Wednesday, July 11, 2007



I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord. (1Corinthians 7: 32-35)

Perhaps what Paul describes was true in first century. Today the unmarried often seem less concerned with God than the married.

It is still true, however, that pleasing one's spouse can be a source of anxiety. And married or unmarried most of us are anxious about the affairs of the world.

What the translator has rendered as unhindered devotion is much closer in the Greek to "easy undistraction." Peripastos or distraction is a consistent concern of Paul's.

Above is Agony in the Garden by Andrea Mantegna.

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