Lit., may have leisure. Like the Latin phrase vacaare rei to be free for a thing, and so to devote one's self to it.

Incontinency (ἀκρασίαν)

Only here and Matthew 23:35, on which see note.

Not unmarried, but continent. It is not necessary to assume that Paul had never been married. Marriage was regarded as a duty among the Jews, so that a man was considered to have sinned if he had reached the age of twenty without marrying. The Mishna fixed the age of marriage at seventeen or eighteen, and the Babylonish Jews as early as fourteen. A rabbinical precept declared that a Jew who has no wife is not a man. It is not certain, but most probable, that Saul was a member of the Sanhedrim (Acts 26:10). If so, he must have been married, as marriage was a condition of membership. From 1 Corinthians 7:8 it is plausibly inferred that he classed himself among widowers. Farrar ("Life and Work of St. Paul," i., 80) has some beautiful remarks upon the evidence for his marriage afforded by the wisdom and tenderness of his words concerning it.

Gift (χάρισμα)

See on Romans 1:11. As regards the matter of continence, fitting some for marriage and some for celibacy.

Rev., have not continence. Only here, and 1 Corinthians 9:25, of athletes abstaining from sensual indulgences when preparing for the games.

To burn

Continuous present, to burn on: continuance in unsatisfied desire.

Referring to Christ's declarations respecting divorce, Matthew 5:31, Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:3-12. Not a distinction between an inspired and an uninspired saying. Paul means that his readers had no need to apply to him for instruction in the matter of divorce, since they had the words of Christ himself.

He has been speaking to the unmarried (1 Corinthians 7:8) and to married parties, both of whom were Christians (1 Corinthians 7:10). By the rest he means married couples, one of which remained a heathen.

I, not the Lord

These cases are not included in Christ's declarations.

Be pleased (συνευδοκεῖ)

Rev., be content. Better, consent. Both the other renderings fail to express the agreement indicated by σύν together.

Not, made morally holy, but affiliated to the Christian community - the family of the ἅγιοι saints - in virtue of his being "one flesh" with his Christian wife.

A strong word, indicating that Christianity has not made marriage a state of slavery to believers. Compare δέδεται is bound, 1 Corinthians 7:39, a milder word. The meaning clearly is that willful desertion on the part of the unbelieving husband or wife sets the other party free. Such cases are not comprehended in Christ's words.

Hath called us to peace (ἐν εἰρήνη κέκληκεν ἡμᾶς)

Rev., correctly, in peace. Compare Galatians 1:6, "into the grace" (ἐν χάριτι, Rev., in); Ephesians 4:4, in one hope (ἐν μιᾷ ἐλπίδι); 1 Thessalonians 4:7, in sanctification (ἐν ἁγιασμῷ). Denoting the sphere or element of the divine calling. Enslavement in the marriage relation between the believer and the unbeliever is contrary to the spirit and intent of this calling.

Rev., only. Introducing a limitation to the statement in 1 Corinthians 7:15. There is to be no enslavement, only, to give no excuse for the reckless abuse of this general principle, the normal rule of Christian life is that each one should seek to abide in the position in which God has placed him.

Ordain (διατάσσομαι)

See on Matthew 11:1.

The reference is to the process of restoring a circumcised person to his natural condition by a surgical operation. See Josephus, "Antiquities," 12:5, 1; 1 Macc. 1:15; Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," Article Circumcision; Celsus, "De Re Medica," cited in Wetstein with other passages. See, also, Edwards' note on this passage.

Not the condition or occupation, a meaning which the word does not have in classical Greek, nor in the New Testament, where it always signifies the call of God into His kingdom through conversion. Paul means: If God's call was to you as a circumcised man or as an uncircumcised man; as a slave or as a freedman - abide in that condition. Compare 1 Corinthians 1:26.

Whether the apostle means, use the bondage or use the freedom - whether, take advantage of the offer of freedom, or, remain in slavery - is, as Dean Stanley remarks, one of the most evenly balanced questions in the interpretation of the New Testament. The force of καὶ even, and the positive injunction of the apostle in 1 Corinthians 7:20 and 1 Corinthians 7:24, seem to favor the meaning, remain in slavery. The injunction is to be read in the light of 1 Corinthians 7:22, and of Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11; 1 Corinthians 12:13, that freeman and slave are one in Christ; and also of the feeling pervading the Church of the speedy termination of the present economy by the second coming of the Lord. See 1 Corinthians 7:26, 1 Corinthians 7:29. We must be careful to avoid basing our conclusion on the modern sentiment respecting freedom and slavery.

