Category: Devotions

A man may choose to remain single and not marry. He is steadfast in his conviction to remain single and has the strength in his heart to live the life of single hood, “that he will keep his virgin”, is commended. This commendation is given, reading our context, for his willingness to be in the service of the Lord undistracted by the familial duties of life.

William MacDonald observed well, “The common explanation is this: In Paul’s day a man exercised rigid control over his home. It was up to him whether his daughters married or not. They could not do so without his permission. Thus these verses are taken to mean that if a man refuses to allow his daughters to marry, that is a good thing, but if he allows them to marry, then he is not sinning. Such an interpretation seems almost meaningless as far as instruction for the people of God in this day is concerned. The interpretation does not fit in with the context of the rest of the chapter, and seems hopelessly confusing.”

Celibacy is good. Profitable for those who are called to remain single that they may devote their lives to the service of the Lord without distraction. For such who consecrate their lives in single hood for the Lord’s sake finds life most rewarding. The Apostle Paul is not saying trying to influence the Corinthian Christians to celibacy. It is a choice that they, individually, have to make. He is simply showing them what each choice entails.

Here is highlighted the difference between the married and the single woman. The unmarried woman is able to better devote her time to the service of the Lord whereas the married woman has to tend to the needs of her husband. William MacDonald observed well, “The expression “that she may be holy both in body and in spirit” does not mean that the unmarried state is more holy, but simply that she can be more set apart in both body and spirit to the work of the Lord. She is not essentially purer, but her time is freer.”

The unmarried Christian may give his or her undivided attention to the things of God whereas the married has to consider the the spouse’s needs and adjust accordingly. Caring for the things of the world is a phrase alluding to the fact that the spouse’s needs are to be taken into consideration which may compromise the priority of the gospel.

“Without carefulness” means “to be free from care or anxiety”, to be torn between two conflicting responsibility. The unmarried Christian, without the commitment of time in caring for spouse and children, can better devote time to serve the Lord “undistracted”. This is not to say that the married person cannot care for the things of God. Rather, the family’s needs requires the commitment of time and resources that the unmarried person can give better over the married person. This does not mean that the unmarried Christian necessarily would make such a sacrifice toward the service of the Lord.

The Christian is to set is affections on the things that has eternal value. This world passes away and all there is therein. Whether earthly relationship between husband and wife, the emotions that overtakes us during the various circumstances in life whether it be sorrow or joy, the material possession that we own in this life time and all that is in this world is but temporal.

Life on earth is but a fleeting existence, soon we die. Whether one is married or not married there is that time of reckoning that befalls every man, a time to die. And in view of this inevitable outcome, the plans made in life are truly, at best, uncertain in its fulfilment.

James 4:13-16 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

1 Corinthians 7:28 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.

There is no sin for a single person to choose to marry. “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4). Indeed, God instituted marriage from the beginning. This is God’s solution to “trouble in the flesh” remaining unmarried.

Genesis 2:20-24 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

The Apostle Paul warns of a coming wave of persecution that the believers in Corinth shall experience. For those who are single, they suffer alone. But for those who are married their wife and children will suffer with them. He ask that consideration be made in view of what is to come.