1 Corinthians 7:32,33

“But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, [seeking] how he may please the Lord. 33. But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, [seeking] how he may please his wife.”

The subject is no longer merely the exceptional anxieties which the education and care of a family may cause parents, in a time dangerous for the Church. Paul has especially in view here the moral difficulties which the conjugal relation brings with it at all times. The δέ is the transition from the one of these ideas to the other. The term, ἄγαμος, unmarried, includes, as in 1 Corinthians 7:8, bachelors and widowers. With the view of illustrating the general truth which he would apply to virgins, the apostle shows first that it applies also to men. The affirmation: careth for the things of the Lord, is not absolute. It is not always so, it is true; but nothing prevents the Christian celibate from acting thus.