Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife.
Parallel Translations
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Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife.
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Arte thou bounde vnto a wyfe? seke not to be lowsed. Arte thou lowsed from a wyfe? seke not a wyfe.
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Art thou bounde vnto a wife? seeke not to be loosed: art thou loosed from a wife? seeke not a wife.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 7:27 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her. The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
- 1 Corinthians 7:20 Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 27. Art thou bound to a wife? Having stated…
27. Art thou bound to a wife? Having stated what would be most advantageous, he adds at the same time, that we ought not to be so much influenced by the advantages of celibacy, that one that is bound by the tie of marriage should shake off the connection. It is therefore a restriction upon the preceding statement, lest any one, influenced by his commendation of celibacy, should turn his thoughts to it, and despise marriage, forgetful of his necessity or of his calling Now in these words he does not merely forbid the breaking up of the connection of marriage, but also represses the dislikes that are wont to creep in, that every one may continue to live with his wife willingly and cheerfully.
Art thou loosed from a wife? This second clause must be taken with a reservation, as is manifest from the entire context. He does not, then, allow to all the choice of perpetual celibacy, but only to those to whom it is given. Let no one, therefore, who is not constrained by any necessity, rashly ensnare himself, for liberty ought not to be lightly thrown away.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not…
27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
Ver. 27. Art thou bound to a wife?] A manifest metaphor from oxen. Hence we call them yoke fellows:
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" Quam male inaequales veniunt ad aratra iuvenci;
Tam premitur magno, &c." (Ovid. Epist.)
Dare not to yoke thyself with any untamed heifer that bears not Christ’s yoke.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Art thou bound by marriage, or bound by contract,…
Art thou bound by marriage, or bound by contract, do not use any sinful ways to be loosed from that bond, either by divorce or by a voluntary departure: if the unbeliever will depart, he or she may, you are not obliged to court their stay, but do not you put him or her away. Are you free from a wife, either as yet unmarried, or by the hand of God separated, in case you can without sin, abstain. If your circumstances be such as they do not oblige you to marriage, do not seek a wife; the times are like to be full of trouble and difficulty. Our Master said, Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! Mat 24:19.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Art thou bound unto a wife?.... Or to a…
Art thou bound unto a wife?.... Or to a woman; either by promise, or by espousal, or by consummate marriage; either of which is a tic, or obligation, a bond, and especially the latter; marriage is such a bond as cannot be dissolved, but by the death of one of the parties; see Rom 7:2 unless in case of adultery, or of wilful desertion: and it is a bond which mutually obliges; as the husband is bound by the law of marriage to live chastely and lovingly with his wife, and to take care of her, and provide for her; so the wife is bound by the same law to live in like manner with her husband, and to submit unto him, and obey him:
seek not to be loosed; do not depart from her, nor seek to be divorced, nor even desire to be loosed by death:
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art thou loosed from a wife? being either never married, or else if having been married the wife is dead, or legally divorced for a just cause:
seek not a wife, or woman; make no inquiry after one; be content to live without one; enter not into a marriage state, nor take any step towards it; it is best to continue loosed, for the reason above given, that is, provided the person has the gift of continence, otherwise not; see Co1 7:5.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 27. Art thou bound unto a wife?] i…
Verse 27. Art thou bound unto a wife?] i e. Married; for the marriage contract was considered in the light of a bond.
Seek not to be loosed.] Neither regret your circumstances, notwithstanding the present distress, nor seek on this account for a dissolution of the marriage contract. But if thou art under no matrimonial engagements, do not for the present enter into any.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Co 7:27-28. Art thou bound to a wife? —…
1Co 7:27-28. Art thou bound to a wife? — “Because the directions which the apostle was about to give (1Co 7:36) to fathers, concerning the disposal of their children in marriage, were partly to be founded on the inclination and circumstances of the children, before he gave these directions, he very properly addressed the children themselves, and set before them the considerations by which their inclinations were to be regulated in that matter, namely, the inconveniences attending a married state, and the brevity and uncertainty of all human enjoyments; considerations which, he told them, ought to determine them to wish to remain unmarried under the present distress.” Seek not to be loosed — From her by an unjust divorce, or by deserting her. Art thou loosed? — Hath Providence never led thee into those engagements; or has it broken the bond by the death of thy former companion? Seek not a wife — If thou canst conveniently and virtuously continue as thou art; at least at present, till the storm, which now hovers over the church, be a little blown over, and more peaceful times return. But yet if thou marry, thou hast not thereby sinned: and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned — The marriage state is, no doubt, both lawful and honourable. Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh — Many outward troubles; but I spare you — I speak as little and as tenderly as possible.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Art thou bound unto a wife? - Art thou…
Art thou bound unto a wife? - Art thou already married? Marriage is often thus represented as a “tie,” a “bond,” etc.; see the note at Rom 7:2.
Seek not to be loosed - Seek not a “dissolution” (λύσιν lusin) of the connection, either by divorce or by a separation from each other; see the notes on 1Co 7:10-17.
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Art thou loosed from a wife? - Art thou unmarried? It should have been rendered “free from” a wife; or art thou single? It does not imply of necessity that the person had been married, though it may have that meaning, and signify those who had been separated from a wife by her death. There is no necessity of supposing that Paul refers to persons who had divorced their wives. So Grotius, Schleusner, Doddridge, etc.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Illustrating the meaning of "so to be," Co1 7:26.…
Illustrating the meaning of "so to be," Co1 7:26. Neither the married (those "bound to a wife") nor the unmarried (those "loosed from a wife") are to "seek" a change of state (compare Co1 7:20, Co1 7:24).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 27. Loosed—The word seems naturally to imply a previous…
27. Loosed—The word seems naturally to imply a previous marriage, and hence, in some periods of the Church, second marriages have been disfavoured. But the word loosed is adopted by Paul as merely an antithesis to bound, and means unbound. See note on 1Ti_3:12.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (27) Art thou bound unto a wife?—This is an…
(27) Art thou bound unto a wife?—This is an explanation and re-assertion of the previous words “so to be.” Being “loosed from a wife” does not mean a separation after marriage, but simply “unmarried.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Seek not a wife. It is entirely alien from…
Seek not a wife. It is entirely alien from St. Paul"s purpose to take this as an abstract or universal rule. He gives his reasons for it as a temporary necessity.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 27. Art thou bound? If married, he is to…
27. Art thou bound? If married, he is to remain true to the bond; if unmarried, at present it seemed best to remain so.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to…
Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a 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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Paul is speaking to the Corinthians as if he were speaking to each person, so all these instances of "you" and the command "do not seek" here are singular. (See: Forms of You)
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Are you married to a wife? Do not ...
Paul uses this question to introduce a possible condition. The question can be translated as a phrase with "if." AT: "If you are married, do not" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Do not seek a divorce
"Do not try to divorce her" or "Do try to separate from her"
do not seek a wife
"do not try to get married"
I want to spare you from this
The word "this" refers to the kinds of worldly trouble that married people might have. AT: "I want to help you not to have worldly trouble" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
sin
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.