TY  - BOOK
AU  - Zekewos, Simon 
TI  - Understanding Paul’s Advice to Virgins: An Exegetical Analysis of 1 Corinthians 7:1–2, 25–38
PY  - 2020///
CY  - Johannesburg
PB  - South African Theological Seminary
N2  - First  Corinthians chapter 7  has  had  much  attention  from  scholars  and  commentators. Generally, there are two opposite approaches to interpretation of this specific chapter. On the  one  side  is  the  consideration  that  Paul  is  against  marriage, so  he  forbids  getting married  as  a  resistive.  he  supports  celibacy  and  asceticism.  On  the  other  side  is  the interpretation that in this chapter Paul is giving useful advice to the people who are going through challenges of life, but not forbidding marriage at all. First  Corinthians  chapter  7 is  one  of  the  most  controversial  and  unclear  messages  for modern-day readers because of its social setting and cultural context. That is the reason why many of us err in giving our own interpretations. As we view the message from a different cultural setting, we cannot fully grasp the intended meaning of the writer unless we try to understand the message as the original recipients would have.  There are three specific reasons for this mini-research. As a translator and consultant-in-training, the first challenge I faced was how to translate ‘It is good for a man not to marry’(7:1);  second,  the  sentence ‘he  should  do  as  he  wants,  he  is  not  sinning’(7:36);and finally, the statement ‘behaving improperly over his virgin’(7:36). The first seems to be against an overall principle of God from the beginning, the second seems to encourage engaged  couples  to  have  sexual  relations  before  they  get  married, and  the  last  has conflicting interpretations—who is acting improperly—the father or the betrothed? Was Paul against marriage and supporting asceticism? Was Paul sanctioning premarital sex?  How  should  21st–century  believers,  who  live  in  completely  different  cultures, understand the message of the 1stcentury? This thesis tries to answer these questions
ER  -