1 Corinthians 7

1Co 7:1-40.

REPLY TO

THEIR

INQUIRIES AS TO

MARRIAGE; THE

GENERAL

PRINCIPLE IN

OTHER

THINGS

IS,

ABIDE IN

YOUR

STATION, FOR THE

TIME

IS

SHORT.

1. The Corinthians in their letter had probably asked questions which

tended to disparage marriage, and had implied that it was better to

break it off when contracted with an unbeliever.

good--that is, "expedient," because of "the present distress"; that

is, the unsettled state of the world, and the likelihood of persecutions

tearing rudely asunder those bound by marriage ties.

Heb 13:4,

in opposition to ascetic and Romish notions of superior sanctity

in celibacy, declares, "Marriage is HONORABLE IN

ALL." Another reason why in some cases celibacy may be a matter

of Christian expediency is stated in

1Co 7:34, 35,

"that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction." But these are

exceptional cases, and in exceptional times, such as those of Paul.

2. Here the general rule is given

to avoid fornication--More literally,

"on account of fornications," to which as being very prevalent at

Corinth, and not even counted sins among the heathen, unmarried persons

might be tempted. The plural, "fornications," marks irregular

lusts, as contrasted with the unity of the marriage relation

[BENGEL].

let every man have--a positive command to all who have not the gift

of continency, in fact to the great majority of the world

(1Co 7:5).

The dignity of marriage is set forth by Paul

(Eph 5:25-32),

in the fact that it signifies the mystical union between Christ and the

Church.

3, 4. The duty of cohabitation on the part of the married.

due benevolence--The oldest manuscripts read simply, "her due"; that

is, the conjugal cohabitation due by the marriage contract (compare

1Co 7:4).

4. A paradox. She hath not power over her body, and yet it is

her own. The oneness of body in which marriage places husband

and wife explains this. The one complements the other. Neither without

the other realizes the perfect ideal of man.

5. Defraud . . . not--namely, of the conjugal duty "due"

(1Co 7:3;

compare the Septuagint,

Ex 21:10).

except it be--"unless perchance" [ALFORD].

give yourselves to--literally, "be at leisure for"; be

free from interruptions for; namely, on some special "season,"

as the Greek for "time" means (compare

Ex 19:15;

Joe 2:16;

Zec 7:3).

fasting and prayer--The oldest manuscripts omit "fasting and"; an

interpolation, evidently, of ascetics.

come together--The oldest manuscripts read, "be together," namely,

in the regular state of the married.

Satan--who often thrusts in his temptations to unholy thoughts amidst

the holiest exercises.

for your incontinency--because of your inability to "contain"

(1Co 7:9)

your natural propensities, which Satan would take advantage of.

6. by permission . . . not of commandment--not

you, not as a commandment." "This" refers to the directions,

1Co 7:2-5.

7. even as I--having tile gift of continence

(Mt 19:11, 12).

This wish does not hold good absolutely, else the extension of mankind

and of the Church would cease; but relatively to "the present distress"

(1Co 7:26).

8. to the unmarried--in general, of both sexes

(1Co 7:10, 11).

and widows--in particular.

even as I--unmarried

(1Co 9:5).

9. if they cannot contain--that is, "have not continency."

burn--with the secret flame of lust, which lays waste the whole inner

man. (Compare AUGUSTINE [Holy Virginity]). The dew of God's grace

is needed to stifle the flame, which otherwise would thrust men at last

into hell-fire.

10. not I, but the Lord--(Compare

1Co 7:12, 25, 40).

In ordinary cases he writes on inspired apostolic authority

(1Co 14:37);

but here on the direct authority of the Lord Himself

(Mr 10:11, 12).

In both cases alike the things written are inspired by the Spirit of

God "but not all for all time, nor all on the primary truths of the

faith" [ALFORD].

Let not the wife depart--literally, "be separated from." Probably

the separation on either side, whether owing to the husband or to the

wife, is forbidden.

