Advice for the Present Distress

1 Corinthians 7:25–31 AV

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. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 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. But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 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; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

A few weeks ago (when we started chapter 7), I said that this marked a major change within 1 Corinthians. In the first six chapters Paul dealt with issues in the church that had been reported to him by word of mouth, perhaps from Chloe’s people (cf. 1 Cor. 1:11). But from chapter 7 onward he answers questions that the Corinthians themselves had raised in a letter that they had written to him. He wrote in verse 1, Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me.

As Paul dealt with their questions, he introduced each of them, except one, in exactly the same way. The Greek words are περὶ δὲ, which are translated in our KJV Bibles as Now concerning, Now as touching or simply As touching.

Please note that that is how today’s text begins: Now concerning virgins. So, beginning with verse 25, Paul started answering the second question from the letter he had received from the church at Corinth. This question, though not totally unrelated to the first, required an extended explanation. We’re considering only part of it today. Paul’s response actually continues through the end of the chapter (v. 40).

The Issue

The first thing we want to consider is the issue at hand. What in particular about virgins did the Corinthians want to know?

I’ll tell you right off the bat that the seven verses of this evening’s text are the most challenging ones that I’ve had to deal with so far in this book. That’s because there are four words or phrases in them that are unclear. One is the word virgin. We would think that the definition of this word should be relatively easy, but commentators give no less than six different interpretations of what Paul meant by it. Another is the present distress in verse 26. What exactly was the distress that made marriage less desirable than singleness for the Corinthians? The third is the shortness of time in verse 29; and fourth, which is somewhat related to the third, is Paul’s note at the end of verse 31 that the present form of the world is passing away. What’s all of this about?

As to the identity of the virgins, I’m going to take the simplest answer of all. A virgin is someone who has never enjoyed marital intimacy. Chaste women are often described as virgins in Scripture. Jesus’ mother Mary was a virgin. Matthew says that she had conceived the Lord in her womb before she and Joseph came together (Matt. 1:18), and in Luke Mary herself asked the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? (Luke 1:34). Gabriel never corrected her.

Without a doubt, female virgins dominate Paul’s discussion in this chapter. He even differentiated men from virgins in verse 28: But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. But this distinction is not consistently maintained in Scripture. In Revelation 14 John described the one hundred and forty-four thousand as those who had not defiled [themselves] with women; for they are virgins (v. 4). Clearly men were in view. In fact, we see this even in our text. Paul wrote in verse 26 that he thought it was good for a man (here he used the Greek word ἄνθρωπος, a generic term for a human being) to remain unmarried. He apparently included men since he immediately followed this with a question to married men, addressing them as you: Art thou bound unto a wife?

But what is the issue that Paul had to address. It seems that there were some in the church at Corinth who wanted an explicit commandment regarding whether virgins should or should not marry. They were looking for a chapter and verse proof-text to back up whatever Paul had told them earlier. Paul responded by reminding that there is no such thing. Verse 25 says, 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. There is no proof-text because Paul gave his advice merely as an opinion. He believed that his opinion should be taken seriously since the Lord had mercifully appointed him to be a faithful apostle. But he was not willing to legislate on it.

Apostolic Advice

What was Paul’s advice concerning virgins? Look at verses 26 and 27. He wrote, I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

In other words, the advice that Paul gave the Corinthians concerning virgins parallels what he had said earlier in verses 8 and 9 about unmarried persons and widows, viz., that it is good for them not to be married. His advice to virgins is that they should not marry. He also made the point in verses 17 through 24 that believers should stay in the same calling in which they were called. Virgins were called as virgins; they should therefore remain virgins.

It’s important here to understand that Paul gave this advice in a specific context. He did not mean that no single Christian should ever get married. Rather, his advice was limited to what he called in verse 26 the present distress. But what was this distress? Commentators stumble all over themselves trying to figure this out. Whatever it was, it was some circumstance or combinations of circumstances that made it particularly hard to have a family.

One commentator thinks that Paul was alluding to a famine. He notes, for example, that in chapter 11 Paul wrote that some who came to the Lord’s Supper were hungry (vv. 21 and 34). There are two major problems with this view. One is this is not exactly what Paul wrote. First Corinthians 11:34 says, If any man hunger, let him eat at home. This suggests that those who were hungry could have eaten at home, but for whatever reason chose not to. Perhaps they held to a superstitious view of the Supper. Even today some churches encourage fasting before Communion. Paul wrote to correct their misunderstandings. The second problem is that it would have been strange for Paul to ask the Corinthians to contribute to the famine relief of Jerusalem if they had had members of their own church who were starving. The fact that he did ask them to help the Jerusalem saints in chapter 16 suggests that famine was a problem in Corinth.

Another commentator thinks that Paul meant persecution, but not just any persecution. He meant a persecution that would take place at the end of the world. But there’s nothing to support this. How could Paul describe an end-of-the-world persecution as a present distress? The Greek words (τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἀνάγκην) could literally be translated as “the distress that we’re now standing in.” In any case, it’s hard to imagine how an end-of-the-world persecution could possibly be his reason for advising first-century Christians not to marry.

Well, why don’t we make this simple too? The present distress that shaped Paul’s advice to the Corinthians was not a persecution in the distant future, but a first-century reality for the church. Paul himself had experienced it firsthand. When he first arrived in Corinth, the Jews opposed his preaching and blasphemed. They were so outraged by his message that they eventually stirred up an insurrection and reported him to the Roman proconsul Gallio. You can read about this in the eighteenth chapter of Acts. It doesn’t sound like they would have quit very easily.

