Is It Okay to Be Single?

It is not only okay—it is a genuine and honorable way to live before God, and Scripture treats it with a dignity the Church has not always echoed. The two greatest figures of the New Testament, our Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul, were both single, and neither was living a diminished or incomplete life. Paul goes so far as to call singleness a “gift” and, in his own circumstances, even to commend it: “I wish that all were as I myself am” (1 Corinthians 7:7-8). Marriage is a good gift; so is singleness. Neither is a consolation prize.

Paul names a real advantage the single life can have: freedom for undivided devotion and service. The unmarried person can give attention to “the things of the Lord” without the (good and proper) divided concerns that come with a spouse and children (1 Corinthians 7:32-35). Many of the Church’s most fruitful servants—missionaries, teachers, caregivers—have poured themselves out precisely because they were free to do so. Singleness is not a waiting room for “real life”; it can be a full and God-honoring vocation in itself.

Your worth and your belonging do not depend on your marital status. In Christ, your deepest identity is not “married” or “single” but baptized child of God, a full member of his family. The Church itself is meant to be a place where no one is spiritually alone—where single believers are not treated as unfinished, but embraced as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters (Galatians 3:28 dissolves such rankings).

This is not to pretend singleness is always easy—loneliness and unfulfilled longings are real, and Scripture does not minimize them. But it does refuse to treat the single Christian as second-class. Whether God gives you marriage or not, you can live a whole, faithful, fruitful life, content in the calling he has given you today and trusting him with tomorrow.