TRV
Counsel Concerning Virgins and the Present Distress
1 Corinthians 7:25-35
25
Now the question about the unmarried: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I offer an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy to be trusted.
26
I suppose that in a time of stress like the present it is good for a person to stay as he is.
27
That means that if a man has a wife, he should not seek to be free of her; and if he is unmarried, he should not look for a wife.
28
But if you marry you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. It is just that those who get married will have the normal problems of married life, and I would rather spare you.
29
What I am saying, brothers, is that there is not much time left: from now on a man with a wife should live as if he had none —
30
and those who are sad should live as if they weren’t, those who are happy as if they weren’t,
31
and those who deal in worldly affairs as if not engrossed in them — because the present scheme of things in this world won’t last much longer.
32
What I want is for you to be free of concern. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord’s affairs,
33
with how to please the Lord; but the married man concerns himself with the world’s affairs, with how to please his wife;
34
and he finds himself split. Likewise the woman who is no longer married or the girl who has never been married concerns herself with the Lord’s affairs, with how to be holy both physically and spiritually; but the married woman concerns herself with the world’s affairs, with how to please her husband.
35
I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to put restrictions on you — I am simply concerned that you live in a proper manner and serve the Lord with undivided devotion.
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