Topical Encyclopedia
In the context of the Bible, the term "single" often refers to the state of being unmarried. The Scriptures provide various insights into the life and status of single individuals, offering both practical guidance and spiritual perspectives.
Biblical Examples of SinglenessSeveral prominent biblical figures were single, either for a period of their lives or throughout their entire lives. The Apostle Paul is perhaps the most notable example. In
1 Corinthians 7, Paul discusses the advantages of singleness, emphasizing the ability to focus on serving the Lord without the distractions that can accompany marriage. He states, "I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that" (
1 Corinthians 7:7).
Jesus Christ Himself also lived a single life. His singleness allowed Him to fully dedicate His life to His ministry and the fulfillment of His divine mission. Jesus' life exemplifies the potential for a single person to live a life of profound purpose and impact.
Singleness as a GiftThe Bible presents singleness as a gift from God, not a deficiency or a state to be pitied. In
1 Corinthians 7:32-34, Paul explains that an unmarried person can be more concerned with the Lord's affairs and how to please Him, while a married person is concerned with the affairs of this world and how to please their spouse. This perspective highlights the unique opportunities for devotion and service that singleness can offer.
Singleness and ContentmentThe Scriptures encourage contentment in whatever state one finds oneself, whether single or married.
Philippians 4:11-13 speaks to the broader principle of contentment in all circumstances, with Paul declaring, "I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances" (
Philippians 4:11). This principle applies to singleness, encouraging individuals to find joy and purpose in their current state.
Singleness and CommunityWhile the Bible acknowledges the challenges that can accompany singleness, it also emphasizes the importance of community and fellowship. The early church is depicted as a close-knit community where believers supported one another, regardless of marital status.
Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages believers to "consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds" and to "not neglect meeting together" . This underscores the importance of community for single individuals, providing support, encouragement, and opportunities for service.
Singleness and Sexual PurityThe Bible calls all believers, whether single or married, to live lives of sexual purity. For singles, this means abstaining from sexual relations outside the covenant of marriage.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 instructs believers to "abstain from sexual immorality" and to "control your own body in holiness and honor" . This call to purity is part of a broader biblical ethic that values the sanctity of the body and the importance of honoring God with one's life.
Singleness and Future HopeFor those who desire marriage, the Bible encourages trust in God's timing and provision.
Proverbs 3:5-6 advises believers to "trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" . This trust extends to all areas of life, including the hope for future relationships. The Bible assures believers that God is sovereign and that His plans are for their ultimate good (
Jeremiah 29:11).
In summary, the Bible presents singleness as a valid and valuable state of life, offering unique opportunities for service, devotion, and community. It encourages singles to live with contentment, purity, and hope, trusting in God's perfect plan for their lives.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (
a.) One only, as distinguished from more than one; consisting of one alone; individual; separate; as, a single star.
2. (a.) Alone; having no companion.
3. (a.) Hence, unmarried; as, a single man or woman.
4. (a.) Not doubled, twisted together, or combined with others; as, a single thread; a single strand of a rope.
5. (a.) Performed by one person, or one on each side; as, a single combat.
6. (a.) Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.
7. (a.) Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere.
8. (a.) Simple; not wise; weak; silly.
9. (v. t.) To select, as an individual person or thing, from among a number; to choose out from others; to separate.
10. (v. t.) To sequester; to withdraw; to retire.
11. (v. t.) To take alone, or one by one.
12. (v. i.) To take the irregular gait called single-foot;- said of a horse. See Single-foot.
13. (n.) A unit; one; as, to score a single.
14. (n.) The reeled filaments of silk, twisted without doubling to give them firmness.
15. (n.) A handful of gleaned grain.
16. (n.) A game with but one player on each side; -- usually in the plural.