11. But and if she depart--or "be separated." If the sin of

separation has been committed, that of a new marriage is not to be

added

(Mt 5:32).

be reconciled--by appeasing her husband's displeasure, and recovering

his good will.

let not . . . husband put away . . . wife--In

Mt 5:32

the only exception allowed is, "saving for the cause of

fornication."

12. to the rest--the other classes (besides "the married,"

1Co 7:10,

where both husband and wife are believers) about whom the Corinthians

had inquired, namely, those involved in mixed marriages with

unbelievers.

not the Lord--by any direct command spoken by Him.

she be pleased--Greek, "consents": implying his wish in the first

instance, with which hers concurs.

13. the woman--a believer.

let her not leave him--"her husband," instead of "him," is the

reading of the oldest manuscripts The Greek for "leave" is the

same as in

1Co 7:12,

"put away"; translate, "Let her not put away [that is, part

with] her husband." The wife had the power of effecting a divorce by

Greek and Roman law.

14. sanctified--Those inseparably connected with the people of God

are hallowed thereby, so that the latter may retain the connection

without impairing their own sanctity (compare

1Ti 4:5);

nay, rather imparting to the former externally some degree of their own

hallowed character, and so preparing the way for the unbeliever

becoming at last sanctified inwardly by faith.

marriage tie between them.

the fact of the husband being a "brother," that is, a Christian, though

the wife is not so, that sanctifies or hallows the union.

else . . . children unclean--that is, beyond the hallowed pale of

God's people: in contrast to "holy," that is, all that is within the

consecrated limits [CONYBEARE and

HOWSON]. The phraseology accords with

that of the Jews, who regarded the heathen as "unclean," and all of the

elect nation as "holy," that is, partakers of the holy covenant.

Children were included in the covenant, as God made it not only with

Abraham, but with his "seed after" him

(Ge 17:7).

So the faith of one Christian parent gives to the children a near

relationship to the Church, just as if both parents were Christians

(compare

Ro 11:16).

Timothy, the bearer of this Epistle, is an instance in point

(Ac 16:1).

Paul appeals to the Corinthians as recognizing the principle, that the

infants of heathen parents would not be admissible to Christian

baptism, because there is no faith on the part of the parents; but

where one parent is a believer, the children are regarded as not aliens

from, but admissible even in infancy as sharers in, the Christian

covenant: for the Church presumes that the believing parent will rear

the child in the Christian faith. Infant baptism tacitly superseded

infant circumcision, just as the Christian Lord's day gradually

superseded the Jewish sabbath, without our having any express command

for, or record of, transference. The setting aside of circumcision and

of sabbaths in the case of the Gentiles was indeed expressly commanded

the Lord's day were tacitly adopted, not expressly enacted. No explicit

mention of it occurs till IRENÆUS in the

third century; but no society of Christians that we read of disputed

its propriety till fifteen hundred years after Christ. Anabaptists

would have us defer baptism till maturity as the child cannot

understand the nature of it. But a child may be made heir of an estate:

it is his, though incapable at the time of using or comprehending its

advantage; he is not hereafter to acquire the title and claim to

it: he will hereafter understand his claim, and be capable of employing

his wealth: he will then, moreover, become responsible for the use he

makes of it [ARCHBISHOP WHATELY].

15. if . . . depart--that is, wishes for separation. Translate,

"separateth himself": offended with her Christianity, and refusing to

live with her unless she renounce it.

brother or a sister is not under bondage--is not bound to renounce

the faith for the sake of retaining her unbelieving husband [HAMMOND].

So

De 13:6;

Mt 10:35-37;

Lu 14:26.

The believer does not lie under the same obligation in the case of a

union with an unbeliever, as in the case of one with a believer. In the

former case he is not bound not to separate, if the unbeliever separate

or "depart," in the latter nothing but "fornication" justifies

separation [PHOTIUS in Æcumenius].

but God hath called us to peace--Our Christian calling is one that

tends to "peace"

(Ro 12:18),

not quarrelling; therefore the believer should not ordinarily depart

from the unbelieving consort

(1Co 7:12-14),

on the one hand; and on the other, in the exceptional case of the

unbeliever desiring to depart, the believer is not bound to force the

other party to stay in a state of continual discord

(Mt 5:32).

