1 Corinthians 7:25-40
New Catholic Bible
25 Virginity—Total Consecration to Christ.[a] In regard to virgins, I have received no instructions from the Lord, but let me offer my own opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy can be considered trustworthy. 26 I think that in this time of stress, a man should remain in his current state. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife. 28 However, if you do marry, you do not sin, nor does a virgin sin if she marries. But those who marry will experience hardships in this life,[b] and from these I would like to spare you.
29 What I am saying, brethren, is that our time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had nothing, 31 and those who make use of the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the world as we know it is passing away.
32 It is my wish that you be free of all anxieties. An unmarried man devotes himself to the Lord’s affairs and is concerned as to how he can please the Lord. 33 However, a man who is married devotes himself to worldly matters and is concerned about how he can please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. In the same way, an unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord and strives to be holy in both body and spirit, whereas the married woman is concerned about worldly matters and how she may please her husband.
35 I am speaking about this for your own good. I have no intention to impose any restraint upon you, but I wish you to be guided by a sense of propriety, to devote yourself to the Lord free from distraction.
36 Freedom To Marry.[c] If a man feels that he is behaving improperly toward his virgin because a critical moment has come[d] and it seems that something should be done, let him do what he wills. He does not sin if there is a marriage. 37 However, if he stands firm in his resolve and is under no obligation and, being free to carry out his will, decides in his heart to keep his virgin, he also does well. 38 Therefore, the man who gives her in marriage does well, and the one who does not give her in marriage does better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But should the husband die, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only let it be in the Lord. 40 However, in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is, and I believe that I too have the Spirit of God.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Corinthians 7:25 Paul looks for words and ideas to render intelligible the entirely new experience of virginity as the gift of one’s life to the Lord. Man and woman are made for one another, but when Christ came into the world, he threw a new light on the realities of the present world: these do not say the final word about the human condition, but represent only a stage (this includes even marriage; see Mt 22:30) on the way to the final fulfillment. We must judge everything in the light of the coming kingdom and give first place to love of the Lord.
Jesus had already stressed the grandeur of celibacy as a radical consecration to God and to the kingdom, but he did not impose it (Mt 19:10-12). Paul gives the same counsel to those Christians of Corinth who are not bound by the state of matrimony. - 1 Corinthians 7:28 Hardships in this life: literally, “tribulations of the flesh,” which refer not so much to the difficulties of spouses as to the trials proper to the last times. Those who possess material goods or family in this world will feel more deeply the trial of having to leave them (see Lk 17:26-37). Christians ought to be already living, at least spiritually, in that eschatological era.
- 1 Corinthians 7:36 It is not clear whether Paul is speaking of a father who has a daughter of marriage age, or of the guardian of an orphan, or simply of fiancés (a Jewish espousal was a real marriage, but not yet consummated). Paul is keeping to his general principle: Answer God’s call in the life situation in which we find ourselves.
Another translation could read as follows:
“36If a man feels that he is behaving improperly toward his fiancée and he believes that something should be done because he is having difficulty restraining his passions, they should marry as he wishes. There is nothing sinful in that. 37However, if he stands firm in his resolve and is under no obligation, and, being free to carry out his own will, he decides to respect her virginity, he will do well. 38Therefore, the man who marries his fiancée does well, and the man who refrains from marriage does better still.” - 1 Corinthians 7:36 A critical moment has come: this probably refers to the fact that the woman or virgin may soon be beyond the usual age to marry and bear children or the fact that passions are becoming uncontrollable (see 1 Cor 7:9).
