One Woman or Two? 1 Corinthians 7:34

Abstract

Abstract 1 Cor 7:34 presents a challenge to text critic and interpreter. Its textual parentage is not self-evident. In this article I argue that the reading chosen is the preferred reading and that the perceived problem originates in the grammatical choices that interpreters have made. Most translators and exegetes interpret the phrase καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἄ γαμος καὶ ἡ παρθένος as two nouns (γυνή and παρθένος, "the unmarried woman and the virgin"), thereby creating a conflict with 7:11, where ἅγαμος refers to a divorced woman. The preferred alternative is to read παρθένος adjectivally, as is common in Greek literature. This produces the translation, "and the unmarried chaste woman," resolving the interpreter's dilemma and validating the UBS's textual choice.