It’s not hard to imagine how this kind of unrest would have made it hard to have a family. If a Christian father is arrested, imprisoned or even executed, he leaves his wife and children to the care of their family or the church. The situation would have been even worse if both the father and the mother had become the targets of Christ haters. A thoughtful Christian would not want to start a family with threats like these looming over him.

Keep in mind that God’s command to mankind is that men and women should be married and replenish the earth. That’s what most people should be doing, unless the Lord has called them to eunuchs for his kingdom. All the cohabiting that people practice in our day is a rejection of God’s order. The redefining of marriage to include same-sex couples is even more so. Only under very rare circumstances should Christians even consider not getting married. One of those rare circumstances is persecution.

And lest married couple think that it may be their advantage to separate or divorce because of persecution, Paul added verse 27. Those who are married should remain as they are, just as those who are not married should also remain as they are.

Because Paul wrote what he did only as apostolic advice and not apostolic command, verse 28 adds that those who marry against his advice have not sinned. They’ll have trouble in the flesh. They’ll almost certainly expose their families to greater loss and deprivation. But neither Paul nor the Lord would condemn them for doing so. Rather, his advice was meant only to reduce their suffering.

The World’s Passing Form

We come to the next unclear phrase at the beginning of verse 29. The time is short, Paul wrote. What does this mean?

A lot of commentators interpret this to mean that Paul thought the second coming was just around the corner. That doesn’t really work, though. The word translated time (καιρός) actually means a season or an opportunity, not a length of time, like a day or an hour. And the opportunity is not short in the sense that it will expire soon, but in the sense of being restricted or constrained. In other words, Paul meant that there’s very little advantage to a virgin getting married during the period he called a present distress.

What’s more important is that both virgins and married couples have a right perspective — not just on marriage but on everything. So, Paul gave that to them in what follows. Beginning in verse 29 he wrote, It remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 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; and they that use this world, as not abusing it. In other words, the Corinthians were not to let their outward circumstances affect their commitment to serving Jesus Christ. They should stand firmly in their “against the world” stance. Things that make unbelievers happy — like abortion, homosexuality and euthanasia — cause believers to weep. Therefore, the things of this world, especially in a time of distress, should not be their focus.

The apostle Paul lived with this attitude. He wrote about it in 2 Corinthians 6 — But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God,… as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things (vv. 4, 9–10).

This should also be our attitude. Of course, we have to live in the world. We marry, have children, buy and sell things, and rejoice and mourn. To use the world as faithful stewards is one thing, but it’s a completely different matter to form deep attachments to it and to adopt is values. We should never leave this world clinging to a house or a car or even our loved ones. And we should never leave it clutching its vain philosophy, as if man’s unsanctified opinions had any lasting value. As we mature in the faith, we learn to let go of most things and keep a good, strong hold only on the things that are really important.

The Lord Jesus put it this way: If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26–27). Martin Luther also picked up on this idea in his Reformation hymn, A Mighty Fortress. He wrote, “Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also; The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever.” These words have been translated numerous ways over the years, especially in different Lutheran hymnals, but the idea is always the same. We let go of some things, the enemies of Christ take other things from us, but throughout it all we cling to a kingdom that is ours for eternity. Our possession of God’s kingdom is not dependent on possessions or family or even the well-being of our body, but only on the finished work of Jesus Christ.

At the end of verse 31 Paul made the same point in another way. He wrote, For the fashion of this world passeth away. As I mentioned earlier, what this means has been debated. Some think Paul meant that the present distress was almost over. But if that were so, it would seem to speak against the advice he had given to virgins. Others suppose, again, that he had the second coming in mind, although there’s nothing in our text or its context to suggest that he did.

To be honest, I still haven’t come to a firm conclusion myself. But whatever it means, it’s pretty clear that Paul was advising all Christians not to cling to the things of the world because everything in the world is only temporary. And this stands in contrast to what we have in Jesus Christ. The things that he gives us — the forgiveness of our sins, a right standing with God and everlasting life — will never end.

This evening’s text gives us a little window in the Paul’s heart. We see the heart of a pastor, a true shepherd, a man who really loved the people of God. He didn’t legislate on a matter that God’s Word had not previously addressed, but merely gave apostolic advice. This was especially important since the topic was sensitive by nature. He made it clear that neither the Lord nor he would hold it against individuals who might choose not follow his advice. And he offered wisdom to others who were not virgins, even to the point of recommending a God-honoring attitude for them to adopt.

A few weeks ago we also saw the pastoral heart of Paul in 1 Thessalonians, where he reminded the brethren in Thessalonica that he had been with them as both a nursing mother who loves her children and a faithful father who exhorts, comforts and pleads with them (1 Thess. 2:7, 11).

But even more amazing that Paul’s compassion is the Lord’s. When the Lord puts us in difficult situations, which is often the case (this world is, after all, a vale of tears), he gives us the grace that we need to serve him. He is tender and merciful. Psalm 86 says, But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth (v. 15). And Psalm 145 adds, The Lord is good to all: And his tender mercies are over all his works (v. 9). He is especially merciful to those who call him through Jesus Christ.

A present distress is just that — present. It’s not a future distress. It’s not an everlasting distress. It’s a present distress. The limitations that it places upon us last only as long as the distress itself. So virgins who decide not marry because that distress might make it hard for their family can take comfort in the fact that the day will come when the distress will end. If it ends while they’re still in this world, they’ll be able to marry. And in most cases they should marry, because the Lord wants us to multiply — not just to fill the earth with bodies, but to raise up others to serve him, to sing his praises, and to love and glorify him. Amen.