Can Paul really be serious? People should stay single because “those who marry will have worldly troubles” (v. 28)? Is he saying that all Christians should become monks or nuns?

Well, despite some denominations taking this passage seriously enough to make singleness mandatory for pastors or bishops, Paul makes it clear that this is simply his personal advice (v. 25). But he bases his call to all Christians to stay in their current condition on fundamental principles that apply to all of us, whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, married or single.

His first main point is that no Christian should place his primary focus on the things of this world, even matters so seemingly critical as gaining our freedom if we are slaves (v. 21), or as getting married if we are single (v. 27). And why? Because no matter how important those things may seem to us right now, they are actually temporary conditions (v. 31). It just makes no sense to devote all our time and attention to situations that only last during this lifetime – and sometimes not even that long.

Instead, every Christian’s main purpose should be “undivided devotion to the Lord” (v. 35). That means that whatever changes we seek to make in our lives should have as their main goal the glory of Christ and the expansion of His kingdom. Yes, it sounds radical, but Paul is saying that we should work hard for our employers not for the paycheck, and we should either marry or remain single not for our own fulfillment, or even for the happiness of our spouse, but in order to please the Lord (vv. 32-34).

So let’s seek to put Christ first in our jobs and in all of our relationships, giving ourselves as completely to one another as He did for all of us. For is there really any other way to follow Him?

I Corinthians 7:17-40 (ESV)

17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.
19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.
21 Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)
22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.
23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.
29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,
30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,
31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.
33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,
34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.
35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry– it is no sin.
37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.
38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.