1 Corinthians 7:31Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See how Paul limits even this by the shortness of time. "The time," he says, "is already shortened" (1 Cor 7:29). That is, we have already been commanded to depart from here and prepare for the exodus, while you press inward. Even if marriage brought no afflictions, one ought still to strive toward the things to come. But if it is accompanied by afflictions, what need is there to lay a burden on oneself? What necessity is there to take on such a burden, which, once taken, must be borne as though it had not been taken? "So that those who have wives," he says, "should be as though they had none." After saying something about the future, he again turns to the present. The spiritual point is that one cares for the things of her husband, while the other cares for the things of God (1 Cor 7:34). The earthly point is this: "I want you to be without cares" (1 Cor 7:32). Yet even this he leaves to their will. Whoever points out what is worthy of choice and then again compels it seems not to trust his own words. Paul, by his very yielding, urges and inclines them all the more. "I say this," he says, "for your own profit, not to put a noose upon you, but that you may serve in good order and without distraction" (1 Cor 7:35). Let virgins hear that virginity is not defined by this alone. She who cares for worldly things is not a comely virgin. After saying, "There is a difference between the married woman and the virgin" (1 Cor 7:33), the Apostle explains wherein their difference consists. He sets the distinguishing mark of the virgin and the non-virgin not in marriage or continence, but in freedom from cares in one and many cares in the other. Cohabitation is not evil, but the hindrance to philosophy. Blessed Paul shows that everything human is only an apparition and passes like a shadow or a dream, because it has nothing true or firm in itself. Is it not childish to chase a shadow, boast in a dream, and cling to what vanishes in a moment? "For the form of this world is passing away," he says. When you have heard that it is passing away, why do you still seek the goods of the world? When you have heard that everything human is only an apparition without truth, why do you willingly subject yourself to deception? Why, when you reflect on the changeability and instability of present goods, do you not despise them? Why do you not direct your desire toward those goods that are constant, firm, enduring, and subject to no change?

The Apostle's words agree with this: "those who use this world, as though they did not use it." Then, showing the fleetingness of the present, he added, "For the form of this world is passing away." There will no longer be agriculture or seafaring, kingdoms or military commands, slavery or mastery, arts or sciences, poverty or wealth. For the present age consists of all these and similar things. Blessed Isaiah says the same when foretelling the future: "And it shall be... as with the servant, so with his master. As with the maid, so with her mistress. As with the buyer, so with the seller," and the debtor as one who does not owe (Isa 24:2). For in the future life all things will be distinguished in another way. Yet, after showing the brevity of the present life, the divine Apostle added, "But I want you to be without cares. The unmarried man cares for the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord" (1 Cor 7:32).

So also the Apostle beautifully exhorts us to use this world, but not to misuse it. For he sees that enemies are attacking fiercely, and that the end is expected.

For, he says, "the form of this world is passing away." And because this world is not firm, the present is, as the Apostle said, nothing other than a form.

It both exists in reality and at the same time is nothing. It appears for a short time and immediately passes away. If someone wished to hold it fast, he could not possibly do so.

It is like a light cloud driven by the wind in summer, casting a swiftly passing shadow.

From this comes the counsel itself, that each of us should show the clear disposition of his soul and give an example in recognizing the instructions given by God.

For even if someone wished to hold fast, as I said, everything belonging to the present age is ungraspable. This is so for two reasons.

Not only does this age pass away, but each of us who uses this world exists only for a time. Before he has gained possession of anything in the world, he departs from it.

As every man walks along some road, varied movement passes by him on that road. Of necessity, one of two things happens.

Either what passes along the road slips away from him, and what he possessed he can no longer hold, or he himself, passing onward, finally departs from this road of life.

Then he cannot hold what life gives. For man, being mortal, is attached to earthly affairs, and they too are subject to change.

Thus man, bound to things that change, is himself changed in many ways. He loses what he held, whether wealth, splendor, or joy.

Or, dying, he inflicts upon himself an irreparable change and departs from here naked, leaving what he had here and what he had placed his hopes upon.

Perhaps this will pass as an inheritance to his children. But what joy is that to him? He will no longer take part in this life, and the children will perish in the same or another way.

Therefore death is always a calamity for those attached to this world. In the end they are taken from here naked and leave behind everything they loved.

But for those who despise the things of this world, seek to obtain knowledge of the future world, and strive to do what is profitable before that future age, death when it comes brings no harm.

Rather, it transfers them from vain and unstable things into the never-waning day, into immortal life, into wealth that cannot be spent, into pure joy, into eternal glory.

