Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 7:29

But this I say, brethren, the time [is] short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

29. But this I say, brethren ] The conclusion of the whole matter. The time is short, the world is passing away. In whatever condition a man is, let him live in a constant state of readiness to abandon it at the bidding of God. Let him keep his soul unfettered by the ties, the enjoyments, and above all, the cares of this life. There are several ways of rendering this passage, but they do not materially affect the meaning.

the time is short ] Not time in the general sense. The word here signifies a definite space of time. Cf. the English version of 1Jn 2:18, ‘the last time.’ The word translated short is rather shortened. “Compressed.” Robertson. “Living many years in one.” Stanley.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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 ( 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 1Pe 4:7; 2Pe 3:8-9.

It remaineth – ( 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!

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Co 7:29-31

But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none.

The time is short

I. For the domestic connections of the world (1Co 7:29).

1. Man is the creature of the family. He is nursed and trained under its influence. When called to leave his first home the domestic instinct impels him to become the head of a family himself. And then amidst the infirmities of old age he becomes again the subject of domestic solicitude and sway. A well-organised family is earths chief nursery and highest type of heaven.

2. But this relationship is short. Few husbands and wives are allowed to climb the hill together, and fewer still hand-in-hand to totter down.

3. If family connections are thus so transient, how ought the members to live in vital connection with that gospel which immortalises all human friendships.

II. For the sorrows and joys of the world (1Co 7:30).

1. There are a weeping and rejoicing that will never end. The lost sinner will weep for ever; and the joy of a commending conscience will never end.

2. But there is a sorrow and a rejoicing that will end with life–the tear of worldly anxiety, and the joy of worldly success. This transitoriness is–

(1) A consolatory thought to the good man; for all his sorrows end here, and all unsatisfactory joys.

(2) A terrible thought to the wicked. Many of the sorrows he has now will make way for greater ones, and all the pleasures he has now will end for ever.

III. For the mercantile transactions of the world. They that buy, &c.

1. The principle of commerce is adapted to unite men together; and by the exchange of the material commodities, to exchange kind and improving thoughts. Were London tradesmen all religious, they could export religion with their goods–the market would be the best Missionary Society for converting the world.

2. This material commerce will soon be over, but mental and spiritual commerce may go on for ever. Make, then, this temporary business subservient to your spiritual welfare; make the market a means of grace. In all your getting get that wisdom which is the principal thing.

IV. For the right using of the world (1Co 7:31).

1. The world is abused when it is used chiefly–

(1) With a sensuous end. To the brute, indeed, the world has no relation but to the senses.

(2) With a secular end. When men value it on account of its fruit and minerals, i.e., so far as it can be turned into money, then they abuse it.

(3) With an intellectual end. The world teems with Divine thoughts, which it is our duty and interest to study. But to make this the end is to abuse it.

2. To use it rightly is to use it chiefly with a religious end. Religion warrants us to use it sensuously, for we have senses; secularly, for we need worldly good; intellectually, for we require truth; but it demands that we should subordinate it to the salvation of the soul–make it the means of grace–the temple of worship.

3. This religious use of the world makes it ours. The difference between the world to the worldly and to the Christian is, that the former is possessed by it, the other possesses it.

V. For the fashion of the world.

1. The world literally has a fashion that is passing away. The phenomena and forms of the world are ever shifting.

2. The fashion of the human world passeth away.

(1) The political world has its fashions which get out of fashion, and others appear on the stage to meet the times.

(2) The social world has its fashions, &c., they become obsolete, and others take their place.

(3) The religious world has its fashions. Now one ism is in vogue, and now another. Now one popular preacher, and then another. Thus, there is nothing fixed. Conclusion: Let us not, then, put our confidence in forms, but in substances. You know that though the world changes, there are certain principles that remain for ever. It is for ever true, that without virtue there is no happiness, and that without Jesus there is no virtue; that A mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesses. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The time is short

I. The time is short. All things tell us so.

1. The year tells it in its rapid flight. The seasons, how they come and go!

2. Life tells it. Look back, you who can remember many years! What seem they now? As a dream when one awaketh.

3. The grave tells it, opening for one after another of our friends.

4. Sickness and weakness, the bodys gradual decay, tell it.

5. Every day, stealing by us so quickly and imperceptibly, giving us warning. We go forth in the morning; and in a few brief hours our work is done, and we lie down again to rest.

II. What gives to this truth its vast importance?

1. Because time is the entrance to eternity. If we were formed for this world only, we might as well join with those who say, Let us have a short time and merry one. But this life has dread responsibilities, when viewed in relation to a life which is to come. To every one of us is committed the solemn trust, to have this immortal being prepared for its appearance before God.

2. And how may this be done? The way is revealed to us in the gospel.

III. What practical lessons does it enforce?

1. Use this world as not abusing it.

(1) To live in sin is an abuse of this life. Sin is a horrible disorder, brought into the world which God made good.

(2) All who care only for the body, are abusing this life; who work, and eat, and drink, and sleep, and do no more. Why! the horse and the ass are as good as they–nay, better; for the brutes fulfil the purpose of God.

(3) If we set our affections on the things of this world, we are abusing them.

2. Be not weary in well doing: for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not.

3. Whatever good thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)

The time is short

I. The time of the world. Christ is at hand to judge the quick and the dead.

II. The time of our little world; our particular judgment is near at hand. It shall be with us at the latter day as it is when we die.

III. The season of the time. The opportunity of time is shorter than the time of life; for we have not opportunity of time all our life.

1. The time is short for doing and taking good.

2. It is uncertain; we cannot tell how short. If it were told any that within two days he shall die, it would make us look about us: but who of us all knows certainly that he shall live two hours?

3. It is irrecoverable when it is gone. It is a precious thing, given for great purposes; let us take heed what we do in it. We may do that in a little time that we may rue for eternity. We may do and get that good in a little time that may stand by us world without end.

Conclusion: There are three main parts of this little time.

1. The time that is gone; let us repent of it, if it have not been spent well.

2. The time present is to do good in.

3. For the time to come, it is out of our power. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)

Time: flight of

When young, our years are ages; in mature life, they are three hundred and sixty-five days; in old age, they have dwindled to a few weeks. Time is, indeed, the messenger with wings at his feet. Yesterday, he took my wife; to-day, my son; to-morrow, he will take me. (Madame de Gasparin.)

Time: how to use it

I. Know the use of time; that it is a seed-time, wherein thou must go forth and sow, though in tears and showers. An husbandman will not lose his seed-time whatever weather it prove, True, our life is a moment, but on which eternity dependeth. And it is a time of traffic till the Master come: and is the Masters absence for eating, drinking, or smiting the fellow-servants?

II. Know the worth of time, before the want of time. It is a very folly to be niggards of wealth and prodigal of time. It is the great sin of some that they cast away their short time in doing evil, or doing nought to the purpose: as little children who spend their candle in play, and are glad to go to bed by dark, and never perceive their childish folly till it be too late. But Christian wisdom is to set such a price on time as not to let it slip without making ourselves gainers of something better than itself. (J. Taylor, D. D.)

Time: its rapid flight

A Chinese preacher, wishing to impress upon his hearers the idea that time seems to pass more swiftly as we get older, used a telling illustration drawn from the incense-pan. The incense-pan is an article of furniture familiar to every Chinaman, young and old. It is a stand made to hold a great length of incense, coiled up like a clock-spring. The outer coils are by far the largest, the outermost being fifteen or eighteen inches in circumference; while the inner coils get gradually shorter, the innermost of all not being more than, perhaps, three inches in circumference. This spiral incense being fixed on the frame and lighted, the first round takes a long time to burn; the second round, being shorter, is completed quicker; the third round is completed more quickly still; and so, with accelerated pace, the smoking point courses round the shortening coils till the last is reached, which, being the shortest of all, is travelled round in a fraction of the time that was taken to consume the first. In the same way, said the Chinaman, our years seem to go, flying more swiftly the nearer we get to the end of our life.

The shortness of life

1. The tone in which a man speaks often helps us to understand his meaning. Brethren, the time is short, writes St. Paul, and there is no tremor of dismay or sadness in his voice. He was in the midst of work, full of the joy of living, and he quietly said, This is not going to last long. It is what men often say to themselves with terror, clutching the things they hold all the more closely, as if they would hold them for ever. There is nothing of that about St. Paul. And on the other hand, there is no hatred of life which makes him want to be away. There is no mad impatience for the things which lie beyond.

2. It does not matter what St. Paul was thinking of. He may have had his mind upon death or the coming of Christ. And perhaps the very vagueness helps us to his meaning. For he is not, evidently, dwelling upon the nature of the event which is to limit the time, only upon the simple fact that there is a limit.

I. What is the shortness of life? To the ephemera it looks like an eternity; to God it looks like an instant. How shall human life seem, then, to man? It depends upon where he stands to look at it. If he stands with the ephemera, his life looks long; if with God, his life looks short. If a man is able, that is, to conceive of immortality, he thinks his life on earth is short–and that we can do so is the pledge and witness of our nobility.

II. The shortness of life is bound up with its fulness. The day crawls to the idler, and flies to the busy worker. The shortness of life is closely associated, not merely with the greatest hopes of the future, but with the real vitality of the present. What then? If you and I complain how short life is, how quick it flies, we are complaining of that which is the necessary consequence of our vitality. And does not then the shortness of life cease to be our lamentation and become our privilege and glory?

III. Suppose a man has accepted the shortness of life as a conviction, what effect will that conviction have upon his life?

1. Must it not make a man try to sift the things that offer themselves to him, and try to find out what his things are? Epictetus said that for each of men there is one great classification of the universe, into the things which concern him and the things which do not concern him. To how many men that classification is all vague. Many mens souls are like omnibuses, stopping to take up every interest or task that holds up its finger and beckons them from the side walk. Such indiscriminateness is almost legitimate and necessary in childhood. Then life seems endless. Then the quick experimenting senses are ready for whatever strikes them. But as the course goes on, as its limit comes in sight and we see how short it is, the elective system must come in. Out of the mass of things which we have touched, we must choose these which are ours–books, friends, pleasures, usefulness, &c., before we go. We come to be like a party of travellers left at a great city railway station for a couple of hours. All cannot see everything in town. Each has to choose according to his tastes what he will see.

2. It brings a power of freedom in dealing with the things which we do take to be our own (1Co 7:29-31). Not that they should not marry, &c. The shortness of life was not to paralyse life like that. But they were to do these things with a soul above their details, and in the principles and motives which lay beyond them. He who has only an hour to stay m some great foreign city will not puzzle himself with the intricacies of its streets or the small particulars of its life. He will try simply to catch its general spirit, to see what sort of town it is, and learn its lessons. He must tread its pavements, talk with its people, &c.; but he will not do these things as the citizens do them. He will do them as if he did them not. Just so he who knows he is in the world for a very little while, is not like a man who is to live here for ever.

3. In the shortness of life the great emotions and experiences assume their largest power and act with their most ennobling influence. Think, e.g., of a great bereavement coming to a man. It comes in two forms. One is in the change of circumstances; the other is in the mystery of death and the distress of love. Now if the man who is bereaved sees nothing in the distance, but one stretch of living, it is the first of these aspects that is the most real. He multiplies the circumstances of his bereavement into all these coming years. But if, when we stand to watch the spirit which has gone away to heaven it seems but a very little time before we shall go too, then our grief is exalted to its largest form. Mens griefs are as different as mens lives. To the man who is all wrapt up in this world, grief comes as the ghosts come to the poor narrow-minded churl–to plague and tease him. To him to whom life is but an episode, grief comes as angels came to the tent of Abraham. The soul takes the grief in as a guest, and listens reverently for what it has to say about the God from whom it came.

4. The criticalness of life is bound up with its shortness. That thought belongs to every limited period of being which opens into something greater. A boy feels the probation character of his youth just in proportion as he vividly realises the approach of his majority. And man is made so that some sense of criticalness is necessary to the best life always. Let me feel that nothing but this moment depends upon this moments action, and I am very apt to let this moment act pretty much as it will. Let me see the spirits of the moments yet unborn watching it anxiously, and I must watch it also for their sakes. And it is in this that the strongest moral power of life is found. Now ask yourself, Could this have been if life had seemed so long to men as never to suggest its limits? It is when the brook begins to hear the great river calling it, and knows that its time is short, that it begins to hurry over the rocks and toss its foam into the air and make straight for the valley. Life that never thinks of its end lives in a present, and loses the flow and movement of responsibility.

5. When we know that our time of intercourse is short with any man, our relations with that man grow true and deep. Two men who have lived side by side for years, with business and social life between them, with a multitude of suspicions and concealments, let them know that they have only an hour more to live together, and, as they look into each others eyes, do not the suspicions and concealments clear away? Oh, you who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day; or letting your friends heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy, which you mean to give him some day–if you could only know, all of a sudden, that the time is short, how it would break the spell! How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do. (Bp. Phillips Brooks.)

Lifes brevity

No Christian will receive this as a sad announcement, or who has lost those whom he loves, and has a good hope beyond the grave. His only ground of regret is that the work he has to do is too great for the space in which he has to do it. And this is the thought which the word short most literally conveys. It means shut in, straitened for room. And this thought was natural to a mind like Pauls–so full, so busy, with large undertakings.

I. There are three reasons why time is short.

1. To the eye that has been dwelling on eternity, all time, everything we can measure, must be short.

2. Good occupations make shortness. There is a great deal to do. Alas! for the man who finds any day of his life too long.

3. No happy man complains that the hours run sluggishly; and happiness is every mans duty. To those who are infinitely happy there is no time at all.

II. I speak to those who wish it to be short.

1. This I say, brethren, the time is short, before the Elder Brother comes. The time is short for all your earthly brotherhood; and soon will be the heavenly brotherhood, when the whole family will meet in their Fathers house. Already Jesus is on His way, and He travels quickly.

2. What makes time longer than it is, is to clog it with the past or encumber it with the future. If you desire that time should feel short, live straight to the present; the present duties, joys, trials. You have nothing to do but with the passing moment. Dont be long about anything. What is to be said, say it; what is to be done, do it; what is to be thought, think it; what is to be prayed, pray it; what is to be suffered, suffer it. Concentrate. Many persons are too long in their religious duties; they may do better by more condensation.

3. The time is too short–

(1) To trifle with.

(2) To be speculative; what we want is to be exceedingly practical.

(3) For fretting about little things. The future we care about may never come; and if it comes will be only for a little while.

(4) To hoard up, when this night thy soul may be required of thee.

(5) To quarrel, when we are all about to go in together to stand before His judgment seat.

(6) To mourn for those who are gone when they will so soon come back again.

(7) To weep–when God is so soon to wipe away all tears from our eyes.

4. But it is not too short–

(1) To pause and feel its shortness.

(2) To do something for God before we finish the work which He has given us to do. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Brief life is here our portion

The text does not say that time is short. That were very true. Compared with eternity, time at the very longest is but as a point. But the text says The time is short, i.e., the time of our life and opportunity. This is a truth which everybody believes; yet how few of us act as if we believed it! All men think all men mortal but themselves. Ask the angel what he thinks of the life of a mortal, and he will tell you Like the grass, scarcely have I gazed upon them ere they are cut down, withered, and gone. Or if you interrogate the oak or the elm they will tell you that man is but an infant of to-day. Or take counsel of the old man and he will tell you that when he was a boy he thought he had a wealth of time before him. Yet now he remembers when, as it were but yesterday, he was himself a little child, and his grandsire clasped him to his bosom. And yet, perhaps, some of you hoary veterans need to be reminded that the time is short. Should five, or even ten years more be granted you, how quickly they must pass when seventy so rapidly have fled! Be parsimonious of minutes now, though you may have been once prodigal of years. But to estimate this oracle truly we must turn to the years of the right hand of the Most High. A thousand years in His sight are but as yesterday, &c. The time is short.

I. It warns. If ye knew the sterling worth of time ye would shrink from the smallest waste of so precious an article. It is too short–

1. To squander upon unprofitable amusements. While recreation is needful to keep the mental and physical powers in working order, we can give no countenance to such gambols and gamblings as rather tend to enervate than to invigorate.

2. To lose it in senseless talk, idle gossip, or domestic scandals.

3. To plan a round of empty frivolities to while away an afternoon or an evening, as the manner of some is. It is said of Henry Martin that he never wasted an hour. I wish it could be said of us, that we wasted neither an hour of our own time, nor of other peoples.

4. For indecision and vacillation. Your resolving and retracting, your planning and scheming, your sleeping and dreaming, are a mockery of life, and a wilful murder of time. If God be God, serve Him. Decide quick, speak sharp. If not, take the alternative–serve Baal.

5. For speculating upon nice points of controversial theology. You know how the school-men used to debate how many angels could stand on the point of a needle. There is a little of the spirit abroad now. Ministers will devote whole sermons to the discussion of some crotchet. I have generally noticed that the less important the point is, the more savagely will some persons defend it. I would sooner be able to proclaim the Cross and explain the Gospels than decipher the imagery of Ezekiel, or the symbols of the Apocalypse.

II. It suggests. Surely, then, I have some opportunity to follow out the work of faith, the patience of hope and the labour of love, though not the opportunity I once had. Some of you can never hope to receive the greeting that awaits such a faithful servant. You have lost the golden opportunity. But are there not children here to whom this is possible? I solemnly charge each young man to foster this aspiration. Prepare for the good fight of faith. Live to the utmost possible consecration of your entire manhood. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.

III. It inspires. Now is the accepted time. The time to do the deeds that thou must do, or leave them undone, flies swiftly past.

1. Are your children converted? Pray with them to-night. The time is short for others as well as yourself. Do not wait, young man, to preach Jesus till you have had more instruction. You that mean to do something for the poor when you have hoarded up some more money, spend your money now. Be your own executors. The time is short. Let it inspire you to pray for immediate conversions.

2. Seeing the time is short, let us bear with patience the ills that vex us. Are we very poor? Is consumption beginning to prey on our trembling frame? Have we to bear evil treatment from an ungenerous world? Why trouble yourselves about what you will do a month or two hence? You will probably not be here; you will be in heaven. Worldly-mindedness ill becomes us who have confessed that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

IV. It alarms. And well indeed it may. It is a dismal knell I have to toll for the unconverted man, to whom life has been a joy, for he has prospered in the world. But what have you not done? You have not found salvation. How few the opportunities that remain! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Length of life

Ten thousand human beings set forth together on their journey. After ten years, one-third, at least, have disappeared. At the middle point of the common measures of life but half are still upon the road. Faster and faster, as the ranks grow thinner, they that remain till now become weary, and lie down, and rise no more. At three-score and ten, a band of some four hundred yet struggle on. At ninety, these have been reduced to a handful of thirty trembling patriarchs. Year after year, they fall in diminishing numbers. One lingers, perhaps, a lonely marvel, till the century is over. We look again, and the work of death is finished. (Bp. Burgess.)

Only a little while

The attitude of people towards a temporary state of affairs is very different from their attitude towards something permanent. No man fits up his room at an hotel as he does his home. When one is waiting in the vestibule of a public hall he does not give much thought to the inconveniences of his situation. The thing for which he has come is behind those doors. When a man rides in a street-car he would rather have a seat and less crowding; but he never thinks of making a serious matter of that. His object is to get down to business. Now do we recognise the larger applications of the same principle? Suppose we set this life of sixty or seventy years over against the eternal life of the future. The two spaces are related to each other as the vestibule to the hall, the transit on the car to the days business. But remember that Paul does not use the fact of the shortness of life to encourage a sense of indifference to lifes duties. There may be in the ante-chamber some beautiful pictures and sculptures, &c. These things are for us: we may and ought to enjoy them. We are not excused from the courtesies of life, even on a street-car. The other world may be, and is, the prime fact; but this world is a fact, too, though a secondary one. If Paul says, It remaineth that those who have wives be as though they had none, we are not to conclude that because a man expects to depart for heaven in a short time, he is therefore to treat his wife as though she were not. This being premised, note the bearing of this fact on–

I. Our domestic relations (verse 29). These are the nearest and dearest of all earthly ties; they call out our deepest affections, our best energies. And God Himself instituted them, and Christ sanctified them at Cans; and Paul chooses them to illustrate the love of Christ for the Church. Yet it remaineth, that they that have wives be as though they had none.

1. If our earthly homes crowd out the attractions of the heavenly home, we are misusing them. When home ceases to be the nursery of consecrated power, a scene of preparation for heaven, and becomes, instead, a base for fashion and shallow pleasure, then it is time to face the hour when a voice shall call us forth from these beloved doors, to return no more.

2. And then, too, we know that often the family relation is not the type of heaven. We know how men make it the instrument of fostering their pride of birth, and how, for the sake of preserving a family name, loveliness and innocence are allied with senility and debauchery.

3. On the contrary, in the New Testament domestic life is always treated with special reference to the life to come. The institution of the family, beyond any human institution, points up to God. God Himself takes the name of the family head; marriage is to be in the Lord; children are to be trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

II. The sorrow of this world (verse 30).

1. Let us confine ourselves to one element–injustice. The innocent suffer; the bad prosper. Away back in the far past we find Job wrestling with the question. On the one hand, the reasoner asks, How did it come to pass? Why is it allowed? On the other hand, the man who is trying to live rightly asks, What shall I do with it? How shall I adjust myself to it?

2. Note the answers which are given to the latter question.

(1) Rousseau tells us it is all the result of false training. Human nature is good; and, if you only educate it properly, its evil will be checked, and we shall have a reign of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The value of Rousseaus answer may be estimated in the lurid light of the French Revolution.

