1 Corinthians 7:35

“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 preference, and of letting his private position influence his directions as an apostle. In all that he has just said, he has had in view nothing but the real advantage of those who have consulted him: the simplest and easiest possible consecration of their whole life to the Lord, without any concern to divert them from it.

The word βρόχος denotes the noose thrown in the chase to capture game. Some have thought that Paul meant that while thus recommending celibacy, he did not seek to make them fall into impurity. But would he have needed to set aside such a suspicion? The figure of throwing a net over them contains a wholly different idea: “I do not claim to make slaves of you, to hamper your liberty by forcing you to live to my taste, and according to my personal sympathies; but this is what I have in view.” And he then expounds the ideal of Christian celibacy in the elevated and pure light in which he contemplates it, that is to say, as a state of supreme comeliness through the consecration of body and spirit to the Lord.

Τὸ εὔσχημον denotes perfect fitness. Natural innocence raised to heavenly saintship through union with Christ, such, in the eyes of the apostle, is the incomparable adornment of the virgin. This first term refers to state; the second rather to action. The reading by far most widely spread is εὐπάρεδρον, a term compounded of three words: ἕζομαι, I seat myself; παρά, by the side of, and εὖ, well, honourably. The word therefore calls up the figure of a person nobly seated at the Lord's side. But two Byz. documents read, the one εὐπρόσεδρον, the other πρόσεδρον, an expression if possible still more beautiful, the preposition πρός adding to the idea of παρά, beside, that of being turned toward (John 1:1): the state, that is, of a person seated beside the Lord, with his eye turned to Him. Of the two adjectives πάρεδρος and πρόσεδρος, the most frequently used is πάρεδρος; it is translated by assessor, colleague, disciple, etc. The word πρόσεδρος scarcely figures in Greek literature; a reason for giving it the preference, all the more that to the idea of assiduity it adds a notion of tenderness which is foreign to the other. Let us add that in Hellenistic Greek, which must have been especially familiar to the apostle, the use of the word προσεδρία is established to denote assiduity (3Ma 4:15). These reasons will have some weight with those who think that in view of the different texts they ought to preserve their liberty of judgment.

The neuter of the two adjectives may be regarded as the equivalent of the verb in the infinitive (with the article); only by the form which the apostle chooses the act becomes in a sense a quality inherent in the subject.

The εὖ, well, in the two adjectives, expresses the propriety, the dignity, the moral beauty of this position, and of the activity of the Christian virgin; here is the excellence, the καλόν, of celibacy, the utility, the συμφέρον of which has been described in 1 Corinthians 7:34-35. Finally, the adverb so full of gravity, ἀπερισπάστως, literally, without dragging in different directions, without distractions, closes this development with a last word which sums it up in its entirety; comp. the ἕως ἄρτι, 1 Corinthians 4:13. The term reminds us of the double solicitude which divides the heart of the married woman: on the one side, concern for the will of the Lord; on the other, concern about the will of her husband and the exigencies of the world.

It is difficult to think that Paul, in writing these exquisite lines on the position of the young Christian, had not in view the picture drawn, Luke 10:39-42, of Mary of Bethany seated at the Saviour's feet and hearing His words. As has been pointed out, the μεριμνᾷ of Paul (1 Corinthians 7:34) corresponds to the μεριμνᾷς of Luke, the εὐπρόσεδρον to the παρακαθίσασα, and the ἀπερισπάστως to the περιεσπᾶτο and the τυρβάζῃ.

The apostle has concluded the exposition of his reasons. The present excellence of celibacy for the virgin arises from the greater facility of life which it will procure for her; and to this advantage another is added, which belongs to the state of celibacy in general: the perfect simplicity of the task for which the unmarried Christian lives.

From these considerations Paul finally draws the practical conclusion. He puts two cases, as he had done in regard to married Christians, 1 Corinthians 7:12; 1 Corinthians 7:15, and gives his decision as to the one (1 Corinthians 7:36), and as to the other (1 Corinthians 7:37); after which he sums up his judgment (1 Corinthians 7:38).

The first case: