1 Corinthians 7:25

Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy.

This is the fifth question answered in this chapter; and, "Apparently, the church at Corinth had asked Paul's opinion regarding unmarried daughters and the responsibilities of parents in such instances."[45] This comment is correct as far as it goes; but the duties of guardians as well as those of parents must be included; and sons as well as daughters were also included by the term "virgins" as used here.

Virgins ... Wesley said this means "of either sex."[46] Barclay's objection that "It is hard to see why Paul used the word VIRGIN if he meant DAUGHTER"[47] is refuted by the fact that Paul did not mean daughter, but unmarried young people of both sexes. As Adam Clarke noted, "The word in this place means young unmarried persons of either sex, as is plain from 1 Corinthians 7:26,27,32-34, and from Revelation 14:4."[48] The fact that the word VIRGIN has a different meaning in our day does not alter its evident meaning in this place.

I have no commandment of the Lord ... is not a disclaimer of inspiration on Paul's part at all; it is a statement that the Lord during his ministry did not make a specific pronouncement upon this subject. The meaning is like that in 1 Corinthians 7:12, above; Paul made a distinction between words that Jesus delivered during his ministry and his own inspired teachings, doing so, no doubt, out of respect to the Lord, but with no sense of diminishing the authority of his own inspired teachings. As Morris said:

Moffatt points out that Paul's careful discrimination between a saying of the Lord and his own injunction tells strongly against those who maintain that the early church was in the habit of producing the sayings it needed and then ascribing them to Christ.[49]

As one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy ... In context, this is a full affirmation of Paul's apostolic power and authority, added to prevent any misunderstanding of the fact that the Lord had not personally legislated on this question.

[45] Donald R. Metz, op. cit., p. 383.

[46] John Wesley, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco.

[47] William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1954), p. 74.

[48] Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 225.

[49] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 109.