(2) The communist says, Only do away with all private interest, and merge all in the public, and all will be well. But, unfortunately, the history of Nihilism has some significant stories to tell of that experiment.

(3) There was the Stoic, who steeled himself against injustice, and cultivated insensibility to pain, anger, and pity alike.

(4) There was the Epicurean, saying, I will keep out of all such relations with men as will engender injustice or cruelty.

3. All these views are strictly bounded by this life, and are opposed by that which is represented in our text. For the New Testament–

(1) Shows no sympathy with Rousseaus view. It treats injustice as an evil that will exist so long as human society is not under the power of Divine love.

(2) Does not give us a picture of any favoured man who escapes the worlds injustice. On the contrary, the better its men the more they suffer at the worlds hands.

(3) Gives us no men of iron, insensible to suffering. The victims of the worlds cruelty are real sufferers.

(4) Puts every Christian in a positive attitude towards this fact. He cannot evade it; he must feel towards it in the right way. And if, as the gospel everywhere assumes, this state of things is passing away to give place to a better and more permanent one, then let the injustice and cruelty and sorrow be measured by the proportions of that larger life (2Co 4:17). We can be as though we wept not; i.e., we can be as useful and as kindly as if we had no cause to weep. We may have lost what is ours; but the time is short, and heaven will give it back with interest.

III. Our joys (verse 30). Not that we are to pass this life in gloom and sullenness because it is short. When the train goes through the tunnel let us be all the more cheerful because the sunlight will pour in by and by. But if there is grander joy in the life beyond this, it is not the part of wisdom to be too much absorbed in earthly joy.

IV. The buying and selling, the possessing and use of the world in general (verse 31). All these things, in New Testament thought, have their value determined by two facts–the shortness of this life, and the overshadowing, transcendent grandeur of the life to come. Does it not become us to hold this world lightly in view of these two truths–so little time left, and eternity approaching? An old woman sat one day beside her apple-stand in a great thoroughfare. A well-known judge walked up and stopped for an apple. Well, Molly, said he, dont you get tired of sitting here these cold, dismal days? Its only a little while, sir, was the answer. And the hot, dusty days? Only a little while, sir. And the rainy, drizzly days, and your sick, rheumatic days? Its only a little while, sir. And what then, Molly? Then, sir, I shall enter into that rest which remains for the people of God; and the troublesomeness of the way there dont pester nor fret me. Its only a little while. But, said the judge, what makes you so sure, Molly? How can I help being sure, since Christ is the way., and I am His? Now I only feel Him along the way; I shall see Him as He is in a little while, sir. Ah! said the judge, youve got more than the law ever taught me. Yes, sir, because I went to the gospel. Well, said he, as he took up his apple, and began to walk off, I must look into these things. Theres only a little while, sir. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)

Life, its shadows and its substance

Is it, then, the aim of Christianity to turn this world into a dream-land? Are we to undervalue lifes sweetest affections and deepest sentiments as if they were but appearances? Surely no! Such an interpretation misconceives this passage alone and the whole Bible teaching; for no other book is more intensely realistic than the Word of God, and nothing places more value on common life.

I. Let us look around and recall some of our experiences to see whether we may not find a clue to this remarkable passage.

1. When, on some summer afternoon, parents watch the sports of their children and perceive their realisation of the game, do they not feel that to the child there is value in these things? And yet, when they consider the after-life of the child, do they not smile at his dream-land? It is to the parents as if it were not. And when the children grow up they feel that, when compared with the larger experience into which they have entered, that early joy was unsubstantial. In like manner, it is in the power of the ripened mind to look forward toward a coming state whose glory and perfectness shall cast all present realisations into such relative inferiority that they shall seem to be but shadows.

2. There are two states of mind in which men have an experience in business. The reality and importance of business is solemnly to be affirmed. And yet there are times when men feel disgust at wealth, and at all the means by which it is sought. But there are hours in which men feel, not that earthly treasure is despicable, but that there is a kind of treasure with which that which the earth affords bears no comparison.

3. He who has built a palace for his affections knows two experiences of the like kind. The earnest reality of heart-life–nothing can take from its importance. But there are times when there is a vision of the coming love in comparison with which all that we here knew in respect to heart-love is but a germ, or a plant in its early years.

4. Some there are who will tell you that in sorrow there is a like experience. The reality, the power, and the dominion of sorrow no man disputes. Yet, as in storms, sometimes there are moments when the clouds part and let through the whole gush of the sun; so, out of anguish, often, the soul rises to a vision of the work which sorrow does for men. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, &c. And in these higher moods we look back upon sorrows as if they had been no sorrows. Who remembers, when once his feet are upon land again, those weary storms that well-nigh rocked the life out of him but yesterday?

5. Thus in joy too we learn to rejoice as though we rejoiced not. We learn, blessed and beautiful as is the present, to wait for the more glorious disclosure that is just beyond. Have we not, then, in these and like experiences, the interpretation of this sublime truth of the sacred Scriptures? In another way John comes at the same truth, where he says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. You are to live as if all things here below were transient. You are not to rest in them as though you were satisfied with them. Let us live as though all these symbols of the life to come were but shadows and dreams.

II. In view of these illustrations consider how the deepening and ennobling of human life depends, not on the idolatry of its present low estate, but on so employing its earthly letter as to descry what it is going to be.

1. Take love, the finest feeling. We are to lift up our conceptions to a state in which our character will turn on this feeling, not occasionally, but as an ordinary experience. And when we have thus raised the ideal that ideal comes back to teach us how pure and noble it ought to be.

2. Nothing else is a better guard against immoderation and the vulgarising tendencies of business than that habit of mind which the apostle here indicates. We take business too often as an ultimate end. We do not let it prophesy anything to us. The wickedness of this world is not that men are addicted to business, but that they look at it only on the earth side; that they fail to hear its testimony of higher things. So soon as a man is satisfied that there is higher wealth than this world affords; that his life consists not of the abundance of the things which he possesses, he is fitted to acquire wealth and administer it.

3. All the experiences which we have in our varied life of this habit of mind which the apostle enjoins, will tend, not to destroy our conscious enjoyment in the present sources of innocent good, but to give us a finer joy. Men, for the most part, do not know how to find the honey in the things of this world. You will never suspect where the honey of a flower is; or, if you did, too large is your hand to be thrust in to get it. But the bee draws out the hidden stores. Its very fineness gives to it what your coarseness withholds from you. We are not fine enough to discover the joy that is hidden in many of the relations of this life.

4. So, too, cares and disappointments, such as waste life, are forestalled and resisted by this habit of mind. For I would have you without carefulness. Not without occupation, but without corrosive anxieties. He that feels that his life here is but transient, and that his true life is craning to him lives above those annoyances. The higher our conception of life the easier will life become.

5. This view lifts us above those fluxes and refluxes of pain and suffering that come from death. What is death? When the apple-tree blossoms you laugh, and you do not cry when you pick the apple; but when man blossoms man laughs, and then, when God picks the fruit, he cries. In winter I planted under glass, and depended upon artificial heat, and waited for the time when I might remove my early plants. But now, in these June days, I have taken them into the broad, exposed garden, and put them where they are to blossom, and they did not weep when I put them there. Now God has raised us under glass, and nurtured us there, that we might bear transplanting into another and better sphere, and when He comes, and takes us, and plants us out in His open garden, is that the time for us to cry? Now let us thank God, not that men die, but that they live. Let us mourn as though we mourned not. (H. W. Beecher.)

The shortness of time

The time is short. To the serious Christian there is much of consolatory as well as exhortatory nature in this solemn declaration. There is much that meets the anxious sorrows of the weary and heavy laden; and much that meets the circumstances of a sleeping, loitering pilgrim on the road to Zion.

I. It remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none. The apostle would here caution Christians against the undue encroachment of domestic cares. We must take care that our affection does not degenerate into idolatry; that we love our partners and our children with a subordinate regard; fearing lest our hearts should be overcharged with the cares of this life, and so the day of our departure come upon us unawares. We must only sip at the stream as we hasten through the valley, and beware how we linger on its banks.

II. The shortness of time should lead those that weep to be as though they wept not. There must be weeping of one kind or other in such a world as this. We must weep over the death of relatives: we must mourn the failure of our favourite projects, the treachery of professed friends, the pains and diseases of a corruptible body, the weariness and helplessness of old age. And however free we may be from immediate causes of distress, we must often mourn from sympathy, weep with those that weep. But the most fruitful source of a Christians tears is his sin. But the time is short; and it remaineth that those that weep be as though they wept not. I might well weep rivers of tears on the very possibility of losing my immortal soul and an eternity of bliss; but for the loss of everything in this world, surely there should be a sorrow commensurate with the narrow limits of its duration. What though we witness the departure of friends? They are only called home a little before ourselves, and soon we shall be for ever with each other and the Lord. What though we feel the adversities of life? Who can fret over a momentary privation, who has a good hope through grace of an inheritance in heaven? What though we feel the earthly house of this tabernacle dissolving? We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, where the inhabitants no more say, I am sick.

III. The shortness of time should lead those that rejoice to be as though they rejoiced not. To a certain extent many have a real enjoyment of human life. There is a temporary absence of disturbance, and a considerable competence of what nature relishes. Things wear a prosperous and a pleasurable aspect; and for a season at least men seem at liberty to rejoice, and to let their hearts cheer them. But let us pause and be sober-minded. What is it that we are so fondly handling? Perhaps the cockatrices egg. The object of our endearment is filled with the seeds of misery, and vanity, and corruption. We are leaning on a feeble reed. The longest season of earthly pleasure is, after all, but a fleeting summers day. Let us rejoice with trembling, and only suffer our unrestrained elevation of spirit to be given to these objects, which will never fail us. Rejoicing in Christ Jesus–rejoicing in hope–rejoicing in the testimony of our conscience–here is a wide and satisfying field–here we may fearlessly rejoice, even with a joy unspeakable and full of glory.

IV. The shortness of time should lead those that buy to be as those who possessed not. Suspect something seriously wrong if you begin to think yourselves at home in this world. After all, you are but tenants of a day, and here have no continuing city. Let your loins then be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.

V. The shortness of time should lead us to use this world as not abusing it. Such is the depraved propensity of human nature, that it turns into a curse what was intended for a blessing, Riches are abused to the purposes of covetousness or extravagance. The advantages of talents and education are abused to the furtherance of infidelity and error on the one hand, or pride and self-conceit on the other. Time, health, and every other possession are liable to the same alienation from its proper service. It is the fault and the misery of our nature that it is always making the creature the object of idolatrous regard. But we must watch against this propensity. We must reflect upon our situation. The time is short. We are hastening on our journey. We are travelling to our home. And shall we be unduly pleasing ourselves with the comforts of the inn of this world? or wantonly and excessively partaking of its provision, or longing to abide in it: (W. C. Wilson, B. A.)

The narrowed opportunity

If a woman take leaven and hide it in meal, the meal will be changed into bread; but the meal must work before the bread can be made. The end is a good end, but the process by which it is reached is not pleasant and seemly. The meal will heave and labour, and must. In like manner, when a new principle of life is infused into human society, when, for example, the gospel of Christ is brought into vital contact with a society like that of ancient Corinth, the new quickening principle must work in and upon it before it can be changed, and in order that it may be changed, into more wholesome and happier forms. To hasten the process, and to make the bread all the sweeter when it came, St. Paul threw in the salt of his good counsel. He answers the questions by which the Corinthians were troubled, and which they were not able to answer for themselves. A grown man, who is governed solely by maxims and rules, not by reasons and principles, is a pedant or a slave rather than a man.

I. Use the world, but dont abuse it. This is the broad general principle which covers, modifies, sanctifies all the details of practical life. Christ had said, Be not of this world; He had revealed a larger, fairer, more enduring world than the outward set of phenomena and conditions by which we are surrounded. And when the gospel came to the Corinthians, that spiritual world, which in its perfection is also a future world, seemed so attractive to some of them, so near, so momentous, that they heartily despised this present world and all that had once endeared it to them. This was one view of the case. And the other was: If time be so short, and the world so near its end, let us make the most of them while they last, and take our fill of pleasure as long as we can. Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. Both these conclusions, opposite as they are, were drawn from the same premises; and each of them is equally remote from the true conclusion. St. Paul rebukes them both. To the Stoic conclusion, Renounce the world, he replies, Nay, but use the world; to the Epicurean conclusion, Live only to enjoy this world, he replies, Nay, do not abuse the world. To all who held them he says, All things are yours. You may use and enjoy them all. But give the best things the best place in your thoughts. Let that which is largest, fairest, most enduring, take the deepest, strongest hold upon your hearts.

II. The apostle assigns two reasons for thus using the world as not abusing it.

1. The brevity of time. This I say, brethren, the time is short in order that henceforth we may use the world as not abusing it. Time is a word whose value wholly depends on our construction of it. It is variable as a chameleon, and takes its hue from the moods in which we regard it. An hour is much to a child, little to a man. To the same man an hour at a merry Christmas feast is one thing, and an hour on the rack of pain or expectation is a very different thing. Nay, so purely relative is time, that its length contracts or expands according as we look before or after. It is of little use talking to you of the brevity of the time to be; but look back on the years that have gone, and confess that the time is short, that now, if ever, you must bring your life under law to God.

The Bird of Time has but a little way

To flutter–and the bird is on the wing.

But the words rendered the time is short mean literally the season is contracted, the opportunity lessened. Every year, every season of life, brings its own opportunities with it, and these, once neglected, never return. Every day, moreover, carries off with it an indelible record of how you have either used or abused it–a record which can never be obliterated, or even modified. As an old Persian poet finely says–

The moving finger writes; and having writ,

Moves on: nor all your piety and wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.

2. The second reason which the apostle assigns for a wise use of life is the transitoriness of the world. In the Pauline vocabulary the word world includes nature, human society, and ecclesiastical forms, or, rather, it denotes all the visible and perishable elements of them. And all these change, and live by change. The more delicate and sensitive phenomena of nature vary even as we look upon them. The bare boughs put forth ]eaves of a tender green; the green shifts into yellows, browns, and crimsons; then the leaves fall, and the boughs are bare again. The birds come and go. The clouds shift and fly. The wind veers from point to point. The very rocks crumble. The sea eats away the land. The ice splits the mountains. And men change. The boy grows up into the man, the man marries and has children, sickens, dies. One generation goeth and another cometh. Modes of thought and government and the customs of society are for ever on the flux; the old order changeth, giving place to the new. And we ourselves change. Our deepest impressions are fleeting unless they are continually recalled and retouched. Our most intense delight, whether drawn from some beautiful scene in nature, or from sacred human affections, or from fellowship with God, loses its edge and keenness as the months go by. There is no affection so sharp, there is no joy so pure, but that time dulls it. Let us, therefore, use the world as not abusing it. To-morrow becomes to-day so fast, and to-day yesterday, that we dare not attach ourselves to the present moment, and should not fail to avail ourselves of whatever grace or opportunity it may bring. We, changeful as we are, have an abiding life beneath all our changes, and though the world be changeful too, yet its various phenomena are the passing forms of an external substance. And the question for us is–Which shall we care most for, for which shall we most habitually and earnestly provide, that which is changeful and perishable in us and in the world around us, or that which liveth and abideth for ever? (S. Cox, D. D.)

The message of the closing year

Like the traveller who goes to sleep in the course of a long journey, and awakes astonished to find that he has traversed such a distance, so have we felt, when the approach of the years end roused us to give attention to the matter. Here are two statements, and a series of practical inferences drawn from them.

I. The first statement is pre-eminent for its brief point and solemn suggestiveness: The time is short. Time, as every one knows, is simply duration; but it may be either the duration of the world itself, or the brief space of an individuals life on earth; or it may be employed to specify the precise date of some important occurrence.

1. It is short, in itself considered; for, as the Psalmist sings, The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and this is rather the outmost limit than the general average of life.

2. It is short in comparison with the duration of the material universe.

3. The time of our life, again, is short as compared with the years of those who lived in the days before the flood, or even with those of the patriarchs immediately thereafter. They reckoned by hundreds; we do now, at most, by scores.

4. Again, the time of our life is short in comparison with the work we have to do in it. The old painters had an adage, which they derived from Hippocrates, the father of medicine, Art is, long, and life is brief. They felt in their pursuits what our great lexicographer has expressed, when he declares, in reference to some matters about his dictionary, that a whole lifetime might be devoted to them, and even a whole lifetime would not be sufficient. And so every true Christian feels regarding the work that is set before him.

5. But once more here, the time of our life is brief in comparison with eternity.

II. The second statement here made is, that The fashion of this world passeth away? The figure has been taken, as is commonly supposed, from theatrical exhibitions. How rapidly, in a drama, does scene follow scene, and act succeed to act! Battles are fought and won, empires lost and gained, sudden elevation followed by swift misfortune, and the events of many years compressed into a few short hours; and then, after the foot-lights are extinguished, the place where, shortly before, there have been pomp and pageantry, is hushed in the silence of complete desertion; while, if you follow the actors to their homes, you may discover that he who stalked across the stage with the port of an emperor, ties down to sleep in an empty attic, or on the cold damp floor of a cheerless cellar. And such, indeed, is life: its changes as rapid, its possessions as fleeting, its joys as transient, and after it is over, there may be seen many contrasts far more striking than that between the actor in his sparkling finery on the stage, and the same man shivering in the cold nakedness of his home. In the estimation of others, however, the figure here is taken, not from the theatre, but from a public profession. But such a procession the whole race of mankind upon the earth has been. On the page of history men pass on and on in ceaseless motion; the costumes vary as the times do change; yet still we gaze, and still they pass: and then, when we come down to the day in which we live, we too fall in and follow them, joining thus the innumerable caravan that moves to the pale realms of shade. Thus it has ever been, thus it shall ever be. In solemn procession the race is moving on to death. Passing away–let us affix these words to the ornaments we delight to look upon, and the works of art we love to see. Briefly let us pass on now to the consideration of the practical inferences which are here drawn from these two solemn truths.

1. The first has respect to the relationships of life–It remaineth that they who have wives be as though they had none. But let us not misunderstand our apostle. He does not mean that a man should desert his wife and children, and leave them to the cold cheer of the workhouse, or to the still more uncertain mercy of precarious charity. That is one way in which a man–nay, let me rather call him a human brute–having a wife, may be as though he had none; but that is not obeying the apostles precept. Neither does he menu that a man should spend all his time out of his own house–whether in the fashionable club-room, or the genteel hotel, or the low public-house. That is another way in which he who has a wife may be as though he had none; but that is not obedience to the apostles precept. Neither does he mean that a man should come to his home after business cross, testy, and cantankerous, so that he cannot be spoken to; and should sit down to his newspaper or book, with a foot on either side the fire, utterly oblivious that there is one by his side whom he has solemnly sworn to love. The meaning is that wife, and children, and earthly relationships in general, must all be subordinated to God. We must not build ourselves upon them, as if they were to be always with us, or we always with them. We must build thus on God alone.

2. The next inferences have respect to the sorrows and the joys of earth–They that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not. Here, again, we must beware of supposing that Paul means to inculcate that stoical indifference to which all things come alike, and which can neither be melted to tears nor won into a smile. This was not the example which the Saviour set; for He joined in the mirth of a marriage feast, dropped a tear over the grave of Lazarus, and wept over the lost Jerusalem. He means that we must not allow ourselves to be swallowed up of sorrow, we must not nurse our grief until it become too strong for us to rise above it, nor brood over our sadness until it become murmuring.

3. The next inference has respect to the business of life They that buy, as though they possessed not. This, of course, does not mean that possessions impose no obligation, or involve no responsibility. The vastness of their possessions is to cause no pride; for what is it, after all, to the infinitude of God? The smallness of their earthly portion is to cause no envy; for, having God, what cause have they to complain?

4. Finally, these truths have an influence on the enjoyment of this worlds goods–They that use this world, as not abusing it. There is thus a legitimate use of the world. I have no sympathy with those who cry out against a proper employment and enjoyment of the good things of this life. No man has so good a right to enjoy these things as a Christian. The things of the world are not in themselves evil. They become so only when, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, we seek to put them in an improper place; when we derive our entire enjoyment from them, or find our entire happiness in them. But, on the other hand, our noblest use of them is to employ them in the service of the Lord. If you have money, use it; do not let it lie rotting in idleness, but let it be employed in the promotion of Gods glory, and the well-being of your fellows. If you have position, or rank, do not throw its weight into the scale of evil, neither seek to denude yourself entirely of it; but abide in it, and employ all the influence it gives you on the side of God. (W. M. Taylor.)

A drama in five acts

1. Holy Scripture gives not a special rule for each particular case, but rather instructs us by general principles applicable to all cases, otherwise a library would be required rather than a volume. The apostle had to answer several questions with regard to marriage. These he answers with an I suppose, or again, Howbeit, for this speak I, not the Lord; as if he felt himself quite unequal to meet every case; but he lands here on sure ground, and seems to say, Of this one thing I am quite sure; that the time is short, and therefore, whether ye are married or not, &c., &c., ye should act in all these things as knowing their temporary character.

2. This morning we shall go to a play, for the word fashion is borrowed from the changing scenes of the drama.

I. The drama as witnessed by the worldling.

Act I. introduces those that have wives.
Scene 1. is a wedding.

Scene 2. Domestic happiness and prosperity.

