1 Corinthians 7 - Introduction

He treateth of marriage, shewing it to be a remedy against fornication; and that the bond thereof ought not lightly to be dissolved. Every man must be content with his vocation. Virginity wherefore to be embraced: and for what respects we may either marry, or abstain from marrying.

Anno Domini 57.

TO understand the precepts and advices contained in this chapter, it is necessary to know, that among the Jews, every person whose age and circumstances allowed him to marry, was reckoned to break the divine precept, increase and multiply, if he continued to live in a single state—A doctrine which the false teacher, who was a Jew, may be supposed to have inculcated, to ingratiate himself with the Corinthians. Someof the Grecian philosophers however affirmed, that if a man would live happily, he should not marry. Nay, of the Pythagoreans, some represented the matrimonial connection as inconsistent with purity. The brethren at Corinth, therefore, on the one hand, being urged to marriage by the doctrine of the Judaizers, and on the other, being restrained from marriage by the doctrine of the philosophers, and by the inconveniences attending marriage in the then persecuted state of the church, they judged it prudent to write to the Apostle the letter mentioned, 1 Corinthians 7:1 in which they desired him to inform them, whether they might not, without sin, abstainfrom marriage altogether? and whether such as were already married might not dissolve their marriages, on account of the evils to which, in their persecuted state, they were exposed? The letter, in which the Corinthians proposed these and some other questions to the Apostle, has long ago been lost. But had it been preserved, it would have illustrated many passages of the Epistles to the Corinthians, which are now dark, because we are ignorant of the circumstances to which the Apostle in these passages alluded.

To the question, concerning the obligation which persons grown up and settled in the world, were under to enter into the married state, St. Paul answered, That although, in the present distress, it was better for them to have no matrimonial connections at all, yet, to avoid fornication, every one who could not live chastely in a single state, he told them, was bound to marry; for which reason, he explained to them the duties of married persons, as expressly established by the commandment of God, 1 Corinthians 7:1.—But what he was farther to say in answer to their question, he told them, was not an injunction, like his declaration of the duties of marriage, but only an advice suited to their present condition, 1 Corinthians 7:6.—Namely, he wished that all of them could, like him, live continently unmarried, 1 Corinthians 7:7.—Then more particularly addressing the widowers and widows among them, he assured them that it would be good for them, if, in the then persecuted state of the church, they could live chastely unmarried, as he was doing, 1 Corinthians 7:8.—But at the same time he told them, if they found that too difficult, it was better for them to marry than to be tormented with evil desires, 1 Corinthians 7:9.

Next, in answer to their question concerning the separation and divorce of married persons, the Apostle considered, first, the case of the married who were both of them Christians. To these, his command and the command of Christ was, that the wife depart not from her husband, on account of the inconveniences attending marriage, 1 Corinthians 7:10.—However, if any wife, finding the troubles of a married state, in those times of persecution, too great for her to bear, separated herself from her husband, she was in her state of separation to marry no other man, because her marriage still subsisted. And if, on trial, she found she could not live continently in a state of separation, she was to be reconciled to her husband. In like manner, a husband was not, on account of the inconveniences attending a married state, to put away his wife. Or, having put her away, if hecould not live chastely without her, he was to be reconciled to her, 1 Corinthians 7:11. But the last advice above given, respected only those times of most dreadful persecution.

In the second place, with respect to such Christians as were married to heathens, he told them, that what he was going to say was his commandment, and not the Lord's; meaning that the Lord, while on earth, had given no precept concerning such a case. These persons, the Apostle, by inspiration, ordered to live together, if the heathen party was willing so to do; because difference of religion does not dissolve marriage, 1 Corinthians 7:12.—And, to shew the propriety of continuing such marriages when made, he told them, that the infidel husband was sanctified, or rendered a fit husband to his believing wife, by the strength of his affection to her, notwithstanding his religion was different from her's; and that, by the same affection, an infidel wife was sanctified to her believing husband, 1 Corinthians 7:14.—But if the infidel party who proposed to depart, maliciously deserted his or her believing mate, notwithstanding due means of reconciliation had been used; the marriage was, by that desertion, dissolved with respect to the Christian party willing to adhere, and the latter was at liberty to marry another, 1 Corinthians 7:15.—In the mean time, to induce persons of both sexes who were married to heathens, to continue their marriages, he told them, it might be a means of converting their infidel yoke-fellows, 1 Corinthians 7:16.

