1 Corinthians 7:35

35 And I say these things to your profit, not that I cast to you a snare, but to that that is seemly, and that giveth easiness, without hindering to make prayers to the Lord. [Soothly I say these things to your profit, not that I cast to you a snare, but to that that is honest, and that giveth facility, or easiness, without letting to beseech to the Lord.]

1 Corinthians 7:35 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 7:35

And this I speak for your own profit
The apostle suggests, that in giving the advice he did to unmarried persons to abide single, he had nothing else in view than their temporal and spiritual advantage; that they might be better able to meet and grapple with persecution for the sake of the Gospel; that they might be more free from the cares and encumbrances of life, and more at liberty to serve the Lord; whereby not only his glory, but their spiritual good, might be promoted; not that he thought that marriage was unlawful, or that the single life was a more honest, and a more chaste way of living, or that it was absolutely necessary, and an incumbent duty upon them to remain single, nor would he be so understood: all that he had said was by way of advice; he had very faithfully laid before them the advantages and disadvantages of both states, and now leaves them to their full liberty to do as they pleased to take his advice, or not:

not that I may cast a snare on you;
as fowlers on birds: had he enjoined virginity as necessary, and insisted upon it, that it was absolutely their duty to live a single life; this would have been laying an obligation upon them, and an ensnaring and entangling of them: hereby some might have engaged in a single life, who had not the gift of continence, and so might have been drawn into the sin of fornication, or into unnatural lust, and such impurities as would be very scandalous unto, and highly reflect upon, the Gospel of Christ. But the apostle delivered himself on the subject with no such view, and in such a manner as is plain he meant not to ensnare any:

but for that which is comely, and that you may attend upon the Lord
without distraction:
all he aimed at, by advising them to a single life, was that they might more orderly and constantly, and without distraction of mind, through the cares of the world, wait upon the Lord, and serve him; which, in his opinion, was choosing the good part with Mary; whilst others, like Martha, were troubled, divided, and distracted with many things.

1 Corinthians 7:35 In-Context

33 But he that is with a wife, is busy what things be of the world, how he shall please the wife [how he shall please his wife], and he is parted.

34 And a woman unwedded and [a] maiden thinketh what things be of the Lord, that she be holy in body and spirit. But she that is wedded, thinketh what things be of the world, how she shall please the husband [how she shall please her husband].

35 And I say these things to your profit, not that I cast to you a snare, but to that that is seemly, and that giveth easiness, without hindering to make prayers to the Lord. [Soothly I say these things to your profit, not that I cast to you a snare, but to that that is honest, and that giveth facility, or easiness, without letting to beseech to the Lord.]

36 And if any man guesseth himself to be seen foul on his virgin, that she is full waxen [that she is well old], and so it behooveth to be done, do she that that she will [+do she what she will/do her keeper what she will/do she that he will]; she sinneth not, if she be wedded [+s/he sinneth not, if s/he be wedded].

37 For he that ordained stably in his heart [For why he that ordained stably, or steadfast, in his heart], not having need, but having power of his will, and hath deemed in his heart this thing, to keep his virgin [for to keep his virginity], doeth well.