Scene 3. Children climbing the fathers knee and lisping their mothers name. Now, says our companion, I crave for nothing more than this. He is right in valuing the blessing, but wrong in making it his all. Will he see his error before the curtain falls?

Scene 4. A cemetery, and the headstone, with Here he lies. Alas, deluded wordling! Where hast thou now a home? What family hast thou now to care for? The first act is over; This also is vanity.

Act II. introduces they that weep. The cloudy and dark days have come. A beloved child dies. Anon, the merchant suffers a tremendous loss. Then the wife is smitten. Our man of the world, much moved, foreseeing his own sorrows therein, cries, Surely this is real; you cannot call this a fleeting sorrow or a light affliction. Everything worth living for is gone! Sympathising deeply, we nevertheless venture to say that these trials to the Christian are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Let the curtain drop–let us enter into an eternal state, and what and where are these temporary griefs?

Act III. presents us with a view of those who rejoice. The first-born son has come of age, or it is the daughters wedding, or it is a gain in business, and the man is full of rejoicing. Our friend is smiling at this sunny picture. There, says he, is not that real? What more do you want? If we gently hint to our friend that all this passes away he laughs us to scorn.

Act IV. they that buy demand our attention. The merchant is neither a mourner nor a man of mirth; he is attending to the one thing needful, the most substantial of all concerns. There are his money-bags, the rolls of bonds, the bankers books, the title-deeds, &c. He has made a good thing of life, and still he adheres to business, and is still piling up his heap, adding field to field and estate to estate. Is that all a shadow? says our friend. It will satisfy me at any rate. Alas, poor fool, the snow melts not sooner than the joy of wealth, and the smoke of the chimney is as solid as the comfort of riches.

Act V. the rich man whom lately we saw married, then saw in trouble, then rejoicing and then prospering in business, has entered upon a green old age; he has retired, and has now come to use the world. Now he keeps a liberal table, excellent horses, and many servants, &c., and our friend says, Ay, there is something very real here; what do you think of this? When we hint that the grey hairs of the owner of all these riches betoken that his time is short, and that if this be all he has he is a very poor man, our friend replies, Ah! ah! you are always talking in this way. O world, thou hast line actors, to cheat men so well. The whole matter is a mere show, but yet men give their souls to win it. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?

II. The christian view of this drama. Life is real; life is earnest to the Christian for activity for God; in the solemn responsibility which it brings; in the gratitude which we owe to God. The unreality of this world to him is found in the fact that time is short. This is the wand which touches the substance and makes it, before the eye of wisdom, dissolve into a shade.

1. When the apostle declares that they that have wives should be as though they had none, he does not teach us to despise the married state, but not to seek our heaven in it, nor let it hinder our serving the Lord. It is supposed that a man without a wife–

(1) Can give his time to the cause of God: the man with a wife should do the same, and so he will if God hath blessed him with one who will second his holy endeavours.

(2) Has no care: a man with a wife Should have none, for he should cast all his cares on God who careth for him.

(3) Will find it easier to die, for there will be none of that sorrow at leaving his beloved family: the man with a wife and family should, by faith, find it just as easy since the promise runs, Leave thy fatherless children, and let thy widows trust in Me.

2. Every Christian man must weep; but the apostle says that our sorrows are to be regarded by us, because time is short, as though they were no sorrows at all. A man who knows that his trials will not last long, can be cheerful under them.

3. The Christian has his rejoicings, indeed, he is commanded to rejoice. But still, believer, in all thy joys, remember to hold them with a loose hand.

4. So, too, in the matter of buying and possessing. It is not wrong for a Christian to trade and to trade well. But, still, while we buy and sell it should always be thus–This is not my real trade; for my treasure is beyond the skies, where moth devours not, and where rust cannot consume.

5. The creatures of God are given us to be used, but the Christian must use them as though he did not use them, and learn in whatsoever state he is to be content. That man is the full-grown and true Christian whom circumstances cannot alter!

III. The curtain which is soon to drop bears the device, Time is short. At what a rate we whirl along! Childhood seems to travel in a waggon, but manhood at express speed. As we grow older the speed increases till the grey-headed old man looks back upon all his life as but a day. We heard of one who had seen Wesley preach, and he knew others in his youth who told him of the yet older time, and going through the history of some ten or twelve persons you are carried back to the days of the Conqueror. But while time is thus short its end is absolutely sure. That curtain yonder must fall soon! It must fall; it is inevitable, and it may be very near. How soon it may be we cannot tell! And to those who have no God, death, while inevitable and very near, will be most awful. When men buy property on a short lease they will not give much for it; wherefore spendest thou thy soul to buy this world? What will it profit thee, if thou gain it, if thy soul be lost?

IV. Let us walk out of this theatre of unreal show and see something real and lasting. There is–

1. The soul. Then let me see to it and make my calling and election sure; for I shall have been of all fools the most mad if I shall have trifled with these things and yet have neglected my soul. The Roman emperor, Claudius, invaded Britain, but his performance only consisted of gathering pebbles and shells from the sea-coast. This shall be my triumph, if here in this world I live only to gather wealth.

2. Other mens souls. What am I doing for them? Dig up your buried talents and work while it is called day.

3. Christs Church. The Church that is to shine like the stars in heaven for ever, what am I doing for her? As a member, do I contribute to its strength?

4. Christ Himself. Am I glorifying Him here on earth? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christian moderation

Men are often carried away by the desire for things inferior and insignificant, while they fail to realise the true value of things all-important. Note–

I. The objects specifically mentioned.

1. Social attachments. These are not to be despised. The relationship of husband and wife was sanctified even by our Lord Himself. The apostle was no ascetic. But even domestic love must not interfere with preparation for eternity.

2. Worldly sorrows. There is nothing more thoroughly wrecks a man than this. Hence the apostle saw it necessary to specify it as a special ground of danger against which the Christian man must guard. It manifests a worldliness which is incompatible with true piety, an idolatry which is inconsistent with one who fully worships God.

3. Worldly joy. There are many legitimate sources of joy. But if these are to be the only motive-powers of life, they will lead to a sorry end. It is quite possible to use them and not to be so engrossed by them. A man in a railway carnage enjoys the scenery, but he is not of it as is the owner or the farmer who is cultivating the fields.

4. Worldly business. This, perhaps, engrosses mens thoughts more intensely than anything else. It is engrossing in itself, and more particularly in its results; in many cases it is a sort of gaming for large stakes. This is not the Christians view of trade.

5. The use of the world. There is no obligation to give up our use of the world as citizens, &c. For whom was this beautiful earth created if not for the Christian? But he must not prostitute it for his own pleasures or: debasement. It is his. All things are yours, but only in the higher sense.

II. The arguments by which this course is enforced.

1. The brevity of life. It is short in comparison with the age of the world and with the development of earthly things. It is more particularly short in comparison with eternity. The average duration of life is only thirty-five years. A retrospect of life shows us painfully bow terribly brief is its duration.

2. The changeableness of temporal things. The world is only a play. One after another the scenes pass away. What madness, then, to give our love and energies to that which must pass away from us when we step out of the doors of the playhouse, and we shall retain nothing more than the remembrance! Our duty is to attend to that real business of our existence–the eternal interests of our soul. (J. J. S. Bird, M. A.)

Moderation is everything

I. What it implies.

1. That our affections are subordinated to the love of God.

2. That our sorrow does not interrupt our joy in Him.

3. That our earthly joy is controlled by a consciousness of His presence.

4. That our transactions are governed by His will.

5. That our use of the world is regulated by His law.

II. How it is to be attained. By remembering–

1. That the world is evanescent.

2. That it is not the end of our existence.

3. That it must be used for the glory of God.

4. That it will soon come to an end, when every man will have to give an account before the judgment seat of Christ. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Christian unworldliness

1. Christ had said of His disciples, They are not of the world. It was a question therefore, Can a Christian lawfully enter the married state? Can he remain a slave and be a Christian too? &c. The apostle says in effect, You may, but I cannot judge for you; you must judge for yourselves. All that I lay down is, you must in spirit live above the love of earthly things.

2. Christianity is a spirit; it is not a mapping out of the chart of life, with every shoal and rock, and the exact line of the ships course laid down. It does not say, Do not go to this, abstain from that, wear this, &c., &c. A principle is announced; but the application of that principle is left to each mans own conscience.

3. Herein Christianity differed from Judaism. Judaism was the education of the spiritual child, Christianity that of the spiritual man. You must teach a child by rules, but a man governed by rules is a pedant or a slave. Note–

I. The motives for Christian unworldliness.

1. The shortness of time. That mysterious word time, which is a matter of sensation, dependent on the flight of ideas, may be long to one and short to another. The butterflys life is long compared with the ephemerons, short compared with the cedars. An hour is long to a child, a year little to a man. Shortness a term relative–

(1) To the way in which we look on Time. Time past is a dream, time to come seems immense; the longest night, which seemed as if it would never drag through, is but a speck of memory when it is gone. At sixty-five a man has on an average five years to live; yet his imagination obstinately attaches stability to them, though the sixty-five seem but a moment. To the young life is an inexhaustible treasure. But ask the old man what he thinks of the past.

(2) To opportunities. Literally these words mean–The opportunity is compressed–narrowed, i.e., every season has its own opportunity, which never comes back. The autumn sun shines as brightly as that of spring, but the seed of spring cannot be sown in autumn. The work of boyhood cannot be done in manhood. There is a solemn feeling, in beginning any new work, in the thought, shall I ever complete it?

(3) To eternity. The great idea brought out by Christianity was immortality. With-this the Corinthian Church was struggling. The thought arose, Oh! in comparison of that great Hereafter, this little life shrivels into nothingness! All deep minds have felt this at some period or other of their career. Let but a man possess his soul with this idea of Time, and then unworldliness will be the native atmosphere he breathes.

2. The changefulness of the external world: The fashion of this world passeth away. The word refers here to all that has form, and shape, and scenery; the visible in contradistinction to the invisible.

(1) God has written decay on all around us. On the hills their outlines changing within the memory of man. On the sea-coast. On our own frames. Even in the infant the progress of dissolution has visibly begun. We stand amidst the ruins of other days, and as they moulder before our eyes they tell us of generations which have mouldered before them, and of nations which have crossed the theatre of life and have disappeared. We join in the gladness of the baptism, and the years roll on so rapidly that we are almost startled to find ourselves standing at the wedding. But pass on a few years more, and the young heart for which there was so much gladness in the future drops silently into the grave to make way for others. One of our deepest thinkers has told us, All the worlds a stage, &c. Look at our own neighbourhood. Those with whom we walked in youth are gone and others have filled their places. Every day new circumstances are occurring which call upon us to act promptly; for the past is gone.

(2) The fashion of the world passes away in us. Our very minds change. All except the perpetually repeated sensations of eternity, space, time, alters. There is no affliction so sharp, no joy so bright, no shock so severe, but Time modifies and cures all. Our memories are like monumental brasses: the deepest graven inscription becomes at last illegible. Of such a world the apostle seems to ask, Is this a world for an immortal being to waste itself upon?

II. Its nature.

1. The spirit or principle of unworldliness; to use this world as not abusing it. The worldly spirit says, Time is short; take your fill; live while you can. The narrow religious spirit says, All pleasure is a snare; keep out of it altogether. In opposition to the one, Christianity says, Use the world, and to the other, Do not abuse it. Unworldliness is not to put life and Gods lovely world aside with self-torturing hand. It is to have the world, and not to let the world have you; to be its master, and not its slave.

2. The application of this principle–

(1) To domestic life. The idea was just then beginning to be discussed, which was the higher state, the single or the married. In after ages this question was decided in a very disastrous way; for it was taught that celibacy was the only really pure and angelic life. Marriage was regarded as earthly and sensual, unfit for those who were to serve as priests. Now observe the apostolic wisdom. He does not say celibacy is the saintly, and marriage the earthlier state. He says, In whatever state you can most undistractedly serve God, that is the unworldly one to you. God made man for domestic life, and he who would be wiser than his Maker is only wise in appearance. He is not the highest Christian who lives alone and single, but he who, whether single or married, lives superior to this earth.

(2) To sorrow. This unworldliness consists of two parts:

(a) The duty and the right of sorrow. Weep? Christianity does not sear the human heart; it softens it. If joy be felt in the presence of the loved object, grief must be felt in its absence. Christianity destroys selfishness, makes a man quick and sensitive for others. Moreover, it imparts something of its own infinitude to every feeling.. The Master wept. We may admire the stern old Roman heart; but we must not forget that the Roman stoicism is not of the spirit of Christianity.

(b) The limitation of sorrow, as though they wept not; that is, as though God had already removed their grief. Familiarity with eternal things subdues grief, gives it a true perspective. Have you lost a dear relative? Well, you may weep; but even while weeping Christ comes to you and says, Thy brother shall rise again.

(3) To joy–earthly joy; for, if it had been spiritual joy, the apostle could not have put any limitation to it. Therefore Christians may have earthly joy. Christ had no sympathy with that tone of mind which scowls on human happiness: His first manifestation of power was at a marriage feast. Look round this beautiful world of Gods. You cannot, except wilfully, misread its meaning. God says, Be glad! But now everlasting considerations are to come in, not to sadden joy, but to moderate its transports. We are to sit loose to all these sources of enjoyment, masters of ourselves. Respecting worldly amusements, the apostle does not say, You must avoid this or that, but he lays down broad principles. If your enjoyments are such that the thought of passing Time and coming Eternity presents itself as an intrusive thought, which has no business there; if you become secularised, excited, and artificial; then it is at your own peril that you say, All is left open to me, and permitted. Unworldly you must become–or die.

(4) To the acquisition of property. Unworldliness is not measured by what you possess, but by the spirit in which you possess it. It is not said, Do not buy, but rather Buy–possess. You may be a large merchant, &c., if only your heart be separate from the love of these earthly things, with Gods love paramount within. The amount of property is purely a relative consideration. You go into a regal palace, and perhaps, unaccustomed to the splendour, you say, All this is worldliness. But the poor man comes to your house, and to him this seems worldliness too. No! we must take another test. The Christian is one who, if a shipwreck or a fire were to take all luxury away, could descend, without being crushed, into the valley. He wears all this on the outside, carelessly, and could say, My all was not laid there. Conclusion:

1. Let there be no censoriousness. How others live, and what they permit themselves, judge not. It is work enough for any one of us to save his own soul.

2. Let there be no self-deception. This subject gives large latitude, and any one may abuse it if he will. Remember, however, that worldliness is a more decisive test of a mans spiritual state than even sin. Sin may be sudden, the result of temptation, yet afterwards hated–forsaken. But if a man be at home in the worlds pleasure and pursuits, happy if they could but last for ever, is not his state, genealogy, and character clearly stamped? Therefore does St. John draw the distinction–If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father;–but If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Let those that have wives be as though they had none.—

The marriage state, right views of

Let those that have wives be as though they had none. What! to use them as if they had none? To care for them as if they had none? No; but to be as if they had none. That is, let them be as resolute for Gods truth as if they had no wives to hinder them; as willing to suffer crosses, as ready to good duties. Let them avoid distracting cares and worldly incumbrances, as if they had none; let them not pretend their marriage for baseness and worldliness, and for avoiding of afflictions when God is pleased to call them unto them; let them not pretend marriage for their doubling in religion and dissembling, I shall undo my wife and children, Let them be as if they had none, for Christ hath given us direction to hate all for Christ. A man is not worthy of Christ that undervalues not wife and children and all, for the gospel. If things stand in question, whether shall I stick to them or to Christ, my chief husband; I must stick to Christ. The reason is, the bond of religion is above all bonds. And the bond that binds us to Christ it abides when all bonds cease; for all bonds between husband and wife, between father and children, end in death; but the bond of Christ is eternal. Every bond must serve the main bond. We must so labour to please others, that we displease not our chief Husband. For the time will be when we shall neither marry, nor be given in marriage, but we shall be as the angels (Mat 22:30); and that time shall be without bounds and limits, for eternity; and we must look to that. You know how it fared with him in the gospel, that pretended this, for his not coming to Christ; he that was married saith, I cannot come. His excuse was more peremptory than the rest, he could not. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)

How to use the world so as not to abuse it

I. I begin with remarking the wisdom of the apostle in teaching us now to bear the loss of friends, by first teaching us how to enjoy them. These two points are very closely connected. If a man has enjoyed prosperity in a proper Christian manner, he will be prepared to suffer adversity with the least degree of distress. As he will not rejoice, like one intoxicated, with extravagant joy, so he will not be depressed by a grief that overwhelms him with intolerable anguish. On the other hand, I would remark also, that the proper use of adversity teaches us to bear prosperity aright. The Christian principle, then, to which I have alluded as equally enabling us to bear prosperity and adversity, is faith. By this we are taught to feel the vanity, the shortness, the emptiness of everything in this world, and to realise the views of eternal things which are given us in Scripture. A Christian is one who looks not at things which are seen, but at those which are unseen. But in order that this view of eternal things should have any considerable influence upon the mind, it is necessary that it should have two qualities.

1. It should be abiding. However vivid our impression of eternal things may be for a time, yet we know that such is the nature of the human mind that the very strongest impression will soon wear away if not repeated. Nay, a very slight impression, frequently repeated, will have more effect upon us than any single impression, however strong. New the things of this life are perpetually before our eyes. They are, in this respect, like a force which is constantly acting. Will not the consideration of eternal things, therefore, require to be often set before the mind in order to counteract this force? From this constitution of things arises ,the necessity of continually hearing and reading the Word of God. It is therefore of the utmost importance to keep up a lively impression of eternal things on the soul; and this cannot be done without daily retirement, meditation, and prayer.

2. But in order that the things of the eternal world may become frequently the objects of contemplation, it is absolutely necessary that the view of them should be pleasant to us. No man loves to dwell upon painful or unpleasing objects: no man loves to meditate upon the shortness of life, whose prospects of happiness terminate here below. A man must therefore have a good hope beyond the grave before he can accustom himself to extend his view to this close of his earthly, hopes. He that is afraid of God will not often meditate upon His power and His omnipresence. Now it is the business of the gospel, and of the gospel alone, to render the thoughts of death, of eternity, and of God, pleasing to the soul. Christ is there held up to our view as having made atonement for our sins and procured reconciliation with the Father, in order that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. But it will be asked, What has the consideration of the next world to do with our concerns in this? I answer, Much. The proper use of this world depends wholly upon our views of that which is to come.

II. This principle, then, rightly felt, will teach us how to use the world without abusing it; how to enjoy the society of our nearest connections, and how to sorrow in their loss. In the enjoyment of domestic relations, the rule laid down, Let those who have wives be as though they had none, is not to be understood as if it excluded the gratification of social feeling, the pleasures of tenderness, or the indulgence of domestic happiness. But how, then, are we to be preserved from worldliness of mind, and from misery when we are deprived of our comforts? I answer, By the principle already laid down; by a deep and abiding impression of the superiority of things spiritual and eternal. Let me, therefore, while I enjoy all my domestic and temporal comforts with pleasure, and with additional pleasure because I receive them from Thee; let me still consider them as but subordinate and inferior to the blessings which Christ has purchased. While I have them, let me consider well their nature: they are transitory and vain; let the chief desire of my soul, therefore, be towards those things that are above. Apply the same principle to the losses we must expect to meet with in life. Let me address your feelings. You know that you hold all your temporal enjoyments by a precarious tenure. You that have wives, and in them all that gives enjoyment to life, consider how soon the stroke of death may tear them from you. (J. Venn, M. A.)

And they that weep as though they wept not.—

Religion in its relation to common life

I. To its sorrows.

1. It prepares for them.

2. Moderates their effect.

3. Mixes them with hope.

II. To its joys. It teaches us–

1. To regard them as the gilt of God.

2. To use them moderately.

3. To employ them as a means to invigorate us for the more serious business of life.

III. To business. It inculcates–

1. Diligence.

2. Contentment.

3. The vanity of earthly gain. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 29. 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.

Poor heathenism! thou couldst give but cold comfort in such circumstances as these: and infidelity, thy younger brother, is no better provided than thou.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He had before spoken to what concerned some, now he comes to what concerneth all.

The time (saith he) is short; furled up, like sails when the mariner comes near his port. He either meaneth the time of this life, or the time of the worlds duration; we often find the apostles speaking of their times as the last times (and in these senses all are concerned): or the time of the churchs rest and tranquillity, which they had hitherto enjoyed in a far more perfect degree than they enjoyed them soon after this, when ten persecutions followed immediately one upon the neck of another.

It remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; therefore (saith the apostle) it is the concernment of all Christians, not to indulge themselves too much in the pleasures and contentments of this life; but if ye be married, or shall marry, you will be concerned to keep your hearts as loose from the contentment and satisfaction men use to take in their wives, as if you had no wives at all.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

29. this I sayA summing up ofthe whole, wherein he draws the practical inference from whatprecedes (1Co 15:50).

the timethe season(so the Greek) of this present dispensation up to the comingof the Lord (Ro 13:11). Heuses the Greek expression which the Lord used in Luk 21:8;Mar 13:33.

shortliterally,”contracted.”

it remainethThe oldestmanuscripts read, “The time (season) is shortened as to whatremains, in order that both they,” c. that is, the effectwhich the shortening of the time ought to have is, “that for theremaining time (henceforth), both they,” &c. The clause, “asto what remains,” though in construction belonging to theprevious clause, in sense belongs to the following. However,CYPRIAN and Vulgatesupport English Version.

as though they had noneWeought to consider nothing as our own in real or permanent possession.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But this I say, brethren, the time is short,…. This is another reason, with which the apostle supports his advice to virgins, and unmarried persons, to remain so; since the time of life is so very short, and it is even but a little while to the end of the world, and second coming of Christ; and therefore seeing the marriage state is so full of care and trouble, and it affords still less time for the service of Christ and religion, he thought it most advisable for them to, continue in a single life, that they might be more at leisure to make use of that little time they had for their spiritual good and welfare, the edification of others, and the glory of Christ: unless it should be rather thought that the apostle is still enlarging upon the former argument, taken from the present time, being a time of distress and persecution; and so the phrase, “the time is short”, or “contracted”, and full of anguish and affliction, is the same with the present necessity, and trouble in the flesh; and since this was the case, he suggests again, that an unmarried state was most preferable:

it remaineth that both they that have wives, be as though they had none: and as for the rest, they that were married, his advice to them was, that they should so behave as if they were not married; not that he would have them put away their wives, or fancy with themselves that they had none, or make no use of the marriage bed; but suggests a moderate use of it; he would not have them give up themselves to lasciviousness and carnal lusts and pleasures, even with their own wives, and spend their time altogether in their company and embraces: but since the time of life was short, and that full of troubles, they should spend it in the service and worship of God, private and public, as much as possible; and not in the indulging and satisfying of the flesh.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But this I say ( . Note here rather than (verses 1Cor 7:8; 1Cor 7:12). A new turn is here given to the argument about the present necessity.

The time is shortened ( ). Perfect periphrastic passive indicative of , old verb to place together, to draw together. Only twice in the N.T., here and Ac 5:6 which see. Found in the papyri for curtailing expenses. Calvin takes it for the shortness of human life, but apparently Paul pictures the foreshortening of time (opportunity) because of the possible nearness of and hope for the second coming. But in Philippians Paul faces death as his fate (Php 1:21-26), though still looking for the coming of Christ (3:20).

That henceforth ( ). Proleptic position of before and in the accusative of general reference and has the notion of result rather than purpose (Robertson, Grammar, p. 997).

As though they had none ( ). This use of with the participle for an assumed condition is regular and in the Koine is the normal negative of the participle. So the idiom runs on through verse 31.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Time [] . Not, the period of mortal life; but the time which must elapse before the Lord appears.

Short [] Rev., correctly, giving the force of the participle, shortened. Compare Mr 13:20, and see on hasting unto, 2Pe 3:12. The word means to draw together or contract. Only here and Act 5:6, where it is used of the winding up of Ananias’ corpse. In classical Greek of furling sails, packing luggage, reducing expenses, etc. Applied to time, the word is very graphic.

It remaineth that [ ] . The meaning is rather henceforth, or for the future. That [] in any case is to be construed with the time is shortened. According to the punctuation by different editors, we may read either : the time is shortened that henceforth both those, etc.; or, the time is shortened henceforth, that both those, etc. The former is preferable. 96 The time is shortened that henceforth Christians may hold earthly ties and possessions but loosely

31 Abusing [] . Only here and ch 1Co 9:18. The verb means to use up or consume by using. Hence the sense of misuse by overuse. So A. V. and Rev., abuse. But the American Rev., and Rev. at ch. 9 18, use to the full, thus according better with the preceding antitheses, which do not contrast what is right and wrong in itself (as use and abuse), but what is right in itself with what is proper under altered circumstances. In ordinary cases it is right for Christians to sorrow; but they should live now as in the near future, when earthly sorrow is to be done away. It is right for them to live in the married state, but they should “assimilate their present condition” to that in which they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Passeth away [] . Or, as some, the continuous present, is passing. If the former, the nature of the worldly order is expressed. It is transitory. If the latter, the fact; it is actually passing, with a suggestion of the nearness of the consummation. The context seems to indicate the latter. 97

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) But this I say, brethren, the time is short. (touto de phemi adelphoi, ho kairos sunestalmenos estin) This moreover I assert gravely, brethren, the season is shortened. This refers to the brevity of life and the uncertainty of the shortened time to the coming of Christ. 1Pe 4:7.

2) It remaineth, that both they that have wives. (to loipon hina kai hai echontes gunaikas) It (the shortened time) lingers or continues in order that even those having wives already.

3) Be as though they had none. – (hos me echontes osin) Be as those not having or holding wives. Paul simply asserts that first devotion of even the married should be to Jesus, Mat 6:33.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

29. Because the time is short, etc. Again he discourses respecting the holy use of marriage, for the purpose of repressing the wantonness of those who, when they have married, think of nothing but the delights of the flesh. They have no remembrance of God. Hence he exhorts believers not to give way to unbridled desire in such a way, that marriage should have the effect of plunging them into the world. Marriage is a remedy for incontinency. It has really the effect, if it be used with moderation. He therefore exhorts married persons to live together chastely in the fear of the Lord. This will be effected, if marriage is made use of by them, like other helps of this earthly life, having their hearts directed upwards to meditation on the heavenly life. Now, he draws his argument from the shortness of human life: “This life,” says he, “which we are now spending is frail, and of short duration. Let us not therefore be held entangled by it. Let those accordingly who have wives, be as though they had none. ” Every one, it is true, has this philosophy in his mouth, but few have it truly and in good earnest impressed upon their minds. In my first translation, I had followed a manuscript, to which (as I afterwards discovered) not one of the many others gave any countenance. I have accordingly deemed it proper to insert the particle because, to make the meaning more apparent, and in accordance also with the reading in some ancient copies. For as in those cases in which we are deliberating as to anything, we look to the future rather than to the past, he admonishes us as to the shortness of the time that is to come.

As though they had none All things that are connected with the enjoyment of the present life are sacred gifts of God, but we pollute them when we abuse them. If the reason is asked, we shall find it to be this, that we always dream of continuance in the world, for it is owing to this that those things which ought to be helps in passing through it become hindrances to hold us fast. Hence, it is not without good reason, that the Apostle, with the view of arousing us from this stupidity, calls us to consider the shortness of this life, and infers from this, that we ought to use all the things of this world, as if we did not use them. For the man who considers that he is a stranger in the world uses the things of this world as if they were another’s — that is, as things that are lent us for a single day. The sum is this, that the mind of a Christian ought not to be taken up with earthly things, or to repose in them; for we ought to live as if we were every moment about to depart from this life. By weeping and rejoicing, he means adversity and prosperity; for it is customary to denote causes by their effects. (424) The Apostle, however, does not here command Christians to part with their possessions, but simply requires that their minds be not engrossed in their possessions. (425)

(424) “ Or de prosperite s’ensuit ioye, comme d’aduersitez pleurs;” — “Now joy is attendant on prosperity, as tears are on adversities.”

(425) “ Enterrez en icelles;” — “Buried in them.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(29) But this I say, brethren.This does not introduce a reiteration of what he has said already, but commences a solemn and affectionate warning, urging on them earnestly that, whether they applied or did not apply the principle to marriage, still that it is true, and of vast importance in regulating all life,that men should live as ever expecting the return of the Lord. Let us not for one moment think that this principle was evolved by St. Paul from a mistaken belief that the Second Advent was close at hand. This principle of life was taught by Christ Himself. He warned men against living carelessly because they thought the Lord delayeth His coming. They were to be ever on the watch, as servants for the unexpected return of their masteras guests for the coming of the bridegroom. It was not the opinion that Christ would soon come which led St. Paul to hold and teach this principle of Christian life. Perhaps it was his intense realisation of this eternal truth which the Lord had taught, his assimilation of it as part of his very being, from which the conviction arose that the Advent was not only in theory always, but, as a matter of fact, then near at hand. Hope and belief mysteriously mingled together in one longing unity of feeling.

It may be asked, if the Apostles were mistaken on this point, may they not have been mistaken about other things also? The best answer to such a question, perhaps, is that this was just the one point on which our Lord had said they should not be informed, and it is the one point on which they were not informed. Times and seasons were to be excluded from their knowledge (Act. 1:6).

The time is short: it remaineth . . .Better, The time that remains is shortened, so that both they that have wives, &c. (the Greek word for remain (to loipon) is used frequently by St. Paul in a sort of adverbial way, 2Co. 13:11; Eph. 6:10; Php. 4:8). The words so that do not introduce a series of apostolic exhortations based upon and growing out of the previous statement regarding the brevity of the remaining time, but they express what was Gods intention in thus making the time short. St. Paul regards everything as having its place and purpose in the divine economy. If the time were long (and the teaching applies equallyfor the principle is the sameto the brevity of life), then, indeed, men might live as having much goods laid up for many years (Luk. 12:19); but the time of life is short, that each may keep himself from being the slave of the external conditions and relationships of life. Such is the force of the series of striking contrasts with which the Apostle now illustrates the habit of life which God intended to follow from the shortening of the time.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

29-31. The brevity of sublunary time renders us but transient tenants of worldly things. We must own them as not owning them. The patrimonies, the matrimonies, the griefs, the joys, the traffics, in short, the world, must, doubtless, in the general, all be gone through with; but their reality must be held as an unreality, in comparison with the reality that lies above and over them all. The eternal is the sole real.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

29. But, though I thus “spare you,” yet this I must say. There is a truth that must be declared.

The time is short We may note three different interpretations put upon this sentence:

1. That of Alford, Stanley, and many German commentators, which makes it affirm that time is short before Christ’s second advent, and imply, positively, that that event would cut short the earthly life of Paul and his Corinthian brethren. This interpretation we peremptorily reject. It makes Paul affirm a positive untruth under inspiration. It makes him contradict what a short time previous he had said to the Thessalonians, denying the impending advent: 2Th 2:1-3, where see our notes. We can freely grant that Paul, even under inspiration, knew neither the day nor the age when the advent is to take place. But to make him claim to know and to tell the age, under inspiration, is quite a reverse thing. This pruriency for making every expression in the apostolic writings expressing the transitory duration of human probation signify the end of the world, does most unwisely make it difficult for the sacred writers to describe earthly time as it truly Isaiah

2. The interpretation of Grotius and others, which makes it mean that the time before the impending persecution is short; and so, in view of possible martyrdom, we must hold to earthly things as not permanently possessing them. This is more plausible, but we reject it in our note on 1Co 7:31.

3. That of Barnes, Hodge, and others, that the time of our probationary existence is short. This is, no doubt, essentially the correct view.

Short Or, rather, contracted; that is, made short by our Creator, for a purpose soon to be stated.

It remaineth By most commentators the Greek for this phrase, , is joined, more properly, perhaps, to the previous sentence, so that it would read, the time is contracted as to the future; that is, our remaining sublunary time is brief: our day is nearly past, and our future is abbreviated.

That So that.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But this I say brothers, the time is shortened that from now on both those who have wives be as those who have none, and those who weep as those who do not weep, and those who rejoice as those who do not rejoice, and those who buy as though they owned nothing, and those who use the world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passes away.’

The passage is vivid and descriptive. If it is referring to a ‘present distress’ its point is that, because of it, time is short and that in the ‘distress’ things will be such that natural things must take second place. Normal marital relations will not be a first priority, there will be no time or place for mourning or for laughter, if they buy something there will be no opportunity for them to use it. They will be staid and sober in their behaviour because they will see that the fashion of this world, or the world as they know it, is passing away. All this would point to something great in its severity, such as an all out war, or great persecution, or the possibility of the second coming itself following a period of expected distress.

But many see ‘the time is shortened’ as referring to the shortness of life, or of time before the Parousia, the time having been ‘shortened’ by the crowning of the Messiah, and the need to live in the light of this fact. They think in terms of the divine necessity and compulsion that results.

The others counter-argue that it is difficult to ignore the meaning ‘the present (or impending) distress’, and that what follows describes an emergency situation and is surely not describing life as it would be lived in normal times. It certainly does not seem to tie in with 1Co 7:4-5.

To that a reply might be made that either some cause of distress was used in 1Co 7:26 as a reason for that injunction but not applicable here, or that the distress refers to the anticipated troubles prior to Christ’s coming, or that, in view of the non-mention elsewhere of the ‘distress’, the alternative idea of ‘necessity’ and divine compulsion should rather be applied there and that here the idea has been expanded to include the greatest compulsions of all to Christians, the brevity of life and the imminence of the Lord’s return.

Then what follows would be seen as not to be taken strictly literally but as an indication of what our attitude of mind should be in view of the shortness of our lives (and they were much shorter then) and of the time. Marriage, sorrows and joys, and possessions would all be subjected to the greater fact of making the most of the time we have, and being taken up with worldly things would need to be avoided in view of the fact that the illusory fashion of the world is certainly passing away at His coming. In the New Testament the second coming of Christ is ever used as a spur to Christian behaviour.

‘Those who have wives may be as though they had none.’ He is not suggesting abstinence from sexual relations except as provided for in 1Co 7:5, but that the people of God should not allow their marriages to take prime place. They must always take second place to the service of Christ. We should consider here the words of Jesus, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not love his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, less than Me, he cannot be My disciple” (Luk 14:26).

‘Those who weep as those who wept not.’ This has in mind the sorrows wayward children can bring, or bereavement, or any other earthly sorrow. In the end the people of God must not allow such things to be an undue hindrance to their responsibilities under the Gospel.

‘Those who rejoice as though they rejoiced not.’ In contrast earth’s blessings also should not interfere with such responsibilities. We must always remember that they are temporary, while the people of God should be seeking what is eternal.

‘Those who buy as though they possessed not.’ Earthly wealth and possessions must not act as a drag on obedience to God’s demands. They must be held on to lightly.

Jesus was very clear about the need to use possessions wisely. Jesus told His disciples that they must sell their possessions and give to the poor (Luk 12:33), and He told the story of the rich fool, who thought he could cling on to all his possessions (Luk 12:16-21). He taught His disciples to lay up treasures in heaven and not on earth (Mat 6:19-20), and He said that they should be used to ‘make friends’ of God’s people ‘that they may received you into eternal habitations’ (Luk 16:9). In other words His emphasis was that they should be used for the furtherance of the Gospel and the relief of those in need.

‘Those who use the world as not abusing it (or ‘as not using it to the full’), for the fashion of this world (or ‘the world in its present form’) is passing away.’ The idea is that in their use of things of the world they will be moderate, neither abusing them nor using them ‘to the full’. In other words they must be kept in their proper place. They must not try to extract the maximum from them at the cost of other things. Or we might translate ‘using the world as not using it.’ The point is that things are or will be such that moderation must be the rule. This could have in mind something like a siege situation or something that will produce a great change in the society as they know it (such as anticipated widespread persecution). Or it could simply mean recognising that in view of the shortness of life and the imminence of Christ’s return the things that the world offers should be mainly rejected or kept in their proper place (Heb 11:24-26; 2Pe 3:10-13).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

No earthly ties should hinder the service of God:

v. 29. But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

v. 30. and they that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy as though they possessed not;

v. 31. and they that use this world as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away.

No matter under what conditions a, person lives and works, his first duty is toward the Lord, to whom the whole life of a Christian must be consecrated. There is a strong reason for reminding the Corinthians of this: This, however, I assert, brethren, the time has been fixed short. The great day of the Lord, for whose coming the believers were anxiously waiting, 1Th 5:2, was very near, and therefore it must be our constant aim and effort to be ready for its coming, Luk 12:35-36; Mar 13:35-36. As a consequence, all the things of this life must occupy a secondary position with reference to the matters of the kingdom of God: So that henceforth indeed those that have wives be as if they had none, the weepers as if not engaged in weeping, those that are joyful as if not engaged in rejoicing, the buyers as if they had nothing, those that make use of the world as not abusing it, not being engrossed in its business to the exclusion of their spiritual interests. “Home with its joys and griefs, business, the use of the world, must be carried on as under notice to quit, by men prepared to cast loose from the shores of time. ” All these matters which engage the attention of a person in this world, and are put into the hands of man by the Lord, should not become the end and aim of existence. Husband and wife may share the joys and sorrows of family life, but in good days as well as in evil their heart’s desire must be directed to the glory that is awaiting them above. People engaged in business, occupied in a station which deals exclusively with matters of this world, must not let their hearts be wrapped up in the gain and in the enjoyment of the world, but always keep their eyes directed to the greatest gift and blessing, that of the final consummation of salvation in heaven. As one commentator has it, we have here “the picture of spiritual detachment in the various situations in life. ” And that is as it should be: For passing away is the form, the present appearance, of this world. The things which engage the attention of people in this world are not enduring, but transitory; marryings and marketings, feasts and funerals, pass before our eyes in endless, ever-changing procession; there is nothing abiding, nothing of lasting value in all that this world may offer. See Php_3:20 ; Col 3:1; Heb 13:14.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

1Co 7:29. The time is short “Is contracted within very narrow limits.” The word properly imports this, being a metaphor taken from furling or gathering up a sail. The Apostle probably said this from a prophetic view of the approaching persecution under Nero; while in its general import it may respect the shortness of our duration in this world; which should guard us against too fond an attachment to any earthly relation or possession. Somewould render this clause, “The time, as to what remains, is short; when both they, &c.” See Hammond, Grotius, and Heylin.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Co 7:29-31 . This, however, I say , i.e. of what follows I assure you . Comp 1Co 15:50 . leads over to something wherewith Paul (“as it were prophesying,” Ewald) designs to secure the more acceptance for the counsel, which he has given with the view of sparing his readers. Pott, Flatt, and others take . . [1209] as a more precise explanation of , and then 1Co 7:32-35 as a more precise explanation of . . Two things militate against this first, the more emphatic import of (comp also 1Co 10:15 ; 1Co 10:19 ; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 906), which is stronger than ; and secondly, the correct view of . (see below). Rckert takes it: “Happen, however, what may, marry ye or not, this remark I cannot suppress.” But were that the meaning, . would require to follow at once after .

] the space of time , subsisting up to the Parousia, not our earthly lifetime in general (Calvin, Vorstius, Estius, al [1211] ); neither is it merely the time yet to elapse ere that arrives (Reiche), which would be more distinctly indicated than by the simple ; besides, the has already begun to make itself felt, , 1Co 7:26 .

] is taken by most recent expositors (Schulz, Rosenmller, Stolz, Pott, Heydenreich, Flatt, Rckert, Olshausen, Neander; Billroth is undecided) as meaning calamitosum . But without warrant of usage; for in passages such as Mal 3:6Mal 3:6 (comp Polyb. v. 15. 8, xxiv. 5. 13; Plato, Lys. p. 210 E; Isocrates, p. 176 A; Philo, Quod omn. prob. liber , p. 609), 1Co 5:3 , 2Ma 6:12 , 3Ma 5:33 , means to humble , to overthrow , which does not suit with . The correct translation is that of the old interpreters (so also de Wette, Osiander, Ewald, Maier, Hofmann, Weiss): compressed , i.e. brought within narrow limits (Plato, Legg. iii. p. 691 E; Demosth. 309. 2; Lucian, Icar. 12; comp , abbreviation ). The space of time remaining is only of brief duration . In connection with this, is generally made to refer to what precedes (Peschito, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Beza, Grotius, al [1214] , including Billroth, Olshausen, de Wette, Osiander, Reiche, Ewald, Maier, Neander): the time is henceforth ( in posterum , see Fritzsche, a [1215] Matth. p. 777; Khner, a [1216] Xen. Anab. ii. 2. 5) cut short , a mode of connecting the words, however, which makes convey a superfluous idea. Others hold that it refers to what follows (Tertullian, Cyprian, Jerome, Vulgate, Erasmus, Calvin, al [1217] , including Heydenreich and Rckert), and that in the sense of “ergo agendum, quod sequitur,” Estius; comp Luther: “weiter ist das die Meinung.” But how obscure the expression would thus be! The telic sense of , too, would be deprived of its logical reference to what precedes. Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Hofmann, adopting the reading which puts before (see the critical remarks), place a comma after the verb: . , . . [1219] , i.e. the time is shortened, in order that in future , etc. Comp as regards this position for , on Eph 3:18 ; Gal 2:10 ; Rom 11:31 . This is preferable, because is thus put emphatically forward in its essential and important meaning: in order that henceforward these relationships may be dealt with in a wholly different way than hitherto. Comp upon the subject-matter, Mat 24:42 ff.

introduces the design of . in the arrangements of God. [1222] Beza, Billroth, Schrader, Hofmann make it refer to . But we may see from . . [1223] in 1Co 7:31 that Paul was thinking of so great results as the aim, not of his assertion , but of the thing asserted, a view which agrees thoroughly with his religious contemplation of the world, Rom 5:20 ; Rom 7:13 ; Rom 8:17 ; Rom 11:31 ; 2Co 4:7 ; 2Co 7:9 , al [1224] He looks upon everything as fitted into the plan of moral redemption under the government of God.

. . . . [1225] ] The meaning is: In order that each may keep himself inwardly independent of the relations of his earthly life , that the husband should not by his married state lose the moral freedom of his position of a Christian in heart and life; that the sorrowful should not do so through his tribulation, nor the joyful through his good fortune, nor the merchantman through his gain, nor he who uses the world through his use of it. We see the reverse of this independent attitude in Luk 14:18-20 . There the heart cleaves to temporal things as its treasure, Mat 6:21 . By giving its proper reference, it is made clear that Paul neither designs to lay down rules here (“that the married ought to be as though unmarried,” etc., Rckert, with many others), nor to depict the uncertainty of temporal possessions (Grotius and Pott); which latter meaning is what Reiche also brings out: “quandoquidem propediem mutata rerum terrestrium facie, laetitiae et tristitiae causis mox evanidis, tempus deficiet malis bonisve sensu percipiendis .”

