7:7
Paul was single, though he may possibly have been a widower. Single people must remain abstinent, and Paul did so. He saw this as a gift from God, freeing him to serve Christ and the gospel more fully. Marriage is also a gift (see Proverbs!). We must beware of being super-spiritual and so producing rubbish teaching. See Col 2:23, rules can have the appearance of wisdom, but in reality lack any power to restrain sensual indulgence.
7:8,9
There is some argument about whether “unmarried” refers to widowers or not. It could be the unmarried in general, but given that Paul then talks about widows, it might be that widowers are most in mind. Whatever the case it isn’t of great importance. What does matter is that Paul says it is indeed good to remain unmarried, and that is the state that Paul was in. However, it is not a sin for them to remarry, and if sexual temptation is a problem, then it is better for them to marry. Otherwise they are just subjecting themselves to unnecessary temptation. This is consistent with Paul’s teaching in the earlier verses.
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