1 Corinthians 7:29-31

“But this I mean, brethren, the time is henceforth limited, that they even that have wives be as though they had none; 30. and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; 31. and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.”

The formula τοῦτο δὲ φημί, which begins 1 Corinthians 7:29, does not announce a simple explanation, as a τοῦτο λέγω would do. The term φημί has a certain solemnity: “Now here is my real view, the most essential thing which I have to declare to you.”

By the address: brethren, he draws near to them as if to gain an entrance into their minds for this decisive thought, with the particular applications they are to draw from it, each for himself. If, with T. R., we should read ὅτι before ὁ καιρός, it would require to be translated by because, and τοῦτο referred to what precedes (1 Corinthians 7:28); but the following sentence would become extremely heavy, on account of the two conjunctions ὅτι and ἵνα, which follow one another. We must therefore reject ὅτι. The participle συνεσταλμένος (from συστέλλειν, to furl sails, to pack luggage, to reduce into small volume, to shorten a syllable, etc.) may be taken either in the moral sense (straitened, pressed with trouble, 1Ma 3:6; 2Ma 6:12), or in the literal sense (reduced to small volume, concentrated, abridged). As the first meaning cannot well apply except to persons, the second is here preferable; only it must be remarked that Paul does not use the word χρόνος, which denotes time in respect of its duration, but καιρός, time in respect of its character, season, opportunity. The apostle therefore means not that the present epoch will embrace a greater or less number of years, but that the character of the epoch is its being contained between precise limits which do not admit of its being extended indefinitely. These limits are, on the one side, the coming of Christ which took place recently, and on the other, His coming again, which may be expected any hour, and which will be the close of the καιρός. There is therefore no longer anything assured in the present existence of the world; it is profoundly compromised since the coming of Christ, who created thenceforth a higher sphere of existence; hence it follows that human life has no longer a future, except one limited and precarious; comp. Philippians 3:20: “Our citizenship is in heaven.” We are in the last hour (ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστί, 1Jn 2:18), of which no one knows how long it will last (Mark 13:32); for that depends on God, and also in part on the faithfulness of the Church, and on the conduct of the unbelieving world.

Of the three readings which we have given in the note, that of the T. R., supported by three Byz., signifies: “The time is limited as to what remains, that...” The reading of the four older Mjj. signifies: “The time is limited, that for the future (τὸ λοιπόν)...” That is to say, that the time for the future ought to be otherwise used than it has been in the past. The third, that of F G, signifies: “The time is limited; it remains (it follows therefrom) that...” This last ought to be rejected without hesitation; for the expression λοιπὸν ἵνα cannot signify: it follows that. In the Alex. reading we must accept the inversion of the τὸ λοιπόν, and bring it into the proposition of ἵνα. The emphasis put by this construction on τὸ λοιπόν is justified no doubt by the contrast between the remaining future and the past which has already elapsed. But the inversion is harsh, and the first reading, that of the Byz., seems to me preferable. Its meaning is very simple: “The time is limited as to what remains.” The time which mankind have yet to pass is limited by the coming of Christ. And so, whereas unbelievers regard the world as sure to last indefinitely, the Christian has always before his eyes the great expected fact, the Parousia; hence there arises in him a wholly new attitude of soul, that which the apostle characterizes in the following words. The: in order that, shows that this new attitude of the heart is willed of God as the proper consequence of the character assigned to the present epoch. We must take care not to make the ἵνα depend on the verb φημί : “ I declare this to you in order that...” This inward disposition of believers springs much more naturally from the character of the epoch in which they live, than from Paul's declaration, which is addressed only to some of them. The anticipation of Christ's coming is that which transforms the mode of regarding and treating all earthly positions.

The καί, which follows ἵνα, should be translated by even: Even the married ought in their attitude of soul to return to the state of celibates. By their detachment from the things of this earth, which are about to fail them, and their attachment to Christ, who is coming again, they recover that state of inward independence which they lost by marrying. Externally bound, they become free again as to their moral attitude; comp. the slave, 1 Corinthians 7:22 a.

Vv. 30. Here is depicted the spiritual detachment in its application to the various situations of life. As nothing in this world has more than a waiting character, the afflicted believer will not be swayed by his pain; he will say to himself: It is no more worth the trouble! The man who is visited by joy will not be intoxicated by it; he will say to himself: It is but for a moment. He who buys, will not seize and hold the object he has got too keenly (κατέχειν, to hold firmly); for he will look upon himself as always ready to give it up. It is not meant that the believer will not rejoice or be afflicted or care for what he has. But, as Edwards well says: “Excess is prevented, not by the diminution of the joy or of the grief, but by the harmony of both. Joy and grief becoming more profound harmonize in a sadness full of joy and a joy full of sadness.”

Vv. 31. The phrase using this world is a formula in which are embraced marriage, property, commerce, political, scientific, and artistic activity. The believer may use these things, provided it is constantly in a spirit which is master of itself, detached from everything, looking only to Christ.

It is a mistake here to translate the term καταχρῆσθαι in the sense of abusing; for there never is for any one a time of abusing. To the notion of the simple χρῆσθαι, to make use of, the preposition κατά adds, as in the preceding verb, a shade of tenacity, carnal security, false independence. He who uses the world, in these different domains, while keeping his eye constantly fixed on the future, ought to preserve the same inward calm as one might who had broken with the whole train of earthly affairs. The Alex. read the regimen in the accusative (τὸν κόσμον); this construction is found only in the later Greek, and that with the compound καταχρῆσθαι. The last words justify the disposition of detachment which the apostle recommends. They do not express merely the commonplace thought: that visible things are transitory in their nature. Undoubtedly Edwards is right in saying: “Every change proves that the end will come;” but we must not forget that this proposition is connected by γάρ, for, with the preceding: “The time is limited.” This relation obliges us to apply the παράγει, passeth away, to the near coming of the Lord, who will transform the present fashion of the world, that is to say, of external nature and human society. The term τὸ σχῆμα, the fashion, the external state of a thing, proves that the world itself will not disappear, but that it will take on a new mode of existence and development; comp. Romans 8:19-22 and Matthew 19:28.

The apostle has just developed the term the present distress (1 Corinthians 7:26 a), and expounded the reason for the preference to be given to celibacy for virgins, taken from present circumstances. He passes to the more general reason stated in 1 Corinthians 7:26 b: “It is good in itself for man so to be.”