.] Even the married . This singles out the first point for special emphasis, because it was the one on which the discussion chiefly turned; in the instances which follow is the simple and .

. .] the buyers as not possessing (2Co 6:10 ), that, namely, which they buy.

.] may mean, like the Latin abuti , so far as the word in itself is concerned, either: as not abusing it (Syriac, Tertullian, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Luther, Beza, Cornelius a Lapide, al [1226] , including Olshausen and Billroth, the latter of whom considers that Paul gives us here the explanation of his foregoing paradox), or: as not using it (Vulgate, Calvin, Grotius, Estius, al [1227] , including Pott, Rckert, de Wette, Osiander). Comp 1Co 9:18 . So frequently in Greek writers; see Krebs, p. 291; Loesner, p. 280 f. The latter of the two meanings should have the preference here from the analogy of the preceding clauses. The compound verb which ought not to have the sense of at one’s own pleasure (Hofmann) imported into it serves merely to give greater emphasis to the idea; see Bremi, a [1229] Isocr. Panegyr. ix. p. 21; Herodian. viii. 4. 22. Translate: Those who use this (pre-Messianic) world as not making use of it . There is no reason either for taking . in the sense of using up (Reiche, Ewald), because this meaning, although in itself admissible on linguistic grounds (Diog. Laert. v. 69; Lys. p. 153. 46; Isocr. p. 55 D), only weakens the force of the antithesis in a way contrary to the relation subsisting between all the other antitheses.

in the sense of uti with an accusative (see the critical remarks) occurs here only in the N. T.; [1230] in classic Greek not at all (in Xen. Ages. xi. 11, the true reading is ), and seldom in later Greek (Schaefer, a [1231] Gregor. Cor. p. 691). See also Bornemann, Acta apost. I. p. 222. , however, often occurs in that sense with the accusative (Lucian, Prom. 4; Plut. Demetr. 23), and it may have been occasioned here by the writer’s thinking of the compound verb. Comp Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 157 f. [E. T. 181].

[1209] . . . .

[1211] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1214] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1215] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1216] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1217] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1219] . . . .

[1222] There is therefore no ground here for beginning a new sentence with , and taking in the imperative sense (comp. on 1Co 5:2 ). So Laurent, neut. Stud. p. 130.

[1223] . . . .

[1224] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1225] . . . .

[1226] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1227] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[1229] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1230] Hence Fritzsche ( de conform. Lachm. p. 31) rejects it as an error of the copyists.

[1231] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1962
MODERATION IN THE USE OF EARTHLY THINGS INCULCATED

1Co 7:29-31. This I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that hare wives be as though they had none; and they that Keep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

IT is no inconsiderable part of Christian wisdom to distinguish clearly between things lawful, things expedient, and things necessary: since many things must be reduced under one or other of these heads according to the circumstances connected with them. The Apostle is writing upon the subject of marriage; and gives it as his opinion, that though at all times lawful, and to some persons necessary, it was, at that particular season, inexpedient for those who could conveniently abstain from it; because the cares necessarily attendant on a married life would increase their difficulties during the present persecuted and afflicted state of the Church. But, while they were all left at liberty respecting the line of conduct they would pursue in relation to this, he solemnly warns them, that the same abstraction from worldly cares, and indifference to worldly pleasure, were necessary for all who would approve themselves to God. As his words equally concern the Church of God in all ages, it will be proper to consider,

I.

The direction given us with respect to the things of time and sense

It is but too obvious that mens regards to this world are, for the most part, inordinate and excessive
[If all do not set their hearts upon the same object, there is something which every unconverted man regards with an idolatrous attachment. Has he some prospect of attaining it? his mind goes forth to it in warm and eager desire. Is there reason to apprehend a disappointment respecting it? he is kept in anxious suspense, as though all his happiness were bound up in it. Is he brought to the possession of it? he congratulates himself as having reached the summit of his wishes, and thinks he can never lend himself too much to the enjoyment of his newly acquired comforts. Is he by any means bereaved of his beloved idol? what vexation of mind, and what dissatisfaction with the dispensations of Providence does he feel! He is so entirely swallowed up in sorrow for his loss, as to be insensible of all his remaining blessings. Of course, men will differ widely as to the particular gratification which they affect: some find their delight centered in their wife or children; others in their wealth and honour; others in their ease and pleasure; and others again in some indulgences, which habit has rendered essential to their happiness: but the same love of carnal things, however diversified as to its objects, pervades mankind of all ages and of all descriptions.]
But we should maintain an equableness of mind under all circumstances, however pleasing or afflictive
[We are not required to exercise a stoical apathy under the various events of life; we may rejoice or weep, according as the occurrences of the day are suited to excite the affection of joy or sorrow. But our moderation should be known unto all men; nor should any thing of a temporal nature so occupy our minds, as to make us forget that we have concerns of infinitely greater importance. Have we formed a connexion that promises us the highest bliss? we should so enjoy the creature as to be ready to surrender it up again to God, whensoever he may be pleased to call for it. Are we weeping for the loss of a dear relative, or on account of any other calamity? we should not so give way to sorrow as to forget that we have God for our friend, and heaven for our inheritance. Has any thing of a very joyous nature befallen us? we should still remember, how unsatisfying it is in its nature, how contracted in its use, how precarious in its continuance, and how short in its duration; and we should regulate our joy by such considerations as these. Have we been blessed with such success, that we are enabled to purchase great possessions? we should be watchful over our spirits, that we do not say, like the fool in the Gospel, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry [Note: Luk 12:18-19.]. And while we use our good things with thankfulness to the Donor, we should be careful never to abuse them to the purposes of pride, intemperance, and carnal ease.]

This direction derives great force and importance from,

II.

The reason with which it is enforced

Every thing here below is transient and of short duration
[Time is short: if our days be extended to seventy or eighty years, the whole period of our existence will appear but, as it were, a span long, when we come to the close of it: or, if we compare it with eternity, it is no more than the twinkling of an eye. Moreover, while our lives, like a sail that is in the act of being furled, are every moment contracting, every thing around us also is drawing to a close [Note: translatione e Velis sumptaBeza.]. As actors on the stage perform the part assigned them, and each succeeding scene brings their fictitious joys or sorrows to a speedy termination, so we make our appearance on the stage of life; and, having sustained the character allotted us by the Disposer of all events, we soon bid adieu to all these transient scenes, and enter on a state of everlasting bliss or woe [Note: is thought by some to convey this idea: others think it refers rather to a passing spectacle.]. Or as men please themselves with some empty show, that passes in procession before their eyes, but it is scarcely come fully into view before it begins to recede, and in a little time totally disappears; so we scarcely behold the glare and glitter of this vain world, before the enchanting prospect vanishes, and the phantom passes onward, to astonish and delude succeeding generations.]

Can there be any stronger argument for sitting loose to the things of time and sense?
[Were either our joys or our sorrows permanent, there would be some reason for having our minds deeply affected with them: but when we know that a few months or years must put an end to every present sensation, does it become us to be much elated with what is pleasing, or much depressed with what is painful? Should not the infinitely greater importance of eternal things so engross our minds, as to render every temporal concern comparatively trivial? Should not the prospect of appearing before the judgment-seat of Christ cause us to estimate our happiness by a far different standard, and to consider ourselves in a blessed or miserable state, not so much by what we enjoy or suffer in this present world, as by our preparation to give up our account to God, and our hope of an approving sentence from the Judge of quick and dead? Let then the transitoriness of earthly things moderate our affection to them, that whether we attain and enjoy them, or lose and want them, we may still have God as our abiding and all-sufficient portion.]

Address
1.

The young and inexperienced

[You are ready to imagine that some change in your circumstances, to which you look forward, or perhaps which you rather wish for than expect, would make your cup to overflow with joy, and perfectly satisfy your most enlarged desires. But be assured that, if you could at this moment possess all that your heart can wish, you would be quickly constrained to confirm the testimony of Solomon, that it is all vanity and vexation of spirit. Happy would it be for you if you could be prevailed upon to purchase your experience at the expense of others; and not, like those who have gone before you, grasp at a shadow till you lose the substance. Ask those who are old and grey-headed, whether they have not found the world to be a vain show, wherein men disquiet themselves in vain [Note: Psa 37:6.]? And ask the godly in particular, whether they who fear God have not a truer enjoyment even of this present world, than the votaries of gain or pleasure [Note: 1Ti 6:17. Mat 5:5.]? Or rather we would say, attend to Gods expostulation, and obey his voice; Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [Note: Isa 55:2.].]

2.

Those who have grown old in the service of the world

[Lamentable it is, that the very persons who have found the insufficiency of the world to make them happy, are still as regardless of the eternal world, as those who are just entering on the delusive path. If age or experience have blunted the edge of their feelings with respect to present things, they are as insensible as ever either of pain or pleasure from spiritual concerns: nor are they at all more stimulated to improve the time that remains to them, than if their eternal interests were of no value. Yea, age has often no other effect than to confirm the errors, and rivet the prejudices, of their former years. Inquire, brethren, whether you have profited by your experience; and whether you be now setting your affections on things above, and not upon things below [Note: Col 3:2.]? You have hitherto regarded the blessed Saviour, and your own immortal soul, as though you regarded them not; and suffered your whole heart to be occupied about the world. Now reverse your conduct, and all will yet be well: let the greatest concerns of time and sense make but a light impression on your minds; and let an interest in Christ, and the salvation of your soul, be regarded henceforth as the one thing needful. Be no longer fools, but wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil [Note: Eph 5:15-16.]: and while the fashion of this world is passing away, endeavour to secure an incorruptible inheritance in heaven.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

Ver. 29. This then I say, brethren ] The best counsel I can give you, is, that you hang loose to all these outward comforts, as having yourselves but a while to be here. You have a long task, and but a little time. God hath hanged the heaviest weights upon the weakest wires; for upon this moment depends eternity. Castigemus igitur mores et moras nostras. Up, therefore, and be doing.

The time is short ] Gr. , contracted and rolled up, as sails used to be by the mariners, when the ship draws nigh to the harbour. Others say, it is a metaphor from a piece of cloth rolled up, only a little left at the end. So hath God rolled up all his works, only he hath left a little at the end, and then all his glory shall appear. The time is short, saith the apostle, and you have business enough another way; therefore let other things (as wiving and buying, &c.) pass, and mind the main. There is water little enough to run in the right channel, therefore let none run beside. Some that have lain dying would have given a world for time: as I have heard (saith a reverend man) one crying day and night, Call time again. And I also have known the like of a great lady of this land. Let us therefore use all speed and diligence, lest (so as children have usually torn their books) we have ended our lives before we have learned our lessons; or (as Themistocles) we begin but to be wise when we come to die.

They that have wives, &c. ] Not be uxorious, since they know not how soon God may take from them, as he did from Ezekiel, the delight of their eyes, their dearest spouses. The Jews of this day have a custom, when a couple are married, to break the glass wherein the bridegroom and bride drank; thereby to admonish them of their dying condition, and that there must be a parting again ere long. (Sphinx. Philos.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

29 31 .] He enforces the foregoing advice by solemnly reminding them of the shortness of the time, and the consequent duty of sitting loose to all worldly ties and employments .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

29. ] q. d. ‘What I just now said, of marrying being no sin , might dispose you to look on the whole matter as indifferent: my motive, the sparing you outward affliction, may be underrated in the importance of its bearing: but I will add this solemn consideration.’

. . . ] The time that remains is short ; lit., ‘the time is shortened henceforth:’ i.e. the interval between now and the coming of the Lord has arrived at an extremely contracted period. These words have been variously misunderstood. (1) has been by some (Calvin, Estius, al.) interpreted ‘ the space of man’s life on earth :’ which, however true it may be, and however legitimate this application of the Apostle’s words, certainly was not in his mind, nor is it consistent with his usage of : see Rom 13:11 ; Eph 5:16 , or with that in the great prophecy of our Lord which is the key to this chapter, Luk 21:8 ; Mar 13:33 . (2) has been understood as meaning calamitosus (so Rosenm., Rckert, Olshausen, al.). But it never has this signification. In such passages as Mal 3:6Mal 3:6 ; 1Ma 5:3 ; 2Ma 6:12 , . : 3Ma 5:33 , , it has the meaning of humbling, depressing , which would be obviously inapplicable to . The proper meaning of , to be contracted , is found in Diod. Sic. i. 41, . It is, as Schrader well renders it, ‘ in Kurzem sturzt die alte Welt zusammen .’ and are the regular grammatical words used of the shortening of a syllable in prosody. (3) has been by some (Tertull. ad Uxorem i. 5 (vol. i. p. 1283), Jer [31] de perp. virg. B. V. M. adv. Helv. 20 (vol. ii. p. 227), on Eze 7:13 (lib. ii., vol. v. p. 69), on Ecc 3 . (vol. iii. p. 410), Vulg., Erasm., Luther, Calvin, Estius; also E. V. and Lachm.) joined to what follows; ‘it remains that both they ,’ &c. But thus ( ) the sense of will not be satisfied see below: ( ) the usage of is against it, which would require it to stand alone , and the sense not to be carried on as it is in ‘ superest ut ,’ , , see reff. and Phi 3:1 ; Phi 4:8 ; (1Th 4:1 😉 2Th 3:1 . ( ) The continuity of the passage would be very harshly broken: whereas by the other rendering all proceeds naturally. We have exactly parallel usages of in reff.

[31] Jerome , fl. 378 420

] The end for which the time has been (by God) thus gathered up into a short compass: in order that both they , &c.: i.e. in order that Christians, those who wait for and shall inherit the coming kingdom, may keep themselves loosed in heart from worldly relationships and employments: that, as Meyer, “the married may not fetter his interests to his wedlock, nor the mourner to his misfortunes, nor the joyous to his prosperity, nor the man of commerce to his gain, nor the user of the world to his use of the world.”

This is the only legitimate meaning of with the subj. The renderings which make it = , ‘tempus futurum cum ei qui uxores habent pares futuri sint non habentibus,’ Grot., or ‘ubi’ (local), are inadmissible. We may notice that according to this only right view of , the clauses following are not precepts of the Apostle , but the objects as regards us , of the divine counsel in shortening the time .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Co 7:29-31 . , , . . .: “This moreover I assert, brethren: The time is cut short ”. , as distinguished from , “marks the gravity and importance of the statement” (El [1139] ). ( to contract, shorten sail ) acquired the meaning to depress, defeat (Mal 3:6Mal 3:6 , 2Ma 6:12 ); hence some render by “calamitous,” but without lexical warrant. (see parls.) is “the season,” the epoch of suspense in which the Church was then placed, looking for Christ’s coming (1Co 1:7 ) and uncertain of its date. The prospect is “contracted”; short views must be taken of life.

[1139] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

The connexion of and with the foregoing affords a signal example of the grammatical looseness which mars Paul’s style. ( a ) As to : (1) Cm [1140] , the Gr [1141] Ff [1142] , Bz [1143] , Al [1144] , Ev [1145] , Hn [1146] , Gd [1147] , Ed [1148] , R.V. mg. attach it to . , in a manner “contrary to its usual position in Paul’s epp. and diluting the force of the solemn ” (El [1149] ). (2) The Vg [1150] and Lat. Ff [1151] , Est., Cv [1152] , A.V. read as predicate to understood, thus commencing a new sentence, “reliquum est ut,” etc.; this is well enough in Latin, but scarcely tolerable Greek. (3) Mr [1153] , Hf [1154] , Bt [1155] , El [1156] , Lt [1157] , W.H [1158] , R.V. txt. subordinate , thrown forward with emphasis, to the clause ( cf. Gal 2:10 , Rom 11:31 ) “so that henceforth indeed those that have wives may be as without them,” etc.; this gives compactness to the whole sentence, and proper relevance to the adv [1159] Those who realise the import of the pending crisis will from this time sit loose to mundane interests. ( b ) As to the connexion of : this clause may define either the Apostle’s purpose , as attached to (so Bz [1160] , Hf [1161] , Ed [1162] ), or the Divine purpose implied in . (so most interpreters). Both explanations give a fitting sense: the Ap. urges , or God has determined , the limitation of the temporal horizon, in order to call off Christians from secular absorption. In this solemn connexion the latter is, presumably, Paul’s uppermost thought.

[1140] John Chrysostom’s Homili ( 407).

[1141] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[1142] Fathers.

[1143] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1144] Alford’s Greek Testament .

[1145] T. S. Evans in Speaker’s Commentary .

[1146] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[1147] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[1148] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

[1149] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[1150] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[1151] Fathers.

[1152] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .

[1153] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[1154] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[1155] J. A. Beet’s St. Paul’s Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[1156] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[1157] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1158] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

[1159] adverb

[1160] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[1161] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[1162] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

1Co 7:29 b , 1Co 7:30 are “the picture of spiritual detachment in the various situations in life” (Gd [1163] ). Home with its joys and griefs, business, the use of the world, must be carried on as under notice to quit, by men prepared to cast loose from the shores of time ( cf. Luk 12:29-36 ; by contrast, Luk 14:18 ff.). From wedlock the Ap. turns, as in 1Co 7:17-24 , to other earthly conditions there considered as stations not to be wilfully changed, here as engagements not to be allowed to cumber the soul. Ed [1164] observes that the Stoic condemned the interaction, here recognised, between “the soul’s emotions and external conditions; the latter he would have described as a thing indifferent, the former as a defect: ” (Plut., Virt. Mor. , 10). “Summa est, Christiani hominis animum rebus terrenis non debere occupari, nec in illis conquiescere: sic enim vivere nos oportet, quasi singulis momentis migrandum sit e vita” (Cv [1165] ). . . ., not like, in the manner of , but “ with the feeling of those who have not,” etc., with ptp [1166] implying subjective attitude a limitation “proceeding from the mind of the speaking or acting subject” (Bm [1167] , p. 307); cf. 1Co 7:25 and note. ( marketing ) gives place in the negative to , possessing, holding fast ( cf. 2Co 6:10 ). governs acc [1168] occasionally in late Gr [1169] ; the case of may be influenced by , with which cl [1170] authors admit the acc [1171] The second vb [1172] (with dat [1173] in 1Co 9:18 ) is the intensive of the first to use to the full ( use up ); not to misuse a meaning lexically valid, but inappropriate here. “Abuse” had both meanings in older Eng., like the Lat. abutor ; it appears in Cranmer’s Bible with the former sense in Col 2:22 .

[1163] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[1164] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

[1165] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .

[1166] participle

[1167] A. Buttmann’s Grammar of the N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans., 1873).

[1168] accusative case.

[1169] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[1170] classical.

[1171] accusative case.

[1172] verb

[1173] dative case.

A reason for sparing use of the world lies in its transitory form , 1Co 7:31 b a sentence kindred to the declaration of 1Co 7:29 a . ( cf. 1Co 4:6 , and other parls.) denotes phenomenal guise habitus, fashion as distinguished from , proper and essential shape: see the two words in Phi 2:6 ff., with the discussions of Lt [1174] and Gifford ad loc [1175] “The world” has a dress suited to its fleeting existence. affirms “not so much the present actual fact, as the inevitable issue; the of the world has no enduring character” (El [1176] ); “its fascination is that of the theatre” (Ed [1177] ); cf. 1Jn 2:17 . The Ap. is thinking not of the fabric of nature, but of mundane human life the world of marryings and marketings, of feasts and funerals.

[1174] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[1175] ad locum , on this passage.

[1176] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[1177] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

Then what this world to thee, my heart?

Its gifts nor feed thee nor can bless.

Thou hast no owner’s part in all its fleetingness.

J. H. Newman.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

time = season.

short = shortened, or contracted. Greek. sustello Only here and Act 5:6. Compare 1Jn 2:18.

it remaineth = as for the rest it is. See “besides” in 1Co 1:16.

though they had none = not (Greek. me) having (any).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

29-31.] He enforces the foregoing advice by solemnly reminding them of the shortness of the time, and the consequent duty of sitting loose to all worldly ties and employments.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Co 7:29. , but this I say) The same form of expression occurs 1Co 15:50, for the purpose of explanation, in summing up the whole.-, brethren) Paul is wont, especially when writing about external circumstances, to introduce the most noble digressions, as the Holy Spirit is always calling him to the things that are most excellent.- ) the present time, either of the world 1Co 7:31, ch. 1Co 10:11, or of individuals, the time of weeping, rejoicing, etc.-) narrow, short, the contrary of unencumbered liberty, 1Co 7:26.- , [but] as to what remains) The particle here is very suitable. [He hints, that the consummation of the world is not far off.-V. g.]-, that) Time in short, is of such a nature, that they ought, etc. [Some spend much of their time in seeking the superfluous conveniences of life, in wandering thoughts, in a too pertinacious pursuit of literature, in the length and frequency of their feasts and amusements: and it is a virtue in the opinion of worldly men, when any one knows how to spend with his boon companions in a manner not without its charm, half or even whole days and nights in empty conversation and pursuits. But if it should become necessary either to engage in prayer, or to watch over the education of his children, or to exemplify the duty of love to his neighbour, then truly the want of time is made an obstacle; nay, he has not even leisure to consider, how much guilt is contracted by such conduct.-V. g.]-, wives) and so, children, friends, patrons. We ought to consider nothing our own.-, not) Thus Christian self-denial is appropriately expressed. They, who have [earthly goods], as persons who have and are likely long to have, are void of Christian self-denial.]-, may be) This word is supplied also in the following verses.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Co 7:29-30

1Co 7:29-30

But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none; and those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not;-In this Paul breaks off into one of his characteristic digressions, in which he shows that time here on earth was so short to them when they would leave the world, that what they are while here matters but little. [Paul here means that the present epoch will embrace a greater or less number of years, and its character is its being contained between precise limits-drawn together into brief compass which does not admit of its being extended indefinitely. These limits are, on the one side, Christs coming at the end of the Jewish dispensation (Act 2:17; Heb 9:26) and, on the other, his coming again, which may be expected at any hour-the time is limited as to what remains (Mat 24:42-44; Mat 25:13; 1Th 5:1-3; 2Pe 3:8-13).]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Spiritual Detachment

But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none; and those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not; and those that use the world as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.1Co 7:29-31.

