What is the authority behind the apostle’s word in this matter? This is a something which causes quite a lot of discussion and confusion. ‘But I speak this by permission and not of commandment.’ You hear people saying sometimes that God granted the apostle Paul permission to give his own opinion, but that is a nonsensical interpretation, which is quite impossible and ridiculous. No, Paul has not been given permission to state his own opinion. It is true that our King James translation could give you that impression, but is not intended. It could perhaps be more tidily expressed as, ‘I speak this as a permission and not as a commandment.’ That is the meaning of the verse. It is not that Paul is less inspired when he makes these comments. He is always totally inspired by God and his words are authoritative. In verse 10 and 12 we see further phrases which might suggest that his words are less than inspired: ‘Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord … but to the rest speak I, not the Lord …’ Why does he distinguish between his words and the Lord's words? Not because his words are any less inspired, but for the simple reason that in this case the Lord had pronounced himself on the subject. Verse 10 reflects Matthew 5:32 in which the Lord speaks of divorce being forbidden except in the case of adultery. But the Lord did not say everything, and so in verse 12 Paul, still speaking under inspiration, addresses a subject not covered by the Lord’s teaching. Christ told the disciples as Calvary drew near, ‘I have many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now.’ He promised them revelation to come, so that many of the rules for the Christian life and the church were left to the apostles to reveal under inspiration. The same is true of verse 25 of this chapter: ‘Now concerning virgins I have no commandments of the Lord, yet I give my judgement as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.’ Some foolishly say, ‘Oh the apostle was not inspired about this; he is giving his best judgement. It has less authority.’ No, not at all. He simply means that the Lord did not cover this subject. The matter is settled by 1 Corinthians 14:37, ‘If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto are the commandments of the Lord.’