“This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 7:35
Listen up my soul. Take note and try to remember this important observation from 1 Corinthians 7:32-35. Souls that dwell in the bodies of busy people like you need to grasp this principle.
Paul is writing to the Corinthians with regard to marriage and singleness. He is comparing and contrasting the concerns (worries, cares, anxieties) of the single individual with the married. Both have cares. The single person has cares and concerns but they are fewer than those of the married person. Therefore they can assign themselves to the Lord’s service more fully – with fewer competing allotments of time. The married person, however, has more demands upon his time therefore his concerns are divided. As a result, they cannot assign as large a portion of their time to the Lord’s service as a single person can. This being the case Paul, of course, urges those who have the gift of singleness to embrace it. But, in verse 35 he says that he is not writing this to put a constraint on them but rather he writes for (in order to, for the purpose of – to secure) undistracted devotion to the Lord.
This passage can be confusing but I think there is a powerful truth here that can be tremendously freeing not just for the single person – but for the married, so that they will be undistractedly devoted to the Lord – even though they are divided.
In verse 32 Paul states that he wants the Corinthians to be free from concern. He uses the Greek word “merimnao” which means concern, worry, care, or anxiety. In comparing the condition of the single person to the married, in verse 32, he says he wants them both to be amerimnao or without concern. However, he then goes on to say that both the single and the married have merimnao – concerns, but that the single person’s concerns are limited so that they can focus more directly on pleasing the Lord. The married person is concerned about more things than the single person. The married person’s time is thereby inevitably allotted to multiple concerns. In fact in verse 34 Paul assigns an adjective to the married person – he is merizo which means divided, allotted, apportioned, or assigned. Even though Paul started off saying he does not want us to be concerned (divided), he confirms that we are all concerned, in some sense – either to the Lord, or to the Lord and other things for the sake of our spouses and families.
Unfortunately, the NIV misses what I think is an important change in Greek word in verse 35 which brings to light how we can be divided in one sense yet undistracted in our devotion to the Lord. In the NIV verse 35 concludes that Paul again does not want them to be undivided; even though he just finished using the very word “divided” as an adjective describing the married person in verse 34. It leaves me with the sense that it should read… “I do not want you married people who are ‘allotted/divided’ to be allotted/divided.” This is confusing making me unsure how to live. Should I be divided or undivided? It creates a frustrating tension about whether or not the things that inevitably divide my time are good or bad. For example, one of the required allotments my time as a married man is to provide for my family. This requires a significant allotment of time, a significant division of my concerns.
But in fact Paul does not use the same Greek word in verse 35 as he does in verse 34. He picks another word, aperispastos – undistracted. Here is what I take this to mean. It is possible that “divided ones” can be undistracted. Being divided and being distracted is not the same thing! I can be an allotted one – a married man who has multiple allotments that divide up portions of my time, and yet not necessarily be distracted in my devotion to the Lord. It is necessary that I be divided – it is what I am as a married man, the condition is assigned to me from God, this label is applied to me by God, my various tasks and toil are God’s will for my life. Yet, no matter how divided my concerns become, I do not ever have to be distracted in my devotion to God. Praise God that the things that truly divide my time and require my complete attention (like working to provide for my family) do not have to distract my devotion to the Lord.
What’s more, Paul says that he is writing these things in order that my devotion to the Lord may be undistracted. He calls me a divided one, in order that I may be undistracted. I believe Paul is encouraging me by telling me that even though I must carve out chunks of time and focus my attention on them – divided tasks such as working, caring for a sick family member, cleaning, and paying bills – that in such divisions (and they truly are divisions) I need not ever be distracted in my devotion to the Lord. Having this knowledge actually goes to work in me to establish and secure my undistracted devotion to the Lord.
One other observation from 1 Corinthians 7:35 fortifies this principle. The change of Greek word from merizo (divided) to aperispastos (undistracted) is illustrated by the only other use of the word “distracted” in the New Testament. It is found in Luke 10:40 and describes how Martha was distracted by many things. This is a perfect example of how facing the reality of divided concerns can cause the kind of concern (anxiety, worry) that Paul does not want us to have. But it does not have to be that way. In one sense Martha was right that there were things that needed to get done. The dishes weren’t going to do themselves! Yet I do not think that it was the fact that Martha occupied herself with such things that brought about her rebuke, but rather her attitude toward her toil. In this illustration Martha plays the part of the married person and Mary the single. Someone had to prepare the food and this task fell upon Martha. Someone has to provide for the family and this task usually falls upon the husband. The division is inevitable. The husband is divided! But being divided by the will of God need not result in distraction. Martha was distracted and divided and thus was reproved. We can be divided and undistracted and this will result in being commended.
I believe that keeping Paul’s words in mind as I go about my allotted tasks – my apportioned time, divided concerns – knowing that even in doing my divided assignments I can be securing for myself an undistracted devotion to the Lord. This insight from the Word of God can help me enjoy all things (even toil) to the praise and glory of God.
O my soul, if you feel a complaint rising up in your spirit when you find yourself occupied in a required division of your time and attention, fight. Remember that to be divided need not be to be distracted! Remember that even in the divided task, if you honor God in your heart, you can be securing for yourself an undistracted devotion to your Lord. So be content in all your toil as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:58 “…be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Be glorified O Lord in this divided one. In Jesus name, Amen.
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