Better still it would be not to enter into such unequal alliances at

all

(1Co 7:40;

2Co 6:14).

16. What knowest thou but that by staying with thy unbelieving partner

thou mayest save him or her? Enforcing the precept to stay with the

unbelieving consort

(1Co 7:12-14).

So Ruth the Moabitess became a convert to her husband's faith: and

Joseph and Moses probably gained over their wives. So conversely the

unbelieving husband may be won by the believing wife

(1Pe 3:1)

[CALVIN]. Or else

(1Co 7:15),

if thy unbelieving consort wishes to depart, let him go, so that thou

mayest live "in peace": for thou canst not be sure of converting

him, so as to make it obligatory on thee at all costs to stay with

him against his will [MENOCHIUS and ALFORD].

save--be the instrument of salvation to

(Jas 5:20).

17. But--Greek, "If not." "Only." Caution that believers should

not make this direction

(1Co 7:16;

as ALFORD explains it) a ground for separating "of

themselves"

(1Co 7:12-14).

Or, But if there be no hope of gaining over the

unbeliever, still let the general principle be maintained, "As the

Lord hath allotted to each, as God hath called each, so let

him walk" (so the Greek in the oldest reading); let him walk in

the path allotted to him and wherein he was called. The heavenly

calling does not set aside our earthly callings.

so ordain I in all churches--Ye also therefore should obey.

18. not become uncircumcised--by surgical operation

(1 Maccabees 1:15;

JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 12.5.1]). Some

Christians in excess of anti-Jewish feeling might be tempted to this.

let him not be circumcised--as the Judaizing Christians would have

him

(Ac 15:1, 5, 24;

Ga 5:2).

19. Circumcision . . . nothing, but . . .

keeping of . . . commandments of God--namely, is all in

all. In

Ga 5:6

this "keeping of the commandments of God" is defined to be "faith which

worketh by love"; and in

Ga 6:15,

"a new creature." Circumcision was a commandment of God: but not for

ever, as "love."

20. the same calling--that is, the condition from which he is

called a Jew, a Greek, a slave, or a freeman.

21. care not for it--Let it not be a trouble to thee that thou art a

servant or slave.

use it rather--Continue rather in thy state as a servant

(1Co 7:20;

Ga 3:28;

1Ti 6:2).

The Greek, "But if even thou mayest be made free,

use it," and the context

(1Co 7:20, 22)

favors this view [CHRYSOSTOM,

BENGEL, and

ALFORD].

This advice (if this translation be right) is not absolute, as the

spirit of the Gospel is against slavery. What is advised here is,

contentment under one's existing condition

(1Co 7:24),

though an undesirable one, since in our union with Christ all outward

disparities of condition are compensated

(1Co 7:22).

Be not unduly impatient to cast off "even" thy condition as a

servant by unlawful means

(1Pe 2:13-18);

as, for example, Onesimus did by fleeing

(Phm 10-18).

The precept

(1Co 7:23),

"Become not (so the Greek) the servants of men," implies plainly

that slavery is abnormal (compare

Le 25:42).

"Men stealers," or slave dealers, are classed in

1Ti 1:10,

with "murderers" and "perjurers."

NEANDER,

GROTIUS,

&c., explain, "If called, being a slave, to Christianity, be

content--but yet, if also thou canst be free (as a still

additional good, which if thou canst not attain, be satisfied

without it; but which, if offered to thee, is not to be despised),

make use of the opportunity of becoming free, rather than by

neglecting it to remain a slave." I prefer this latter view, as more

according to the tenor of the Gospel, and fully justified by the

Greek.

