1 Corinthians 7:8 Commentary and Bible Study

He is careful not to command anyone not to marry. These decisions are so personal, and have to be considered so honestly before God, that Paul cannot dictate what anyone else should do. If a person sees the benefit in remaining unmarried, and if they are so motivated to serve the Lord and see that this will help them, then let them take hold of this gift. Marriage should not be entered into without careful consideration. Every believer must ask whether or not it is the Lord’s will that they get married. God does not will that we should remain single while at the same time there is a strong desire in us for a spouse. This counsel is not for the world but for believers, whose desire is to live for God, and who should have the interests of the kingdom of heaven uppermost in their minds. One way we can tell if God wants us to marry is from the strength of our desire to marry. If we are constantly distracted by thoughts about marriage, then it will be difficult for us to have the advantage from singleness that the apostle speaks of later: ‘He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord’ (1 Corinthians 7:32). This may be a general desire or a specific desire for a particular person. ‘It is better’, he says, ‘to marry than to burn.’ The word ‘burn’ is used as a metaphor for strong desire and as Lenski notes, it is present tense indicating a continual state of desiring. These strong desires must in context be understood to include sexual desire, for marriage is being seen as a remedy against fornication. Hopefully however, in the case of the believer there will also be a desire for the companionship of marriage, the friendship, closeness, and trust of marriage.