1Cor 7:25-28 - Estate Keeping - Part 6

Exhortations to the Engaged

25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.


The word "betrothed" is translated "virgins" in other versions. That is a fair translation since the original Greek word is "parthenos". Remember, "Behold the (or a) virgin will conceive..." - well, in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah the exact same Greek word is used. And the Septuagint is the version often cited by Apostles.

What the text is addressing is people who are betrothed but not married. People who are committed but not consummated. Today we might refer to them as "engaged" but, sadly, in much of society we could not rightly call many of them "virgins". For these people, if they have become believers, Paul again has practical advice related to their circumstances. These are not ordinances, but matters of "indifference" or of conscience. Each person must seek God’s leading through prayer, study and cogitation.

In purely practical terms Paul refers engaged people to the same advice he had for singles or even for those divorced by unbelieving spouses after conversion; whatever condition you find yourself in then why not stay in it? Why divide your affections? Why complicate your loyalties? Why seek to alter the situation in which God called you?

Well, I can think of lots of reasons why one might do any one of those things. And Paul understands both human nature and his own limitations, bents, preferences and even inherent biases. This is why he is quick to point out that what he thinks best is not an ordinance from God, and that people are quite free to follow other courses according to the dictates of conscience, and in faith.

It is extremely important, I think, to take note of the fact that Paul says that marrying is not sin for those people who are committed to each other. It is not a matter of law, but of expediency. Being joined to another is a complicated business that can divide the affections and challenge the faculties. There are dangers in it, especially when times are difficult.

But what Paul does not speak to is the incredible spiritual rewards that attend a godly married relationship, regardless (or even as a result of) circumstances. I can quite see that a person who loves a spouse deeply by living a self-denying, partner-supporting life of faithfulness and truth will have learned great things about God’s Own nature. And he/she will have done so through the sort of death that Christ spoke about and that He lived to the ultimate.

So Paul is right not to be dogmatic here. His considerations are motivated by the desire to clear the decks so that people can serve the Lord without distraction.