22. the Lord's freeman--

(Phm 16)

--rather, "freedman." Though a slave externally, spiritually made

free by the Lord: from sin,

Joh 8:36;

from the law,

Ro 8:2;

from "circumcision,"

1Co 7:19;

Ga 5:1.

Christ's servant--

(1Co 9:21).

Love makes Christ's service perfect freedom

(Mt 11:29, 30;

Ga 5:13;

1Pe 2:16).

23. be not ye--Greek, "become not ye." Paul here changes from

"thou"

(1Co 7:21)

to "ye."

YE ALL

are "bought" with the blood of Christ, whatever be your earthly state

(1Co 6:20).

"Become not servants to men," either externally, or spiritually; the

former sense applying to the free alone: the latter to Christian

freemen and slaves alike, that they should not be servile adherents to

their party leaders at Corinth

(1Co 3:21, 22;

Mt 23:8-10;

2Co 11:20);

nor indeed slaves to men generally, so far as their condition admits.

The external and internal conditions, so far as is attainable, should

correspond, and the former be subservient to the latter (compare

1Co 7:21, 32-35).

24. abide with God--being chiefly careful of the footing on which he

stands towards God rather than that towards men. This clause, "with

God," limits the similar precept in

1Co 7:20.

A man may cease to "abide in the calling wherein he was called," and

yet not violate the precept here. If a man's calling be not favorable

to his "abiding with God" (retaining holy fellowship with Him), he may

use lawful means to change from it (compare Note, see on

1Co 7:21).

25. no commandment of the Lord: yet . . . my

judgment--I have no express revelation from the Lord

commanding it, but I give my judgment (opinion); namely,

under the ordinary inspiration which accompanied the apostles in all

their canonical writings (compare

1Co 7:40;

1Co 14:37;

1Th 4:15).

The Lord inspires me in this case to give you only a

recommendation, which you are free to adopt or reject--not a

positive command. In the second case

(1Co 7:10, 11)

it was a positive command; for the Lord had already made known His will

(Mal 2:14, 15;

Mt 5:31, 32).

In the third case

(1Co 7:12),

the Old Testament commandment of God to put away strange wives

(Ezr 10:3),

Paul by the Spirit revokes.

mercy of the Lord--

(1Ti 1:13).

He attributes his apostleship and the gifts accompanying it (including

inspiration) to God's grace alone.

faithful--in dispensing to you the inspired directions received by me

from the Lord.

26. I suppose--"I consider."

this--namely, "for a man so to be," that is, in the same state in which

he is

(1Co 7:27).

for--by reason of.

the present distress--the distresses to which believers were then

beginning to be subjected, making the married state less desirable than

the single; and which would prevail throughout the world before the

destruction of Jerusalem, according to Christ's prophecy

(Mt 24:8-21;

compare

Ac 11:28).

27. Illustrating the meaning of "so to be,"

1Co 7:26.

Neither the married (those "bound to a wife") nor the unmarried (those

"loosed from a wife") are to "seek" a change of state (compare

1Co 7:20, 24).

28. trouble in the flesh--Those who marry, he says, shall incur

"trouble in the flesh" (that is, in their outward state, by reason of

the present distress), not sin, which is the trouble of the spirit.

but I spare you--The emphasis in the Greek is on "I." My motive

in advising you so is, to "spare you" such trouble in the flesh.

So ALFORD after

CALVIN,

BENGEL, and others.

ESTIUS from

AUGUSTINE

explains it, "I spare you further details of the inconveniences of

matrimony, lest even the incontinent may at the peril of lust be

deterred from matrimony: thus I have regard for your infirmity." The

antithesis in the Greek of "I . . . you" and "such"

favors the former.

29. this I say--A summing up of the whole, wherein he draws the

practical inference from what precedes

(1Co 15:50).

the time--the season (so the Greek) of this present

dispensation up to the coming of the Lord

(Ro 13:11).

