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R. L. (Bob) Craig "Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife" (1 Corinthians 7:27). There seems to be some controversy concerning this verse. The next verse, i.e., vs 28, says, "But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned ..." Some jump to the unwarranted conclusion that the man of vs 27 who is bound to a wife, is the same one who has been loosed from a wife and permitted to marry in vs 28. A further unwarranted conclusion is then drawn: the man was loosed (or divorced) for causes other than fornication and Paul has sanctioned his remarriage. This is wild speculation. To harmonize with the teaching of Jesus, the man who has been loosed from his wife and permitted to remarry, would have had to divorce her for the cause of fornication in order to have permission to remarry. We ask our denominational neighbors to always consider the context; the setting in which a statement is made and other verses pertaining to the same subject. We must do the same. The setting here starts with vs 24: "Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God. 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." Paul was trying to get the disciples to maintain the status quo. Severe persecution was taking place and portended much more and was referred to as "the present distress." He is still teaching the same lesson in vss 32-36: "But I would have you without carefulness (concern). He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your own profit (benefit); not that I may cast a snare upon you (`I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn'), but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry." Because of this teaching some Corinthian might conclude (because of the present distress) that he was telling them to separate themselves from their mates. So he is very emphatic by stressing, in several places, that that is not what he is saying. Let each person stay as he is. Even the virgin man and virgin woman would be much better off (because of the present distress) to remain unmarried. He introduces us to that fact in vs 25 when he says "now concerning virgins." Unmarried men, as well as women, are referred to as virgins, as in Revelation 14:4. I came to this conclusion first and was then happy to find out that McKnight agrees that he is instructing both virgin men and women. So verse 27 is simply restating what he has already said and will say again. If you are married, stay married and the next statement is not said for the benefit of that married one who should stay married but is directed to a virgin man, one who has never been bound to a wife, to stay that way if at all possible. But if he cannot contain (cannot control his fleshly appetites) or if his virgin (espoused one) has passed the flower of her age (getting along in years), they have not sinned if they marry. Verse 28, seemingly, bears this out: "But and if thou (virgin man) marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin (woman) marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you." Certainly the man who puts away (divorces) his mate for a scriptural reason can marry without sinning but that man is not the one under consideration in verse 27. But someone objects by saying that we have the same word used in both cases; the man who is loosing himself from a wife and the one who is loosed and can, therefore, with impunity, remarry. But there is a little difference in the words. The first "loose" is "luoo" and the second one is "leluoai." Henry Thayer says that the second is "spoken of a single man, whether he has already had a wife or has not yet been married." (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, page 384.) That is exactly what the context of this verse is saying. The first man of verse 27 is a married man who is admonished to REMAIN married. The second man is one who has never been married. He should abide by the advice of Paul if at all possible and REMAIN unmarried. It is a shame that so many preachers are working diligently to find ways and means to justify remarriage for nearly any cause. They would do well to spend that wasted effort in urging our young people to understand about the sanctity and perpetuity of the marriage relationship rather than searching for loopholes they can crawl through to get out of it. Robert Craig
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