To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (vv. 8-9) I have often wondered why priests in the Catholic Church are not married (a whole other discussion!) and I wonder if it’s these verses from Paul whereby the Catholic Church determined that they would ordain only single men and that priests should never marry. Peter and Paul were the two acknowledged leaders of the early church – Peter was married, Paul was not. So why the bias toward Paul’s condition? Strange. This topic would be a worthy discussion, better handled together verbally than my commenting further here! However, I’ve always loved this one comment of Paul’s: “…better to marry than to burn…”!
See also: April 26 / I Cor. 7:1-16; April 27 / I Cor. 7:17-24