Advice versus Command

1 Corinthians 7:40 KJV
But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

Now here is an interesting passage. The Apostle's advice was that it would always be better for a man or a woman to be free of marriage so that they might attend to the things of the Lord without distraction. He did not command it. Neither did he say that it was wrong to be married. The person who marries "doeth well" but he believed that the person who did not "doeth better." He said that if a person were loosed from a spouse through death they would be better off if they did not seek to remarry. But then he said that there would be nothing that prevented them from marriage should that be their desire. Paul gave all of this and said this was "his" judgment. Though he believed that he had the Spirit of the Lord he could not command these things but just advise in these ways.

• A preacher,
• A Christian teacher,
• One who disciples others

Would do very well to remember the difference between those things that are sure Scriptural commands and those things that are

• Wise,
• Would tend to better serve the Lord and
• Make people happier in their lives,

but are not directly commanded in the Bible. We have turned some things into mandates and commands that are not. To be sure a good number of them

• Are wise choices
• They better serve the Lord and
• They certainly lead people to have happier lives,

but they are not Bible commands.