If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry – it is no sin.  But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.  So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

1 Corinthians 7:36-38

Paul continues to offer divinely inspired advice to Christians who are considering marriage during “the present distress” (7:26), which was almost certainly a time of severe persecution against the early church.  As we’ve seen in previous articles, Paul stressed that a lot of what he says to Corinth in this chapter is nothing more than advice (7:6-9, 25-38, 40).  If they wished to disregard his counsel, they could do so without it being considered sin (7:25, 28, 35, 40).

His basic recommendation was that “it is good for a person to remain as he is”; basically, stay married if you are married and single if you are single (7:26-27).  Starting a marriage while facing great persecution will bring the Christian “worldly troubles” which Paul wished to spare them from experiencing (7:28).  The pressure to abandon Christ in favor of their spouse would be great, whereas if they were single they would not be faced with this harrowing choice (7:29-35).

Paul acknowledges that this would be a hard pill to swallow.  To already have been betrothed to someone only to now decide to call off the wedding would be very hard to do due to the passions brought about by the love commonly shared by those who wish to commit the rest of their lives to each other.  Canceling the start of the marriage would also be considered by many to be treating one’s betrothed in a very unfair way.  Accepting this, Paul again stresses that they can disregard his advice and marry anyway without it being a sin (7:36).  However, if they can have the discipline in their hearts to put off finalizing the marriage until a more expedient time after the persecution has eased, they “will do well” (7:37), “even better” than those who decide to take the plunge and get married immediately (7:38).

The apostle then turns his attention to widows:  “A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives.  But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord” (7:39).  This is similar to what he said in Romans 7:2-3, in which he taught that remarriage after the death of one’s spouse is not considered adultery in the sight of God.  Some look at his statement that the widow can be married again to anyone she wishes as long as it is “in the Lord” and interpret that to mean that she can marry only a fellow Christian.  While it is certainly the best judgment for a Christian to marry a fellow Christian, to say that a Christian being married to a non-Christian is sinful ignores the fact that the Corinthians had asked Paul that very thing earlier in the chapter and he had specifically told them that marriages between Christians and non-Christians were considered legitimate in the sight of God (7:12-16).  Thus, “only in the Lord” means that the marriage must fit the parameters of God’s will set out in Scripture, namely that one can marry someone of the opposite gender who has never been married before, whose earlier spouse has passed away (7:39a; Rom. 7:2-3), or who has divorced their previous spouse because of their spouse’s fornication (Matt. 19:9).

Paul concludes the chapter by saying, “Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is.  And I think that I too have the Spirit of God” (7:40).  In other words, he opines that Christian widows would be happier to remain single while this persecution is taking place, just as he had earlier judged concerning the betrothed and single Christians.  “And I think that I too have the Spirit of God” indicates that everything he has said in this chapter, both the commands and the advice, is divinely inspired (cf. Eph. 3:3-5; 2 Pet. 1:19-21).

— Jon