1 Corinthians 7:36-40 - I too have the Spirit of the Lord

7:36

Paul then immediately turns back to the very practical side. If someone has strong passions for his betrothed, then he should marry her, there is no sin in this. Indeed, not doing so may very well lead to sin. We see in this whole passage a mixture of deeply spiritual matters, and of being fully devoted to the Lord, combined with a very realistic acceptance of what life is really like. Too often in the church we will go to one extreme or the other. The Bible is the most balanced book in the world, and we would do well to follow its balance.

7:37,38

But if someone has freely decided to remain single for the sake of the kingdom, and have the self-control to do so, then they have chosen a good course. The ESV translation here is frankly confusing. It says “to keep her as his betrothed”. The NIV has “not to marry the virgin”. The ESV insists on translating “virgin” as “betrothed”, but here we have an example where a dynamic translation is better than a formal translation. The ESV, if it used virgin rather than betrothed, would actually be closer to the Greek, ie it is giving, as far as possible in English, a word for word translation, but in doing so it obscures the meaning. The NIV here is far better at conveying the meaning of the text.

Verse 38 sums up Paul’s position. Getting married is good, remaining single for the sake of the kingdom is even better.

7:39,40

Paul now turns to remarriage. He only applies it to women here, but surely the instruction given applies to both male and female. In 1 Tim 5:14 Paul encourages young widows to remarry, for very practical reasons. Here it would seem the instructions are perhaps aimed more at older widows. Probably the reason the instructions are given in the context of women is because men were more likely to die young. Marriage is for life, but once one partner dies the surviving partner is free to marry. However, believers should only marry believers. This applies to first marriages as well as getting married after the death of a partner. Paul will say more about this in 2 Corinthians. However, Paul continues with his advice that remaining single for the sake of the kingdom is the better option. “and I too have the Spirit of God”. Maybe some in Corinth were claiming some superior spiritual wisdom for whatever advice they were giving. Paul, too, had excellent credentials!