1 Corinthians 7:29

Now, if any limitation is set to marrying-such as the spiritual rule, which prescribes but one marriage under the Christian obedience, maintained by the authority of the Paraclete, -it will be His prerogative to fix the limit Who had once been diffuse in His permission; His to gather, Who once scattered; His to cut down the tree, Who planted it; His to reap the harvest, Who sowed the seed; His to declare, "It remaineth that they who have wives be as though they had none," Who once said, "Be fruitful, and multiply; "His the end to Whom belonged the beginning.

Now, when Marcion wholly prohibits all carnal intercourse to the faithful (for we will say nothing about his catechumens), and when he prescribes repudiation of all engagements before marriage, whose teaching does he follow, that of Moses or of Christ? Even Christ, however, when He here commands "the wife not to depart from her husband, or if she depart, to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband," both permitted divorce, which indeed He never absolutely prohibited, and confirmed (the sanctity) of marriage, by first forbidding its dissolution; and, if separation had taken place, by wishing the nuptial bond to be resumed by reconciliation. But what reasons does (the apostle) allege for continence? Because "the time is short." I had almost thought it was because in Christ there was another god! And yet He from whom emanates this shortness of the time, will also send what suits the said brevity.

Why so? Because he had laid down the premiss, saying, "The time is wound up." If, then he shows plainly that even wives themselves are so to be had as if they be not had, on account of the straits of the times, what would be his sentiments about these vain appliances of theirs? Why, are there not many, withal, who so do, and seal themselves up to eunuchhood for the sake of the kingdom of God, spontaneously relinquishing a pleasure so honourable, and (as we know) permitted? Are there not some who prohibit to themselves (the use of) the very "creature of God," abstaining from wine and animal food, the enjoyments of which border upon no peril or solicitude; but they sacrifice to God the humility of their soul even in the chastened use of food? Sufficiently, therefore, have you, too, used your riches and your delicacies; sufficiently have you cut down the fruits of your dowries, before (receiving) the knowledge of saving disciplines.

What, then, will the case be if God now keep us from the vices which of old were detestable before Him? "The time," says (the apostle), "is compressed. It remaineth that they who have wives act as if they had them not.

Therefore, if all these (considerations) obliterate the licence of marrying, whether we look into the condition on which the licence is granted, or the preference of continence which is imposed, why, after the apostles, could not the same Spirit, supervening for the purpose of conducting disciplehood into "all truth" through the gradations of the times (according to what the preacher says, "A time to everything" ), impose by this time a final bridle upon the flesh, no longer obliquely calling us away from marriage, but openly; since now more (than ever) "the time is become wound up," -about 160 years having elapsed since then? Would you not spontaneously ponder (thus) in your own mind: "This discipline is old, shown beforehand, even at that early date, in the Lord's flesh and will, (and) successively thereafter in both the counsels and the examples of His apostles? Of old we were destined to this sanctity. Nothing of novelty is the Paraclete introducing. What He premonished, He is (now) definitively appointing; what He deferred, He is (now) exacting."

But yet if it shall please you who find chastity hard to bear, rather to turn to marriage; I consider it to be profitable for you to restrain yourselves in the gratification of the flesh, not making your marriage an occasion for abusing your own vessels to uncleanness. "Then he adds. But those who are goaded on by their lusts, although they do not commit fornication, yet who, even in the things which are permitted with a lawful wife, through the heat of unsubdued concupiscence are excessive in embraces, how shall they celebrate the feast? how shall they rejoice, who have not adorned their tabernacle, that is their flesh, with the boughs of the Agnos, nor have listened to that which has been said; that "they that have wives be as though they had none? "

Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we know not the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come, replied, "When two shall be one, …

That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins." Of this same thing in Solomon: "I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity." Of this same thing in Exodus: "But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's passover." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Likewise in the same place: "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." Likewise in the same place: "No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. […]

Since, then, the Creator promised the gift of His Spirit in the latter days; and since Christ has in these last days appeared as the dispenser of spiritual gifts (as the apostle says, "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son; " and again, "This I say, brethren, that the time is short" ), it evidently follows in connection with this prediction of the last days, that this gift of the Spirit belongs to Him who is the Christ of the predicters.

"For the time is short," as says the apostle. This then remains that we do not make a ridiculous figure, as some are seen in the public spectacles outwardly anointed strikingly for imposing effect, but wretched within. Explaining this more clearly, he adds, "It remains that they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that buy as though they possessed not." And if he speaks thus of marriage, in reference to which God says, "Multiply," how do you not think that senseless display is by the Lord's authority to be banished? Wherefore also the Lord says, "Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor; and come, follow me."

Lest someone add to his words "will have troubles in the flesh" the thought "but also pleasure at the same time," he cuts off all hope of pleasure by pointing to the shortness of the time. For everything is hastening toward destruction, and the Kingdom …

If even those who have wives ought to be as though they have none, then what benefit is there in binding oneself in marriage and placing a burden upon oneself? What then does "as though not having" mean? It means: not clinging to marriage and …

Against conjugal chastity it is objected: 1 Corinthians 7: Let those who have wives be as though not having them; but he who does not have a wife does not use her: therefore he who has one should not use her. But this is contrary …

To that objection that those who have wives ought to be as though not using them: it must be said that the Apostle does not there prohibit every use of worldly things; for then it would be necessary for man to go out of the …

