183] parallel.

[1184] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[1185] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1186] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[1187] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[1188] J. A. Beet's St. Paul's Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[1189] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.

[1190] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1191] P. Schmiedel, in Handcommentar zum N.T. (1893).

[1192] parallel.

[1193] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[1194] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

Hn [1195], by a very tempting conjecture, proposes to insert a second μεμέρισται after the first: πῶς ἀρέσῃ τ. γυναικί, καὶ μεμέρισται · μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνή. ἡ ἄγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος μεριμνᾷ κ. τ. λ. “He that has married is anxious in regard to the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and is divided; divided also is the wife. The unmarried (woman), with the maiden, is anxious as to the things of the Lord.” This would account for the double καί, which embarrasses the critical text; it gives a fuller and more balanced sense, in harmony moreover with Paul's principle of putting husband and wife on equal terms (1 Corinthians 7:2 ff., 1 Corinthians 7:11-16); and nothing was easier than for a doubled word, in the unpunctuated and unspaced early copies, to fall out in transcription. Placing the full stop at μεμέρισται, without the aid of Hn [1196] 's emendation, ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος are made the combined subject of μεριμνᾷ (1 Corinthians 7:34), “the unmarried woman” being the general category, within which “the maiden,” whose case raised this discussion (1 Corinthians 7:25), is specially noted; the two subjects forming one idea, take a sing [1197] verb.

[1195] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1196] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1197]ing. singular number.

The purpose ἵνα ᾖ ἁγία κ. τ. λ. is the subjective counterpart of the question πῶς ἀρέσῃ of 1 Corinthians 7:32; note the similar combination in Romans 12:1, also 1 Thessalonians 4:3; and see notes on ἁγίοις, ἡγιασμένοις, 1 Corinthians 1:2. Holiness τῷ σώματι (dat [1198] of sphere; see Wr [1199], p. 270) comes first in this connexion (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:4; 1 Corinthians 6:20), and τῷ πνεύματι is added to make up the entire person and to mark the inner region of sanctification; “the spirit” which animates the body, being akin to God (John 4:24) and communicating with His Spirit (Romans 8:16), is the basis and organ of our sanctification (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). Of ἡ γαμήσασα, “she that has married,” on the contrary, the same must be said as of ὁ γαμήσας (1 Corinthians 7:33); she studies to “please her husband” as well as “the Lord”.

[1198] dative case.

[1199] Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).