1 Corinthians 7:33

1Co 7:33. Πῶς ἀρέσει) how he may please. The word please is repeated from the preceding verse, and comprehends here all the duties of a husband, which the wife may demand in everthing relating to the married state.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_7:32, 1Co_7:33

But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please (his) wife.

This is the third reason why Paul wished the early Christians to remain unmarried. The first was, the increased suffering marriage would probably bring with it. The second was, the transitory nature of all earthly things. And the third is, the comparative freedom from care connected with a single life. The unmarried man may devote himself to the things of the Lord, i.e. to the service of Christ. Having no family to provide for and to protect in times of distress and persecution, he is less encumbered with worldly cares. Christ, and not his wife is, or may be, the great object of his solicitude.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They that are married, have their wits drawn hither and thither, and therefore if any man have the gift of continency, it is more commodious for him to live alone: but they that are married may care for the things of the Lord also, Clement, Strom. 3.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 33. But he that is married] He has a family to provide for, and his wife to please, as well as to fulfil his duty to God, and attend to the concerns of his own soul. The single man has nothing to attend to but what concerns his own salvation: the married man has all this to attend to, and besides to provide for his wife and family, and take care of their eternal interests also. The single man has very little trouble comparatively; the married man has a great deal. The single man is an atom in society; the married man is a small community in himself. The former is the centre of his own existence, and lives for himself alone; the latter is diffused abroad, makes a much more important part of the body social, and provides both for its support and continuance. The single man lives for and does good to himself only; the married man lives both for himself and the public. Both the state and the Church of Christ are dependent on the married man, as from him under God the one has subjects, the other members; while the single man is but an individual in either, and by and by will cease from both, and having no posterity is lost to the public for ever. The married man, therefore, far from being in a state of inferiority to the single man, is beyond him out of the limits of comparison. He can do all the good the other can do, though perhaps sometimes in a different way; and he can do ten thousand goods that the other cannot possibly do. And therefore both himself and his state are to be preferred infinitely before those of the other. Nor could the apostle have meant any thing less; only for the present distress he gave his opinion that it was best for those who were single to continue so. And who does not see the propriety of the advice?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. He that is married careth for the things of the world. By the things of the world you must understand the things that belong to the present life; for the world is taken here to mean the condition of this earthly life. But from this someone will infer, that all, therefore, who are married are strangers to the kingdom of God, as thinking of nothing but this earth. I answer, that the Apostle speaks only of a portion of the thoughts, as though he had said: “They have one eye directed to the Lord, but in such a way as to have the other directed to their wife; for marriage is like a burden, by which the mind of a pious man is weighed down, so that he does not move God-ward with so much alacrity.” Let us always, however, bear in mind, that these evils do not belong to marriage, but proceed from the depravity of men. Hence the calumnies of Jerome, who scrapes together all these things for the purpose of bringing marriages into disrepute, fall. For, were any one to condemn agriculture, merchandise, and other modes of life, on this ground, that amidst so many corruption’s of the world, there is not one of them that is exempt from certain evils, who is there that would not smile at his folly? Observe, then, that whatever evil there is in marriage, has its origin somewhere else; for at this day a man would not have been turned away from the Lord by the society of his wife, if he had remained in a state of innocence, and had not corrupted the holy institution of God; but a wife would have been a help-meet to him in everything good, as she was created for that end. (Genesis 2:18.)

But some one will say: “If anxieties that are faulty and blameworthy are invariably connected with marriage, how is it possible for married persons to call upon God, and serve him, with a pure conscience?” I answer, that there are three kinds of anxieties. There are some that are evil and wicked in themselves, because they spring from distrust. Of these Christ speaks in Matthew 6:25: There are others that are necessary, and are not displeasing to God; as, for example, it becomes the father of a family to be concerned for his wife and children, and God does not mean that we should be mere stumps, so as to have no concern as to ourselves. The third class are a mixture of the two former; when we are anxious respecting those things as to which we ought to feel anxiety, but feel too keenly excited, in consequence of that excess which is natural to us. Such anxieties, therefore, are not by any means wrong in themselves, but they are corrupt, in consequence of αταξια, that is to say, undue excess. And the Apostle did not intend merely to condemn here those vices by which we contract guilt in the sight of God, but he desires in a general way, that we may be freed from all impediments, so as to be wholly at leisure for the service of God.

