What Does 1 Corinthians 7:35 Mean?
I say this for what brings you together, not to throw a noose over you, but for what has good shape, and so that you may sit well beside the Lord, without being pulled around.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.THE KEY
The aim is not to tie your life in a noose, but to make room for you to sit beside the Lord without being pulled in every direction.
THE MEANING
The counsel here speaks for your good without closing around you like a noose. It seeks what is fitting and a life able to attend to the Lord without being pulled in every direction. The verse places nearness, rather than constraint, at the center of its aim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that devotion must mean being trapped or dragged in every direction. The aim named here is a fitting life in which nearness to the Lord remains open.
THE ROOT
ἀπερισπάστως
aperispastōs
GROWS FROM
σπάω
spáō
To draw or pull.
“without being pulled around” in this verse is aperispastōs. The word translated “without distraction” carries the image of not being pulled around. Paired with the image of sitting beside the Lord, it describes availability as nearness without entrapment.
ALSO GROWS
perispáō: To pull around; to distract.
περισπάω
This same pull appears in the verse about Martha being cumbered about with much serving.
apospáō: To draw away; to withdraw.
ἀποσπάω
This branch makes the movement clear: attention is drawn away from one place toward another.
εὐπάρεδρον
euparedron
GROWS FROM
ἕδρα (hédra), with παρά (pará, beside)
The base image is a seat or sitting place; the compound describes being well-seated beside.
“sit well beside” in this verse is euparedron. The word translated “attend upon” carries the image of sitting beside, settled near the Lord. It adds a sense of steady nearness to the verse’s picture of not being pulled around.
ALSO GROWS
kathédra: A seat or chair.
καθέδρα
This word preserves the seat image found beneath “attend upon.”
hedraios: Seated, settled, steadfast.
ἑδραῖος
The same seat-root can describe steadiness, echoing the verse’s picture of settled attention.
THE PATTERN
Undivided devotion gathers attention around nearness to the Lord rather than letting competing demands pull it apart.
One thing I ask of the LORD, this I will seek; that I may settle in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the sweetness of the LORD, and to search out in his temple.But one thing is needed. Mary has picked out the good portion, which will not be lifted from her.THE THREAD
But Martha was pulled around by much serving, and she came to him and said, Lord, does it not weigh on you that my sister has left me behind to serve alone? Tell her, therefore, to take hold with me.The word translated “cumbered about” comes from περισπάω (perispáō, to pull around or distract), the same word-family behind “without distraction” here. The two verses show the contrast between being pulled around by much serving and remaining near the Lord.
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