Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Corinthians 7:34

"and is divided. [So] also the woman that is unmarried and the virgin is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married is careful for the things of the world, how she may please her husband." — 1 Corinthians 7:34 (ASV)

Between a wife and a virgin. This refers to the difference between a woman who is married and one who is unmarried. The apostle says that a similar distinction in the condition of the married woman and the unmarried woman occurs, comparable to what was observed between the married and the unmarried man.

The Greek word here (memeristai) can mean is divided, and be rendered, "the wife and the virgin are divided in the same manner;" that is, the same difference exists in their situation as between the married and the unmarried man.

The unmarried woman, etc. She has more advantages for attending to the things of religion and fewer temptations to neglect her proper duty to God.

Both in body and in spirit. This means to be entirely holy, so that she may be completely devoted to God. Perhaps in her case, the apostle mentions the "body"—which he had not done in the case of the man—because her temptation would be principally in regard to that: the danger of endeavouring to decorate and adorn her person to please her husband.

How she may please her husband. The apostle here intends, undoubtedly, to intimate that there were dangers to personal piety in married life which would not occur in a state of celibacy, and that the unmarried woman would have greater opportunities for devotion and usefulness than if married. He also intimates that the married woman would be in danger of losing her zeal and marring her piety through attention to her husband and by a constant effort to please him. Some of the ways in which this might happen are the following:

1. As in the former case (1 Corinthians 7:33), her affections might be transferred from God to the partner of her life.
2. Her time will be occupied by attention to him and to his will, and there would be a danger that this attention would be allowed to interfere with her hours of secret retirement and communion with God.
3. Her time would necessarily be interrupted by the cares of a family, and she should therefore guard with particular vigilance, so that she may redeem time for secret communion with God.
4. The time which she previously gave to benevolent causes may now be given to please her husband. Before her marriage, she may have been distinguished for zeal and for active efforts in every plan of doing good; subsequently, she may lay aside this zeal, withdraw from these plans, and be as little distinguished as others.
5. Her piety may be greatly injured by false notions of what should be done to please her husband. If he is a worldly and fashionable man, she may seek to please him with gold, and pearls, and costly array. Instead of cultivating the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, her main wish may be to decorate her person and make herself attractive by adorning her person rather than her mind.
6. If he is opposed to religion, or if he has lax opinions on the subject, or if he is skeptical and worldly, she will be in danger of relaxing her views regarding the strictness of Christianity and of becoming conformed to his. She will imperceptibly become less strict regarding the Sabbath, the Bible, the prayer-meeting, the Sabbath-school, the plans of Christian benevolence, and the doctrines of the gospel.
7. To please him, she will be found in the worldly social circle—perhaps in the assembly room, or even the theatre, or amidst gatherings of worldly pleasure and amusement—and will forget that she is professedly devoted only to God. And,
8. As a result of all this, she is in danger of forsaking her old religious friends—the companions of purer, brighter days, the humble and devoted friends of Jesus—and of seeking society among the pleasure-seeking, the rich, the proud, and the worldly. Her piety is thus injured; she becomes worldly and vain, and less and less like Christ, until Heaven, perhaps, in mercy smites her idol, and he dies, leaving her again to the blessedness of single-hearted devotion to God.

Oh, how many a Christian woman has thus been injured by an unhappy marriage with a pleasure-seeking and worldly man! How often has the church occasion to mourn over piety that is dimmed, benevolence that is quenched, and zeal that is extinguished by devotion to a pleasure-seeking and worldly husband! How often does humble piety weep over such a scene!

How often does the cause of sacred charity sigh! How often is the Redeemer wounded in the house of his friends! And oh, how often does it become NECESSARY for God to intervene, and to remove by death the object of the affection of his wandering child, to clothe her in the attire of mourning, and to bathe her cheeks in tears, so that by the sadness of the countenance her heart may be made better! Who can tell how many a widow is made such from this cause? Who can tell how much religion is injured by thus stealing away the affections from God?