1 Corinthians 7:25-40 "Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord..."

“Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that. I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
“I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
“If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly towards his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry. But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée, he will do well. So then, he who marries his fiancée does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.
“A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord. But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 7:25-40).

Comment:

Paul is writing to the church he founded in Corinth from Ephesus, where his travels have now taken him. The Corinthians are facing a number of divisive issues, and Paul is anxious to restore order, put an end to disagreements, and get them focused once again on what’s important. Central to this passage is Paul’s conviction, which he of course passed on to his congregations, that the world as they knew it was about to end—not in some vague, distant future, but in a matter of days or weeks. His basic message here: “Don’t make waves! If you’re married, stay married. If you’re not married, stay single. And if you’re sort of in between (“virgins” were understood to be not all single women but those who were engaged to be married), then it’s OK to go ahead with your plans.”

Apparently there was dissension in the church over how much of an upheaval the new faith should require. Should those already married be divorced? Should the engaged end their engagements? Paul’s gentle but impatient advice is that it really doesn’t matter. His personal opinion, freely expressed, is that those who are single are able to focus more completely on spiritual matters, with fewer distractions. But he doesn’t insist that everyone meet that standard. The important thing is to keep your focus on the spiritual. Everything else is secondary.   We no longer believe Jesus’ message was about an immediate end to the world. (If he believed that, he was clearly wrong, since we’re still here.) He calls us not to leave this world behind but to transform it through our faith. But Paul’s advice still resonates. We are free to make many choices about how we live our lives—who we choose to love, whether we marry or not, what careers we undertake—so long as we always remain focused on the overriding spiritual purpose of expressing our Christ Nature to create, choice by choice, the kingdom of heaven.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed