How she may please her husband, &c.— The Apostle in this text, and the counterpart to it, seems to declare, that single persons of either sex have generally opportunities for devotion beyond those who are married, even in the most peaceful times of the church; and that a diversity of humours, both in men and women, makes it difficult for them to please each other so thoroughly as is necessary in order to make a married life perfectly delightful. So that it intimates a counsel to single people to value and improve their advantages; and to married people to watch against those things that would ensnare them, and injure their peace and comfort. The word Βροχον, which we translate snare in the next verse, signifies a cord, which possibly the Apostle might use here for binding, according to the language of the Hebrew school: and then his discourse runs thus, "Though I have declared my opinion, that it is best for a virgin to remain unmarried, in the present distress, yet I bind it not; that is to say, I do not declare it to be unlawful to marry." In the word ευσχημον, comely, he seems to intimate, that they were now in circumstances, wherein God did as it were exact a peculiar severity from all their thoughts; and that it was a time to think of the trials of martyrdom, rather than the endearments of human passions. The word Απερισπαστως is rendered in our translation by the addition of several words.
The sentence would be rendered better, for that which is comely and decent in the Lord, without violent constraint. See Locke, Doddridge, and Knatchbull.