So now you have decided that "unmarried" really means "unproven"? So if "unmarried" really means "unproven" and Paul is telling them that it is best to be "unmarried" (i.e. unproven) like himself, then it would mean that Paul is also unproven, and that makes absolutely no sense in the context of scripture outside of the fable that you've concocted for this small segment.
And even after this fable is complete, Paul still wasn't the husband of one wife himself, so one has to wonder if his letters really should have been included as scripture since he was so obviously claiming authority he didn't possess according to his own supposed restrictions.
Wow, it's amazing the lengths people will go in their efforts to obstruct women from pursuing their God-given callings.
Since you brought it up, Why not do some real deep Bible study on this subject and begin with ......
1 Corinthians 7:8
"To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.
If we want to understand how this verse applies to us, we need first of all to whom it is addressed. Your English versions say that Paul addresses
“the unmarried and the widows.”
It’s clear what Paul means by “widows.” He’s referring to any woman who was once married but whose husband has died. But to whom is Paul referring when he says
“the unmarried”?
Some readers interpret the
“unmarried” generically as anyone who happens to be unmarried, regardless of how they got into that situation (e.g.,
Ciampa and Rosner).
For this reason, they think that the
“unmarried” would include both the widowed, the divorced
and those who have never been married. On this view, Paul means to address
all Christians who happen to be unmarried.
However, if we do the work required I think we can see that Paul’s reference to the unmarried refers to
widowers specifically. There are a number of reasons for this.
1.
Not the least of which is the fact that the Greek word for “widower” was rarely used in ancient Greek and was never used in the Koine period (
Fee).
2.
For some reason, first-century speakers did not use the word “widower.” The reason is that they didn’t use it because of the negative social connotation attached to the term. In the first century, a
widow was not only bereft of her husband, she was also often destitute. It was a patriarchal culture, and to be without a husband was to be in an extremely vulnerable position. That vulnerability is why the “widows” and “orphans” are often paired together in the Bible (e.g.,
James 1:27). In a patriarchal culture where there’s no social security safety net, widows and orphans are extremely socially disadvantaged.
3.
A husband who lost his wife in that culture did not experience the same social hardship that a
widow did.
A widow is unmarried and
destitute. But a man who loses his wife is simply
unmarried. He is not destitute. And I suspect that is why Paul and other Greek writers didn’t use the term
widower to refer to such men. They were simply “unmarried.”
