Sounds like a title for a sex-saturated Hollywood comedy.  Actually, it’s the last group the apostle Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 7.

He’s writing in response to matters about which they wrote him (7:1).  So far he’s addressed marrieds (7:1-7), unmarrieds (7:8-11), and believer-unbeliever marrieds (7:12-16).  He’s written about circumcision and slavery (7:17-24).  One theme runs throughout:  serve the Lord in whatever condition you find yourself, fulfilling the responsibilities of your position.

This issue arose because the Corinthians believed that, having been gifted by the Holy Spirit, they should abstain from all forms of bodily indulgence.  (Right.  These are the same guys who argued that what they did with their bodies was of no spiritual consequence!)

Even though it’s long, I want to finish the remainder of the chapter.  So we’ll plow through reading the whole chunk, then I’ll comment.

Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.  Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife.  But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.  What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not;  those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;  those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

 

I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord.  But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.  I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.  But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing.  So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.

A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.  In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 7:25-40).

“Virgins” (7:25), distinct from the unmarried and singles, are probably betrothed (“engaged”) women and men.  Should they marry or abstain?

The question arises because “ . . . this world in its present form is passing away” (7:31), “the time is short” (7:29) and there is “a present crisis” (7:26).  These eschatological realities inform Paul’s counsel throughout the entire chapter.

What’s the “present crisis”?  Paul is thinking eschatologically, referring to distress associated with this present age’s end and Christ’s Second Coming.  Likely, however, there is a specific eschatological distress they know about, but we don’t.

In what way is “the time . . . short”?  The Greek sustello can be translated “near the end.”  Paul may mean that Christ’s first coming “set in motion” the age to come, so now we’re “near the end”.  Therefore, we see that “this world in its present form is passing away”.  And this future should motivate us to live accordingly in this present age.

Paul offers his “trustworthy” opinion (7:25) and thinks that “I too have the Spirit of God.”  Thus, his “opinion” counts.

He opines:  in whatever state you are, stay.  But, “if a virgin marries, she has not sinned.”  Why does he say that?  Because the Corinthians think their spirituality demands celibacy.  Paul insists single, engaged, married or not are all irrelevant as far as one’s spirituality is concerned.

However, due to the present crisis, a married man may have more “trouble.”  His interests are divided between pleasing the Lord and pleasing his wife.  “So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better” (7:38).

A brief comment on 7:29b-31—“From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;  those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.”

Obviously, Paul doesn’t mean literally.  The interpretation-key is the last sentence.  Because the world is passing away, husbands shouldn’t live as if they couldn’t live without their wives (no marriage in heaven).  Don’t mourn as if what you treasure is forever lost and don’t ground your happiness in this world’s things (treasures will be more than restored in heaven and this world’s form is passing away).  For the same reason, don’t overly-treasure this world’s things; use them, but don’t be absorbed by them.

* * *

What can we take away?  If we’re not virgins in a present crisis, not much it seems.  For me, though, two things.

First, I don’t think enough, or even correctly, about “the time is near the end” and “the form of this world is passing away.”  I’m more a man of my culture than of Christ.  I presume the sun will rise tomorrow as always.  End-of-the-world-talk is extremism.  But one morning the sun won’t rise.  Though my mind can’t conceive it, this world will end.  And Christ has already set the passing in motion.

Not only do I not think enough, I think “too small” about what’s coming.  In that, I’m a man of my culture too.  “Heaven” will be a “nice” ending to death.  Scripture knows no such idea.  The future that’s coming is really big.  It’s a new and perfect creation.  Bigger than Columbus discovering The New World.  Bigger than colonizing a new planet.

Second, I don’t live now in view of “the time is near the end” and “the form of this world is passing away.”  For example, I allow depression over my permanent and progressing disability to dominate me, when in the new creation I’ll run (and maybe dance).  How differently might you live?

While “about virgins” seems nearly irrelevant to us, it isn’t.  Dr. Gordon Fee writes, “Being eschatological people is to free us from the grip of the world and its values . . . “  It calls us to think and live radically as people who know our roots aren’t in this world and a mind-can’t-conceive future awaits us.