1 Corinthians 7:25-28 - About virgins

7:25,26

Attention now returns to matters related to marriage, this time to those who were betrothed. The NIV, and the Greek, has “virgins”. ESV translates this as “betrothed”. ESV has probably used “betrothed” because it was common for a woman’s guardian or parents to arrange the marriage. Paul here seems to be just giving advice, rather than a command. He thinks his advice is well worth paying attention to! Paul then refers to the “present distress” or “impending crisis”. Unfortunately no has a clue what the “present distress” refers to. There have been various suggestions, including the complete lack of sexual morality in Corinth (highly unlikely, in view of what Paul said earlier), persecution of the church (again, unlikely as there is no other indication of any great persecution in the letter), or to the general state, ie our being in the “last days”. The latter would be consistent with Paul thinking that living our lives purely for Christ is the best way.

7:27,28

Paul continues to apply the principle of generally accepting the state in which are in when Christ calls us. So if a man was pledged to a woman, he should honour that commitment. We need to remember that social conditions were very different in those days. Betrothal was a far more binding commitment that engagement is in our society. Also in marriage there was much more emphasis on the social contract side of things, as opposed to the romantic side. Ie the complete opposite to how things are viewed in our society today. If a man is not committed to anyone, then he should not seek a wife. Paul immediately qualifies this with “if you do marry, you have not sinned”. Paul is giving advice, not commands here. Does that mean we can just ignore his advice? Absolutely not. In the church we have a tendency to idolise marriage. At one level this is good, as it is a justifiable and understandable counter to the collapse of marriage and commitment in much of society. The downside is that we do not place sufficient emphasis on the value of a single life, and in so doing can make it quite difficult for those who are single. The same applies to women, as to men.

Paul then says that he is offering this advice in order to  spare them trouble. Anyone who is married will know that it is not always a bed of roses! Marriage brings many joys, but there are also commitments and responsibilities, and with them sometimes trouble. Paul is realistic!