§17 Directions to the Unmarried (1 Cor. 7:8–9)
With the general subject of marriage having been raised through the foregoing discussion of the appropriateness, benefit, and necessity of sexual relations in marriage, Paul extends his field of concern to include a series of particular groups other than those who are married. In this brief segment of the letter, Paul addresses some of those who are not currently married, but as we shall see, exactly with whom he intended to reason is not certain.
7:8 / With the words “Now to the unmarried and the widows,” the NIV translates Paul’s remarks to address two different groups. These groups would have in common that they were not married at present, but reflection on this rendering of the text reveals that one possible group is conspicuously absent from the appeal, namely, the widowers. Careful study by G. D. Fee (Epistle, pp. 287–88) suggests that the word normally rendered “unmarried” by the NIV and other translations may be intended as an address to widowers. The specific course of Paul’s previous comments on the necessity of marriage (7:2) and his later remarks on “virgins” (7:25–26) do not fit well with the understanding of Paul’s remarks here being directed to both the unmarried and widows. More sensibly, verses 8–9 reflect on the remarriage of those who have lost a spouse through death, so that Paul is writing to men and women, widowers and widows, at this point.
In any case, however, having discussed marriage, the advisability of sexual union in marriage, and the spiritual gift of remaining single, Paul turns directly to this distinct group of members of the Corinthian congregation. He declares that he himself considers it better to remain unmarried than to marry (or, in the case of those previously married but now single, to remarry), and his manner of expression shows that he is offering his own thinking on this subject. Paul suggests that it is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. Later in this chapter he explains that he holds this position because of the eschatological character of the time in which he believes he and the Corinthians live. Paul’s comments seem to recognize that before Christ, in the old world, there was no value to single life from the human point of view. But now, as part of the gospel, there is a new sense or value to single life—lived in complete devotion to Christ—in the context of the new Christian life. For now, however, he suggests that should they be as he was—gifted with celibacy—they are in a good position. One does not force celibacy; one accepts it as a gift if it is given by God.
7:9 / Nevertheless, Paul continues and tells this particular group that they should marry in certain circumstances. Paul reasons from the charismatically formed assumption that the capacity to remain unmarried is a spiritual gift. The translation of this line in the NIV and other similar translations, But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, is easily misunderstood. Paul is not saying, “If you are not practicing self-control, get married.” In Paul’s well-known list of the fruit of the Spirit at Galatians 5:23 one finds the noun “self-control,” so although Paul uses the verbal form of “self-control” (translated as “control themselves,” meaning “to practice self-control”), he is referring to a Spirit-empowered directing of one’s self. If an unmarried person in Corinth does not have the Spirit-given ability to be chaste, then Paul says that person should marry. Paul is not so much saying “Fight the urge” as he is advising “Recognize the gift or its absence.” Such honesty according to Paul is better than trying to accomplish something (refraining from marriage and sexual relations in that context) that God has not given one the gift to do.
7:8 / Paul’s first designation of a group in the Corinthian congregation uses the Gk. word agamos, most often translated literally as unmarried. The problem of this understanding in the context of this discussion was noted above. Moreover, later Paul refers to such unmarried persons with the Gk. word parthenos, lit. “virgin” (see 7:25). W. F. Orr and J. A. Walther (I Corinthians. [AB 32; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976], p. 210) argue that while “agamois means etymologically ‘unmarried,’ the word may indicate either one who has not been married or one who has been but is no longer married.” Fee (Epistle, pp. 287–88) recognizes that in the NT period there are no preserved usages of chēros, the Gk. word for “widower,” but that agamos seems to have taken the place of the older, more specific word for widower.
Note the initial element of contrast in this verse as Paul discusses what is “well” or good (Gk. kalon) before he discusses what is better (Gk. kreitton) in v. 9. Paul is not discussing right and wrong or good and bad, but good and better from a point of view he expounds later in this chapter.
7:9 / Paul’s reference to “self-control” (Gk. egkrateia) uses the form of a verb (Gk. egkrateuomai, “to practice self-control”), control themselves. Outside the NT in general, “self-control” was considered a virtue in Greco-Roman culture, although Paul’s usage in Gal. 5:23 and here shows that he understood this “virtue” to be an endowment of God’s Spirit, not a humanly generated personal discipline. Cf. 2 Pet. 1:6; Acts 24:25; 1 Clement 38.2; 1 Cor. 9:25.
Paul’s use of pyrousthai (infinitive passive of pyroō, “to be burned/ inflamed”), creates discussion among interpreters. Could Paul mean that those who do not marry, despite their desires, will be subjected to the fires of final judgment—so M. Barré, “To Marry or to Burn: pyrousthai in 1 Cor 7:9,” CBQ 36 (1974), pp. 193–202? Or does Paul mean, as the majority of scholars agree, that those aflame with passion should marry to avoid such a condition? Paul’s apocalyptic-eschatological point of view is undeniable, but nothing in the present discussion suggests that Paul is issuing a threat or a promise of judgment