He uses the Greek expression which the Lord used in

Lu 21:8;

Mr 13:33.

short--literally, "contracted."

it remaineth--The oldest manuscripts read, "The time (season) is

shortened as to what remains, in order that both they," &c.; that

is, the effect which the shortening of the time ought to have is, "that

for the remaining time (henceforth), both they," &c. The clause, "as

to what remains," though in construction belonging to the previous

clause, in sense belongs to the following. However,

CYPRIAN and

Vulgate support English Version.

as though they had none--We ought to consider nothing as our own in

real or permanent possession.

30. they that weep . . . wept not--(Compare

2Co 6:10).

they that buy . . . possessed not--(Compare

Isa 24:1, 2).

Christ specifies as the condemning sin of the men of Sodom not merely

their open profligacy, but that "they bought, they sold," &c., as men

whose all was in this world

(Lu 17:28).

"Possessed" in the Greek implies a holding fast of a

possession; this the Christian will not do, for his "enduring

substance" is elsewhere

(Heb 10:34).

31. not abusing it--not abusing it by an overmuch using

of it. The meaning of "abusing" here is, not so much perverting,

as using it to the full [BENGEL]. We are to

use it, "not to take our fill" of its pursuits as our chief aim

(compare

Lu 10:40-42).

As the planets while turning on their own axis, yet revolve round the

sun; so while we do our part in our own worldly sphere, God is to be

the center of all our desires.

fashion--the present fleeting form. Compare

Ps 39:6,

"vain show";

Ps 73:20,

"a dream";

Jas 4:14,

"a vapor."

passeth away--not merely shall pass away, but is

now actually passing away. The image is drawn from a

shifting scene in a play represented on the stage

(1Jo 2:17).

Paul inculcates not so much the outward denial of earthly things, as

the inward spirit whereby the married and the rich, as well as the

unmarried and the poor, would be ready to sacrifice all for Christ's

sake.

32. without carefulness--I would have you to be not merely "without

trouble," but "without distracting cares" (so the Greek).

careth--if he uses aright the advantages of his condition.

34. difference also--Not merely the unmarried and the married man

differ in their respective duties, but also the wife and the

virgin. Indeed a woman undergoes a greater change of condition than

a man in contracting marriage.

35. for your own profit--not to display my apostolic authority.

not . . . cast a snare upon you--image from throwing a noose over

an animal in hunting. Not that by hard injunctions I may entangle you

with the fear of committing sin where there is no sin.

comely--befitting under present circumstances.

attend upon--literally, "assiduously wait on"; sitting

down to the duty. Compare

Lu 10:39,

Mary;

Lu 2:37,

"Anna . . . a widow, who departed not from the temple, but

served God with fastings and prayers night and day"

(1Ti 5:5).

distraction--the same Greek as "cumbered"

(Lu 10:40,

Martha).

36. behaveth . . . uncomely--is not treating his daughter well in

leaving her unmarried beyond the flower of her age, and thus debarring

her from the lawful gratification of her natural feeling as a

marriageable woman.

need so require--if the exigencies of the case require it; namely,

regard to the feelings and welfare of his daughter. Opposed to "having

no necessity"

(1Co 7:37).

let them marry--the daughter and her suitor.

37. steadfast--not to be turned from his purpose by the obloquy of the

world.

having no necessity--arising from the natural inclinations of the

daughter.

power over his . . . will--when, owing to his daughter's will not

opposing his will, he has power to carry into effect his will or wish.

decreed--determined.

38. her--The oldest manuscripts have "his own virgin daughter."

but--The oldest manuscripts have "and."

39. bound by the law--The oldest manuscripts omit "by the law."

only in the Lord--Let her marry only a Christian

(2Co 6:14).

40. happier--

(1Co 7:1, 28, 34, 35).

I think also--"I also think"; just as you Corinthians and your

teachers think much of your opinions, so I also give my

opinion by inspiration; so in

1Co 7:25,

"my judgment" or opinion. Think does not imply doubt, but often

a matter of well-grounded assurance

(Joh 5:39).