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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1 Corinthians 7
7
Teaching on Marriage
1Now as to the matters of which you wrote: It is good (beneficial, advantageous) for a man not to touch a woman [outside marriage]. 2But because of [the temptation to participate in] sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3The husband must fulfill his [marital] duty to his wife [with good will and kindness], and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife does not have [exclusive] authority over her own body, but the husband shares with her; and likewise the husband does not have [exclusive] authority over his body, but the wife shares with him. 5Do not deprive each other [of marital rights], except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves [unhindered] to prayer, but come together again so that Satan will not tempt you [to sin] because of your lack of self-control. 6But I am saying this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all the people were as I am; but each person has his own gift from God, one of this kind and one of that.
8But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, [that as a practical matter] it is good if they remain [single and entirely devoted to the Lord] #Some scholars believe Paul may have been a widower.as I am. 9But if they do not have [sufficient] self-control, they should marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
10But to the #Couples who are both believers.married [believers] I give instructions—not I, but the Lord—that the wife is not to separate from her husband, 11(but even if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be #In reference to married Christians, Paul teaches that reconciliation is always preferable to separation or divorce and should be actively sought.reconciled to her husband) and that the husband should not leave his wife.
12To the #Christians married to non-believers. It is evident that some of the married couples in Corinth had wed before either of them had become Christians, and subsequently the believing spouses probably wondered whether their marriage was legitimate in the eyes of God.rest I declare—I, not the Lord [since Jesus did not discuss this]—that if any [believing] brother has a wife who does not believe [in Christ], and she consents to live with him, he must not leave her. 13And if any [believing] woman has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not leave him. 14For the unbelieving husband is #The unbeliever is not saved by marriage to a Christian. Each person, whether spouse or child, must make a personal decision to accept and follow Christ to receive salvation and God’s promises.sanctified [that is, he receives the blessings granted] through his [Christian] wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be [ceremonially] #The word used here seems to be borrowed from the language of OT ritual. There were many things that could render a person ceremonially unclean. All these things would disqualify a person from participating in worship, and required cleansing rituals to correct.unclean, but as it is they are holy. 15But if the unbelieving partner leaves, let him leave. In such cases the [remaining] brother or sister is not [spiritually or morally] bound. But God has called us to #Probably peace between the spouses, hopefully leading to restoration and salvation (v 16).peace. 16For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband [by leading him to Christ]? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife [by leading her to Christ]?
17Only, let each one live the life which the Lord has assigned him, and to which God has called him [for each person is unique and is accountable for his choices and conduct, let him walk in this way]. This is the rule I make in all the churches. 18Was anyone at the time of his calling [from God already] circumcised? He is not to #Paul may be speaking figuratively of abandoning all of one’s Jewish heritage and culture; however, there was a procedure in ancient medicine for reversing circumcision.become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called while uncircumcised? #A faction of Jewish Christians (often called “Judaizers”) hounded Paul and insisted that Gentile believers must be circumcised.He is not to be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is keeping the commandments of God. 20Each one should remain in the condition in which he was [when he was] called.
21Were you a slave when you were called? Do not worry about that [since your status as a believer is #In practice, even if both a slave and his master became Christians, the slave would remain so unless he were freed (cf Onesimus and Philemon); he could not claim that his freedom in Christ applied to his civil status as a slave. But it would have been wrong for others to treat a slave differently from anyone else in church services.equal to that of a freeborn believer]; but if you are able to gain your freedom, #This essentially is an exception to the rule of v 20.do that. 22For he who was a slave when he was called in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, likewise he who was free when he was called is a slave of Christ. 23You were bought with a price [a precious price paid by Christ]; do not become slaves to men [but to Christ]. 24Brothers, let each one remain with God in that condition in which he was [when he was] called.
25Now concerning the virgins [of marriageable age] I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26I think then that because of the impending distress [that is, the pressure of the current trouble], it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you #Lit released from a wife.unmarried? Do not seek a wife. 28But if you do marry, you have not sinned [in doing so]; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned [in doing so]. Yet those [who marry] will have troubles (special challenges) in this life, and I am trying to spare you that. 29But I say this, believers: the #Paul may be referring to the appointed time of the return of Christ, or he may have been focusing on the briefness of human life, or both of these.time has been shortened, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they did not; 30and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess [anything]; 31and those who use the world [taking advantage of its opportunities], as though they did not make full use of it. For the outward form of this world [its present social and material nature] is passing away.
32But I want you to be free from concern. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33but the married man is concerned about worldly things, how he may please his wife, 34and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is concerned about the matters of the Lord, how to be holy and set apart both in body and in spirit; but a married woman is concerned about worldly things, how she may please her husband. 35Now I say this for your own benefit; not to restrict you, but to promote what is appropriate and secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.
36But if any man thinks that he is not acting properly and honorably toward his virgin daughter, [#In ancient times marriages were usually arranged by a girl’s father or the head of the family.by not permitting her to marry], if she is #I.e. has reached her child-bearing years.past her youth, and it must be so, let him do as he wishes, he does not sin; let her marry. 37But the man who stands firmly committed in his heart, having no compulsion [to yield to his daughter’s request], and has authority over his own will, and has decided in his own heart to keep his own virgin [daughter from being married], he will do well. 38So then both the father who gives his virgin daughter in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.
39A wife is bound [to her husband by law] as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry whomever she wishes, only [provided that he too is] in the Lord. 40But in my opinion a widow is happier if she stays as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God [in this matter].
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