Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; art thou free from a wife? do not seek a wife.
Paul's counsel about the unmarried is his own judgment, not a command from the Lord. Here he puts two blunt questions: one to the married man, one to the free man. Both answers point the same way: do not go looking for a change of condition.
The apostle draws a sharp line between what the Lord commands and what he himself advises. This verse falls on the advice side.
He answers the question of whether marriage was good or not, given the actual circumstances. He tells them this is simply a matter of giving advice. He has no commandment from the Lord. He keeps that completely separate from any judgment he may give as a faithful man — which, through the mercy of the Lord to him, he was known to be. His spiritual judgment might therefore be of the greatest value to those who used it rightly... In short, it was a matter for each person to weigh and settle. No one could decide another's course.
Yet that advice still carries weight. Paul ends the chapter by saying he too has the Spirit of God:
In verses 6, 10, 25 and 40, he separates what the Lord clearly commanded from what he judged to be right and pleasing to the Lord, where the Lord gave no distinct command. After giving his spiritual judgment, he adds these telling words: "and I think that I too have the Spirit of God." So I trust that none of us wants to set aside Paul's judgment lightly.
The advice rests on what these writers call the "present necessity." Commentators differ over what that means. One ties it to the weight of the world on the young Church:
The apostle speaks of a "present necessity." He seems to mean the immense pressure of the world on the young Church. That would make getting tangled in unnecessary cares something not to be desired.
Another reads it as a pressure that has never lifted:
It is not a coming necessity but a present one that makes it best to remain as one is. That is the force of the word everywhere else in the New Testament and in other writings. It existed then; it was not merely on its way. And I know of no reason to think it does not exist still, as it will until the Lord comes... Until the day of the Lord, the earth is a scene of wickedness, confusion, and misery. So why act like someone who enjoys a settled life there, if you really are a pilgrim and a stranger?
The two questions are not one piece of advice but a fence on both sides. The married man is not to use Paul's preference for singleness as a reason to get out.
Yet the apostle guards against the abuse of his usual advice to Christians to stay single. The married should not seek to end the marriage, any more than the single should seek to be bound by it. And again, he would keep the conscience free for those who might marry. Neither man nor woman sins by marrying, however unwise Christian judgment may think it.
Being free from a wife can come about in more than one way.
A spirit of contentment is what he seeks to encourage. If one were "free from a wife," by her death, or by her leaving to marry another, his advice is: "Do not seek a wife."
The decision turns on what is driving it. Every believer already carries a load, and marriage swaps one load for another.
Besides the common duty of contending for the faith, each believer has his own "necessity" or burden. Let him bear it patiently with God. To seek a wife might be to find a blessing or a snare. If he is thinking about any change of state, let him know well what motives are prompting him. Let him pause before he trades his present burden for another that may be even heavier.
The counsel has a purpose behind it: fewer cares, and more freedom to serve.
Christians who enter the married state do no wrong, but they will have trouble in the flesh and add to their cares. The Apostle would, as far as possible, have us without care, so that we might serve the Lord without distraction.
- Advice — Paul gives his own judgment here, not a command from the Lord. But it is the judgment of a faithful apostle who says he has the Spirit of God.
- Necessity — the advice rests on a present necessity. Some read that as the world's weight on the young Church, others as a pressure that lasts until the Lord comes.
- Stay — the counsel runs both directions: the bound must not seek release, and the free must not seek a bond.
- Weigh — neither marrying nor staying single is sin. So the test is your motive for wanting change, and whether the new burden is heavier than the old.
- Serve — the goal of the whole passage is a life with fewer cares and fewer distractions, free to please the Lord.
But if thou shouldest also marry, thou hast not sinned; and if the virgin marry, they have not sinned but such shall have tribulation in the flesh; but I spare you.
Paul has just urged the unmarried to stay as they are. Now he clears the conscience of anyone who marries, warns of the trouble it brings, and then refuses to press the point.
Paul recommends the single life. That advice could harden into a rule, but it does not. It cuts both ways: the married should not try to escape, and the single are under no duty to marry.
Yet the apostle guards against any misuse of his advice that a Christian is usually better off single. The married should not seek to end the marriage, any more than the single should seek to be bound by one; and again he would keep the conscience free for those who might marry. Neither man nor woman sins by marrying, however unwise it may be in Christian judgment. For trouble in the flesh is certain for such, and the apostle wanted them spared this.
Paul has already said he has no command from the Lord on this point. That does not make his words less than Scripture.
Much here is the apostle's advice about giving way to nature, which is entirely lawful, or not giving way to it in the matter of marriage. It is not the Lord's commandment. Still, we must remember that when he gives his apostolic advice, it is inspired advice, the advice of the Holy Spirit.
The advice rests on the pressure Paul named two verses earlier. Commentators differ on what that pressure is. One reading takes it as the world's lasting hostility to the gospel — real then, real still:
It is not a coming pressure but a present one that makes it best to stay as one is... It was there already, not merely on the way; and I know of no reason to think it does not still exist, as it will until the Lord comes... Until the day of the Lord the earth is a scene of wickedness, confusion, and misery. Why live like someone who wants a settled home there, if you really are a pilgrim and a stranger?
Another writer rejects the common view that Paul means a passing crisis. He reads it as the everyday burden every believer carries in this life:
The present necessity is the present time — the burden of their life of patient endurance here on earth... But besides the task shared by all, of contending for the faith, each believer has his own "necessity" or "burden." Let him carry it patiently with God.
Marriage brings problems the single never meet. So the choice calls for God's clear guidance, not haste. Older translations render the ESV's "worldly troubles" as "trouble in the flesh," the wording these writers use.
And it is possible for one to marry while in a bad state of soul (1 Tim. 5:11,12), and reap sad results. In any case, one should seek the clear guidance of God in a matter so serious, and not rush into something he is not ready for. Marriage itself, as Paul says, will bring "trouble in the flesh": the married man will face many problems that never come to a single one. Let everyone who is thinking of marriage be ready for this.
The verse ends without detail. Paul could have listed the troubles. He stays silent instead, out of sympathy.
But this advice lays such an unwelcome restraint on the heart and on our very nature that he must have felt that the permission of God's first ordinance would... generally be followed rather than the apostle's warning. And like the One who noticed the weakness of the flesh without scolding it, his sympathies are with the weak. To be honest with them, he shows them what marriage brings; but by refusing to dwell on such a subject, he spares himself as well as them.
No one bears this trouble alone. It becomes the very place where Christ meets the need.
If a man marries, he will have trouble in the flesh, though it is quite right for a man to marry. Still, we learn that Christ suits our need, and we prove the comfort of His love in the time of trouble. In such times Christ is manna... If I have a sick wife, I ought to feel for her; such things are sure to come.
- Free. Paul keeps the conscience free on both sides. The single need not marry, the married must not seek release, and no one sins either way.
- Advised. What he gives is a judgment, not a command — yet still inspired advice, the advice of the Holy Spirit.
- Pressured. The advice grows out of the "present distress." Commentators differ: some read it as the world's lasting hostility to the gospel, others as the plain burden of life here.
- Forewarned. Marriage brings real trouble in the flesh: cares the unmarried never meet. Weigh the step before God, and do not rush.
- Spared. Paul stops short instead of pressing the warning, because he feels for the weak. And in the trouble he foresees, Christ Himself is the manna that meets the need.