The subject of this chapter is marriage. But marriage is part of a larger subject. The great question agitating the Corinthians is whether a man should, on becoming a Christian, maintain the occupations and relationships which he entered into previously. The Apostles answer is, Yes: Let each man abide in that calling wherein he was called. Let the slave remain a slave, though he may take advantage of an honourable opportunity of becoming free. Let those who are married remain married, and those who are unmarried remain unmarried. But this I saythere is a change of word (from to ), in order probably to give special emphasis to the assertionBut this I do declare: though I counsel none to change their state, I counsel all to change their attitude towards these and all other earthly things.

And what are the earthly interests towards which Christian men are to change their attitude? He names marriage, weeping, rejoicing, buying, and the use of the world generally. But how is this possible? Because the time is shortliterally is shortened, abridgedthere is no very long time now for any one to feel the duty of detachment irksome. And finally there is wisdom in it, for this world is neither essential nor enduringthe fashion of this world passeth away.

Thus the subject is detachment from the world. There is mentioned

I.An Encouragement to Detachment.

II.Three Relationships of life towards which the Detachment may be practised:

1.Marriage.

2.Sorrowing and Rejoicing.

3.Business.

III.A general Direction regarding the proper Attitude to the World.

IV.A good Reason for this Attitude.

Christianity is a spirit, not a law; it is a set of principles, not a set of rules; it is not a saying to us, You shall do this, you shall not do thatyou shall use this particular dress, you shall not use thatyou shall lead, you shall not lead, a married life. Christianity consists of principles, but the application of those principles is left to every mans individual conscience. With respect not only to this particular case, but to all the questions which had been brought before him, the Apostle applies the same principle; the cases upon which he decided were many and various, but the large, broad principle of his decision remains the same in all. You may marry, and you have not sinned: you may remain unmarried, and you do not sin; if you are invited to a heathen feast, you may go, or you may abstain from going; you may remain a slave, or you may become free; not in these things does Christianity consist. But what it does demand is this: whether married or unmarried, whether a slave or free, in sorrow or in joy, you are to live in a spirit higher and loftier than that of the world.1 [Note: F. W. Robertson.]

I

An Encouragement to Detachment

The time is shortened.

1. There is no tremor of dismay or sadness in the voice. St. Paul was in the midst of work, full of the interest and joy of living, holding the reins of many complicated labours in his hands, and he quietly said, This is not going to last long. Very soon it will be over. It is what men often say to themselves with terror, clutching all the more closely the things which they hold, as if they would hold on to them for ever. There is nothing of that about St. Paul. And on the other hand, there is nothing of morbidness or discontent, no rejoicing that the time is short, and wishing that it were still shorter. There is no hatred of life which makes him want to be away. There is no mad impatience for the things which lie beyond. There is simply a calm and satisfied recognition of a fact. There is a reasonable sense of what is good and dear in life, and yet, at the same time, of what must lie beyond life, of what life cannot give us. It is as when the same pen wrote those sublime and simple words, This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality; the quiet statement of a great, eternal necessity, at which the wise man must feel the same kind of serious joy as that with which he follows the movements of the stars, and looks to see day and night inevitably give place to one another.

2. It does not matter what St. Paul was thinking of when he said the time was short. He may have had his mind upon the death which they were all approaching. He may have thought of the coming of Christ, which he seems to have expected to take place while he was yet alive. We cannot be quite certain which it was. And perhaps the very vagueness about this helps us to his meaning. For he is not, evidently, dwelling upon the nature of the event which is to limit the time, only upon the simple fact that there is a limit; that the period of earthly life and work lies like an island in the midst of a greater sea of being, the island of time in the ocean of a timeless eternity; and that it is pressed upon and crowded into littleness by the infinite. Not the shore where the sea sets the island its limits, but only the island in the sea, hearing the sea always on its shores; not the experience by which this life should pass into another, but only the compression and intensifying of this life by the certainty that there is another; not death, but the shortness of lifethat is what his thoughts are fixed upon, and it is of this that the best men always think the most.

3. Time is short in reference to two things.

(1) First, it is short in reference to the person who regards it,That mysterious thing Time is a matter of sensation, and not a reality; a modification merely of our own consciousness, and not actual existence; depending upon the flight of ideaslong to one, short to another. The span granted to the butterfly, the child of a single summer, may be long; that which is given to the cedar of Lebanon may be short. The shortness of time, therefore, is entirely relative, belonging to us, not to God.

In poetry and ordinary talk, we are obliged to look at time as an agent in itself; but in reality time does nothing and is nothing; we use it as an easy familiar expression for all those causes which are working slowly, and which we cannot see. Unless some positive cause is in action, no change takes place even in a thousand years. There are probably empty regions in the universe where no light comes, and nothing occurs; in such places there can be no time. It is simply that we are here, and that things are happening around us. The earth has gone a certain course round the sun, and brought us again to the same point where we were twelve months ago. We have for 365 days been careering through different parts of space. That is the meaning of a year. We are only allowed to join in the career, and to come back to the same point a certain number of repetitions in our livesthe same point, I mean, in reference to the solar system; but the solar system itself is moving onward through space. During each period, certain causes are leading either to the completion, the maintenance, or the decay of our bodies; and after we have spun round with our little globe for some 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or at the most 100 circuits, then comes the end. We can see no further. Others take our place, and we are what is called dead.1 [Note: W. M. Sinclair, A Young Mans Life, 126.]

There is a little insect that crawls upon the trees, and creeps, in one short day of ours, through all the experiences of life from birth to death. In a short twenty-four hours his life begins, matures and endsbirth, youth, activity, age, decrepitude, all crowded and compressed into these moments that slip away uncounted in one day of our human life. Is his life long or short? Is our life long or short to him? If he could realize it by any struggle of his insect brain, what an eternity our threescore years and ten must seem to him! And then lift up your eyes, lift up your thoughts, and think of God. How does the life that has any limits appear to Him? Nothing short of eternity can seem long to Him. He sees the infants life flash like a ripple into the sunlight of existence and vanish almost before the eye has caught it. And He sees Methuselahs slow existence creep through its nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and find, at last, the grave which had stood waiting so long. Is there a real difference in the length of these two lives to Him? A little longer ripple is the life of the patriarch than was the life of the baby, that is all. What do we mean, then, by the shortness of our human life? To the ephemera it looks like an eternity; to God it looks like an instant. Evidently these attributes of length and shortness must be relative; they are not absolute.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks.]

An illusion haunts us, that a long duration, as a year, a decade, a century, is valuable. But an old French sentence says, God works in momentsEn peu dheure Dieu labeure. We ask for long life, but tis deep life, or grand moments that signify. Let the measure of Time be spiritual, not mechanical. Life is unnecessarily long. Moments of insight, of fine personal relation, a smile, a glancewhat ample borrowers of eternity they are!2 [Note: Emerson.]

(2) Again, time is short with reference to its opportunities.For this is the emphatic meaning in the originalliterally, the opportunity is compressed, or shut in. Time may be long, and yet the opportunity may be very short. The sun in autumn may be bright and clear, but the seed which has not been sown until then will not vegetate. A man may have vigour and energy in manhood and maturity, but the work which ought to have been done in childhood and youth cannot be done in old age. A chance once gone in this world can never be recovered.

An Italian superstition of the Middle Ages engaged with wonderful success the pencil of Watts while he was sojourning in Florence, and in it he who had been the pupil of Phidias in the study of the Elgin marbles at home, became the worshipper of Tintoretto in Italy. The Fata Morgana which Boiardo in his Orlando Innamorato imagined as a siren, fleeing from the pursuit of a knight, he embodies with a singular deftness. She is depicted as having reached a thicket of dense foliage, and the knight has almost grasped the hem of her crimson robe when she flees still further from him with a mischievous glance which mocks all his eager efforts. It was a superstitious notion among the Italian peasants that this mystic being could only be effectually caught by having the lock of her forehead seized with a firm grasp. What is this but virtually saying in finer form, what time, and every opportunity which it brings, is preaching to us in loud tonesto seize it by the forelock and hold it fast, otherwise it will escape and we shall lose it for ever?3 [Note: H. Macmillan, The Life-Work of George Frederick Watts, 171.]

Iron passes into the furnace cold and unyielding; coming out it quickly cools and refuses the mould; but midway is a moment when fire so lends itself to iron, and iron so yields its force to flame that the metal flows like water. This brief plastic moment is the inventors opportunity, when the metal will take on any shape for use or beauty. Similarly the fields offer a strategic time to the husbandman. In February the soil refuses the plough, the sun refuses heat, the sky refuses rain, the seed refuses growth. In May comes an opportune time when all forces conspire towards harvests; then the sun lends warmth, the clouds lend rain, the air lends ardour, the soil lends juices. Then must the sower go forth and sow, for nature whispers that if he neglects June he will starve in January. The planets also lend interpretation to this principle. Years ago astronomers were sent to Africa to witness the transit of Venus. Preparations began months beforehand. A ship was fitted up, instruments were packed, the ocean was crossed, a site selected, and the telescopes were mounted. Scientists made all things ready for that opportune time when the sun, Venus, and the earth should all be in line. That critical moment was very brief. Instinctively each astronomer knew that his eye must be at the small end of the glass when the planet went scudding past the large end. Once the period of conjunction had passed no machinery would offer itself for turning the planet back upon her axis. Not for astronomers only are the opportune times brief.1 [Note: N. D. Hillis, The Investment of Influence, 220.]

When I have time, so many things Ill do,

To make life happier and more fair

For those whose lives are crowded now with care,

Ill help to lift them from their low despair

When I have time.

When I have time, the friend I love so well

Shall know no more the weary, toiling days;

Ill lead his feet in pleasant paths always,

And cheer his heart with words of sweetest praise,

When I have time.

When you have time! The friend you hold so dear

May be beyond the reach of all your sweet intent,

May never know that you so kindly meant

To fill his life with bright content,

When you had time.

Now is the time! Speed, friend, no longer wait

To scatter loving smiles and words of cheer

To those around, whose lives are now so drear;

They may not need you in that far-off year:

Now is the time.

4. What effect ought the shortness of the time to have on a man?

(1) It should make him discriminate.Out of the mass of things which we have touched, we must choose those which are oursthe books which we shall read, the men whom we shall know, the power that we shall wield, the pleasure which we shall enjoy, the special point where we shall drop our bit of usefulness into the worlds life before we go. We come to be like a party of travellers left at a great city railway station for a couple of hours. All cannot see everything in town. Each has to choose according to his tastes what he will see. They separate into their individualities instead of going wandering about promiscuously, as they would if there were no limit to their time. So conscientiousness, self-knowledge, independence, and the toleration of other mens freedom which always goes with the most serious and deep assertion of our own freedom, are closely connected with the sense that life is very short.

When Dr. Chalmers was a young man, he was for a time more devoted to the study of mathematics than to the subjects which more properly should have concerned him as a parish minister. In a pamphlet which he wrote at the time in support of his application to be appointed to a mathematical chair in the University of Edinburgh, he affirmed that a minister could do all he needed to do in his parish, and do it well, and yet have five clear days every week for literary or other pursuits. Twenty years afterwards some one, who had found a copy of the old forgotten pamphlet, publicly taunted him with what he had said. Yes, he said, it was too true. I was at that time unduly devoted to the study of mathematics. What, sir, is the object of mathematical science? Magnitude and the proportions of magnitude. But then, strangely blinded that I was, I had forgotten two magnitudes. I thought nothing of the littleness of time and the greatness of eternity.1 [Note: The Morning Watch, Dec. 1902, p. 134.]

In a letter to his old schoolmaster Ruskin wrote as follows: Neros choice of time and opportunity for the pursuit of his musical studies has been much execrated, but is guiltless in comparison to the conduct of the man who occupies himself for a single hour with any earthly pursuit of whatever importance, believing, as he must, if he believe the Bible, that souls, which human exertion might save, are meanwhile dropping minute by minute into hell. This being fully granted, the questions come, What means are there by which the salvation of souls can be attained? and How are we to choose among them? For instance, does the pursuit of any art or science, for the mere sake of the resultant beauty or knowledge, tend to forward this end? That such pursuits are beneficial and ennobling to our nature is self-evident, but have we leisure for them in our perilous circumstances? Is it a time to be spelling of letters, or touching of strings, counting stars or crystallizing dewdrops, while the earth is failing under our feet, and our fellows are departing every instant into eternal pain? Or, on the other hand, is not the character and kind of intellect which is likely to be drawn into these occupations employed in the fullest measure and to the best advantage in them? Would not great part of it be useless and inactive if otherwise directed? Do not the results of its labour remain, exercising an influence, if not directly spiritual, yet ennobling and purifying, on all humanity, to all time? Was not the energy of Galileo, Newton, Davy, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Handel, employed more effectively to the glory of God in the results and lessons it has left than if it had been occupied all their lifetime in direct priestly exertion, for which, in all probability, it was less adapted, and in which it would have been comparatively less effectual? Is an individual, then, who has the power of choice, in any degree to yield to his predilections in so important a matter? I myself have little pleasure in the idea of entering the Church, and have been attached to the pursuits of art and science, not by a flying fancy, but as long as I can remember, with settled and steady desire. How far am I justified in following them up? What answer was sent by Canon Dale to assist his pupil in resolving the doubt between these conflicting calls, I do not know; but Ruskins own answer to it is written large in his life and work. He made the critics chair a pulpit.1 [Note: E. T. Cook, The Life of Ruskin, i. 122.]

(2) It should make him concentrate.He who knows he is in the world for a very little while, who knows it and feels it, is not like a man who is to live here for ever. He strikes for the centre of living. He cares for the principles and not for the forms of life. He does the little daily things of life, but he does them for their purposes, not for themselves. He is like a climber on a rocky pathway, who sets his foot upon each projecting point of stone, but who treads on each, not for its own sake, but for the sake of the ones above it. The man who knows he is to die to-morrow does all the acts of to-day, but does them as if he did not do them, does them freely, cannot be a slave to their details, has entered already into something of the large liberty of death. That is the way in which the sense that life is short liberates a man from the slavery of details. You say, perhaps, That is not good. No man can do his work well unless his heart is in it. But is it not also true that a mans heart can really be only in the heart of his work, and that the most conscientious faithfulness in details will always belong, not to the man who serves the details, but to the man who serves the idea of the work which he has to do?

Michael Faraday, when a poor apprentice, utilized every moment, and in a letter to a boy friend he wrote: Time is all I require. Oh, that I could purchase at a cheap rate some of our modern gents spare hoursnay, days! I think it would be a good bargain both for them and for me.1 [Note: G. C. Lorimer, Messages of To-day, 355.]

O gentlemen! the time of life is short;

To spend that shortness basely were too long,

If life did ride upon a dials point,

Still ending at the arrival of an hour.2 [Note: Shakespeare, Henry IV., pt. I. v. ii. 82.]

(3) It should make him realize.Every emotion has its higher and its lower forms. It means but little to me if I know only that a man is happy or unhappy, if I do not know of what sort his joy or sorrow is. But all the emotions are certainly tempted to larger action if it is realized that the world in which they take their birth is but for a little time, that its fashion passes away, that the circumstances of an experience are very transitory. That must drive me down into the very essence of every experience and make me realize it in the profoundest and largest way. Take, for instance, one experience. Think of deep sorrow coming to a man, something which breaks his home and heart by taking suddenly, or slowly, out of them that which is the centre of them both, some life around which all his life has lived. There are two forms in which the sorrow of that death comes to a man. One is in the change of circumstances, the breaking up of sweet companionships and pleasant habits, the loneliness and weariness of living; the other is in the solemn brooding of mystery over the soul and the tumult of love within the soul, the mystery of death, the distress of love. Now if the man who is bereaved sees nothing in the distance, as he looks forward, but one stretch of living, if he realizes most how long life is, it is the first of these aspects of his sorrow that is the most real to him. He multiplies the circumstances of his bereavement into all these coming years. Year after year, year after year, he is to live alone. But if, as it so often happens when death comes very near to us, life seems a very little thing; if, as we stand and watch when the spirit has gone away from earth to heaven, the years of earth which we have yet to live seem very few and short; if it seems but a very little time before we shall go too, then our grief is exalted to its largest form. It grows unselfish. It is perfectly consistent with a triumphant thankfulness for the dear soul that has entered into rest and glory. It dwells not on the circumstances of bereavement, but upon that mysterious strain in which love has been stretched from this world to the other, and, amid all the pain that the tension brings, is still aware of joy at the new knowledge of its own capacities which has been given it.

A truth is not true until it is realized. I know that a battle was fought and won; the mother whose only son appears in the list of the dead realizes it. A man is saved not by what he holds, but by what holds him. I believe in God. So did Antipas. So do you. Who would contradict this? We are all theists. We all believe in God. And yet any man who realized the awfully solemn and truly blessed meaning of this would live as in a temple. This world is the temple of God. And though somewhere and somehow we are in the thrice holy place we are never beyond its outer courts.1 [Note: J. H. Goodman, The Lordship of Christ, 236.]

(4) It should solemnize him.It is not so much that the shortness of life makes us prepare for death as that it spreads the feeling of criticalness all through life, and makes each moment prepare for the next, makes life prepare for life. This is its power. Blessed is he who feels it. Blessed is he in whose experience each day and each hour has all the happiness and all the solemnity of a parent towards the day and the hour to which it gives birth, stands sponsor for it, holds it for baptism at the font of God. Such days are sacred in each others eyes. The life in which such days succeed each other is as a holy family, with its moments bound each to each by natural piety.

The bell strikes one. We take no note of Time

But from its loss. To give it then a tongue

Is wise in man; as if an angel spoke

I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright

It is the knell of my departed hours:

Where are they? With the years beyond the flood.

It is the signal that demands despatch:

How much is to be done! My hopes and fears

Stand up alarmed, and oer lifes narrow verge

Look downon what? a fathomless abyss;

A dread eternity! how surely mine!1 [Note: Young.]

(5) It should make him sympathize.Two men have lived side by side for years, with business and social life between them, with a multitude of suspicions and concealments; but let them know that they have only an hour more to live together, and, as they look into each others eyes, do not the suspicions and concealments clear away? They know each other. They trust each other. They think the best of each other. They are ready to do all that they can do for each other in those few moments that remain.

A traveller was crossing a mountain path alone. The snow was falling fast and thick, and an overpowering sense of sleep stole over him. Desperately he fought against it, for he knew that sleep was certain death. As he struggled on, dragging his tottering steps with increasing difficulty, his foot struck against an obstruction which lay across his path, and looking down to see what it was he found it was a man half buried in the snow. In a moment he forgot his drowsiness and was wide awake. He took the unconscious man in his arms and chafed his frozen body, and in so doing the effort to help another brought life and energy to himself.

A missionary describes a scene which he saw in South Africa. From the top of a hill he looked down upon a piece of land where a few men were busy sowing peas, and he recognized them to be lepers at work together. Two particularly caught his attention. One had no hands, the other no feet, for their limbs were wasted away by that terrible and loathsome scourge. By themselves they would both alike have been unable to work, but they had overcome their helplessness by mutual help and association. The man who was without hands was bearing on his back the other who had no feet, and he in turn carried the bag of seeds, which he dropped into the ground as they moved along, while his companion pressed each seed into the ground with his feet.1 [Note: C. J. Ridgeway, Social Life, 63.]

The time is short;

Therefore with all thy might,

Labour for God and Eight.

Pause not for heats and shadows of the day,

Fail not for difficulties of the way:

Be true, be pure, be strong!

Eternity is long.

The time is short;

Sin, misery, and despair

Darken the earth and air;

Therefore do thou with Heaven intercede,

And for thy brethren, ere they perish, plead:

Pray for the prayerless throng!

Eternity is long.

The time is short;

Therefore, my brother, love!

Love always! God above

Is one with thee in this; O take

His crown of thorns, and thine own self forsake!

Love, spite of pain and wrong!

Eternity is long.2 [Note: Shirley Wynne.]

II

In Three Relationships

There are many who have the impression that the tendency of religion, if a man is sincere and deep in it, is to make him less competent and practical in the affairs of the present. But this cannot be the Apostles meaning. He was too sane, too wise a manto claim no more for himto teach such a way of regarding the business and necessities of the present life. And indeed this was not St. Pauls idea of religion at all. St. Pauls doctrine is the doctrine which is taught all through the Bible, that the family, society, the state, business are of Gods ordaining, and that it is of supreme importance that man should fulfil his duties and play his part aright in all these. Be not slothful in business. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord. If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. St. Paul does not tell us to withdraw from common relationships or from business. He does not blot out the words home, politics, business. The Christian life always means for him a life of more varied and nobler interests.

