1 Corinthians 7:38

“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 words he that giveth in marriage, καί, both, which serves to coordinate the subjects of the two parallel propositions: “both...and...” This particle was suggested to Paul, on beginning his sentence, by his feeling of the equality of the two subjects in their doing well, their καλῶς ποιεῖν. But as he proceeds in the expression of his thought, the idea of equality gives place to that of superiority in the second father, and he substitutes at the head of the second proposition, as we have it in the received reading, the δέ, but, which expresses a contrast or a gradation, for the καί, and, which was in his original intention. It is easy to see how the reading of the Byz., notwithstanding its apparent incorrectness, corresponds better with the movement of the apostle's thought than the Alex. and Greco-Latin reading.

There is room for hesitation between the received reading, ἐκγαμίζων, and the Alex. reading, γαμίζων. But there can be little doubt that the words τὴν ἑαυτοῦ παρθένον (א A) or τὴν παρθένον ἑαυτοῦ (B D), his virgin, which are omitted by the T. R., are a gloss. It was easy to add them to fill in the ellipsis of the object, but there was not the slightest reason for rejecting them, if they had existed in the text. Meyer therefore rightly judges that here again the Alex. text is corrupt. There is thus room for supposing that ἐκγαμίζων is the true reading. In any case, it better expresses the feeling of self-deprivation on the part of the father.

The reading of the Vatic. alone, ποιήσει, will do, in the first proposition, is certainly a mistake. On the other hand, the future may well be held to be the true reading in the second proposition, since two other Alex. here agree with the Vatic. It was, no doubt, to complete the parallelism that the future was introduced into this MS. in the preceding member of the sentence, and even by some into 1 Corinthians 7:37. The present was preferable in 1 Corinthians 7:37, which contained a general maxim. But here there is something prophetic, and consequently encouraging, in the future: “This father will see that he has taken the better course.”

This well and better sum up the whole chapter. The well proves that in the eyes of Paul there is neither defilement nor even inferiority of holiness in marriage, and that the better is uttered by him from the prudential point of view, either as to the sufferings avoided or as to the more complete personal liberty for the service of Christ. St. Paul could speak of this position from experience. What would have become of his ministry among the Gentiles on the day when he should have exchanged his independence as a celibate for the duties and troubles of family life? It may be objected, no doubt, that if Paul's principle became a generally observed maxim, the existence of the race would be compromised. But the apostle knew well that Christians will always be a minority in human society, and that among Christians themselves there will not be more than a minority possessing the special gift of which he spoke in 1 Corinthians 7:7.