[invoman]

So, it was meant for all confessors? That's counter-intuitive, as they say

Yes, I suppose you could see it that way. but Paul was clearly answering a question asked of him. The very first verse of 1st Cor. 7 says exactly that. But he stated it was his opinion, and NOT a commandment.

Throughout that passage, in the Bible, Paul intersperses (sp?) his own ideas and interjects a warning that it is NOT a commandment of the Lord, but by permission. Some would say (including Protestants), that "what Paul said is the Gospel truth". This is true. He also SAID this was not a commandment. So, if we reject his advice, there is no penalty/sin attached to this advice.

To be clear:

Why the multiple warnings/caveats about "permission" if it was God speaking through him (as in commandment)?

Reading though the text, as written, I read the advice for believers, in response to a question posed to Paul. Here he explains his advice and distributes it accordingly. He also says he is not speaking about a commandment. The text also has nothing to do with an office in the Church, which is the point of this thread and which he DID address in 1st Timothy 3 and in Titus.

[cornelis]

Interesting defense. Yet the distinction you make between opinion and commandment--which I am sure is important--will not change the scope of his recommendation. In other words, the argument that this the requirement of celibacy is a prohibition for the entire faith is incorrect. Paul recommends it, no doubt, and those who follow through with it, as a principle, have honest aspirations and reasons.