<p>7:30 <em>Those that weep, as though they wept not, those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not, and those that buy, as though they possessed not- </em>The weeping may refer in this marital context to those weeping during the process of bereavement, marital breakup or in desperation at their single state; the rejoicing may refer to those rejoicing in marriage, and the buying to paying a bride price. If indeed the talk about 'giving virgins' refers to fathers giving their daughters away in marriage, then 'buying' would be appropriate to men getting married. But buying, selling and giving in marriage is the Lord's language for the world of Noah's day who represented the world's state on the eve of the Lord's return (Mt. 24:38,39). There was nothing intrinsically immoral in anything they were doing; the issue was that they became obsessed with these matters of daily life and ignored their relationship with God.</p><p>In the context of writing about the approaching end of the age, Paul commented that because &ldquo;the form of this world is passing away&rdquo;, therefore those who buy anything should &ldquo;be as though they had no goods, and those who deal with this world as though they had no dealings with it&rdquo;. This was taught millennia ago by the Mosaic law of Jubilee- that whatever land you bought wasn&rsquo;t really yours, because the land is God&rsquo;s. And again, we are not to be &ldquo;anxious&rdquo;, because &ldquo;the Lord is at hand&rdquo; (Phil. 4:5). And there&rsquo;s nothing like managing our &ldquo;wealth&rdquo;, however small it may be, to make us &ldquo;anxious&rdquo;. Paul&rsquo;s not saying we shouldn&rsquo;t buy, sell or &lsquo;deal with this world&rsquo;. He&rsquo;s saying we should do so <em>as if</em> we&rsquo;re not really doing so, as if this is all an act, a sleepwalk, something we do but our heart isn&rsquo;t in it. See on James 5:3. We should consider what we buy as not really being possessed by us. Paul practised what he preached: although he evidently had some financial resources (Acts 24:26), he acted and felt as if he possessed absolutely nothing (2 Cor. 6:10).</p>