1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Answers to Corinthian Questions regarding Marriage, 25-40.

1 Corinthians 7:25. Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. When the apostle thus sharply distinguishes between what he utters by authority under immediate inspiration and what, in the exercise of his own Christian wisdom, he judges to be right and recommends to be done, we may be sure that wherever no such intimation as this is given, he is to be understood as speaking authoritatively, both in the expression of truth and in the giving of commands.

1 Corinthians 7:26. I think ... this is good for the present distress. [2] What was that? Some say, the great dearth in the reign of Claudius (Acts 11:28); others, the existing troubles in Corinth; others still, the calamities that were to usher in the destruction of Jerusalem, on the Lord's Second Advent. To us the reference seems rather to be to that breaking up of all social ties which Christianity was occasioning (Luke 12:31-33; Acts 17:5), and the imminent convulsive overthrow of the whole Jewish state.

[2] In classical Greek the word here used (άναγκή) more frequently denotes ‘necessity;' but it is very often used in the sense of ‘calamity,' ‘straits,' ‘distress, in the LXX. and in Josephus.

it is good for a man to be as he is if married, to remain so; if single, single to remain, as is expressly said in 1 Corinthians 7:27.

1 Corinthians 7:28... if thou marry, then hast not sinned... Yet such shall have tribulation... and I would spare you spare you this tribulation.

The next three verses are a digression, or rather a parenthetical episode, consisting of general counsels suggested by the unsettled and shifting condition of all things at that time, which may be summed up in weanedness from all present objects, ties, affections, and pursuits after which he returns to his details.

1 Corinthians 7:29. But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened. It is not the general ‘shortness of time' which is here expressed, but the great fact that since all preparatory economies have passed away, and the final one has come there being nothing now between but the work preparatory to the second coming of Christ we should now, more than ever, sit loose to earthly things. that henceforth they that have wives may be as though they had none, etc.

1 Corinthians 7:31. and those that use the world, as not abusing it. The word here used signifies either using it ‘down,' that is, using it ‘to the full,' or ‘the uttermost,' or ‘misusing' or ‘misapplying' it. This last is the most natural sense here.

After this digression the apostle now continues his answers to the inquiries of the Corinthians regarding marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:32. But I would have you to be free from cares that is, from the causes of them.

He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord. ...

1 Corinthians 7:33. but he that is married... how he may please his wife. In other words, the married have one care more than the single.

1 Corinthians 7:35. And this I say. .. not that I may cast a snare (Gr. ‘noose') upon you not to interfere with your liberty to marry or remain single.

but for that which is seemly suitable in present circumstances and most conducive to the ends of your Christian calling.

The next three verses as they stand in our version, or any version strictly literal are very liable to be misunderstood. The directions which they give are given to the Christian father with respect to his unmarried daughter. In the matter of marriage, the father according to the custom of those times had supreme control over his daughter. The supplement of one word to the translation the word ‘ daughter ' will make the real sense quite clear.

1 Corinthians 7:36. But if any man thinketh that he behaveth himself uncomely towards his virgin daughter, if she be past the flower of her age past the usual age of marriage. and if need so requireth if there is any good reason for not delaying her marriage (such as in a vicious community may be easily conjectured).

let him do what he will, he sinneth not (in giving his consent): let them marry.

1 Corinthians 7:37. But he that ... having no necessity (to carry out the marriage) hath determined... to keep his own virgin daughter, shall do well.

1 Corinthians 7:38. So then (to sum up) both he that giveth his own virgin daughter in marriage doeth well, and he that giveth her not... shall do better. To give her away would not be wrong, but in the trying circumstances supposed throughout this chapter, to keep her at home would, for many reasons, be better.

On one point more the re-marriage of widows a question would seem to have been asked, and is here answered.

1 Corinthians 7:39. A wife is bound [1] for so long time as her husband liveth; but if he be dead Gr. ‘fallen asleep' a phrase used in the New Testament only of believers, who, therefore, were no doubt here in view. And it is worthy of notice that in Romans 7:2, where the same statement is made, but of husband and wife in general, the word is not that used here, but the naked term ‘dead' (“if the husband be dead ”) .

[1] The words “by the law” in the received text have scarcely any authority, and have manifestly crept in from Romans 7:2, where the same statement about the married occurs of life, that your prayers (joint prayers) be not hindered. (1 Peter 3:7). Disregard of this law of the Christian life has contributed more to blight the most promising appearances of living Christianity, and render sickly the real Christianity of the married, than almost any other cause.

she is free to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord only to a believer.

This is a fundamental principle in the Christian life, having its ground in the necessity of entire sympathy in spiritual things, if the Christian life in the married is to be realized at all. So much was this in view, that some of the instructions given to the married presuppose and derive their emphasis from this. Thus: “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being joint heirs of the grace.”

1 Corinthians 7:40. But she is happier if she abide as she is in her widowhood.

after my judgment: and I think that I also have the Spirit of God ‘While others make high pretensions to Divine authority, I think it no presumption in me at least to claim if;' a mode of expression, the half irony of which only marks the more strongly his consciousness of possessing it.

Note. While here the re-marriage of widows is discouraged, the reverse seems to be counselled in 1 Timothy 5:14. But the difference lies in the circumstances. Here the advice to remain as they were is general; there the advice that younger widows should marry is grounded on certain things said about them in the preceding verses, in the light of which, viewed as a question of expediency in such circumstances, the advice would commend itself to every one.