17. (n.) A hit by a batter which enables him to reach first base only.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
SINGLE, EYEsin'-g'-l:Matthew 6:22 parallelLuke 11:34: "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." "Single" and "evil" here represent haplouis, and poneros. Poneros elsewhere in the New Testament means "wicked"; haplous occurs only here in the New Testament, but is very common in ordinary Greek and always has the meaning "simple." But in view of the context, most commentators take haplous here as meaning "normal," "healthy," and poneros as "diseased," so rendering "Just as physical enlightenment depends on the condition of the eye, so does spiritual enlightenment depend on the condition of the heart." This is natural enough, but it is not satisfactory, as it gives to haplous a unique sense and to poneros a sense unique in the 73 New Testament examples of the word. Moreover, the same expression, "evil eye," is found also inMatthew 20:15Mark 7:22, where it means "jealousy" or "covetousness." With poneros = "covetous" haplous would = "generous"; and this rendition gives excellent sense in Matthew, where the further context deals with love of money. Yet in Luke it is meaningless, where the context is of a different sort, a fact perhaps indicating that Luke has placed the saying in a bad context. Or the Greek translation of Christ's words used by Matthew and Luke may have taken the moral terms haplous and poneros to translate physical terms ("healthy" and "diseased"?) employed in the original Aramaic. The Sinaitic Syriac version ofLuke 11:36 may perhaps contain a trace of an older rendering. See Julicher, Die Gleichnisreden Jesu, II, 98-108.
Burton Scott Easton
Greek
573. haplous -- simple,single... simple,
single. Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: haplous Phonetic Spelling:
(hap-looce') Short Definition:
single, simple, sound Definition:
single...729. arraphos -- without seam, of asingle piece
... without seam, of asingle piece. Part of Speech: Adjective Transliteration: arraphos
Phonetic Spelling: (ar'-hhraf-os) Short Definition: not sewed, seamless...
798. astron -- a star
... 798 -- asingle star, or a of stars viewed as one entity.... Neuter from aster; properly,
a constellation; put for asingle star (natural or artificial) -- star....
3817. paio -- to strike, spec. to sting
... smite, strike. A primary verb; to hit (as if by asingle blow and less violently
than tupto); specially, to sting (as a scorpion) -- smite, strike....
1520. heis -- one
... 2), individually* (1), lone (1), man (1), nothing* (1), one (282), one another
(1), one man (2), one thing (5), one* (2), person (1),single (1), smallest (1...
5114. tomos -- sharp
... Comparative of a derivative of the primary temno (to cut; more comprehensive or
decisive than kopto, as if by asingle stroke; whereas that implies repeated...
4171. polemos -- war
... battle, fight, war. From pelomai (to bustle); warfare (literally or figuratively;
asingle encounter or a series) -- battle, fight, war....
2048. eremos -- solitary, desolate
... Here and there, in clefts and basins, and on the hillsides, grade on grade, you
observe a patch of corn, a clump of olives, asingle palm' " (, 22).]....
2086. heterozugeo -- to be yoked up differently, ie to be...
... 2086 (from 2087 , "another of a kind" and 2218 , "a yoke, joining two to asingle
plow") -- properly, of people together ; hence "unequally yoked" (not aptly...
1. alpha -- alpha
... There is nosingle word for "unforgiveness" in the NT because the first letter is
already ("a") -- so a negative has to be used separately like, "not forgive...
Strong's Hebrew
2298. chad -- one... Word Origin (Aramaic) corresponding to chad and echad Definition one NASB Word
Usage first (3), one (4), same time (1),
single (1), times (1).
...6763. tsela -- rib, side
... of a person) or figuratively (of an object or the sky, ie Quarter); architecturally,
a (especially floor or ceiling) timber or plank (single or collective, ie...
2755. chare yonim -- doves' dung
... From the plural of chere' and the plural of yownah; excrements of doves {or perhaps
rather the plural of asingle word charapyown {khar-aw-yone'}; of similar...
6571. parash -- a horse, steed
... horseman From parash; a steed (as stretched out to a vehicle, notsingle nor for
mounting (compare cuwc)); also (by implication) a driver (in a chariot), ie...
259. echad -- one
... to another (1), one-tenth (1), one-tenth for each (1), only (2), other (27), other
was one (1), outermost* (1), same (25), same one (1),single (15), some (2...
4550. massa -- a pulling up, breaking (camp), setting out, a...
... journeying. From naca'; a departure (from striking the tents), ie March (not
necessarily asingle day's travel); by implication, a station (or point of departure...
3326. yatsua -- a couch, bed
... bed, lean-to. Passive participle of yatsa'; spread, ie A bed; (architecture) an
extension, ie Wing or lean-to (asingle story or collectively):...
