Corpus-Paul

[David Garland <David_Garland AT baylor.edu>]

Grady Snyder wrote 
Show me that agamos in 1 Cor.  7:11 does not refer to a person who once was 
married.  Then show me that agamois in v. 8 is not the masculine counterpart 
of cherais.  Then show me that Paul did not ask the widowers and widows not 
remain as he -- a widower.  
Response:
The adjective agamos is certainly used in 7:11 to refer to a wife who has 
separated from her husband; she is to remain de-married. In 7:34, it refers 
to an unmarried woman distinguished from the parthenos (never married).  But 
in 7:32 it is used to refer to the unmarried man who is able to concentrate 
on pleasing the lord.  This reference cannot be limited only to the 
previously married.

To be sure, agamos was employed for widower (LSJ 5),and  reading 7:8 as 
"widowers and widows" would fit the other directives in the chapter that 
address both men and women (7:2, 3, 4, 10-11, 12-13, 16, 27-28, 33-34), but 
expceptions appear in 7:36-38 and 39-40.  It would also mean that in 7:2-16 
Paul addresses those who are presently married or who have been married.  The 
Shepherd of Hermas (Mand. 4.4.1-4) addresses the question whether it is sin 
for a Christian to remarry after death of a spouse.  Possibly, Paul turns his 
attention to this issue in 7:8-9.

While this view has much to commend it, agamos has a broad semantic range and 
may also be used for "bachelors" (LSJ 5). Since Paul applies it to both males 
and females, it probably refers to the general category of unmarried.  
Why then are widows singled out?  He does so again in 7:39-40.  Perhaps he 
regarded them especially useful to the church's ministry (cf. 1 Tim 5:3-16).  
Perhaps, as Schrage thinks (1995: 94), there were more widows than widowers 
and they faced more serious economic problems by remaning single.

All in all, this text does not seem to offer any conclusive evidence (see the 
debated in the 20's between Fascher and Jeremias) about whether Paul had been 
married or not.



David E. Garland
Professor of Christian Scriptures
George W. Truett Theological Seminary
Baylor University
PO Box 97126
Waco, TX 76798-7126
(254) 710-3755
fax: (254) 710-3753