Rev., correctly, freedman; the preposition ἀπ' from implying previous bondage.

Not referring to the outward condition of bondage, but to spiritual subjection to the will and guidance of men as contrasted with Christ.

Not the unmarried of both sexes, as Bengel. The use of the word by ecclesiastical writers for an unmarried man has no warrant in classical usage, and may have arisen from the misinterpretation of Revelation 14:4, where it is employed adjectivally and metaphorically. In every other case in the New Testament the meaning is unquestionable.

Ἑνεστῶσαν present may also express something which is not simply present, but the presence of which foreshadows and inaugurates something to come. Hence it may be rendered impending or setting in. See on Romans 8:38. Ἁνάγκη means originally force, constraint, necessity, and this is its usual meaning in classical Greek; though in the poets it sometimes has the meaning of distress, anguish, which is very common in Hellenistic Greek. Thus Sophocles, of the approach of the crippled Philoctetes: "There falls on my ears the sound of one who creeps slow and painfully (κατ' ἀνάγκην." "Philoctetes," 206); and again, of the same: "Stumbling he cries for pain (ὑπ' ἀνάγκας," 215). In the Attic orators it occurs in the sense of blood-relationship, like the Latin necessitudo a binding tie. In this sense never in the New Testament. For the original sense of necessity, see Matthew 18:7; Luke 14:18; 2 Corinthians 9:7; Hebrews 9:16. For distress, Luke 21:23; 1 Thessalonians 3:7. The distress is that which should precede Christ's second coming, and which was predicted by the Lord himself, Matthew 24:8 sqq. Compare Luke 21:23-28.

Rev., "I would spare," is not warranted grammatically, but perhaps avoids the ambiguity of I spare, which might be understood: I spare you further mention of these things. The meaning is: I give you these injunctions in order to spare you the tribulation of the flesh.

Not, the period of mortal life; but the time which must elapse before the Lord appears.

Short (συνεσταλμένος)

Rev., correctly, giving the force of the participle, shortened. Compare Mark 13:20, and see on hasting unto, 2 Peter 3:12. The word means to draw together or contract. Only here and Acts 5:6, where it is used of the winding up of Ananias' corpse. In classical Greek of furling sails, packing luggage, reducing expenses, etc. Applied to time, the word is very graphic.

It remaineth that (τὸ λοιπόν ἵνα)

The meaning is rather henceforth, or for the future. That (ἵνα) in any case is to be construed with the time is shortened. According to the punctuation by different editors, we may read either: the time is shortened that henceforth both those, etc.; or, the time is shortened henceforth, that both those, etc. The former is preferable. The time is shortened that henceforth Christians may hold earthly ties and possessions but loosely.

Only here and 1 Corinthians 9:18. The verb means to use up or consume by using. Hence the sense of misuse by overuse. So A.V. and Rev., abuse. But the American Rev., and Rev. at 1 Corinthians 9:18, use to the full, thus according better with the preceding antitheses, which do not contrast what is right and wrong in itself (as use and abuse), but what is right in itself with what is proper under altered circumstances. In ordinary cases it is right for Christians to sorrow; but they should live now as in the near future, when earthly sorrow is to be done away. It is right for them to live in the married state, but they should "assimilate their present condition" to that in which they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

Passeth away (παράγει)

Or, as some, the continuous present, is passing. If the former, the nature of the worldly order is expressed. It is transitory. If the latter, the fact; it is actually passing, with a suggestion of the nearness of the consummation. The context seems to indicate the latter.

Not a good translation, because carefulness has lost its earlier sense of anxiety. So Latimer: "This wicked carefulness of men, when they seek how to live - like as if there were no God at all." See on take no thought, Matthew 6:25. Rev., free from cares. Ignatius uses the phrase ἐν ἀμεριμνίᾳ Θεοῦ in godly carelessness (Polycarp, 7).