{Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote} (peri de h(936e)
egrapsate). An ellipsis of peri tout(936e), the antecedent of
peri h(936e), is easily supplied as in papyri. The church had
written Paul a letter in which a number of specific problems
about marriage were raised. He answers them _seriatim_. The
questions must be clearly before one in order intelligently to
interpret Paul's replies. The first is whether a single life is
wrong. Paul pointedly says that it is not wrong, but good
(kalon). One will get a one-sided view of Paul's teaching on
marriage unless he keeps a proper perspective. One of the marks
of certain heretics will be forbidding to marry ( 1Ti 4:3 ). Paul
uses marriage as a metaphor of our relation to Christ ( 2Co 11:2  Ro 7:4  Eph 5:28-33 ). Paul is not here opposing marriage. He is
only arguing that celibacy may be good in certain limitations.
The genitive case with haptesthai (touch) is the usual
construction.