And is divided. It is surprising how there has come to be so much diversity upon this passage. For the common Greek version is so widely different from the old Latin translation, that the diversity cannot be ascribed to mistake or inadvertence, in the way in which a mistake often happens in a single letter or a single word. Now the Greeks commonly read it literally, “He that is married thinks of the things of the world, how he may please his wife: a married woman and a virgin are divided: She that is unmarried, thinketh of the things of the Lord,” etc. And being divided they understand as meaning to differ, as if it had been said: “There is a great difference between a married woman and a virgin; for the one is at leisure to attend to the things of God exclusively, while the other is taken up with various matters.” But as this interpretation is somewhat at variance with the simple meaning of the word, I do not approve of it, especially as the meaning of the other reading (which is found also in some Greek manuscripts) is more suitable and less forced. We may, accordingly, understand it in this manner — that a man who is married is divided, inasmuch as he devotes himself partly to God and partly to his wife, and is not wholly and exclusively God’s.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world,.... Attending diligently to the business and calling of life, he is engaged in, that he may provide food and clothing, and other necessaries for the support and sustenance of his family:

how he may please his wife: and make her and his children easy and comfortable. This also is not to be understood of every individual person in a married state as matter of fact; for, on the one hand, there are some who take no care to please their wives and provide for their families, and are worse than infidels; and, on the other hand, there are others who take a proper care to make a suitable provision for their wives and children, to the satisfaction of both; and yet this is not their only care, they also care for the things of the Lord, and concern themselves much for his honour and glory: but the sense is, that, generally speaking, persons in such a state are greatly involved in worldly cares, and have not that leisure, and those opportunities, that single persons have to attend religious exercises; wherefore the single state, on this account, is, in the apostle's opinion, the more preferable.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.

Ver. 33. Careth how he may please] He taketh extraordinary care to please, and so doth she, 1Co 7:34. The word μεριμνα implies a dividing of the mind into various thoughts, casting this way and that way, and every way, how to give best content. That is a happy study.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

careth for the things of the world - Is under a necessity of giving attention to the things of the world; or cannot give his undivided attention and interest to the things of religion. This would be especially true in times of persecution.

How he may please his wife - How he may gratify her; how he may accommodate himself to her temper and wishes, to make her happy. The apostle here plainly intimates that there would be danger that the man would be so anxious to gratify his wife, as to interfere with his direct religious duties. This may be done in many ways:

The affections may be taken off from the Lord, and bestowed upon the wife. she may become the object of even improper attachment, and may take the place of God in the affections.

(2)The time may be taken up in devotion to her, which should be given to secret prayer, and to the duties of religion.

(3)She may demand his “society and attention” when he ought to be engaged in doing good to others, and endeavoring to advance the kingdom of Christ.

(4)She may be frivilous and fashionable, and may lead him into improper expenses, into a style of living that may be unsuitable for a Christian, and into society where his piety will be injured, and his devotion to God lessened; or,

She may have erroneous opinions on the doctrines and duties of religion; and a desire to please her may lead him insensibly to modify his views, and to adopt more lax opinions, and to pursue a more lax course of life in his religious duties.

Many a husband has thus been injured by a frivilous, thoughtless, and imprudent wife; and though that wife may be a Christian, yet her course may be such as shall greatly retard his growth in grace, and mar the beauty of his piety.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It is far easier to give our whole heart and application without any the least reserve to God, than to divide them without injustice.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

But he that is married hath other things which he must take care about; for besides that he is obliged to provide for his family, husbands and wives are under some obligations to please each other by divertisements, which, though not in themselves sinful, yet take up time, which those free from such relations may spend more religiously.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. Please his wife—And there is a sad chance that the things that please his wife may not please the Lord. Hence there is a danger in every marriage; but a danger which in many a marriage turns out a safeguard.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Careth for the things that are of the world. St. Paul"s language must not be extravagantly pressed. It only applies absolutely to times in which the conditions are the same as they then were. The "anxious cares" which marriage involves may be more innocent and less distracting than those which attack the celibate condition; and when that is the case, marriage, on St. Paul"s own principle, becomes a duty. Thus some of the best and greatest of our missionaries have found their usefulness as God"s messengers vastly increased by marriage, in spite of the awful trials which marriage often involves. The apostles and brethren of the Lord felt the same. St. Paul"s opinions here are, as he tells us, opinions only, and admit of many modifications. Advice given to men and women when Christians believed that the Lord was coming, perhaps in that very age, to judge the world, is not universally applicable to all ages. In St. Paul"s later Epistles he does not revert to this advice, but assumes that marriage is the normal condition.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the married careth for the things of the world - And it in his duty so to do, so far as becomes a Christian. How he may please his wife - And provide all things needful for her and his family.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

world

kosmos = world-system. 2Co 7:10; Joh 7:7. (See Scofield "Rev 13:8").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. “I wish you to be free from care.” He now proposed to give them so plain and unmistakable a precept on this vexed question as to enable them to dismiss every care. “The unmarried man cares for the things of the Lord, in order that he may please the Lord: the married man cares for the things of the world, that he may please his wife.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

but he that is married is careful for the things of the world, how he may please his wife ,

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

33. ὁ δὲ γαμήσας. The aorist points to the time when the change of interest took place: ‘once a man is married.’ Epictetus (Enchir. 18) holds that the care of external things (τὰ ἐκτός) is fatal to devotion to one’s higher nature: a man is sure (πᾶσα ἀνάγκη) to neglect the one in caring for the other.

