What Does 1 Corinthians 7:35 Mean in the King James?
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 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 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.
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.
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 have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.THE THREAD
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help 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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