ἄγαμος

From the study of 1 Corinthians 7:32

Range of meaning

'Unmarried', meaning without a spouse at the moment. In Greek it covers the never-married as well as widowers and widows. Paul uses it for a separated wife in 7:11 ('let her remain unmarried').

Against the English

'Unmarried man' (BSB, ESV, NIV) is accurate. 'Single' in modern English suggests a lifestyle category, which the Greek word does not carry.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the New Testament the word appears only in 1 Corinthians 7 (vv. 8, 11, 32, 34). Classical writers use it plainly for anyone without a spouse.

From the study of 1 Corinthians 7:8

Range of meaning

Literally 'without marriage' (a- 'not' + gamos 'marriage'). The word describes a person's present status: not now married. It can cover the never-married, the widowed and the separated. In Paul's letters it occurs only in 1 Corinthians 7 (vv. 8, 11, 32, 34).

Against the English

English 'unmarried' and especially 'single' tend to suggest 'never married'. The Greek is wider. In 7:11 a wife who has separated from her husband is told to 'remain agamos'. In 7:34 Paul names 'the unmarried woman (hē agamos) and the virgin' as two groups, which suggests agamos can mean 'formerly married' as distinct from 'never married'.

How it drifted

Modern English 'single' has come to mean a lifestyle category (never-married adults). The Greek is a plain legal and status description that includes those who have lost or left a spouse.

Used elsewhere in the period

Classical and Hellenistic Greek use it of both men and women without a spouse (BDAG s.v.). Greek had a masculine form chēros, 'widower', but it was rare. Ordinary speech tended to say agamos for a man whose wife had died, which is why some scholars read it that way here.