Verse 27. Art thou bound unto a wife? Art thou already married? Marriage is often thus represented as a tie, a bond, etc. See Barnes "Ro 7:2". Seek not to be loosed. Seek not a dissolution (lusin) of the connexion, either by divorce or by a separation from each other. See Barnes "1 Co 7:10, also 1 Co 7:11-17. Art thou loosed from a wife? Art thou unmarried? It should have been rendered, free from a wife; or, art thou single? It does not imply of necessity that the person had been married, though it may have that meaning, and signify those who had been separated from a wife by her death. There is no necessity of supposing that Paul refers to persons who had divorced their wives. So Grotius, Schleusner, Doddridge, etc, |