<p>7:6 <em>But this I say by way of concession, not by commandment- </em>This must be linked with 1 Corinthians 7:12: &quot;Now to the rest speak I, not the Lord (Jesus)&quot;. The implication is that verses 1-6 were not a repetition of Christ's direct teaching, neither were vv. 12 ff. But therefore we should read verses 7-11 as being 'the Lord Jesus speaking', i.e. Paul is repeating the spirit of Christ's teaching. The content of v. 7-11 concerns being single and not divorcing; it is significant that Paul says that what he said about marriage was him speaking &quot;by permission&quot; or concession, but what he says about singleness is from the Lord Jesus Himself. However, the translation &quot;concession&quot; is not helpful. The Greek word occurs only here, but it means literally 'common knowledge'; he may mean that he is sharing the implications of the Lord's direct teaching rather than His specific commandments- either in the Gospels, or as directly revealed by the Lord to Paul.</p>