For this reason the Apostle Paul says: "The time is short: it remains that those who have wives be as though not having them, those who weep as though not weeping, and those who rejoice as though not rejoicing, and those who buy as though not possessing, and those who use this world as though not using it; for the form of this world is passing away." For he has a wife, but as though not having one, who knows how to pay the debts of the flesh in such a way that he is not compelled through her to cling to the world with his whole mind. For when the same excellent preacher says again: "He who has a wife thinks about the things of this world, how he may please his wife," that man has a wife as though not having one who strives to please his spouse in such a way that he nevertheless does not displease his Creator. He also weeps, but as though not weeping, who is so afflicted by temporal losses that he nevertheless always consoles his soul with thoughts of eternal gains. But he rejoices, yet as though not rejoicing, who is so gladdened by temporal goods that he nevertheless always considers the everlasting torments; and in that by which he lifts up his mind with joy, he immediately presses it down with the weight of prudent fear. Moreover, he buys, but as though not possessing, who both prepares earthly things for use, and yet with careful thought foresees that he will soon leave these behind. He also uses the world, but as though not using it, who both outwardly applies all necessary things to the service of his life, and yet does not allow these same things to dominate his mind, so that they serve as subjects externally, and never break the intention of a soul striving toward higher things. […]

The time of our abode here is short. It plainly follows, that even they who have wives be as serious, zealous, active, dead to the world, as devoted to God, as holy in all manner of conversation, as if they had none - By so easy a transition does the apostle slide from every thing else to the one thing needful; and, forgetting whatever is temporal, is swallowed up in eternity.

But this I say, brethren, the time is short,....

We have but little time to continue in this world; but a short season for possessing and enjoying worldly things; kairos synestalmenos. It is contracted, reduced to a narrow compass. It is just ready to be wrapped up in eternity.

THE text does not say that time is short. That would have been a true statement, but compared with eternity, time, at the very longest, is but as a pin's point. But note what the text does say—" The time is short." It is the time of our life, the space of our opportunity, the little while we shall be upon the present stage of action that is short. It is narrow and contracted, as the original implies. "Behold," said the Psalmist, "You have made my days as a handbreadth and my age is as nothing before You."

He uses the Greek expression which the Lord used in Lu 21:8; Mr 13:33. short--literally, "contracted." it remaineth--The oldest manuscripts read, "The time (season) is shortened as to what remains, in order that both they," &c.; that is, the effect which the shortening of the time ought to have is, "that for the remaining time (henceforth), both they," &c.

HOLY SCRIPTURE SELDOM gives a special rule for each particular case, but it rather instructeth us by general principles applicable to all cases. To meet every distinct moral emergency which could possibly arise, and solve every separate problem of action, would require rather a library than a volume.

HOLY SCRIPTURE SELDOM gives a special rule for each particular case, but it rather instructeth us by general principles applicable to all cases. To meet every distinct moral emergency which could possibly arise, and solve every separate problem of action, would require rather a library than a volume. To men who are taught of the Spirit of God, general principles are far more valuable than special precepts, and I am half persuaded that it is so with all persons; for it is less difficult to apply a general principle to a peculiar case than it is to find out exactly what the particular case may be, and what the special rule applicable to it. In writing to the Church at Corinth the apostle had to answer several questions with regard to marriage; whether, for instance, it was not better in those persecuting times, when men often had to flee suddenly from their houses, that they should remain unmarried; whether, again, supposing a person became a Christian after marriage, it was lawful for him to separate from the person with whom he was unequally yoked; and several other questions as to fitting action in certain extraordinary positions.

THE text does not say that time is short. That would have been a true statement, but compared with eternity, time, at the very longest, is but as a pin's point. But note what the text does say—" The time is short." It is the time of our life, the space of our opportunity, the little while we shall be upon the present stage of action that is short. It is narrow and contracted, as the original implies. "Behold," said the Psalmist, "You have made my days as a handbreadth and my age is as nothing before You." Brief is the season we have allotted to us, Brothers and Sisters, in which we can serve the Lord our God. This is a Truth of God which everybody believes, knows and confesses. It is trite as a proverb on every tongue, yet how few of us act as if we believed it! We are conscious of the precariousness of other people's lives, but, somehow or other, we persuade ourselves that our own time is not quite as limited as theirs. We think we have "ample time and verge enough," but we wonder that our neighbors can be so careless and prodigal of days and years, for we observe the wrinkles on their brows, we detect the gray hairs on their heads and perceive the signs of death in their bearing and we doubt not they will soon have to render in their account. "All men think all men mortal but themselves," is a "night thought" that may well startle us as we rest from the business and the bustle, or the waste and wantonness of each succeeding day. Why do you hide from yourselves the waning of your own life-work, the weakening of your own strength, the weaving of your own shrouds? As a creature, you are frail—as an inhabitant of the world, you are exposed to casualties. As a man, there is an appointed time for you on earth. You must be swept away by the receding tide—you must go with the rest of your generation.

The time is short - These persecutions and distresses are at the door, and life itself will soon be run out. Even then Nero was plotting those grievous persecutions with which he not only afflicted, but devastated the Church of Christ. They that have wives - Let none begin to think of any comfortable settlement for his family, let him sit loose to all earthly concerns, and stand ready prepared to escape for his life, or meet death, as the providence of God may permit. The husband will be dragged from the side of his wife to appear before the magistrates, and be required either to abjure Christ or die. Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens Uxor; neque harum, quas colis, arborum Te, praeter invisas cupressos, Ulla brevem dominum sequetur. Hor. Odar. lib. ii., Od. xiv., v. 22. Your pleasing consort must be left; And you, of house and lands bereft, Must to the shades descend: The cypress only, hated tree! Of all thy much-loved groves, shall thee, Its short-lived lord, attend. Francis. Poor heathenism! thou couldst give but cold comfort in such circumstances as these: and infidelity, thy younger brother, is no better provided than thou.