1 Corinthians 7
7
Chapter 7
Questions about marriage
1You wrote to ask me about certain things. You say, ‘It is a good thing when a man does not marry.’ 2That may be true, but then people may have sex in wrong ways. So every man should have his own wife and every woman should have her own husband. 3Then they may have sex with each other in the right way. A husband should agree to have sex with his wife. And the wife should do the same thing for her husband. 4The wife does not rule over her own body to decide when to have sex. She belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not rule over his own body. He belongs to his wife.
5Do not refuse to have sex with each other, unless both of you agree to stop for a short time. Then you can use more time to pray. But you should come together again soon, as husband and wife. If not, Satan may try to make you do something wrong. You may want too strongly to have sex with someone else. 6I am saying these things to help you. I am not telling you what you must do. 7It would be good if all of you could live in the way that I do. But each person has his own gift from God. God helps one person to live in a certain way. God helps another person with a different gift.
8I will say this to those of you who have not married yet, and to those who are widows. It is better for you to remain alone. That is how I myself live. 9But if you want to have sex too strongly, then you should marry. It is better to do that than to want to have sex all the time.
10I will say this to people who have married. (This is not my rule. It is a rule that comes from the Lord himself.) A wife must not leave her husband. 11But if she does leave him, she must not marry another man. Or she should go back to live with her husband. In the same way, a husband must not send his wife away.
12To all you other people, I say this. (This is what I think. The Lord has not spoken about it.) A Christian man may have a wife who does not believe in Christ. If she agrees to continue living with him, then he should not send her away. 13Also, a Christian woman may have a husband who does not believe in Christ. If he agrees to continue living with her, then she should not leave him. 14God accepts a husband who does not believe in Christ because of his Christian wife. And God accepts a wife who does not believe in Christ because of her Christian husband. If that was not true, the children would not belong to God. But God does accept them, because to him they are now clean.
15But the husband or wife who does not believe in Christ may want to leave. If they want to become separate, let them do that. If that happens, the Christian man or woman is now free. God wants you to live in peace. 16If you are a Christian wife, you might save your husband. If you are a Christian husband, you might save your wife. But you can not be sure of what will happen.
17But each of you should continue to live in the way that God has chosen for you. Remain as you were at the time when God called you to come to him. I teach that rule to people in all the churches. 18Some of you are Jews, so people circumcised you. That happened before you believed in Christ. So do not try to change it. Some of you are not Jews. Nobody circumcised you. So continue like that. Do not ask anyone to circumcise you. 19It is not important whether someone has circumcised you or not. The important thing is this: Obey what God says.
20Each of you should continue as you were when God called you to come to him. 21You may have been a slave when God called you. That does not matter. But if you have the chance to become a free person, accept it. 22The Lord may call a slave to come to him. Then, that slave has become free, because he belongs to the Lord. In the same way, when God calls a free person to belong to Christ, he becomes Christ's slave. 23God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So do not let anyone else make you their slave. 24My Christian friends, each of you should continue as you were when God first called you to come to him. #7:24 Here, Paul tells Christians to continue as they were before they believed in Christ. He does not mean that they should continue to do bad things. He is talking about the place that they have in life: slaves or free people, Jews or Gentiles, married people or not. They should not try to change that. Remember that you serve God.
25You asked me a question about people who have not yet married. The Lord has not told me any special rule about this. But I will tell you what I myself think about it. The Lord has been very kind to me. You know that you can believe what I say. 26This is what I think: There are many troubles in the world today. So it is better for everybody to continue as they are. 27If you have a wife, do not try to send her away. If you do not have a wife, do not try to marry. 28But if you do marry, that is not wrong. And if a young woman marries, that is not wrong. But people who marry will have many troubles during their life together. I want to save you from problems like that.
29My Christian friends, this is what I mean: The time that remains is very short. So men who have wives should live as if they had no wife. 30People who are sad should live as if they were not sad. People who are happy should live as if they had nothing to laugh about. People who buy things should live as if those things do not belong to them. 31If you enjoy the things of this world, do not live as if those things are important. This world, as it is now, will soon finish.
32I do not want you to worry about troubles. A man who has not married wants to serve the Lord. He wants to live in a way that makes the Lord happy. 33But a man who has married thinks a lot about this world's things. He wants to live in a way that makes his wife happy. 34As a result, he thinks in two opposite ways.
It is the same for a woman who has no husband, or a young girl who has not married. She wants to serve the Lord very well. She wants to be completely pure, both in her body and in her spirit. But a woman who has a husband has to think about this world's things. She wants to live in a way that makes her husband happy.
35I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not making rules that you have to obey. Instead, I want you to live in a right way. I do not want you to worry about troubles. Then you will be able to serve the Lord very well.
36Perhaps a man has agreed to marry a young woman. They may have decided to wait before they marry. But, as they grow older, the man may think differently. He may think that he needs to marry her. Then, he should do what he wants to do. It is good for them to marry. It is not wrong. 37But another man may not change his thoughts. He may be sure that he does not need to marry his young woman. If he decides not to marry her, he is doing the right thing. 38So the man who marries his young woman is doing a good thing. But the man who does not marry is doing a better thing.
