Contradiction #2

[menageriekeeper]

I hope everyone realizes that I don't really believe that scripture can contradict itself, only that I don't have the brainpower or the knowledge to sort things out. Here's number 2:

1co 7:39A wife is bound for so long time as her husband liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is free to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

1co 7:40But she is happier if she abide as she is, after my judgment: and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
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1ti 5:14I desire therefore that the younger [widows] marry, bear children, rule the household, give no occasion to the adversary for reviling:

Did Paul change his mind over time? I asked this assuming but not knowing as fact that Corinthians was written before Timothy. If not, why would Paul advise a widow(any/all?) to remain single in one letter and then advise that the younger ones to remarry in another?

 

[bapmom]

The only thing I can come up with is that in Corinthians he is talking to individuals in regards to how best to serve the Lord. And really Paul is clearly giving a suggestion rather than a command for them to stay single.

In Timothy that verse is talking about the church's responsibilities towards widows. So he's telling Timothy that the younger widows will most likely remarry so that the church does not need to support them like they should support older widows who might not be so easily remarried.