In the first age, some of the brethren, entertaining wrong notions of the privileges conferred on them by the Gospel, fancied that on their becoming Christians, they were freed from their former political as well as religious obligations. To remove that error, the Apostle, after advising the Corinthians to continue their marriages with their unbelieving spouses, ordered every Christian to continue in the state in which he was called to believe; because the Gospel sets no person free from any innocent political, and far less from any natural obligation, 1 Corinthians 7:17.—The converted Jew was still to remain under the law of Moses, as the municipal law of Judea: and the converted Gentile was not to become a Jew, by receiving circumcision, 1 Corinthians 7:18.—Because in theaffairofmen'ssalvation,noregard is had either to circumcision or uncircumcision, but to the keeping of the commandments of God, 1 Corinthians 7:19. Every one therefore, after his conversion, was to remain in the political state in which he was converted, 1 Corinthians 7:20.—In particular, slaves after their conversion were to continue under the power of their masters as before, unless they could lawfully obtain their freedom, 1 Corinthians 7:21.—And a free man was not to make himself a slave, 1 Corinthians 7:22.—The reason was, because being bought by Christ with a price, if he became a slave of men, he might find it difficult to serve Christ, his superior Master, 1 Corinthians 7:23.—And therefore the Apostle, a third time, enjoined them to remain in the condition wherein they were called, 1 Corinthians 7:24.—This earnestness he shewed, for this reason among others, because if the brethren disobeyed the good laws of the countries where they lived; or, if such of them as were slaves ran away from their masters after their conversion, the Gospel would have been calumniated as encouraging licentiousness.

In the third place, the Apostle considered the case of those young persons who never had married, perhaps because they were not well established in the world, or were still in their father's family. This class of persons ofboth sexes, he called virgins, and declared that he had no commandment of the Lord concerning them: by which he meant, that Christ, during his ministry on earth, had given no commandment concerning them; but the Apostle gave his judgement on their case, as one who had obtained mercy from the Lord to be faithful: that is, he gave his judgement as an Apostle, who had received inspiration to enable him faithfully todeclare Christ's will, 1 Corinthians 7:25.—Beginning therefore with the case of the male virgin, he declared it to be good, in the present distress, for such to remain unmarried, 1 Corinthians 7:26.—But if they married, they were not to seek to be loosed. And if their wives happened to die, he told them, they would find it prudent not to seek a second wife, 1 Corinthians 7:27.—At the same time he declared, that if such persons married again they did not sin. The same he declared concerning the female virgin: only both the one and the other would find second marriages, in that time of persecution, attended with great bodily trouble, 1 Corinthians 7:28.

By the way, to make the Corinthians less solicitous about present pleasures and pains, the Apostle put them in mind of the brevity of life; and from that consideration, exhorted them to beware of being too much elevated with prosperity, or too much dejected with adversity, 1 Corinthians 7:29.—And to shew that he had good reasons for advising both sexes against marriage while the persecution continued, he observed, that the unmarried man, being free from the cares of a family, had more time and opportunity to please the Lord; whereas the married man was obliged to mind the things of the world, that he might please his wife, 1 Corinthians 7:32.—The same things he observed concerning wives and unmarried women, 1 Corinthians 7:34. And told them, that he gave them these advices, and pointed out to them the inconveniences of a marriage state, together with the advantages of a single life,not to throw a bond upon them; but to lead them to do what was comely, and well befitting their Christian profession, without constraint, 1 Corinthians 7:35.

Lastly, with respect to female virgins who were in their fathers' families, and under their fathers' power, the Apostle pointed out to the fathers of such virgins the considerations which were to determine them, whether they would give their daughters in marriage, or keep them single, 1 Corinthians 7:36. But see in the critical notes another view of the subject noticed in this paragraph.

This long discourse the Apostle concluded, with declaring that all women, whether old or young, are by their marriage covenant bound to their husbands as long as their husbands live. But if their husbands die, they may marry a second time. Yet he gave it as his opinion, that theywould be more happy if they remained widows, considering the persecution to which they were exposed. And in so saying, he told them he was sure he spake by the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 7:39.