The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 7

man is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. Each man in that in which he was called, brethren, in this let him remain before God. Now concerning the virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who has been shown mercy by the Lord to be faithful. I think then that this is good to exist because of the present distress, that it is good for a man to be so. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a release. Have you been released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you also marry, you did not sin; and if the virgin marries, she did not sin. But they will have tribulation in the flesh; and I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened; from now on so that even those having wives may be as though they had none, and those weeping as though they were not weeping, and those rejoicing as though not rejoicing, and those buying as though not possessing, and those using the world as though not using it to the full. For the form of this world is passing away. But I wish for you to be free from care. The unmarried man cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but he who has married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and is divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin cares for the things of the Lord.