18 Directions to the Unmarried

Another reason Paul expressed was the advantages singleness offered was the potential it offered for detachment from temporal situations. The phrase the time is short referred to the Lord’s return (Rom. 13:11), but it was also a summary philosophy of life for Paul who lived not for the temporary but for the eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). This detachment from temporal matters should characterize all Christians but it was more complex for the married (Mark 13:12) for whom, nonetheless, devotion to their Lord should occupy first place in life (Luke 14:26). Paul certainly was not recommending abandoning marital duties (1 Cor. 7:3-5).
Instead he was calling for a commitment to eternal matters and a corresponding detachment from the institutions, values, and substance of this world, which was passing away (I Cor 7: 31). Such a commitment was more easily made and enacted by a single person.