What, then, does he mean by saying that they who have wives should be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not? What St. Paul is enjoining here is the relative value of the present order of things. Home, joy, sorrow, businessthese are the most real things of the present; but he says even these, which are the most real, are not ends in themselves. They have uses to serve beyond the present. Do not take them as if they were final; learn to look through them and beyond them.

Let us consider them one by one.

1. Marriage.Those that have wives as though they had none. St. Paul means by this expression domestic life generally. He does not mean that marriage is not a good thing. He is not doing what some Christian people have donespeaking slightingly of marriage, in the interests of godliness. Nor does he mean that marriage is to be looked upon lightly, that men and women should enter into that relationship and then take it as a little thing. That on the face of it would be contrary to the whole strain of the Scriptures. It would be contrary to the Apostles own teaching, Husbands, love your wives. St. Paul means by marriage domestic life, and his meaning is that a true family life looks on to something beyond itself, and is meant to prepare for something beyond itself. A good husband, a good wife, children growing up in the home united in family affection, a happy home life, are among the best things we can have here. They are present blessings, but they are prophetic of something beyond the present, and they are meant to train the affections for another home than the present. Home, and home relationships are not simply for our ease and comfort and happiness. They contribute much, where they are what they should be, to these. But they have a purpose beyond them. And we find most in them, and they do most for us, when we use them with a recognition of this greater purpose. To let home become everything to us is to make it less than if it were only a part of our life.

Rachel, the daughter of Lord Southampton, married in 1670 William Russell, the younger son of the Earl of Bedford. It was a very happy marriage. In one of her letters to him she writes, My best life, make my felicity entire by believing my heart possessed with all the gratitude, honour, and passionate affection to your person any creature is capable of; and this granted, what have I to ask but a continuance (if God see fit) of these present enjoyments? if not, a submission without murmur to His most wise dispensations and unerring providence. He knows best when we have had enough here; what I most earnestly beg from His mercy is, that we both live so that, whichever goes first, the other may not sorrow as for one of whom they have no hope. Then let us cheerfully expect to be together to a good old age; if not, let us not doubt but He will support us under what trial He will inflict upon us. Excuse me, if I dwell too long upon this; it is from my opinion that if we can be prepared for all conditions, we can with the greater tranquillity enjoy the present, which I hope will be long; though when we change, it will be for the better, I trust, through the merits of Christ.1 [Note: The Morning Watch, September, 1906, p. 100.]

You cannot love a man, a woman, a child, without entering that centre of things where love alone reaches its true meaning. It is only when we have touched the timeless in those we love that we enter on the true glory of loving. It is only then that love becomes the ingredient and furtherer of the highest in us. It is this that gives love its permanency, when all else has fallen away; when youth has passed, when beauty has faded, when trials and difficulties come. When love inhabits this sphere it takes on a Divine patience, a forgiveness to the uttermost, a hopefulness that no disappointments can quench Here the eternity in us touches the eternity in our friend, and makes our love immortal.1 [Note: J. Brierley, The Secret of Living, 35.]

2. Sorrow and Joy.Those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not. Again we must bear in mind that St. Paul is speaking in a terse, epigrammatic way. There is nothing more real to us than our joys and sorrows, and we cannot make believe about them. And there are sorrows that come, that possess us wholly for the time; we can do nothing with them, we cannot moderate them or put them aside. But we are not to let ourselves be carried off our feet by either the troubles of life or its joys. It is the part of those who believe in another life to have balance and moderation and self-control in these things. St. Paul would say, Joy is joy and sorrow is sorrow; you will weep and you will laugh. Sorrow will be bitter and joy sweet. But do not make too much of either. Both will pass, and they will be only memories to you some day, but they ought to leave you different yourself. Let both have a place in a larger conception of life. Look beyond them to some purpose which God means them to serve.

Fair vessel hast thou seen with honey filled, Which is no

sooner opened, than descend

Upon the clammy sweets by bees distilled

A troop of flies, quick swarming without end?

Yet these when one doth fan away and beat,

Such as had lighted with a fearful care

On the jars edge, nor cumbered wings and feet,

Lightly they mount into the upper air.

But all that headlong plunged those sweets among,

They cannot fly, in cloying sweetness bound;

The heavy toils have all around them clung,

In woful surfeiting their lives are drowned.

Such vessel is this worldfanned evermore

By deaths dark Angel with his mighty wing;

Then all that had in pleasures honied store

Their spirits sunk, they upward cannot spring.

Only they mount, who on this vessels side

With heed alighting, had with extreme lip

Just ventured, there while suffered to abide,

Its sweets in measure and with fear to sip.1 [Note: Trench, Poems, 328.]

In a palace, at Florence, there are two pictures which hang side by side. One represents a stormy sea with its wild waves, and black clouds and fierce lightnings flashing across the sky. In the waters a human face is seen, wearing an expression of the utmost agony and despair. The other picture also represents the sea tossed by as fierce a storm, with as dark clouds; but out of the midst of the waves a rock rises, against which the waters dash in vain. In a cleft of the rock are some tufts of grass and green herbage, with sweet flowers, and amid these a dove is seen sitting on her nest quiet and undisturbed by the wild fury of the storm. The first picture represents the sorrow of the world helpless and despairing; the second the sorrow of the Christian nestling in the bosom of Gods unchanging love. When striving to bear on and bear up we may remember a fine passage of Jeremy Taylors: Well, let the world have its course, I am content to bear it; Gods will be done; let the sea be troubled; let the waves thereof roar; let the winds of affliction blow; let the waves of sorrow rush upon me; let the darkness of grief and heaviness compass me about; yet will I not be afraid. These storms will blow over; these winds will be laid; these waves will fall; this tempest cannot last long; and these clouds shall be dispelled; whatsoever I suffer here shall shortly have an end. I shall not suffer eternally; come the worst that can come death will put an end to all my sorrow and miseries. Lord grant me patience here and ease hereafter! I will suffer patiently whatever can happen, and shall endeavour to do nothing against my conscience and displeasing unto Thee; for all is safe and sure with him who is certain and sure of a blessed Eternity.2 [Note: J. H. Goodman, The Lordship of Christ, 6.]

3. Business.Those that buy, as though they possessed not. St. Paul recognizes, as every man must, the important place which business holds in life. Business or trade belongs just as much to life as the home and family do, or as the State does. It is part of the order of things, and may have just as great a religious value as the home has. Do not think of St. Paul as speaking slightingly of business, or as having any such idea in his mind. He has not. Nor does he mean that men are to be half in earnest in their work. Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily. What he means is that business is not an end in itself. It is ordained in the providence of God to serve for things greater than itself. Buy, but do not let business be your life. As we are not to lose ourselves in joy or sorrow, so we are not to lose ourselves in business.

When outward business diverted him a little from the thought of God, a fresh remembrance coming from God invested his soul, and so inflamed and transported him, that it was difficult for him to restrain himself.

That he was more united to God in his ordinary occupations than when he left them for devotion in retirement, from which he knew himself to issue with much dryness of spirit.

That the most excellent method which he had found of going to God, was that of doing our common business, without any view of pleasing men, and (as far as we are capable) purely for the love of God.

That it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times; that we were as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action as by prayer in its season.1 [Note: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, 18, 21.]

III

A General Direction

Use the world, as not abusing it.

1. These English wordsuse and abusestand to each other in much the same relation as the corresponding words of the Apostle. To use anything is to turn it to account in the direction of those ends for which it is really needed. To abuse is simply to turn a thing away from its true and proper use. Often, in doing this, you spoil the thing itself; so that the idea of injury comes to be generally involved in that of abuse. But, originally and literally, to abuse is just to employ anything in a manner that is aside from those purposes for which it is needed and designed.

2. The word world is an expression which is used in the New Testament Scriptures with several meanings, and therefore needs to be interpreted with the utmost care and discrimination. Sometimes it denotes the whole material universe as created by God, the maker of heaven and earth. Sometimes it is this world in which God has placed man for a time, the temporary scene of human existence, mans abode, in which he sojourns for a limited period. Sometimes it conveys the idea, not of a material creation of Gods fashioning, but of a spirit of worldliness in Gods reasoning creatures which is antagonistic to the will of God. Sometimes it is the aggregate of those possessed by this spirit who, having been made by God, rebel against His authority and refuse to heed His commands. Sometimes it is the equivalent of what is known to us by the name of Society, i.e. the environment of persons and things, in the midst of which each one lives his life here, and which, while not evil in itself, must be used, as St. Paul writes in his letter to the Christians at Corinth, with caution, not overusing it, or using it to the full, as his words really mean.

3. The text implies that this world has its uses. It stands in direct relation to human needs. According to the original purpose of God, it is our friend and not our enemya servant to minister to our wants, not a tyrant to oppress or degrade us. Why has God placed us here at all, if our surroundings have not their divinely appointed uses? It is true that the world may become a dangerous foe to our spiritual welfare; but this is only when we stand in false relations to it. Even God Himself cannot be to the wicked all that He can be to the pure in heart. And the world, which is Gods minister to us, cannot subserve the purposes which it is meant to fulfil, unless we use it aright. Worldliness is simply living as if the visible were all, as if we were merely visible creatures amongst visible things, forgetful that we are spiritual beings, whose abiding home is the eternal. To use as not abusing: this is the grand principle of the unworldly life. And if we would see how we may and do abuse the world, we have only to consider what are those uses which it is intended to subserve.

(1) This world is designed to aid in revealing God to us.God is the Eternal Spirit; we are finite spirits. How is the Infinite to manifest Himself to the finite? Each human spirit is mysteriously associated with a material frame; and by this frame it is connected with that great world of matter and of circumstance on which God stamps the tokens of His presence, power, and character. Whatever other or more direct methods God may have of speaking to cur souls, this is at least one medium of communication. The material world and the human body, linked together by affinity, form a bridge over which the thoughts of God pass into the mind of man. And we may be sure that our relations to the world outside of us have their own distinctive part to play in the revelation of God within us. Humanity is doubtless a better interpreter of God than nature; but then nature may help to interpret humanity. The highest manifestation which has been given us of God is in Jesus Christ, His incarnate Son: but this Jesus becomes intelligible to us in virtue of His relations to the world outside of Himself. Christ is the image of the invisible God; when we see Christ, we see the Father. But how do we see Christ, except through the medium of His surroundings? The character of Jesus becomes visible to us as we behold His attitude and conduct in circumstances which are more or less familiar to ourselves, and the significance of which we can therefore in some measure appreciate. It is because He lived and moved in our world that what He did and suffered becomes, through the interpreting power of our own human experience, a revelation of the heart of God.

What an abuse of the world it is when men employ it to conceal God! The attributes of the Most High are mirrored in the world; but men look at the mirror from such an angle of vision as to see only its glittering surface, and not the reflection of the Divine glory. You have heard of the astronomer who said that what he found in the study of the starry sky was the glory of Newton and his fellow-thinkers, and not the glory of God.1 [Note: T. C. Finlayson.]

That was a fine reply of the astronomer, who, when interrogated about the science he had been idolizing, said, I am now bound for the kingdom of Heaven, and I take the stars on my way.2 [Note: S. L. Wilson, Helpful Words for Daily Life, 240.]

(2) This world is designed to aid in the formation and development of spiritual character.The material exists for the sake of the spiritual. This earth has been furnished as a school for the education and discipline of man. Labour is the counteractive of lust; affliction, of pride. Our relationships tend to destroy selfishness; our temptations reveal to us our own weakness. The whole world is an arena of education by probation,at once a weigh-house in which character is tested, and a gymnasium in which character is trained. It furnishes us with a plastic material, the moulding and shaping of which reveals the native royalty and develops the native capacity of our spiritual being.

Man learns to swim by being tossed into lifes maelstrom and left to make his way ashore. No youth can learn to sail his life-craft in a lake sequestered and sheltered from all storms, where other vessels never come. Skill comes through sailing ones craft amidst rocks and bars and opposing fleets, amidst storms and whirls and counter currents.1 [Note: N. D. Hillis, A Mans Value to Society, 46.]

Life is not as idle ore,

But iron dug from central gloom,

And heated hot with burning fears,

And dipt in baths of hissing tears,

And batterd with the shocks of doom

To shape and use.2 [Note: Tennyson, In Memoriam.]

(3) This world is designed to be a sphere for the service of God.God is a Spirit; and we are spirits; hence all true service of God is, in its root and essence, spiritual. Yet possibly it may be a necessity for the finite spirit that it shall be able to embody its devotion towards God in forms external to itself. At any rate, in giving to the human spirit a tabernacle of flesh, and thus connecting it with the material world, God has made that world an instrument for the expression of our spiritual obedience. If one human soul loves another, it longs for some opportunity of embodying its affection. If a servant is really devoted to his master, he rejoices when his master so takes him into confidence as to enable him to give some practical manifestation of his loyalty. And so, God has placed us in a world which may become a sphere of manifest service. He brings us into relations which are constantly trying our obedience, and therefore furnishing us with the means of expressing it.

Methought that in a solemn church I stood.

Its marble acres, worn with knees and feet,

Lay spread from door to door, from street to street.

Midway the form hung high upon the rood

Of Him who gave His life to be our good;

Beyond, priests flitted, bowed, and murmured meet,

Among the candles shining still and sweet.

Men came and went, and worshipped as they could

And still their dust a woman with her broom,

Bowed to her work, kept sweeping to the door.

Then saw I, slow through all the pillared gloom,

Across the church a silent figure come:

Daughter, it said, thou sweepest well my floor!

It is the Lord! I cried, and saw no more.1 [Note: George MacDonald.]

IV

A Good Reason

For the fashion of this world passeth away.

1. The word fashion here is a translation of the Greek word schema, from which we get our English word scheme. The text means that the present order of things, the earthly plan or scheme in which we live, must come to an end. It is true, indeed, of the earth itself. This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave oerhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. The fashion of this world passeth away; even the solid earth is moving on to sure destruction.

Above the valley of the Neckar rises the magnificent ruin of Heidelberg. To the world without it still presents a front of majesty and beauty. The mountain crags seem not more massive and enduring than its battlements of stone, its towers and walls of solid masonry. But within, what a picture of desolation meets the eye! Broken columns and shattered carvings are scattered in confusion about the deserted court. Fragments of costly monuments are mingled with the dbris of crumbling walls, and trees are growing upon ramparts where once the cannon thundered to the echoes of the surrounding hills. The rent tower discloses the ingenuity of man to build, and his yet greater power to destroy.

The word translated fashion literally means stage scenery. St. Paul does not mean that everything on earth is perishable, but that every unreal thing is perishable. Stage scenery is unreal scenery. It does not represent the actual facts of the greenroom. Many an actor is bringing down the house with laughter when his own heart is breaking. St. Paul saw that a great deal of life is simply stage actingconcealment of the greenroom. How many kind things are spoken, not in order to reveal, but in order to cover! How many gifts are sent, not for your sake, but for the sake of the donor! How many blandishments are lavished for a vote! How many visits are paid for a subscription! St. Paul says all this unreality will pass away. When will it pass away? At death, you say. No; death does not reveal the reality of life. Death does not tear away the mask from the face of my brother. Death is itself a mask, itself an unreality. So far from causing the stage scenery to vanish, it is itself the climax of illusion. It is not to death I look; it is to love. Love is the great dispeller of unreality. Love is the great emancipator from stage scenery. Love is the true rending of the veil between this world and the world to come.1 [Note: G. Matheson.]

2. No doubt the world itself will pass away. For that we have the warrant of Scripture, and Science has countersigned the warrant. But this warrant is not to be found here. St. Paul is not predicting a future catastrophe; he is announcing a present fact. He does not affirm that the cloud-cappd towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples of this familiar world, yea, the solid globe itself, with all who inherit it, shall dissolve, and like the baseless fabric of a vision, like an insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind. He affirms a fact with which we are more immediately concerned, namely, that the fashion, the form, the whole outward aspect, of the world in which we live fades, changes, passes, while we look upon it; that it is now, and always, passing away: and from this fact he infers the immense importance of fixing our affections and placing our aims, not on the outward show, the frail and shifting forms of things, but on the sacred and enduring realities which lie beneath and behind them. There are two ways in which it is true that the fashion of this world is passing away.

(1) First it is true with respect to all the things by which we are surrounded.It is only in poetrythe poetry of the Psalms for examplethat the hills are called everlasting. Go to the side of the ocean which bounds our country, and watch the tide going out, bearing with it the sand which it has worn from the cliffs; the very boundaries of our land are changing; they are not the same as they were when these words were written. Every day new relationships are forming around us; new circumstances are calling upon us to act, to act manfully, firmly, decisively, and up to the occasion, remembering that an opportunity once gone is gone for ever. Indulge not in vain regrets for the past, in vainer resolves for the future; act, act in the present.

The difference between the ancient and the modern world is this: in the one the great reality of being was now; in the other it is yet to come. If you would witness a scene characteristic of the popular life of old, you must go to the amphitheatre of Rome, mingle with its 80,000 spectators, and watch the eager faces of Senators and people; observe how the masters of the world spend the wealth of conquest, and indulge the pride of power; see every wild creature that God has made, from the jungles of India to the mountains of Wales, from the forests of Germany to the deserts of Nubia, brought hither to be hunted down in artificial groves by thousands in an hour; behold the captives of war, noble perhaps and wise in their own land, turned loose, amid yells of insult more terrible for their foreign tongue, to contend with brutal gladiators trained to make death the favourite amusement, and present the most solemn of individual realities as a wholesale public sport; mark the light look with which the multitude, by uplifted finger, demands that the wounded combatant be slain before their eyes; notice the troop of Christian martyrs awaiting hand in hand the leap from the tigers den; and, when the days spectacle is over and the blood of two thousand victims stains the ring, follow the giddy crowd as it streams from the vomitories into the street, trace its lazy course into the forum, and hear it there scrambling for the bread of private indolence doled out by the purse of public corruption; and see how it suns itself to sleep in the open ways, or crawls into foul dens till morning brings the hope of games and merry blood again;then you have an idea of that Imperial people, with their passionate living for the moment, which the Gospel found in occupation of the world.

And if, on the other hand, you would fix in your thought an image of the popular mind of Christendom, I know not that you could do better than go at sunrise with the throng of toiling men to the hillside where Whitefield or Wesley is about to preach. Hear what a great heart of reality is in that hymn which swells upon the morning aira prophets strain upon a peoples lips! See the rugged hands of labour, clasped and trembling, wrestling with the Unseen in prayer! Observe the uplifted faces, deep-lined with hardship and with guilt, streaming now with honest tears, and flushed with earnest shame, as the man of God awakes the life within, and tells of Him that bare for us the stripes and cross, and offers the holiest spirit to the humblest lot, and tears away the veil of sense from the glad and awful gates of heaven and hell. Go to these peoples homes, and observe the decent tastes, the sense of domestic obligations, the care for childhood, the desire for instruction, the neighbourly kindness, the conscientious self-respect, and say whether the sacred image of duty does not live within those minds; whether holiness has not taken the place of pleasure in their idea of life: whether for them too the toils of nature are not lightened by some external hope, and their burden carried by some angel of love, and the strife of necessity turned into the service of God. The present tyrannizes over their character no more, subdued by a future infinitely great; and hardly though they lie upon the rock of this world, they can live the life of faith; and while the hand plies the tools of earth, keep a spirit open to the skies.1 [Note: James Martineau.]

(2) Again, this is true with respect to ourselves.The fashion of this world passeth away in us. The feelings we have now are not those which we had in childhood. There has passed away a glory from the earththe stars, the sun, the moon, the green fields have lost their beauty and significancenothing remains as it was, except their repeated impressions on the mind, the impressions of time, space, eternity, colour, form; these cannot alter, but all besides has changed. Our very minds alter. There is no bereavement so painful, no shock so terrible, but time will remove or alleviate it. The keenest feeling in this world time wears out at last, and our minds become like old monumental tablets which have lost the inscription once graven deeply upon them.

Jesus (on whom be peace!) said, The world is a bridge; pass over it, but do not build upon it.Inscription on a bridge at Fatehpur Sikri.2 [Note: Field, A Little Book of Eastern Wisdom, 97.]

Perhaps no one has pictured with truer hand the changing fashion of the world in the passing of human life than Longfellow in his poem, The Old Clock on the Stairs, in which he tells us that

Through days of sorrow and of mirth,

Through days of death and days of birth,

Through every swift vicissitude

Of changeful time, unchanged it has stood,

And as if, like God, it all things saw,

It calmly repeats those words of awe,

For evernever!

Neverfor ever!

In that mansion used to be

Free-hearted Hospitality;

His great fires up the chimney roared;

The stranger feasted at his board;

But, like the skeleton at the feast,

That warning timepiece never ceased,

For evernever!

Neverfor ever!

There groups of merry children played,

There youths and maidens dreaming strayed;

O precious hours! O golden prime,

And affluence of love and time!

Even as a miser counts his gold,

Those hours the ancient timepiece told,

For evernever!

Neverfor ever!

From that chamber, clothed in white,

The bride came forth on her wedding night;

There, in that silent room below,

The dead lay in his shroud of snow;

And in the hush that followed the prayer,

Was heard the old clock on the stair,

For evernever!

Neverfor ever!

All are scattered now and fled,

Some are married, some are dead;

And when I ask, with throbs of pain,

Ah! when shall they all meet again?

