• 7:17-24    Statement of the principle, using analogy of circumcision and slavery.
• They should remain in whatever social setting or status (here, married or unmarried) they were at the time of their call since God's call to be in Christ transcends such settings so as to make them essentially irrelevant.
• That does not mean that in a culture that provides opportunity one should not seek to better oneself (v.21). It is a call to live out one's calling in whatever situation one is found.

• 7:25-38    To virgins: it is good to remain unmarried.

• v.25-28    Celibacy is the better option but marriage is a perfectly valid alternative.
• v.29-35    Paul offers two reasons for his preferrence for celibacy: (1) v.29-31 eschatological framework: In light of the imminent second coming, to marry is to add additional troubles in the present age that is soon to pass away, so why marry? (2) v.32-34 service to God: The married man or woman is "distracted" by worldly affairs away from the constant devotion to Christ available to the unmarried, so celibacy is the better option.
• v.36-38    The two options, to marry or to refrain, are both open to them.

• 7:39-40    To married women and widows: the married are bound to the marriage; when widowed it is good to remain that way but they have the same two options, to marry or to refrain.

7:19
Marriage is nothing; and celibacy is nothing. These things belong to the category of the irrelevant. Although circumcision counts for nothing, obedience to the will of God does.

7:21
Do not let your social condition be a concern to you.

7:22
Neither slavery nor freedom counts for anything to the one who is called into fellowship with Christ. In Christ, a Christian is both free and slave.

7:25
3 views about the meaning of "virgins":

(a) giving virgin daughter in marriage [but the terms father, guardian, daughter, etc. never appear in the text],
(b) refer to both men and women who are committed to one another in a "spiritual marriage", living together but without sexual relation, practised from 2nd to 5th century.
(c) some young betrothed women who along with their fiances were being pressured by some Corinthians not to marry as if going through with the marriage would constitute "sin" (v.28,36).

7:26
"present crisis": exact meaning unclear, seems to refer to real affliction the Corinthians are experiencing, possibly persecutions. "I think": the new reason does not carry moral weight.

7:27
"Are you bound to a woman? Stay that way, do not seek to be loosed. Are you free from a woman? Stay that way, do not seek a wife." "loosed": a technical term for discharging someone from the obligations of a contract.

7:28
The question of marrying or not marrying lies totally outside the category of sin. Those who do not accept this advice do not in fact commit sin.

7:29
Christians should have a totally new perspective as to their relationship with the world in light of the end of this age: the time is short, this world is passing away. One lives in the world just as the rest--married, sorrowing, rejoicing, buying, making use of it--but none of these has control over the Christian. The attitude of "as if not" frees us from being controlled. Paul is calling for a radically new understanding of their relationship to the world.

Paul does not have a clause to form a pair with "the married" because that would not be possible in the case of "the not married".

7:30
Christians do not buy to possess.

7:31
Christians use material wealth but are "not engrossed" or "absorbed" in it.

7:32
I want you to be without "concern" (anxiety about marrying or not) even as you must "concern yourselves" with life in the present age.

7:33
The two alternatives are parallel; the real difference is that the married man "is divided"--less opportunity for service; but it does not mean that the one is a superior existence.

7:34
"the unmarried woman" possibly the widows, in contrast to "the virgins" (those never married)

7:35
"not to restrict you" = no one is bound by Paul's teaching in this area. Paul's preference here is not based on "spiritual" grounds but on pastoral concern.

7:37
In no less than four different ways he repeats that such a man must be fully convinced "in his own mind." (a) he "has settled the matter in his own mind", (b) he "is under no compulsion", (c) "he has authority concerning his own will" meaning no one else is forcing this action on him, (d) he "has made up his own mind." This strongly suggests that outside influence might lead him to take such an action. He is told to take control of his own actions.

7:38
He has not sinned if he marries; indeed, he "does well" although he who does not marry her will do even better because of the above two reasons.

• Celibacy is a spiritual gift (v.7). Both options (to marry or to refrain) are open and are legitimate; marriage is not sinning (v.28,36). Celibacy should be chosen for a good reason, such as to realize the potential of a greater focus on Christ and his work (v.32-34).
• A serious problem is the sexual imbalance in today's church where females outnumber males.