6528. peret -- the broken off
... Word Origin from parat Definition the broken off NASB Word Usage fallen fruit (1).
grape. From parat; a stray orsingle berry -- grape. see HEBREW parat....
914. badal -- to be divided, separate
... 3), partition (1), selected (1), separate (6), separated (10), serve (1), set you
apart (1), set apart (6), set aside (2), sever (2),single (1), surely...
Library
The Ratio of theSingle to the Double Comes from the Perfection of...
... Book IV. Chapter 4."The Ratio of theSingle to the Double Comes from the
Perfection of the Senary Number. The Perfection of The...
On aSingle Eye
... Third Series Sermon 118 On aSingle Eye. "If thine eye besingle, thy whole
body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil...
How the Married and theSingle are to be Admonished.
... THE Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, OF GREGORY THE GREAT BISHOP OF
ROME, Chapter XXVII. How the married and thesingle are to be admonished....
Whether Sacred Doctrine is aSingle Science
... Article Three Whether Sacred Doctrine is aSingle Science. Whether Sacred Doctrine
is aSingle Science... 1. It seems that sacred doctrine is not asingle science....
Whether Charity is aSingle virtue
... Article Five Whether Charity is aSingle Virtue. Whether Charity is aSingle
Virtue... 1. It seems that charity is not asingle virtue....
Whether Faith is aSingle virtue
... Article Six Whether Faith is aSingle Virtue. Whether Faith is aSingle
Virtue We... 1. It seems that faith is not asingle virtue. For...
Because There is not aSingle Scripture in the Church Epistles...
... Because there is not asingle Scripture in the Church Epistles which, rightly
interpreted, teaches a partial rapture. How could there be?...
Although Jesus was Only aSingle Individual, He was Nevertheless...
... Chapter LXIV. Although Jesus was only asingle individual, He was
nevertheless more things than one? Although Jesus was only a...
Ah! Give Me, Lord, theSingle Eye,
... The Treasury of Sacred Song. Book First CCX Ah! give me, LORD, thesingle eye,.
Which aims at nought but Thee: I fain would live, and yet not I---....
His Acknowledgment that the Divine Being isSingle' is Only Verbal...
... Book I. Section 19. His acknowledgment that the Divine Being issingle'
is only verbal. "Each Being has, in fact and in conception...
Thesaurus
Single (65 Occurrences)... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (a.) One only, as distinguished from more than one;
consisting of one alone; individual; separate; as, a
single star.
...Single-heartedness (2 Occurrences)
Single-heartedness.Single-hearted,Single-heartedness. Singleness .
Multi-Version ConcordanceSingle-heartedness (2 Occurrences)....
Single-hearted (2 Occurrences)
Single-hearted. Singled,Single-hearted.Single-heartedness . Noah Webster's
Dictionary... Multi-Version ConcordanceSingle-hearted (2 Occurrences)....
One (26466 Occurrences)
... 1. (a.) Being asingle unit, or entire being or thing, and no more; not multifold;
single; individual.... 5. (a.)Single in kind; the same; a common....
Individual (12 Occurrences)
... 1. (a.) Not divided, or not to be divided; existing as one entity, or distinct being
or object;single; one; as, an individual man, animal, or city....
Singular (2 Occurrences)
... 1. (a.) Separate or apart from others;single; distinct. 2. (a.) Engaged in by only
one on a side;single. 3. (a.) Existing by itself;single; individual....
Breath (95 Occurrences)
... 5. (n.) Asingle respiration, or the time of making it; asingle act; an instant....
7. (n.) Asingle word; the slightest effort; a trifle....
Crop (33 Occurrences)
... 3. (n.) That which is cropped, cut, or gathered from asingle field, or of asingle
kind of grain or fruit, or in asingle season; especially, the product of...
Proper (62 Occurrences)
... 1. Various Types: The Hebrew proper name consists of asingle word, a phrase,
or a sentence. (1) Where the name is asingle word...
Person (807 Occurrences)
... And the New Testament is all the product of asingle movement, at asingle stage
of its development, and therefore presents in its fundamental teaching a...
Resources
What does God have to say to single fathers? | GotQuestions.orgWhat does the Bible say about single parents / parenting? | GotQuestions.orgWhat does God have to say to single mothers? | GotQuestions.orgSingle: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
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