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Epiphany Season · Third Sunday after the Epiphany · Year B

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Marriage

January 24, 2027

Vanitas Still Life, Pieter Claesz
Vanitas Still Life, Pieter Claesz, 1630Mauritshuis, The Hague
A skull, an overturned glass, a watch and a guttered lamp. The Dutch painted hundreds of these; Claesz painted the best of them, in almost no colour at all.The present form of this world is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7 says the time has grown short, and this is the whole genre built on that sentence.Pieter ClaeszA Haarlem painter who, with Willem Heda, invented the near-monochrome Dutch breakfast piece and the vanitas still life.Mauritshuis, The HagueA small seventeenth-century town house holding a concentrated Dutch Golden Age collection, including Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.Mauritshuis, The Hague
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelMark 1:14-20Mk 1:14-20
Epistle1 Cor. 7:29-311 Cor 7:29-31
Old TestamentJonah 3:1-5, 10Jon 3:1-5, 10
PsalterPs. 62:5-12Ps 62:5-12

Overview & Insights

“The appointed time has grown very short... for the present form of this world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:29, 31)

Although Paul’s discussion on sexual immorality in chapter 6 makes the transition to his discussion on sexual obligations in marriage smooth, chapter 7 introduces a new section that continues through 11:1. After his extended discussion of the Corinthian Christ followers’ troublesome allegiance to their culture in the first six chapters, Paul will now address specific questions and issues that have come to him in a letter from the Corinthian church (7:1). He moves from a rather stern corrective, reproaching tone (they should have known better) to a pastorally informative tone. Put differently, Paul is moving from pointing out significant errors in their thinking to dealing with issues that are not necessarily black and white but require deeper spiritual insight and pastoral guidance. Historical and Cultural Background Most Roman marriages were arranged by families for the purpose of enhancing status and family wealth.

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Take it further: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Commentary

1 Corinthians 7:29-311 Cor 7:29-31 Working Preacher

On Paul's claim that the appointed time has grown short and living as if the present form of the world is passing away.

1 Corinthians 7:29-311 Cor 7:29-31 Center for Excellence in Preaching

Wrestles with Paul's eschatological urgency and detachment from worldly ties.

1 Corinthians 7 verse by verse1 Cor 7 verse by verse Precept Austin

Verse-by-verse study notes and cross-references on 1 Corinthians 7.

1 Corinthians 7:29-311 Cor 7:29-31 Enduring Word · David Guzik

An accessible verse-by-verse commentary, widely used across evangelical churches.

Background & Word Study

1 Corinthians and Work1 Cor and Work Theology of Work

On Paul's counsel to 'remain in your calling' and how the shortened time reframes work, marriage, and daily life.

Overview: 1 CorinthiansOverview: 1 Cor BibleProject

An overview situating chapter 7's teaching on singleness and the passing world within Paul's letter.

The Church Fathers

1 Corinthians 7, patristic commentary1 Cor 7, patristic commentary Catena

Patristic comment on marriage, singleness, and the shortened time.

Questions preachers ask

What is Paul urging in 1 Corinthians 7?

Because the time is short and the world is passing, Paul calls Christians to hold their earthly circumstances loosely, living as those whose deepest attachment is to the Lord who is near.

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