1 Corinthians 7:26

The present distress [τ η ν ε ν ε σ τ ω σ α ν α ν α γ κ η ν]. Enestwsan present may also express something which is not simply present, but the presence of which foreshadows and inaugurates something to come. Hence it may be rendered impending or setting in. See on Romans 8:38. Anagkh means originally force, constraint, necessity, and this is its usual meaning in classical Greek; though in the poets it sometimes has the meaning of distress, anguish, which is very common in Hellenistic Greek. Thus Sophocles, of the approach of the crippled Philoctetes : "There falls on my ears the sound of one who creeps slow and painfully (kat' ajnagkhn." " Philoctetes, "206); and again, of the same :" Stumbling he cries for pain (uJp' ajnagkav, " 215). In the Attic orators it occurs in the sense of blood - relationship, like the Latin necessitudo a binding tie. In this sense never in the New Testament. For the original sense of necessity, see Matthew 18:9; Matthew 18:7; Luke 14:18; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Hebrews 9:16. For distress, Luke 21:23; 1 Thessalonians 3:7. The distress is that which should precede Christ's second coming, and which was predicted by the Lord himself, Matthew 24:8 sqq. Compare Luke 21:23-28.