1Cor 7:31 | KingComments | STEP | . Time is pressing. The Lord Jesus can return any moment and then the opportunities to preach the gospel will be over. Then the curtain, so to speak, will go down for the millions of people and they perish forever. Against this background Paul presents some situations. Those are situations which are not wrong, but they may cause that the work of the Lord will not be done anymore. When he says “those who have wives should be as though they had none” he doesn’t mean to say anything to the detriment of marriage. Needless to say, you should not leave your wife just like that. In he already said that husband and wife must meet what they owe to each other. No, it is that wife and children should not have priority at the expense of the work of the Lord. Even when you are married, the work of the Lord has priority. It is necessary to be reminded of this. Promising young believers have become unfit for the Lord, after getting married because they got completely wrapped up with their husband or wife. . Sorrow and joy are expressions of emotions that are given to you by God. They occur because of several circumstances or occurrences in your life. It is common to life on earth and you may express yourself like that. But it is a fact that emotions of sorrow or joy can engage your attention in such a way that you may forget the work of the Lord. If you are in the fortunate condition of having your own income, you are able to buy things. Then you become the owner of the purchased. But you should be careful not to fill your heart with it. If you have bought a smartphone, a pc or a car, then it could be that you easily spend a lot of leisure time on it (how much time do you spend on internet and social media for example?), while the work of the Lord is not done. Others are sensitive to nice clothes and are occupied with it for a great deal of their leisure time. As a result, the work of the Lord is not done. You don’t even think of buying gospel literature and distributing it or signing up to participate in an evangelical campaign, or to help in a children’s camp. . The same is applicable also to “the world”. You are allowed to use everything you want in this world, but of course it concerns the lawful use. In case you have money, you are able to do all kinds of things with it, such as treat yourself to a nice vacation. You can also collect curiosities you like to have. As long as you keep on realizing that these things are outward things which are of temporary nature, you will remain useful for the Lord and His work. . Paul writes these things because he wants you to be free from concern. From what follows, he seems to mean: without having to take care of husband or wife. The unmarried is able to devote him/herself to the matters of the Lord completely and to please Him. He who is unmarried simply has more time to do so. Some do not like to get married because of the obligations toward another person. They want to remain free to be able to do what they want to. But that should be no reason to remain unmarried. He who is unmarried, can spend his life in an amazing way. Your life is then not only complete when you are married, but your life is then complete when you see what task the Lord has given you. . Of course this also applies to the one who is married, but yet, then comes another concern, namely how he should please his wife. She needs time, attention and care. It wouldn’t be a good thing if a husband neglects his responsibilities. The consequences will be disastrous for the marriage and for the work of the Lord as well. . In the distinction between the unmarried and the married man is made clear. That same distinction is made clear in between the unmarried and married woman. With Paul there is no question of discrimination. Regarding the unmarried woman he even gets more into detail about the opportunities to live for the Lord than what concerns the unmarried man. The care, concerning the matters of the Lord, can be expressed by being holy to the Lord both in body and spirit. She can focus exclusively on the Lord. A woman has the special opportunity to show through her body that she lives holy (that means: apart from the world and devoted to the Lord). Through the properness of her clothing ( ) and through her long hair ( ) she exposes a characteristic of her own through which she can distinguish herself from the women of the world. It is not an easy thing to practice for a female Christian. The distinction is fading more and more. This distinction should not be an outward matter alone of course. Therefore in “spirit” is connected to it. You need to have a clear motive to be able to live holy for the Lord “in body”. A person who doesn’t have that, falls into a wrong kind of holiness. That kind of holiness is only formal and is empty. It will not make one able to go against the tide. If someone also wants to be holy ‘in spirit’ for the Lord, it means that such person has thought about doing what pleases the Lord and acts with discretion and not because others say so. Here you see the balance between the outer and inner man. Living outwardly as the Lord is pleased to see – in the Bible you can read how He likes to see it – is only valuable to the Lord if it is a reflection of the inner devotion. Of course this holiness in body and spirit doesn’t apply only to the unmarried women, but applies to the married women as well. You could compare this to the conditions that are mentioned in 1 Timothy 3 for someone who wants to be an overseer ( ). These conditions apply in a special way to the overseer, but of course you cannot say that someone who doesn’t want to be an overseer doesn’t have to consider this. Every Christian is supposed to strive for reflecting the attributes mentioned in that chapter in his life. In 1 Corinthians 7, where the unmarried woman is directly concerned, it is exactly because of her being unmarried, she has the special opportunity to live holy in body and spirit, devoted to the Lord. . Paul very well senses what reactions could arise after the previous comments. Therefore he adds that he says these things to the “own benefit” of the Corinthians. He doesn’t want to make it difficult or put a restraint upon them. He doesn’t want to create false contradictions between marriage and being occupied with the matters of the Lord. What he wants is that they, and we, think about these things. He puts the state of being married and the state of being unmarried in the light of the Lord and the work for Him. Then being unmarried is not something inferior, but it rather gives the possibility to spend all time and attention to the Lord and the service for Him. Now read 1 Corinthians 7:29-35 again. Reflection: Name some ‘things of the Lord’ and name some ‘things of the world’.

