What Does 1 Corinthians 7:28 Mean in the King James?
But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse separates guilt from cost: marriage can be no sin and still press hard on embodied life.
THE MEANING
A choice can be blameless and still bring real pressure into your embodied life. Marriage is explicitly not called a miss here; the trouble that may come with it is named plainly, without turning strain into guilt. “I spare you” makes the warning an act of care, revealing the pressure without condemnation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If a choice brings trouble, it must be a moral failure.
THE ROOT
θλῖψιν
thlipsin
GROWS FROM
θλιβ-
thlib-
To press, squeeze, or crowd into a narrow space.
The word translated “trouble” carries the sense of pressure, as if life presses in around you. The same root describes a way pressed narrow that nevertheless leads to life, so pressure alone does not mean you have taken a wrong path.
ALSO GROWS
thlibō: To press, squeeze, or afflict.
θλίβω
This verb shares the root of θλῖψιν (thlipsin), showing that “trouble” is pressure, not a verdict of guilt.
tethlimmenē: Pressed in or narrowed.
τεθλιμμένη
In Matthew 7:14 this form describes the way that leads to life, linking the pressure named here with a path that still leads forward.
ἥμαρτες
hēmartes
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
To miss or fail to reach the mark.
“sinned” in this verse is hēmartes. The verse rules marriage outside the category of missing the mark. That distinction lets the pressure remain real without turning it into blame.
ALSO GROWS
hamartia: Missing, or a miss.
ἁμαρτία
The related noun names the category the verse explicitly says marriage does not enter.
hamartōlos: One who misses; a sinner.
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word shows how the root can describe a person by the miss, a judgment the verse does not apply to marrying.
THE PATTERN
A choice may be permitted while its real consequences still carry pressure.
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.THE THREAD
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.The word translated “narrow” is τεθλιμμένη (tethlimmenē), “pressed in,” from the same root as θλῖψιν (thlipsin), “pressure.” The way still leads to life: pressure by itself does not mean you have missed the mark.
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