As in the days long since gone by,

The ancient timepiece makes reply,

For evernever!

Neverfor ever!

Never here, for ever there,

Where all parting, pain, and care,

And death, and time shall disappear,

For ever there, but never here!

The horologe of Eternity

Sayeth this incessantly,

For evernever!

Neverfor ever!

Spiritual Detachment

Literature

Banks (L. A.), The Sinner and His Friends, 1.

Church (R. W.), Village Sermons, i. 305.

Cox (S.), Expositions, ii. 404.

Dykes (J. O.), Plain Words on Great Themes, 43.

Finlayson (T. C.), The Divine Gentleness, 170.

Henson (H. H.), Light and Leaven, 209.

Hodgson (A. P.), Thoughts for the Kings Children, 151.

Horder (W. G.), The Other-World, 159.

Hoyle (A.), The Depth and Power of the Christian Faith, 153.

Jerdan (C.), Messages to the Children, 56.

Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year: Easter to Ascension, 251.

Leffingwell (C. W.), in Living Voices of Living Men, 153.

Little (W. J. Knox), Manchester Sermons, 81.

Manning (H. E.), Sermons, i. 349.

Martineau (J.), Endeavours after the Christian Life, 439.

Matheson (G.), The Spiritual Development of St. Paul, 288.

Matheson (G.), Times of Retirement, 152.

Parker (J.), City Temple Pulpit, v. 88.

Potts (A. W.), School Sermons, 244.

Ridgeway (C. J.), Social Life, 52.

Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, iii. 169.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, viii. (1862) No. 481.

Vaughan (C. J.), Lessons of Life and Godliness, 311.

Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), 1869, No. 680; xxv. (188485) No. 1292.

Vincent (M. R.), God and Bread, 363.

Webb-Peploe (H. W.), He Cometh, 33.

Wilson (J. M.), Sermons in Clifton College Chapel, i. 79.

Wood (W. S.), Problems in the New Testament, 80.

Cambridge Review, ii. Supplement, No. 40 (Bradby).

Christian Age, xxxiii. 21 (Talmage).

Christian World Pulpit, xiv. 65 (Rogers), 344 (Short); xliv. 44 (Smith); lxx. 273 (Home); lxxii. 9 (Taylor).

Churchmans Pulpit: Lenten Season, v. 92 (Cooke).

Homiletic Review, xx. 537 (Hoyt); xxxi. 44 (Storrs).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

the time: Job 14:1, Job 14:2, Psa 39:4-7, Psa 90:5-10, Psa 103:15, Psa 103:16, Ecc 6:12, Ecc 9:10, Rom 13:11, Rom 13:12, Heb 13:13, Heb 13:14, 1Pe 4:7, 2Pe 3:8, 2Pe 3:9, 1Jo 2:17

that both: Ecc 12:7, Ecc 12:8, Ecc 12:13, Ecc 12:14, Isa 24:1, Isa 24:2, Isa 40:6-8, Jam 4:13-16, 1Pe 1:24

Reciprocal: Deu 24:5 – cheer up 2Sa 19:34 – How long have I to live Pro 23:5 – that which Eze 7:12 – time Eze 24:18 – and at Hab 2:6 – how Mat 22:30 – in the Mat 24:38 – they Luk 14:20 – General Joh 6:27 – the meat Rom 10:19 – I say 1Co 1:12 – this 1Co 10:11 – upon 1Co 15:50 – this 2Co 9:6 – I say Gal 3:17 – this Gal 5:16 – I say Eph 5:16 – the days Phi 4:5 – your Heb 4:6 – it remaineth Rev 22:6 – which

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

BRIEF LIFE IS HERE OUR PORTION

The time is short.

1Co 7:29

What are the practical conclusions the Apostle draws from this truth?

I. Domestic relations.Home influence is the sacred source which gives character to everything in life. They that have wives be as though they had none. The dearest ties and associations of life must not detain the heart. It must be taken up only with Jesus, and every affection must be kept in subjection to Him. There must be a sitting loose to the nearest and dearest for His sake. This must be the test of everything, and must give its character to every domestic duty, and to every affection of the heart.

II. The sorrows and trials of life.They that weep as though they wept not. These too must take their tone from this truth. They are now nearly filled up. We are not, like Mary, to continue at the sepulchre, but to speed with messages of love to the weeping ones. We must sit loose to our sorrows, for sorrow will soon end.

III. Joys must not detain the soul.They that rejoice as though they rejoiced not. There are hours of delight. God plants flowers in our way; yea, many that are sweet. But to all we must sit loose. The one Rose of Sharon has won our hearts, and this must impart its fragrance to every other. Christ is our joy.

IV. They that use this world as not abusing it, or not using it to the full. It does not mean abusing it in the sense of perversion, but only the right use of what is according to Gods will. We are to engage in its business, its duties, its callings; to use its money, its air, its opportunities for goodto use them all for the Lord. Without Him nothing; with Him all things according to His will.

Rev. F. Whitfield.

Illustration

While we wave the palms of glory

Through the long eternal years,

Shall we eer forget the story

Of our mortal griefs and fears?

Shall we eer forget the sadness,

And the clouds that hung so dim,

When our hearts are filld with gladness,

And our tears are dried by Him?

Shall the memory be banishd

Of His kindness and His care,

When the wants and woes are vanishd,

Which He loved to soothe and share?

All the way by which He led us,

All the grievings which He bore,

All the patient love He taught us,

Shall we think of them no more?

(SECOND OUTLINE)

TIME AND ETERNITY

The rule has been laid down that time ought to seem short as it passes along and great as we look ahead. And the reason is this. We measure time by the number of ideas which pass through the mind or the actions we do in succession. As these ideas or actions pass, if they be good and pleasant ones, they make the time appear to go quickly, but if we take a retrospective view, the longer the time seems to be. And therefore every man ought to have many ideas in his mind and perform many actions: and those ideas and actions happy ones. Thus time should be little as it goes; great when it is over.

I. There are three reasons why time is short.

(a) We ought to be thinking a great deal about eternity. And to the eye that has been dwelling on eternity, all time, everything we can measure, must be short.

(b) Good occupations make shortness. There is a great deal to do. Alas for the man who finds any day of his life too long! That man cannot be living as he ought to be living.

(c) No man who is very happy complains that the hours run sluggishly; and whether we are happy or not happy, we ought to be happy.

II. If you desire that time should feel short, live straight to the presentthe present duties, the present joys, the present trials; the past all forgotten, the future all undiscernible. You have nothing to do but with the passing moment. It will glide by very rapidly if you will always live only for the present. Dont be long about anything. Concentrate. Hold everything that has not an eternity in it by a slight hand, by a loose hand; it is not worth much, for the time indeed is very short. Live for eternity, love for eternity, marry for eternity, die for eternity, work for eternity. Carry with you the thought, and let that thought be always eternity, eternity, eternity is coming!

III. What we want is to be exceedingly practical.Too short now for all that fretting about little things. Too short to flit away an hour when every moment is golden. Too short to be careful when the future we care about may never come; and if it comes will be only for a little while. Too short to hoard up, when this night thy soul may be required of thee. Too short to quarrel, when already we stand before the door, and we are all about to go in together to stand before His judgment seat. Too short to mourn for those who are gonewhen they will so soon come back again. Too short to weepwhen God is so soon to wipe away all tears from our eyes.

IV. But it is not too short to pause and feel its shortness, and praise God for its shortness. Not too short to realise that the two worlds are one. Not too short to leave whatever is not true and holy, and begin now the heavenly. Not too short to see our union with Jesus and His saints. Not too short to do something for Him before we go in and finish the work which He has given us to do.

Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

Millions of money for an inch of time! cried Elizabeth, the gifted but ambitious Queen of England, upon her death-bed. She had enjoyed threescore and ten years. Like too many of us, she had so devoted them to wealth, to pleasure, to pride, to ambition, that her whole preparation for eternity was crowded into her final moments; and hence she who had wasted more than half a century would barter millions for an inch of time.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Co 7:29-30. The original Greek word for short is defined by Thayer at this place, “is shortened,” and Robinson defines it, “the time is contracted, shortened.” The time referred to in this passage is the period of the distress caused by the oppression under Rome. Naturally the passing days made that period shorter, and the teaching of this verse :is that disciples should not be so concerned about these various conditions in their earthly life. Give chief attention to their obligations as Christians until the conflict was over, which was not to be very long in comparison.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

As if he had said, “Let all persons, both married and unmarried, consider that the time of this life is short and passing; it is but a point of time we have to live, and shortly it will not be a pin to choose whether we had wives or not, or children or not; but before the expected fruits or the comforts be ripe, we ourselves may be rotten. It is therefore true spiritual wisdom to look upon these things now, as they will be shortly; to be very moderate in the enjoyment of them, not to be too much affected when we have them, or too much afflicted when we want them.”

Observe here, 1. The apostle’s proposition: The time is short. This is true in all the notions of it.

Take it first for the whole duration of this world, from the day of its creation to the hour of is dissolution; compare it with what succeeds it, eternity; and it is very short, but a moment.

Secondly, Take time for the whole duration of any one man’s life, so ’tis shorter; so short, that it is nothing.

Thirdly, Take time for the special season, either of doing or enjoying good in this life, so ’tis shortest of all.

Observe, 2. The inference which the apostle draws from this proposition: therefore let them that have wives, be as if they had none, &c.

Learn thence, That the consideration of the great shortness of time, and the uncertainty of human life, should keep our hearts in a great deal of moderation towards the best and sweetest of our outward comforts and enjoyments: That we neither love inordinately any mercy when we enjoy it, nor mourn immoderately for any contentment when we come to be deprived of it. They that weep as though they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not.

Observe, 3. The advice which the apostle gives to such as have great possessions and revenues in this world.

(1.) To take heed that though they possess these things, that they be not possessed by them.

(2.) That they so use them as not to abuse them, nor be abused by them.

There is much evil in the world; yet we may, we must use it, and it will be our wisdom to make a good use of this world while we are in it; otherwise we neither answer the end of God in sending us into the world, nor the design of God in trusting us with the good things of this world.

Observe, 4. The reason assigned why we should use the world in the aforementioned manner: because the fashion of this world passeth away. Here the apostle compares the things of this world to a scene which is presently changed,and vanisheth almost as soon as it appears. As fashions in this world alter, so doth the fashion of this world alter every day. There is a world to come, the fashion whereof shall never pass away; but the fashion or scheme of this world passeth away continually. This world is like a stage, persons interchangeably act their parts upon it, but they soon disappear, and the stage itself ere long will be pulled down; The fashion of this world passeth away.

Thence learn, That this consideration, that all the comforts and conveniences of this life are fading and passing away from us, should be a strong motive and inducement to us not to set our hearts upon them.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

1Co 7:29-31. But this I say, &c. But though I leave every one to his own liberty in the case now mentioned, yet here is what is necessary for all to observe. The time Of our abode here, and of these worldly enjoyments; is short: it remaineth It plainly follows; that those who have wives be as though they had none Namely, as serious, zealous, and active, dead to the world, as devoted to God, as holy in all manner of conversation, preserving themselves from all inordinate affection toward them, and to be prepared to leave them, or to part with them, whenever a wise, unerring, and gracious Providence shall call them so to do. 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. And they that weep That sorrow on account of any trouble; as though they wept not Knowing that the end of temporal troubles, as of temporal joys, is fast approaching, and therefore not being too much concerned, cast down, and distressed on account of them. And they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not Knowing the transitory nature of all earthly joys, and therefore tempering their joy with godly fear. And they that buy, as though they possessed not Considering that they hold nothing here by a certain tenure, but must shortly resign all, and therefore not placing much dependance on any thing secular for happiness; and knowing themselves to be only stewards, and not proprietors of what they possess, and that they must shortly be called to give an account of the use they have made of it. And they that use this world That is, the comforts and accommodations thereof; as not abusing it By employing them to other ends than those to which they were intended; or in another manner than that prescribed by the great Proprietor of all, and not seeking happiness therein, but in God: using every thing only in such a manner and degree as most tends to the knowledge and love of him. For the fashion of this world The whole scheme of it, and the manner and way of living or conversing here, with the several conditions, relations, and connections of life; this marrying, weeping, rejoicing, and all the rest, not only will pass, but now passeth away, is this moment flying off like a shadow.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Vv. 29-31. But this I mean, brethren, the time is henceforth limited, that they even that have wives be as though they had none; 30. and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; 31. and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

The formula , which begins 1Co 7:29, does not announce a simple explanation, as a would do. The term has a certain solemnity: Now here is my real view, the most essential thing which I have to declare to you.

By the address: brethren, he draws near to them as if to gain an entrance into their minds for this decisive thought, with the particular applications they are to draw from it, each for himself. If, with T. R., we should read before , it would require to be translated by because, and referred to what precedes (1Co 7:28); but the following sentence would become extremely heavy, on account of the two conjunctions and , which follow one another. We must therefore reject . The participle (from , to furl sails, to pack luggage, to reduce into small volume, to shorten a syllable, etc.) may be taken either in the moral sense (straitened, pressed with trouble, 1Ma 3:6; 2Ma 6:12), or in the literal sense (reduced to small volume, concentrated, abridged). As the first meaning cannot well apply except to persons, the second is here preferable; only it must be remarked that Paul does not use the word , which denotes time in respect of its duration, but , time in respect of its character, season, opportunity. The apostle therefore means not that the present epoch will embrace a greater or less number of years, but that the character of the epoch is its being contained between precise limits which do not admit of its being extended indefinitely. These limits are, on the one side, the coming of Christ which took place recently, and on the other, His coming again, which may be expected any hour, and which will be the close of the . There is therefore no longer anything assured in the present existence of the world; it is profoundly compromised since the coming of Christ, who created thenceforth a higher sphere of existence; hence it follows that human life has no longer a future, except one limited and precarious; comp. Php 3:20 : Our citizenship is in heaven. We are in the last hour ( , 1Jn 2:18), of which no one knows how long it will last (Mar 13:32); for that depends on God, and also in part on the faithfulness of the Church, and on the conduct of the unbelieving world.

Of the three readings which we have given in the note, that of the T. R., supported by three Byz., signifies: The time is limited as to what remains, that… The reading of the four older Mjj. signifies: The time is limited, that for the future ( )… That is to say, that the time for the future ought to be otherwise used than it has been in the past. The third, that of F G, signifies: The time is limited; it remains (it follows therefrom) that… This last ought to be rejected without hesitation; for the expression cannot signify: it follows that. In the Alex. reading we must accept the inversion of the , and bring it into the proposition of . The emphasis put by this construction on is justified no doubt by the contrast between the remaining future and the past which has already elapsed. But the inversion is harsh, and the first reading, that of the Byz., seems to me preferable. Its meaning is very simple: The time is limited as to what remains. The time which mankind have yet to pass is limited by the coming of Christ. And so, whereas unbelievers regard the world as sure to last indefinitely, the Christian has always before his eyes the great expected fact, the Parousia; hence there arises in him a wholly new attitude of soul, that which the apostle characterizes in the following words. The: in order that, shows that this new attitude of the heart is willed of God as the proper consequence of the character assigned to the present epoch. We must take care not to make the depend on the verb : I declare this to you in order that… This inward disposition of believers springs much more naturally from the character of the epoch in which they live, than from Paul’s declaration, which is addressed only to some of them. The anticipation of Christ’s coming is that which transforms the mode of regarding and treating all earthly positions.

The , which follows , should be translated by even: Even the married ought in their attitude of soul to return to the state of celibates. By their detachment from the things of this earth, which are about to fail them, and their attachment to Christ, who is coming again, they recover that state of inward independence which they lost by marrying. Externally bound, they become free again as to their moral attitude; comp. the slave, 1Co 7:22 a.

Vv. 30. Here is depicted the spiritual detachment in its application to the various situations of life. As nothing in this world has more than a waiting character, the afflicted believer will not be swayed by his pain; he will say to himself: It is no more worth the trouble! The man who is visited by joy will not be intoxicated by it; he will say to himself: It is but for a moment. He who buys, will not seize and hold the object he has got too keenly (, to hold firmly); for he will look upon himself as always ready to give it up. It is not meant that the believer will not rejoice or be afflicted or care for what he has. But, as Edwards well says: Excess is prevented, not by the diminution of the joy or of the grief, but by the harmony of both. Joy and grief becoming more profound harmonize in a sadness full of joy and a joy full of sadness.

Vv. 31. The phrase using this world is a formula in which are embraced marriage, property, commerce, political, scientific, and artistic activity. The believer may use these things, provided it is constantly in a spirit which is master of itself, detached from everything, looking only to Christ.

It is a mistake here to translate the term in the sense of abusing; for there never is for any one a time of abusing. To the notion of the simple , to make use of, the preposition adds, as in the preceding verb, a shade of tenacity, carnal security, false independence. He who uses the world, in these different domains, while keeping his eye constantly fixed on the future, ought to preserve the same inward calm as one might who had broken with the whole train of earthly affairs. The Alex. read the regimen in the accusative ( ); this construction is found only in the later Greek, and that with the compound . The last words justify the disposition of detachment which the apostle recommends. They do not express merely the commonplace thought: that visible things are transitory in their nature. Undoubtedly Edwards is right in saying: Every change proves that the end will come; but we must not forget that this proposition is connected by , for, with the preceding: The time is limited. This relation obliges us to apply the , passeth away, to the near coming of the Lord, who will transform the present fashion of the world, that is to say, of external nature and human society. The term , the fashion, the external state of a thing, proves that the world itself will not disappear, but that it will take on a new mode of existence and development; comp. Rom 8:19-22 and Mat 19:28.

The apostle has just developed the term the present distress (1Co 7:26 a), and expounded the reason for the preference to be given to celibacy for virgins, taken from present circumstances. He passes to the more general reason stated in 1Co 7:26 b: It is good in itself for man so to be.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none;

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

29. And I say this, brethren, that the time is at hand: moreover, indeed, those having wives may be as those not having, and those weeping as those not weeping, and those rejoicing as those not rejoicing, and those merchandising as those possessing nothing,

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

1Co 7:29-31. After giving advice prompted by the present abnormal circumstances and carefully guarded, Paul asserts a great principle which ought to regulate the conduct of all men in all they do.

The season: 1Co 7:5 : our present life, whether it be ended by death or by the coming of Christ.

Cut-short: more graphic than short, like loosed in 1Co 7:27. God has compressed into a short period our relations with the present world; in order that we may pass through the world without clinging to it. Even the shortness and uncertainty of life are ordained by God to save us from trusting to material good.

Henceforth: very emphatic, in contrast to our earlier life.

As though not having them: remembering that the marriage relation is a passing one, of importance only as it bears on the realities of eternity.

They that weep, mentioned before they that rejoice as being more numerous during the present necessity. To remember that the causes of our sorrow and our joy are alike passing away, will even now wipe away many tears and moderate our joy.

As though not retaining; the purchased goods. A solemn warning to all who lay up wealth.

The world: the whole realm of things around us; see 1Co 1:20.

Using-to-the full: eagerly using up all opportunities of gain or pleasure, as though these were the end of life.

By thus giving God’s purpose in cutting short the present life, Paul virtually bids us not to cling to the things of earth. And this he supports by saying that the form of this world, i.e. the whole aspect of things around us in the present life, is passing away. Even the mountains and islands

(Rev 6:14; Rev 16:20) will fly from their places; and with them will vanish at once and for ever the complex stage and scenery of the present drama of life. To the eye of Paul, illumined by the light of eternity, the external aspect of the world around is already passing away: 1Jn 2:17; 1Co 2:6; Rev 21:1; Mat 5:18; 2Pe 3:10. For each moment is bearing it towards the fiery grave in which it will soon be buried.

These words are parallel to the season is cut short; but are more tremendous. Many rejoice not only in the prevent life as their chief good, but in the thought that their possessions and their fame will abide when they have gone. But Paul reminds us that whatever exists around us is but a part of the passing appearance which the world has assumed for a time and will soon lay aside. Notice (cp. 1Co 3:13; 1Co 4:5; 1Co 13:12 etc.) how Paul discusses various details of the present life in the light of eternity.

Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament

7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time [is] {a} short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

(a) For we are now in the latter end of the world.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Reasons for remaining single 7:29-35

Paul next called his readers to take a different view of their relationship to the world since they lived in distressing times and the form of the world was passing away. We, too, need this view of the world since we also live in distressing times and the form of the world is still passing away.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Married men should live as soldiers of the Cross willing to forgo some of the comforts and pleasures of family life, but not its responsibilities, since we are in a spiritual battle. Those who weep should remember that present sorrow will be comparatively short (cf. Luk 6:21). Likewise those who rejoice should bear in mind that we have a serious purpose to fulfill in life (Luk 6:25). When we make purchases, we need to consider that we are only stewards of God and that everything really belongs to Him. The Christian should use the world and everything in it to serve the Lord, but we must not get completely wrapped up in the things of this world. Therefore, whether a person is single or married he or she should live with an attitude of detachment from the world. We should not let it engross or absorb us.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

While it is true that the time a person has to serve Christ grows shorter with every day he or she lives, Paul probably meant that the Lord’s return is closer every day. However it is not the amount of time that we have left that concerned Paul but the fact that we know our time is limited. Christians should live with a certain perspective on the future and, therefore, we should live with eternity’s values consciously in view. We should be ready to make sacrifices now in view of the possibility of greater reward later (1Co 3:14; cf. Mat 6:19-21).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)