1-corinthians 7:29
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
But this I say, brothers, the time is short: it remains, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
American King James Version (AKJV)
But this I say, brothers, the time is short: it remains, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
American Standard Version (ASV)
But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none;
Basic English Translation (BBE)
But I say this, my brothers, the time is short; and from now it will be wise for those who have wives to be as if they had them not;
Webster's Revision
But this I say, brethren, The time is short. It remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none;
World English Bible
But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none;
English Revised Version (ERV)
But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none;
Clarke's 1-corinthians 7:29 Bible Commentary
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.
continued...
Barnes's 1-corinthians 7:29 Bible Commentary
But this I say - Whether you are married or not, or in whatever condition of life you may be, I would remind you that life hastens to a close, and that its grand business is to be prepared to die. It matters little in what condition or rank of life we are, if we are ready to depart to another and a better world.
The time is short - The time is "contracted," "drawn into a narrow space" (συνεσταλμένος sunestalmenos). The word which is used here is commonly applied to the act of "furling" a sail, that is, reducing it into a narrow compass; and is then applied to anything that is reduced within narrow limits. Perhaps there was a reference here to the fact that the time was "contracted," or made short, by their impending persecutions and trials. But it is always equally true that time is short. It will soon glide away, and come to a close. The idea of the apostle here is, that the plans of life should all be formed in view of this truth, that time is short. No plan should be adopted which does not contemplate this; no engagement of life made when it will not be appropriate to think of it; no connection entered into when the thought "time is short," would be an unwelcome intruder; see 1 Peter 4:7; 2 Peter 3:8-9.
It remaineth - (τὸ λοιπόν to loipon). The remainder is; or this is a consequence from this consideration of the shortness of time.
Both they that have wives ... - This does not mean that they are to treat them with unkindness or neglect, or fail in the duties of love and fidelity. It is to be taken in a general sense, that they were to live above the world; that they were not to be unduly attached to them that they were to be ready to part with them; and that they should not suffer attachment to them to interfere with any duty which they owed to God. They were in a world of trial; and they were exposed to persecution; and as Christians they were bound to live entirely to God, and they ought not, therefore, to allow attachment to earthly friends to alienate their affections from God, or to interfere with their Christian duty. In one word, they ought to be "just as faithful to God," and "just as pious," in every respect, as if they had no wife and no earthly friend. Such a consecration to God is difficult, but not impossible. Our earthly attachments and cares draw away our affections from God, but they need not do it. Instead of being the occasion of alienating our affections from God, they should be, and they might be, the means of binding us more firmly and entirely to him and to his cause. But alas, how many professing Christians live for their wives and children only, and not for God in these relations! how many suffer these earthly objects of attachment to alienate their minds from the ways and commandments of God, rather than make them the occasion of uniting them more tenderly to him and his cause!
Wesley's 1-corinthians 7:29 Bible Commentary
7:29 But this I say, brethren - With great confidence. 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.
