When a person is not married, the questions they ask themselves are, “Does God intend me to marry?” “Is there someone out there I am supposed to be with for the rest of our lives?” “Can I live alone?” “Am I designed to live alone?” “I know God is with me always, but sometimes I want to have a conversation with, walk hand in hand with, eat a meal with, and know the physical presence of someone I love and that loves me. God is with me in Spirit, not in the flesh at this time. Can I pay the price to be fully dedicated to God and remain single, serving Jesus only?” The widow faces similar and harder questions.
Perhaps the single person is open to marriage, has dated disappointment and hurt, and cannot endure those again. They do not want to be single, but have given up trying to find a good person.
Giving up is not the same as resolution. Apostle Paul is addressing the congregation’s questions about a commitment to marry or remain single (8). The difference between giving up and resolution is prayer and faith. Giving up does not involve prayer and turning it over to God. Resolution involves faith and prayer. The one who makes a resolution trusts in God. Apostle Paul made a resolution. Should they?
Apostle Paul, addressing this matter that they wrote to him about (1a), considers something else, sexual passion. When God created Adam and Eve, he blessed them and gave them a command to be fruitful and increase in number (Genesis 1:28). Part of the blessing was sexual passion, pleasure, and instinct. The physical design of the nervous system reveals that the blessing was physical as much as emotional, for nerves are concentrated around the reproductive and arousal systems. (This also says so much about the sins of homosexuality and sex change.)
The man or woman, who God blesses to remain single, will be given the gift of self-control of sexual passion, pleasure, and instinct (9). If the gift of self-control is not given, then it can be sure that God does not have a single life in their future. Also, if jealousy and covetousness of the married enter the heart of the single, then they need to consider if they have been called to that vocation, or have chosen it of their own free will. They should pray about marriage.