‏ 1 Corinthians 7:31

The Time Is Short

1Cor 7:29. Time is pressing. The Lord Jesus can return any moment and then the opportunities to preach the gospel will be over. Then the curtain, so to speak, will go down for the millions of people and they perish forever. Against this background Paul presents some situations. Those are situations which are not wrong, but they may cause that the work of the Lord will not be done anymore.

When he says “those who have wives should be as though they had none” he doesn’t mean to say anything to the detriment of marriage. Needless to say, you should not leave your wife just like that. In 1Cor 7:3 he already said that husband and wife must meet what they owe to each other. No, it is that wife and children should not have priority at the expense of the work of the Lord. Even when you are married, the work of the Lord has priority. It is necessary to be reminded of this. Promising young believers have become unfit for the Lord, after getting married because they got completely wrapped up with their husband or wife.

1Cor 7:30. Sorrow and joy are expressions of emotions that are given to you by God. They occur because of several circumstances or occurrences in your life. It is common to life on earth and you may express yourself like that. But it is a fact that emotions of sorrow or joy can engage your attention in such a way that you may forget the work of the Lord.

If you are in the fortunate condition of having your own income, you are able to buy things. Then you become the owner of the purchased. But you should be careful not to fill your heart with it. If you have bought a smartphone, a pc or a car, then it could be that you easily spend a lot of leisure time on it (how much time do you spend on internet and social media for example?), while the work of the Lord is not done. Others are sensitive to nice clothes and are occupied with it for a great deal of their leisure time. As a result, the work of the Lord is not done. You don’t even think of buying gospel literature and distributing it or signing up to participate in an evangelical campaign, or to help in a children’s camp.

1Cor 7:31. The same is applicable also to “the world”. You are allowed to use everything you want in this world, but of course it concerns the lawful use. In case you have money, you are able to do all kinds of things with it, such as treat yourself to a nice vacation. You can also collect curiosities you like to have. As long as you keep on realizing that these things are outward things which are of temporary nature, you will remain useful for the Lord and His work.

1Cor 7:32. Paul writes these things because he wants you to be free from concern. From what follows, he seems to mean: without having to take care of husband or wife. The unmarried is able to devote him/herself to the matters of the Lord completely and to please Him. He who is unmarried simply has more time to do so. Some do not like to get married because of the obligations toward another person. They want to remain free to be able to do what they want to. But that should be no reason to remain unmarried. He who is unmarried, can spend his life in an amazing way. Your life is then not only complete when you are married, but your life is then complete when you see what task the Lord has given you.

1Cor 7:33. Of course this also applies to the one who is married, but yet, then comes another concern, namely how he should please his wife. She needs time, attention and care. It wouldn’t be a good thing if a husband neglects his responsibilities. The consequences will be disastrous for the marriage and for the work of the Lord as well.

1Cor 7:34. In 1Cor 7:32-33 the distinction between the unmarried and the married man is made clear. That same distinction is made clear in 1Cor 7:34 between the unmarried and married woman. With Paul there is no question of discrimination. Regarding the unmarried woman he even gets more into detail about the opportunities to live for the Lord than what concerns the unmarried man. The care, concerning the matters of the Lord, can be expressed by being holy to the Lord both in body and spirit. She can focus exclusively on the Lord.

A woman has the special opportunity to show through her body that she lives holy (that means: apart from the world and devoted to the Lord). Through the properness of her clothing (1Tim 2:9) and through her long hair (1Cor 11:15) she exposes a characteristic of her own through which she can distinguish herself from the women of the world.

It is not an easy thing to practice for a female Christian. The distinction is fading more and more. This distinction should not be an outward matter alone of course. Therefore in “spirit” is connected to it. You need to have a clear motive to be able to live holy for the Lord “in body”. A person who doesn’t have that, falls into a wrong kind of holiness. That kind of holiness is only formal and is empty. It will not make one able to go against the tide. If someone also wants to be holy ‘in spirit’ for the Lord, it means that such person has thought about doing what pleases the Lord and acts with discretion and not because others say so.

Here you see the balance between the outer and inner man. Living outwardly as the Lord is pleased to see – in the Bible you can read how He likes to see it – is only valuable to the Lord if it is a reflection of the inner devotion. Of course this holiness in body and spirit doesn’t apply only to the unmarried women, but applies to the married women as well.

You could compare this to the conditions that are mentioned in 1 Timothy 3 for someone who wants to be an overseer (1Tim 3:1-7). These conditions apply in a special way to the overseer, but of course you cannot say that someone who doesn’t want to be an overseer doesn’t have to consider this. Every Christian is supposed to strive for reflecting the attributes mentioned in that chapter in his life. In 1 Corinthians 7, where the unmarried woman is directly concerned, it is exactly because of her being unmarried, she has the special opportunity to live holy in body and spirit, devoted to the Lord.

1Cor 7:35. Paul very well senses what reactions could arise after the previous comments. Therefore he adds that he says these things to the “own benefit” of the Corinthians. He doesn’t want to make it difficult or put a restraint upon them. He doesn’t want to create false contradictions between marriage and being occupied with the matters of the Lord. What he wants is that they, and we, think about these things.

He puts the state of being married and the state of being unmarried in the light of the Lord and the work for Him. Then being unmarried is not something inferior, but it rather gives the possibility to spend all time and attention to the Lord and the service for Him.

Now read 1 Corinthians 7:29-35 again.

Reflection: Name some ‘things of the Lord’ and name some ‘things of the world’.