1 Corinthians 7:33Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"But such will have affliction in the flesh." But, you say, there is pleasure also. See how Paul restrains even this by the shortness of time: "The time," he says, "is short" (1 Cor. 7:29). That is, we have already been commanded to depart from here and prepare for our exodus, yet you are pressing inward.

Even if marriage had no afflictions, one ought still to hasten toward the future. But if it is accompanied by afflictions, what need is there to lay a burden upon oneself? What necessity is there to accept such a burden, which, after accepting it, one must bear as though he had not accepted it?

"So that those who have wives," he says, "should be as though they had none." Having said something about the future, he returns again to the present. Spiritually, one woman cares for the things of her husband, while another cares for the things of God (1 Cor. 7:34). In worldly terms, he says, "I want you to be without care" (1 Cor. 7:32).

Yet he leaves even this to their will. Whoever points out what is worthy of choice and then again compels people toward it seems not to trust his own words. But 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 restraint upon you, but so that you may serve decorously and continually" (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 a married woman and a virgin" (1 Cor. 7:33), the Apostle explains here wherein their difference lies. He sets the distinguishing mark of a virgin and a non-virgin not in marriage and not in continence, but in freedom from cares in the one and a multitude of cares in the other. Cohabitation is not the 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 and firm in itself. Is it not the mark of a childish mind to chase a shadow, boast in a dream, and cling to what vanishes in an instant?

"For the form of this world is passing away." When you hear that it is passing away, why do you still seek the good things of the world? When you hear that everything human is only an apparition without truth, why do you willingly subject yourself to deception? Why, reflecting on the changeableness and instability of present goods, do you not despise them and direct your desire toward those goods that are constant, firm, durable, and subject to no change?

This is not the place to describe the unpleasantness of marriage or to display rhetorical speech on common topics. I think this subject was treated in great detail in the book against Helvidius and in the book that I wrote to Eustochium. Tertullian also, when still a young man, amused himself with this theme. My teacher Gregory Nazianzen set it forth in Greek verses while discussing virginity and marriage.

For now I briefly point out that in the Latin codices this passage is read thus: "The virgin and the wife are divided." Although this reading has its own sense, and although I myself once explained it according to the character of the passage, it is not the authentic apostolic reading.

The Apostle wrote as we cited above: "He cares for worldly things, how to please his wife, and he is divided." Having completed this thought, he turns to virgins and those who practice continence, and says: "The unmarried woman and the virgin care for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit."

"The virgin's soul is free from excessive and irrational cares, and, as far as possible, he imitates the life to come" (Theodoret). But blessed Theophylact remarks: "It is not enough to be holy in body. One must also be holy in spirit. Therefore, when you see some virgin who has embraced virginity yet gives herself to worldly cares, know that she differs in nothing from a married woman. Paul precisely defined the features by which they must be distinguished. They are not marriage alone and celibacy, but many cares and freedom from care." "For it is impossible for us to remain constantly in the service of God except by escaping the bonds of life" (Theodoret).

But for the married man, more than half his time is taken by cares, vanity, and the world, even when married life is directed in the best way. Therefore the married can never reach such a degree of spiritual perfection as the unmarried.

"The Apostle himself indicated the purpose of virginity. The virgin's soul is free from excessive and irrational cares, and, as far as possible, he imitates the life to come" (Theodoret).

"But how is this? Saint Paul, wishing to make us free from sorrow and therefore advising celibacy, again says, 'The unmarried man cares for the things of the Lord.' Here again is care. But, he says, this care is not at all like the care imposed by marriage. Care for the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord, is saving and sweetly nourishing. The cares of life and the world, because of marriage, are destructive to the soul and burdensome" (Theophylact).

It is very remarkable that what seems psychologically to be one and the same action has such opposite consequences. This comes from the difference in objects. In the Lord is our goal. Exclusive dedication of oneself to Him introduces one into closer communion with Him. By placing one at the goal, it grants blessed being.

Moreover, the Lord is one, and He unites those who surrender themselves to Him. He gives wholeness and strength. But worldly things are manifold. They divide the soul within itself, disturb the wholeness of its life, exhaust it, oppress it, and dry it up.