39If a woman has married, she may not leave her husband while he still lives. But if he dies, then she is free to marry again. She may marry any man that she wants to. But he must be someone who belongs to the Lord. 40I do think that she would be happier if she remains without a husband. That is what I think, and God's Spirit also helps me with this.
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MissionAssist 2018
1 Corinthians 7
7
The Question About Marriage
1Now let me address the things you wrote to me about. Some of you are saying, “It’s good for a man not to sleep with a woman,” as if that were more spiritual. 2But since you can’t control yourselves, this is leading to sexual sin. So each man should sleep with his own wife and each woman should sleep with her own husband. 3A husband should satisfy his wife’s needs, and a wife should satisfy her husband’s needs. 4The wife’s body doesn’t belong only to her; it also belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body doesn’t belong only to him; it also belongs to his wife. 5Don’t deprive each other. You could agree not to have sexual relations for a while if you really needed time to pray. But after that, you should go back to having sexual relations. Otherwise, Satan will tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6(I’m giving you permission to do this; I’m not telling you that you should.) 7I wish all of you were single like me. But each person has their own gift from God. One has the gift of being happily married, and another has the gift of being happily single.
8I think it would be good if those of you who aren’t married or who are widowed could stay single like me. 9But if you couldn’t control yourselves, then you should get married. It’s better to get married than to burn with desire.
10But as for those who are married, I need to give you a command that comes directly from the Lord Jesus, not from me: A wife must not leave her husband. 11If she does, she must stay unmarried or else go back to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
12I know that some of the rest of you are in a complicated situation. We don’t have a direct command from the Lord about that, but let me offer some advice. If a brother has a wife who isn’t a believer, he shouldn’t divorce her if she’s willing to live with him. 13In the same way, if a woman has a husband who isn’t a believer, she shouldn’t divorce him if he’s willing to live with her. 14An unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and an unbelieving wife is made holy through her believing husband. If that weren’t true, your children wouldn’t be clean. But since it is true, they are holy.
15But if the unbeliever wants to leave, let them go. In that case, the believer isn’t bound to them. God wants us to live in peace. 16Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?
Stay as You Were When God Chose You
17But each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them. Stay as you were when God chose you. That’s the rule I tell people to follow in all the churches. 18If a man was already circumcised when he was called, then he shouldn’t become uncircumcised. If he was uncircumcised when he was called, then he shouldn’t be circumcised. 19Being circumcised means nothing and being uncircumcised means nothing. Doing what God commands is what matters. 20Each of you should stay as you were when God chose you.
21Were you a slave when God called you? Don’t let that trouble you, although if you can gain your freedom, you should do that. 22Someone who was a slave when the Lord called them is now serving the Lord as a free person. But it’s just as true that someone who was free when God called them is now a slave of Christ. 23You were bought with a price, so don’t become slaves of human beings. 24Brothers and sisters, each person should stay as they were when God called them, knowing that God will be with them in that situation.
Advice for Those Who Are Engaged
25Now let me speak to those who are engaged. I don’t have a direct command from the Lord for you. But I’d like to give my opinion as someone who, by the Lord’s mercy, can be trusted. 26Times are difficult right now, so I think it’s good for a man to stay as he is. 27Are you engaged to a woman? Then don’t break the engagement. Are you not engaged to anyone? Then don’t look for a wife. 28But if you do marry someone, you haven’t sinned. And if a woman marries her fiancé, she hasn’t sinned. But those who do marry will have many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you from those.
29What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on, those who have a husband or wife should live as if they didn’t have one. 30Those who are mourning should live as if they weren’t, and those who are rejoicing should live as if they weren’t. Those who buy something should live as if it weren’t theirs to keep, 31and those who use the things of this world shouldn’t become all wrapped up in them. The world as it now exists is passing away.
32I don’t want you to have anything to worry about. A single man is concerned about the things of the Lord. He wants to know how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the things of this world. He wants to know how he can please his wife. 34So he’s pulled in two directions. An unmarried or single woman is concerned about the things of the Lord. She wants to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of this world. She wants to know how she can please her husband. 35I’m saying these things for your own good. I’m not trying to hold you back. I want you to be free to live in a right way and devote yourselves completely to the Lord.
36Suppose someone is worried that he’s not acting honorably toward his fiancée. Suppose his desires are too strong, and he feels that he should marry her. He should do as he wants. That wouldn’t be a sin. They should get married. 37But suppose a man has made up his mind not to marry his fiancée. He has no compelling need to get married; he’s able to control himself. If that’s what he has decided, then he’s also doing the right thing. 38So then, the man who marries his fiancée is doing the right thing, but the man who doesn’t marry his fiancée is doing an even better thing.
39A woman has to stay married to her husband for as long as he lives. If he dies, she’s free to marry anyone she wants. But the man she marries must belong to the Lord. 40In my opinion, she’s happier if she stays single. I say that as someone who has the Spirit of God too.
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