I think that it is good therefore, because of the distress that is on us, that it is good for a man to be as he is.
Parallel translations
- KJV I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
- BSB Because of the present crisis, I think it is good for a man to remain as he is.
- NKJV I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—that it is good for a man to remain as he is:
- NASB I think, then, that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.
- NLT Because of the present crisis, I think it is best to remain as you are.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because of the present "distress" pressing on believers, Paul judges it good for a person to remain as they are. The hardships of the age make singleness a wise, freeing option.
Overview
The "present distress" likely refers to the pressures and persecutions of the church's situation, perhaps with an eye to the shortness of the age (v. 29). Paul does not forbid marriage but counsels that, under such conditions, staying single can be advantageous for undistracted service. His advice is pastoral and situational, not a universal devaluation of marriage, which he elsewhere honors highly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Cor 7:8But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am.
- 1 Cor 7:1Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
- 1 Pet 4:17For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
- Luke 23:28–29But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
- 1 Cor 7:28But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you.
- 1 Cor 7:35–38This I say for your own profit; not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction.
- Jer 16:2–4“You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.”
- Luke 21:23Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.
- Matt 24:19But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 7:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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