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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1 Corinthians 7
7
Principles of Marriage
1Now in response to the matters you wrote # Other mss add to me about: “It is good for a man not to have relations with # Lit not to touch a woman.” # The words in quotation marks are a principle that the Corinthians wrote to Paul about to ask for his view. 2But because sexual immorality is so common, # Lit because of immoralities # 1Th 4:3 each man should have his own wife, # Mt 1:6; 1Pt 3:1 and each woman should have her own husband. 3A husband should fulfill his marital responsibility # Rm 13:7 to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. 4A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does. 5Do not deprive # Mk 10:19 one another sexually — except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to # Other mss add fasting and to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say the following # Lit say this ; some interpret the word as referring to v. 2, vv. 2-5, v. 5 (wholly or in part), or v. 6 as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all people were just like me. But each has his own gift # 2Co 1:11 from God, one person in this way and another in that way.
A Word to the Unmarried
8I say to the unmarried and to widows: # Jms 1:27 It is good for them if they remain as I am. 9But if they do not have self-control, # 1Co 9:25 they should marry, for it is better to marry # 1Tm 5:14 than to burn with desire.
About Married People
10I command the married # 1Tm 5:14 — not I, but the Lord — a wife is not to leave # Or separate from, or divorce her husband. 11But if she does leave, she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband — and a husband is not to leave his wife. # Dt 22:19 12But I (not the Lord) # Jesus did not address the situation of a marriage in the Gentile world where only one person is a believer. say to the rest: If any brother # Ac 9:30 has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not leave her. 13Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not leave her husband. 14For the unbelieving husband is set apart for God # Lk 11:2 by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart for God by the husband. # Lit the brother Otherwise your children would be corrupt, but now they are set apart for God. 15But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you # Other mss read us to live in peace. 16For you, wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Or you, husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?
Various Situations of Life
17However, each one must live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called # Col 3:15 him. # Lit called each This is what I command in all the churches. 18Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. 19Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter, but keeping God’s commands does. 20Each person should remain in the life situation # Lit in the calling in which he was called. 21Were you called while a slave? It should not be a concern to you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity. # Or But even though you can become free, make the most of your position as a slave. 22For he who is called by the Lord as a slave # Rm 1:1; 2Tm 2:24 is the Lord’s freedman. # A former slave Likewise he who is called as a free man # A man who was never a slave is Christ’s slave. 23You were bought # 2Pt 2:1 at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24Brothers, each person should remain with God in whatever situation he was called.
About the Unmarried and Widows
25About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy # Mt 5:7; Mk 5:19; Lk 1:50 is trustworthy. # Nm 12:7 26Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine for a man to remain as he is. 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28However, if you do get married, # 1Tm 5:14 you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life, # Lit in the flesh and I am trying to spare you. 29And I say this, brothers: The time is limited, # Rm 13:11 so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice # Php 1:18 as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, 31and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away. # Mk 13:7; 1Jn 2:8
32I want you to be without concerns. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord — how he may please # 1Th 4:1 the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the things of the world — how he may please his wife — 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, # 1Tm 5:5 so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world — how she may please her husband. 35Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but because of what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.
36But if any man thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin, # = a man’s fiancée, or his daughter, or his Levirate wife, or a celibate companion if she is past marriageable age, # Or virgin, if his passions are strong, and so it must be, he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married. 37But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will # Jn 1:13) and has decided in his heart to keep his own virgin, will do well. 38So then he who marries # Or marries off his virgin does well, but he who does not marry # Or marry her off will do better.
39A wife is bound # Other mss add by law as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants — only in the Lord. # Only a believer 40But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
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