1 Corinthians 7:32-34

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:1-35

Celibacy and marriage. The Corinthian Christians had written to the apostle for direction respecting the relative desirability and recumbency of single and wedded life. Probably some of them regarded marriage as obligatory, and others perhaps looked upon it as an evil. Amongst Gentiles there was at this period strong tendency towards celibacy. The reputation of Corinth was, moreover, an unenviable for wantonness and uncleanness. There was therefore great need for full and explicit... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Answers to the inquiries of the Corinthians respecting marriage. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Paul's conception of marriage. "Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me," etc. All that Paul here says of marriage is in answer to some communication which the Church had addressed to him On the subject, and what he says he declares is not "of commandment," that is, not by Divine authority, but by "permission." All Scripture is therefore not inspired, even all the counsels of St. Paul do not seem to have been so. So desirous did he seem to be that all he says on this subject... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Advice respecting the unmarried. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:25-40

Concerning virgins and widows. Paul now passes to another question referred to him, viz. the marriage of virgins and widows. This has been briefly touched upon already ( 1 Corinthians 7:8 ), and is now dealt with more in detail. Here also the apostle has no express commandment of the Lord to adduce, and he therefore proceeds to give his own inspired judgment on the matter, "as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." This judgment is not in the form of explicit... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:29-40

Apostolic counsels for the times, and general principles applied now as before. Some minds are so organized as to be peculiarly open to those impressions which the local and circumstantial produce on thought and feeling. If these become excessive, they are almost sure to trench on principles. Such persons are devotees of sectionality; their prudence is shrewd, but not sagacious; intelligence is narrowed down to time, place, and immediate results; and expediency is with them "the previous... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:29-40

An argument from the shortness of the time. It is impossible to understand a large number of the apostolic allusions unless we recognize the early Church conception that the Christian dispensation would be very brief, and in all probability closed and completed in the first century, by the expected reappearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. This idea certainly prevailed among the disciples. To some extent at least it was shared by the apostles; but it is evident that they found it necessary to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:32

But I would have you without carefulness. In these words he reverts to 1 Corinthians 7:28 , after the digression about the transiency of earthly relations. If they were "overcharged... with cares of this life," the day of the Lord might easily "come upon them unawares" ( Luke 21:34 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:32

Free from cares. I. NOTE THE PRECISE MEANING AND DRIFT OF THIS SHORT SENTENCE . It refers to the anxieties of married life. Neither in Old Testament nor New is any disrespect shown to the state of matrimony. St. Paul himself, when writing of the reciprocal duties of life, gives most sympathetic counsels to husbands and wives; and, far from placing marriage in an unfavourable light as compared with celibacy, describes it as a sign of the sacred union of Christ and the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:33

Careth for the things that are of the world. St. Paul's language must not be extravagantly pressed. It only applies absolutely to times in which the conditions are the same as they then were. The "anxious cares" which marriage involves may be more innocent and less distracting than those which attack the celibate condition; and when that is the case, marriage, on St. Paul's own principle, becomes a duty. Thus some of the best and greatest of our missionaries have found their usefulness as... read more

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