Before, at the time, during, and at some point after his conversion to Christ?
What do you think?
Historically and customarily, a pious Pharisee, in order to be called one, would have been married way before the age of 25 in Judaism.
Could have Paul been married? What do you think? There seems to be some evidence of the fact in one of the verses in one of the Epistles to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? )
One thing that stands out is that he doesn't put himself in the category of a virgin in when addressing the "unmarried" men and women in the epistle (1 Corinthians 7:8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am.) because these "unmarried" people that he is addressing were at one time married and became "unmarried" at one time (via divorce, or death).
If Paul was once married before or during the time of his conversion, his wife (Who probably would have been of a prominent Pharisee home.) could have legally divorced him because of it.
By the way, for those who proclaim this to be a "new doctrine" and not worthy of being brought up, please be informed that this has been in discussion since the early 300's. Eusebius of Caesarea mentions something about Paul being married and used the very two verses I just presented to show for it in his works called Historia Ecclesiastica or Church History.
If this was/is the case, then do you think that the "seeking" a spouse would be as important as it is now?
Refuting opponents who questioned his apostleship, Paul insists that he is as much an apostle as Jesus' original disciples. " Am I am not an apostle?" he asks in I Cor. 9
"Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. I Con. 3:11
If the Bible does not say Paul was married; then is it necessary that we know, in our Walk with Christ! JMO
Jdg 21:14 And Benjamin came again at that time. And they gave the women whom they had kept alive, of the women of Jabesh-gilead. But they did not find enough for them.
Jdg 21:15 And the people repented as to Benjamin, for Jehovah had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.
Jdg 21:16 And the elders of the assembly said, What shall we do to the remnant for wives for the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?
Jdg 21:17 And they said, The one who escaped shall be a legacy of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel.
Jdg 21:18 And we surely are not able to give wives to them from our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
Jdg 21:19 And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, on the north side of Bethel, toward the rising of the sun, by the highway which goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.
Jdg 21:20 They commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go, and you shall lie in wait in the vineyards.
Jdg 21:21 And you shall watch. And, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then you shall go out from the vineyards and each of you catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
1Co 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Co 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
Pro 18:22 Whoever finds a wife finds good, and gets favor from Jehovah.
Agapeton, when you read what Paul say in context of what he is speaking about, there is no way it can be even slighlty concluded , or suggsted, or assumed that he was married and divorced, or widow.. but only sigle never married and was living a life of celibacy adn verses 7-9 will indicate. Also, we find nothing whatsoever of the passages Paul speaks about in I Corithians chpater 9.. as Angels says, Paul was defending his apostleship against the gainsayer at Corinth and pointing out to them their fault finding and hypocrisy against him...
He was letting it be known that he and his apostles had just as much rights and authority and even more to bring along their wives (meaning the other apostles who were married,) if they so desired. But this is no indication not does it suggest that Paul was speaking that he was married when he uses the word "we" and "our" this is just a figure of speech, in addressing the issues at hand to include the other apostles with him. No where in the book of Acts are we ever told that Paul was married or even had a close lady friend as a companion.
Now this is what verse 7-9 says as you have psoted... but I though we should read the first vers becasue Paul is speaking to the married men, and saying that he wisehed that ALL MEN HAD NOT NEED TO GET MARRIED AND COULD REAMIN SINGLE, not divorced and single, but never married and single. Then when you read verses 25- 40, Paull speaks to the unmarried sinlges, and to the widows and to the single virgins, these are the women who are virgins and have never been married and are still living at home with their fathers.
I Corinthians chapter 7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: �It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.� But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6. I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
8 Now to the unmarried (this is speaking to the singles unmarried who have never married, this has nothing to do with a divorced person) and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
ella I agree there is no way to misunderstand what the apostle paul says in this scripture as he tells the married folks hje wishes they could be like hjim (single) but that everyone is different and some people have to have a partner then he tells the unmarried thats it better to be single however its better to be married than to burn with passion and I asume he is thinking of the temptaion to sin in a sexual way if you are unmarried all sex is sin
Refuting opponents who questioned his apostleship, Paul insists that he is as much an apostle as Jesus' original disciples. " Am I am not an apostle?" he asks in I Cor. 9
"Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. I Con. 3:11
If the Bible does not say Paul was married; then is it necessary that we know, in our Walk with Christ! JMO
ME: Then why would Paul use this as a wording in 1Co 9:5? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, AS DO THE OTHER apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
Why would he even bring this up IF HE DIDN'T HAVE A WIFE OR WASN'T MARRIED? It just doesn't make sense now does it? Plus do we deny the facts that in those days a professed traditionalist pharisee to whom Paul admitted to being, would have been married by the age of 24 to be considered a pharisee?
Agapeton, when you read what Paul say in context of what he is speaking about, there is no way it can be even slighlty concluded , or suggsted, or assumed that he was married and divorced, or widow.. but only sigle never married and was living a life of celibacy adn verses 7-9 will indicate. Also, we find nothing whatsoever of the passages Paul speaks about in I Corithians chpater 9.. as Angels says, Paul was defending his apostleship against the gainsayer at Corinth and pointing out to them their fault finding and hypocrisy against him...
He was letting it be known that he and his apostles had just as much rights and authority and even more to bring along their wives (meaning the other apostles who were married,) if they so desired. But this is no indication not does it suggest that Paul was speaking that he was married when he uses the word "we" and "our" this is just a figure of speech, in addressing the issues at hand to include the other apostles with him. No where in the book of Acts are we ever told that Paul was married or even had a close lady friend as a companion.
Now this is what verse 7-9 says as you have psoted... but I though we should read the first vers becasue Paul is speaking to the married men, and saying that he wisehed that ALL MEN HAD NOT NEED TO GET MARRIED AND COULD REAMIN SINGLE, not divorced and single, but never married and single. Then when you read verses 25- 40, Paull speaks to the unmarried sinlges, and to the widows and to the single virgins, these are the women who are virgins and have never been married and are still living at home with their fathers.
I Corinthians chapter 7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: �It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.� But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6. I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
8 Now to the unmarried (this is speaking to the singles unmarried who have never married, this has nothing to do with a divorced person) and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion
ME: ET, it is nice that you can say what you think the text is saying but the Greek is pretty clear that the "unmarried" means persons who were once married at one time and NOT VIRGINS because they are spoken of in 7:25-38of the chapter.
If you notice the whole context of the chapter, Paul addresses Married couples, divorced couples and then virgins. When he was speaking to the divorced people he put himself within that group AND NOT THE VIRGINS because he would have been disqualified as a pharisee had he been with a woman in sexual relations other than having been married or widowed.
what does it matter? Paul was a Christian killer, if he was married and it ended in divorce and it was not a lawful divorce then it is forgiven as his ordering christians to be killed was forgiven it is under the blood, in the sea of gods forgetfulness as far as the east is from the west! I am sure we can asume paul was not perfect before we was saved or even after he admits he did what he hated and what he wanted to do he did not do so he had struggles just like us, however what happend or he did before he met Jesus on the road to damascus is of not matter at all beasue thats before he got saved and he was a new creation afterwards
Elisha, it may not matter BUT it would make things for us believers to understand that we don't NEED to seek a spouse if we are in the "unmarried" category like Paul was UNLESS we are burning with passion because the ultimate relationship we should be seeking is the one with Christ. Does that make sense?
