V. MARRIAGE AND CELIBACY. CHAP. 7. Some commentators begin the second part of the Epistle here. According to them, the apostle up to this point answered the reports which had been made to him _viva voce_ (1 Corinthians 1:11 and 1 Corinthians 5:1); now he takes up the letter of the Corinthians to ans... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman; 2. but, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” The form περὶ δέ, _now concerning_, is common in the classics (see Heinrici, p. 60). Paul thereby... [ Continue Reading ]
Notwithstanding the intrinsic excellence of celibacy, marriage should be the rule in practice. Such is the general meaning of this first passage.... [ Continue Reading ]
“Let the husband render unto the wife her due, and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 4. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. 5. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent, for a time,... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now I speak this by permission, not of commandment. 7. But I wish that all men were even as I myself; yet every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.” The remark which the apostle makes in 1 Corinthians 7:6 might be applied to the foregoing prohibition: “De... [ Continue Reading ]
“I say then to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as 1 Corinthians 1:9. But if they cannot contain, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.” The δέ, _then_, indicates the transition from the grounds to the final sentence. On καλόν, _good_, see on 1 Cor... [ Continue Reading ]
It is a good thing (καλόν) to remain free from every bond, if one can do so without sinning; but if sin is to be the result, it is better to marry; for sin is an evil, while marriage is not. The compound word ἐγκρατεύεσθαι includes three ideas: _to possess in oneself_ (ἐν) _the power of_ (κρατεῖν) _... [ Continue Reading ]
“But unto the already married I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife depart not from the husband, 11. that if she is parted, she ought to remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and that the husband do not put away his wife.” The γεγαμηκότες, _married_, are contrasted, on the one h... [ Continue Reading ]
The rules to be followed in the case of two Christian spouses (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).... [ Continue Reading ]
“But to the rest, speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away; 13. and the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not put away her husband.” Those whom the ap... [ Continue Reading ]
“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother; since otherwise were your children unclean; but now are they holy.” The essential idea is that expressed by the word put at the head of the first and second proposition: ἡγίασται, _is sanct... [ Continue Reading ]
“But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such things; but God hath called us in peace. 16. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? and how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” The rule to be followed... [ Continue Reading ]
“Save this, that as the Lord hath distributed to every man, as God hath called every one, so let him walk; and so ordain I in all the Churches.” The particle εἰ μή, _unless_, or, _if it is not so_, has been explained in a multitude of ways. Some have connected it with the preceding verse, in this se... [ Continue Reading ]
To illustrate the spirit of the prescriptions which he has just given, and to trace at the same time the line of conduct to be followed in certain analogous cases which occurred in the life of the Church, the apostle widens the question, and shows that the general viewpoint which he has taken, to so... [ Continue Reading ]
“Is any man called being circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised; is any called in uncircumcision, let him not be circumcised. 19. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is everything.” Whether we give to the two verbs in the indicat... [ Continue Reading ]
“Let every man remain faithful to the calling wherewith he was called.” Literally: “Let every man abide in the calling wherewith he was called.” The word κλῆσις, _call, vocation_, cannot denote the earthly state or profession; it is applied here, as elsewhere, to the call to salvation. The pronoun ᾗ... [ Continue Reading ]
“Thou wast called being a slave, care not for it; but if therewith thou mayest be made free, use it rather.” Here in this domain is the extreme case which can be conceived. Few situations could appear so incompatible with Christian holiness, dignity, and freedom as that of a slave. But a multitude... [ Continue Reading ]
“For he that was called in the Lord being a slave, is the Lord's freedman; likewise he that was called being free is Christ's slave. 23. Ye were bought with a price: become not the slaves of men!” According to most commentators, 1 Corinthians 7:22 is intended to justify the counsel to prefer servit... [ Continue Reading ]
The second person plural which comes in here shows that the apostle is addressing the entire Church without distinction. If some from being slaves have become free, and the others from being free have become slaves, it is because a purchase has been made; this purchase, so far as it is a ransom, has... [ Continue Reading ]
“Brethren, let every man wherein he was called, therein abide before God.” The principal idea is not that of abiding _before God_ in that state; it is abiding _in that state_, and that _before God._ By these last words, Paul reminds his readers of the moral act which has the power of sanctifying and... [ Continue Reading ]
“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.” The form of transition used by the apostle would lead us to suppose that he is replying to a special article of the letter of the Corinthians (comp. 1 Cor... [ Continue Reading ]
: The present state of things.... [ Continue Reading ]
In this third part of the chapter, the apostle discusses the question of marriage as it relates to virgins (1 Corinthians 7:25-38), adding at the end a word in regard to widows (1 Corinthians 7:39-40). No doubt in the first part of the chapter (1 Corinthians 7:1-9) he was occupied with the formation... [ Continue Reading ]
“I think therefore that this state is good for the present distress, seeing that it is good for man so to be.” This verse has been translated in a multitude of ways. As Paul seems to say two things at the same time, Rückert, Meyer, Edwards hold some incorrectness. After dictating the words: “I think... [ Continue Reading ]
“Thou art bound to a wife, seek not to be loosed; thou art loosed from a wife, seek not a wife. 28. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned; nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh; but I would spare you.” The apostle would not, however, hav... [ Continue Reading ]
“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 worl... [ Continue Reading ]
“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 exce... [ Continue Reading ]
: The general suitableness of celibacy.... [ Continue Reading ]
The aorist γαμήσας signifies: _from the time he is married._ The step once taken, what follows is the necessary result. But it is no blame which Paul thereby throws on marriage; it is a fact which he states to justify the greater _difficulty_ a married man experiences in realizing in this state enti... [ Continue Reading ]
“The married woman also is divided. The unmarried virgin careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she that is married careth for the things of the world, [seeking] how she may please her husband.” The text, at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 7:34, has be... [ Continue Reading ]
“And this I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.” Paul feels the need of defending himself from the charge which might be brought against him of giving scope to an individual preferen... [ Continue Reading ]
“But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will; he sinneth not; let them marry.” Paul introduces his advice by δέ, _but_, because this counsel is in contrast to the thought expressed, 1 Corin... [ Continue Reading ]
“Nevertheless, he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his own heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.” This long sentence, loaded with incidental propositions, fully represents all the turnings which the father's... [ Continue Reading ]
“So then he that giveth in marriage doeth well, but he that giveth not in marriage will do better.” We again find here one of those ὥστε, _so that_, with which Paul, in this Epistle, loves to formulate his final judgment on a question which he has finished treating. There is in Greek, before the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
VERS. 39, 40: widows. It has been asked why Paul returns to widows, after having already given in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 the direction which concerns them. Reuss supposes that Paul forgot what he had said in these verses, or that he judged it suitable to inculcate it anew. But in the verses quoted, Pau... [ Continue Reading ]