RomeSweetHome wrote:But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of this world how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your profit, not to cast a snare upon you, but for that which is decent and which may give you power to attend upon the Lord without impediment.
(I Cor., vii, 7-8 and 32-35.)
I dont think he is talking about second marriage, how would you interpretate the above passage?
I would "understand" the above to mean that Paul was teaching that
all men and women who were unmarried should remain unmarried not just priests. I also understand that Paul is
clear in Timothy and Titus that a bishop should be a married man who can control his own family. It would appear that Paul understood that to be a good leader of a spiritual family he had to be a good leader of his own family.