It transfers them into that which truly is and abides unchanging.

May we all obtain this by the grace and love for mankind of Him Who bowed the heavens and came down for our sake.

He came not only to us, but also to the souls imprisoned in the netherworld. From there He ascended by the power of the Resurrection and the renewal of being.

Through Himself He granted us illumination, knowledge, and hope of heavenly and eternal good things. In these He is greatly glorified unto the ages of ages. Amen.

It sought to weaken Christians, or at least to frighten them by persecutions. Yet the blood of martyrs was only fruitful seed for Christianity, which was growing and becoming stronger. The Roman Empire embodied the ancient ideal of the state and took the ancient religion under its protection. It had to renounce this struggle and yield place to the new religion. Soon afterward, together with paganism, it too fell. Historians who have studied the causes of the decline and fall of the dreadful universal monarchy affirm this positively. It was not moral corruption, nor the diversity of the component parts of the Roman state, nor the numerous invasions of barbarians, that crushed ancient Rome. Rather, it was precisely Christianity, which gained victory in the ideological and spiritual struggle against Roman paganism. The stone once seen by the prophet Daniel, cut from the mountain without hands, struck the feet of the world colossus and ground it completely to dust (Dan 2:34-44).

In the following verses he gives this same exhortation, freedom from earthly attachments, to people of different conditions. He does so in relation to various other occasions and forms of attachment. For example, "those who rejoice should be as though they did not rejoice." That is, they must not give themselves over to merriment so much that they forget the fleeting and changeable nature of earthly joys and gladness. "And those who buy should be as though they possessed nothing" (1 Cor 7:30). That is, they must remember that all their purchases and possessions are, so to speak, in their temporary use. They can suddenly pass out of their hands, and so on, "for the form of this world is passing away."

Lest someone say, in response to the previous words, 'Such will have affliction,' that they will also have pleasures, the Apostle cuts off expectations of pleasure by presenting time as shortened. Everything is moving toward dissolution. The Kingdom of Christ has drawn near, and we must migrate into it. Thus, if any pleasure is possible, it is momentary and only increases affliction. We must not be overly concerned only about wives, but about nothing else either. In a word, I say: those who use the world should be as though not using it, as though they had nothing. For attachment to worldly things and tormenting oneself with care over them is not the use of the world, but its abuse." To this Venerable Theophan adds, "The time is being shortened, the form is passing away. What is that to us? It means that this will be joined to such a blow upon all that everyone will forget everything. Husbands will forget wives, wives husbands, the joyful their joy, the sorrowful their sorrow. All who use any goods of the world will forget those goods. As in fright people see without seeing and hear without hearing, so it will be then. And it is at the very door, almost upon us. How can there be time then for marriage? How can there be time then for comforts and pleasures? Thus, by the words 'the time is shortened,' the Apostle places us in the same disposition as the Lord does when He says, 'Watch, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come' (Mt 24:42). Whoever feels this hour of the Lord will no longer stop at anything earthly. He will pass wholly into that world where they neither marry nor are given in marriage."

In a word, those who use the world should be as though not using it, as though they had nothing. For attachment to worldly things and tormenting oneself with care over them is not the use of the world, but its abuse" (Theophylact). "Since the time is shortened, whatever anyone has should be regarded as though it did not exist. If death is near, why become attached to things here? Whoever gives himself to worldly comforts, is puffed up by wealth, and is exalted by honors and praises does not use the world as he should. One must look upon all this as something passing by and not touching us. We enter this world not for this, but to advance in good works and be always ready for the exodus. Whoever forgets this purpose and gives himself to the world as though his eternal life were here does not use the world as he should, but abuses it" (Oecumenius). "For the form of this world is passing away." Everything in the world is so changeable that it flows like a river. As a lit candle burns and by burning destroys itself, so the world is dissolved by its own changeability and hastens toward the end. "By this the Apostle shows the fleetingness of the present" (Theodoret). "Passing away" means being dissolved. Why, then, attach oneself to what presents nothing substantial? By saying "passing away," and then "form," the Apostle made clear that all worldly goods are such only in appearance. In themselves they contain nothing firm or substantial. Or else, "passing away" means condemned to cease and now about to cease, so that afterward nothing in it will remain as it now is. Why, then, attach oneself to all this, or be concerned about it? "There will no longer be agriculture or seafaring, kingdoms or military commands, slavery or mastery, arts or sciences, poverty or wealth. The present age consists of these and similar things, and it is passing away. In the future life all things will be ordered otherwise and will receive another form" (Theodoret).