After τῇ γυναικί there is much doubt as to punctuation and reading. Does καί μεμέρισται belong to v. 33 or v. 34? The Vulg. takes it with v. 33, et divisus est, ‘and he is a divided man,’ ‘he is no longer single-hearted.’ This spoils the balance of πῶς ἀρ. τ.κ. and πῶς ἀρ. τῇ γ. Moreover, it is a weak addition to the latter. The arrangement in AV. and RV. seems better. Some texts (D3 E F G K L) omit the καί before μεμέρισται, and with that omission μεμέρισται must belong to what follows: but this καί is probably genuine (א A B D* P 17, Vulg. Surr. Arm. Aeth.). So also the καί after μεμ. (א A B D3 F G K L P, Vulg. Aeth.). The position of ἡ ἂγαμος is uncertain. Should it be inserted after ἡ γυνή only (B P Vulg.), or after ή παρθένος only (D E F G K L Syrr. Arm.), or in both places (א A F2 17, Aeth.)? This third reading cannot be right, and the evidence for ἡ ἅγαμος after ἡ γυνή is thereby weakened. If, however, ἡ ἅγαμος be read after ἡ γυνή only, then καί μεμέρισται must be taken with v. 33. The alternative readings therefore are: τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ μεμέρισται, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἂγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος μεριμνᾷ τ.τ.κ. (Lach. Treg. WH.) and: τῇ γυναικί, καὶ μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἡ παρθένος, ἡ ἂγαμος μεριμνᾷ τ.τ.κ. (Tisch. Alf. Rev. Ell.). Lightfoot (writing before the appearance of WH.) says: “I venture to prefer this latter reading, though supported chiefly by Western authorities, from internal evidence; for the sentences then become exactly parallel. There is just the same distinction between the married woman and the virgin as between the married and the unmarried man. The other view throws sense and parallelism into confusion, for καὶ μεμέρισται is not wanted with v. 33, which is complete in itself. It also necessitates the awkward phrase ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἡ παρθένος μεριμνᾷ. The reading ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἂγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος ἡ ἂγαμος illustrates the habitual practice of scribes to insert as much as possible, and may be neglected.” Heinrici proposed a second μεμέρισται: τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ μεμέρισται, μεμέρισται καὶ ἡ γυνή. ἡ ἂγαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος μεριμνᾷ, κ.τ.λ. This is pure conjecture; but it restores the balance of clauses and accounts for the double καί. Findlay thinks it “tempting.” Bachmann tabulates the confusing evidence. See Resch., Agrapha, pp. 8, 183.

On the other hand, see Introd. § “Text.” The question of reading must precede and determine that of punctuation. The MS. evidence for καί before μεμέρισται is overwhelming; that for ἡ ἂγαμος immediately after γυνή scarcely less so. The sense given to μεμέρισται in AV. is “ill attested and improbable” (WH.) and would require a plural verb.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 33. The aorist γαμήσας signifies: from the time he is married. The step once taken, what follows is the necessary result. But it is no blame which Paul thereby throws on marriage; it is a fact which he states to justify the greater difficulty a married man experiences in realizing in this state entire fidelity to the Lord. The unmarried man has only one question to put to Himself: how shall I act to please the Lord? The married man is obliged to take into account another will than that of the Lord and his own, a will which he should consult and which must be gained for his plans. There are, besides, earthly interests to manage; for they concern the future of her who shares with him the burden of the family. This care is not a sin, otherwise marriage would be a morally defective state; it is a sacred obligation, a duty at once of delicacy and justice, which the husband contracted by marriage. With the same measure of fidelity, the married man will therefore have a double difficulty to surmount, from which the celibate is exempt, that of getting his wife to accept the moral decisions which he feels bound to take, and that of not sacrificing his Christian walk to the earthly fortune of his family. — These reflections are true, practical, sensible, in accordance with the experience of life, and they do not in the least justify the charge brought against the apostle of degrading marriage. If the married believer comes out of these difficulties victorious, he will not be either more or less holy than the unmarried believer.

All this is only an introduction; in the following verses, the apostle reaches the subject strictly so called; for it is of virgins he is now speaking.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.