Divided: the married man’s effort is constantly divided between trying to please his wife and Christ. Good News Bible‘s rendering “pulled in two directions” is implied in the context and is a vivid English way to describe this situation. One could also say “has two hearts (minds, livers).”
As the variants in the UBS Greek text show (see also Metzger), it is difficult to be certain of the wording and punctuation of the first part of this verse. Most of the variants can be explained as scribal attempts to cope with the difficulties mentioned in the next paragraphs.
The next part of the verse is quite ungrammatical in the Greek, as Barrett’s translation shows: “the unmarried woman and the virgin is anxious….” Translations and commentaries take this phrase in at least five different ways: (1) Paul is referring to one group, namely “the woman … when she is unmarried” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; perhaps New International Version “an unmarried woman virgin”). If this is what Paul meant, it is difficult to know why he used two different expressions linked with “and.” (2) The difference between the two expressions is primarily one of age: “an unmarried woman, whether an adult or a girl” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente; similarly Revised English Bible and others). (3) The unmarried woman means “widows,” just as the unmarried in verse 8 means “widowers” (see comments). (4) The girl (virgin) refers to a group of women who have decided to remain unmarried; New English Bible “unmarried or celibate.” This, however, does not seem to be the meaning of “virgin” elsewhere in this passage. (5) “The virgin—indeed, any unmarried woman” (New American Bible). If (5) is the meaning, it is difficult to see why Paul used the terms in the opposite order. All these translations, (1) through (5), are possible. Most modern translations, however, choose (2), but it may be worth putting (3) in a footnote.
Holy means “dedicated” (Good News Bible); see the extensive comments on 1.2, which explain the conception of sanctified or “set apart”.
In body and spirit: body and spirit are not being contrasted here; the phrase is equivalent to “in her whole being”; Bible en français courant “in all she does and thinks.” One can translate the whole clause how to be holy in … as “wants to dedicate her whole being to the Lord.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .