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NOTES for Co1 7:32

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32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
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Married life in Judaism was considered, in effect, a kind of religious duty; in the minds of believers it was connected with fulfilling the command, "be fruitful and multiply," which was given to people at the very beginning, immediately after the creation of the human person and before the fall. Therefore, avoiding married life was considered inappropriate and unworthy of a person seeking to keep God's commandments. Of course, all kinds of things happen in life, and not everyone succeeds in starting a family, but those without families, unless they were without a family through no fault of their own, were viewed as people deserving only sympathy.

This applied equally to priests, Levites, rabbis, and teachers of the Torah. It was considered that no service to God in itself could become an obstacle to family life. As for Paul himself, at the moment of his meeting with the Risen One on the Damascus road, he apparently had not yet married and started a family: he was then a relatively young man who had only just completed his rabbinic education. Or perhaps he had not quite completed it; it is not known exactly whether Paul, then still Saul, was continuing his studies with Gamaliel at that time or not.

But once Saul, the former student of Gamaliel, became Paul and an apostle, he could no longer live his former life. His new life was so filled with journeys and travels, and travels often far from safe, that he considered it better not to have a family at all, so as not to expose his household to all the hardships of his own life. This, as can be seen, is what Paul has in mind when he says that a family man is forced to think about his family, while an unmarried man can devote himself wholly to service, distracted by nothing else and looking back at no one.

But the apostle understands that such a path cannot be universal, that it is conditioned by the specifics of a particular calling and a particular service. Speaking of himself as a person "having the Spirit of God," Paul defends his right, as well as the right of any other person, if God calls him precisely to such a path, to remain without a family. He urges people not to look at the unmarried as unhappy people whose lives have failed, affirming that there can also be a conscious choice of the corresponding path.

Such an affirmation of the dignity of celibacy against the background of traditional disdain for it was absolutely necessary then. But the apostle also draws attention to the fact that in the present time, when the Kingdom has already drawn near according to the Savior's own word, and His return in glory can be expected every day, one must not become attached to family any more than to anything else in this world. There is, after all, family as marriage, as the depth and fullness of relationships which, when speaking of Christians, are rooted in the life of the Kingdom; and there is family as a social and everyday phenomenon. This everyday life and the society that produces it will not enter the Kingdom, but will remain in this world. Therefore, even family life must be lived in such a way that everyday life and society do not prevail over its spiritual component, as Paul reminds us.

Other notes

 
For Co1 7:25-40
25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
37 Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
38 So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
40 But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.
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Returning again to the theme of marriage and celibacy, Paul says directly that he has no...  Read more

Returning again to the theme of marriage and celibacy, Paul says directly that he has no unambiguous solution to this problem: he apparently did not receive a revelation from God that would allow him to give a definite answer, and therefore he has to limit himself to his own experience as a servant of Christ (v. 25). The apostle's personal experience, as is well known, was precisely the experience of celibacy, and this is what he shares with his readers. Reflecting on the path of celibacy, the apostle starts from what the Savior evidently had in mind when He spoke of the Kingdom of heaven that "has drawn near." It was obvious to Paul that we live in the very last times of which the great prophets of Israel spoke, and therefore he considers the ideal state for spiritual life to be one that would not bind a person in any way to the life of the still not fully transformed world and to its laws (vv. 29-35).

The apostle understands perfectly well what real family life is, and in a fallen world it is in any case bound up with everyday and household problems that could otherwise have been avoided. There is no sin in family life, but in our still not fully transformed world it can become a source not only of joy, but also of suffering, and Paul urges those who desire family life not to close their eyes to this obvious fact (v. 28). That is why the apostle proposes that each person remain in the family situation in which he finds himself (vv. 26-27). What matters to him is only that both marriage and celibacy be not an accident, but a conscious choice by the one who decides on one path or the other (vv. 36-40).

No one is obligated either to marriage or to celibacy if he does not feel a calling to one or the other. But once they decide on marriage, future spouses will at some point inevitably face the choice about which Paul speaks with complete clarity: whether to fulfill the will of God, "to please God," or to prefer their own comfort to it, "to please the husband" or "to please the wife." Apparently this is exactly what the apostle has in mind when he speaks of the sufferings inevitable in family life, if the matter concerns a Christian family: the choice of God's will in such a situation often entails discomfort at the very least. But while warning about difficulties, Paul still does not dissuade anyone from family life and does not try to predetermine anyone's choice: each person walks the path into the Kingdom himself, and only the one walking is free to choose a life companion on that path.

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For Co1 7:17-40
17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.
18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
37 Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
38 So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
40 But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.
Hide
What does the apostle Paul want to tell us? What does it mean that “those who have wives should be as though they had none; those who mourn as though they were not mourning; those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing; and...”  Read more

What does the apostle Paul want to tell us? What does it mean that “those who have wives should be as though they had none; those who mourn as though they were not mourning; those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing; those who buy as though they had no possessions; and those who use the world as though they were not using it”? What should this look like in practice? The first reaction is to simplify. One might say that because “the time is short,” Paul recommends leaving one’s wife, ceasing to mourn and rejoice, and rejecting everything we have in this world. Yet that would be far too simple and altogether wrong. No, Paul is speaking about something else. Rather, the question is what matters most to us. Very often, what seems most important at the moment becomes dominant: perhaps family, perhaps what this world gives us, or perhaps our own mood—our pain or our joy. The apostle Paul proposes that we change our point of view. Yes, I mourn—but this is not the main thing in my life. The Lord is the main thing. Yes, I rejoice in my good fortune—but the Lord is the main thing. In such a situation we are free from what we have in this world and free for eternity. Not because we reject what we have, but because we are no longer bound by it.

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