The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Corinthians 07
1 Now concerning the things about
which you wrote to me: itis good for a man
not to touch a woman.
2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let
each man have his own wife, and let each
woman have her own husband.
3 Let the husband give his wife the affection
owed her,† and likewise also the wife
her husband.
4 The wife doesn’t have authority over
her own body, but the husband does.
Likewise also the husband doesn’t have
authority over his own body, but the
wife does.
5 Don’t deprive one another, unless it is
by consent for a season, that you may give
yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may
be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt
you because of your lack of self-control.
6 But this I say by way of concession, not
of commandment.
7 Yet I wish that all men were like me.
However, each man has his own gift from
God, one of this kind, and another of that
kind.
8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows,
it is good for them ifthey remain even
as I am.
9 But if they don’t have self-control, let
them marry. For it’s better to marry than
to burn with passion.
10 But to the married I command—not I,
but the Lord—that the wife not leave her
husband
11 (but if she departs, let her remain
unmarried, or else be reconciled to her
husband), and that the husband not leave
his wife.
12 But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if
any brother has an unbelieving wife, and
she is content to live with him, let him not
leave her.
13 The woman who has an unbelieving
husband, and he is content to live with her,
let her not leave her husband.
14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified
in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is
sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your
children would be unclean, but now they
are holy.
15 Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there
be separation. The brother or the sister is
not under bondage in such cases, but God
has called us in peace.
16 For how do you know, wife, whether
you will save your husband? Or how do
you know, husband, whether you will save
your wife?
17 Only, as the Lord has distributed to
each man, as God has called each, so let
him walk. So I command in all the assemblies.
18 Was anyone called having been circumcised?
Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone
been called in uncircumcision? Let him
not be circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision
is nothing, but what matters is
keeping God’s commandments.
20 Let each man stay in that calling in
which he was called.
21 Were you called being a bondservant?
Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an
opportunity to become free, use it.
22 For he who was called in the Lord
being abondservantis theLord’s freeman.
Likewise he who was called being free is
Christ’s bondservant.
23 You were bought with a price. Don’t
become bondservants of men.
24 Brothers, let each man, in whatever
condition he was called, stay in that
condition with God.
25 Now concerning virgins, I have no
commandment from the Lord, but I give
my judgment as one who has obtained
mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.
26 Therefore I think that because of the
distress that is on us, it’s good for a man to
remain as he is.
27 Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to
be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t
seek a wife.
28 But if you marry, you have not sinned.
If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet
such will have oppression in the flesh, and
I want to spare you.
29 But I say this, brothers: the time is
short. From now on, both those who have
wives may be as though they had none;
30 and those who weep, as though they
didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as
though they didn’t rejoice; and those who
buy, as though they didn’t possess;
31 and those who use the world, as not
using it to the fullest. For the mode of this
world passes away.
32 But I desire to have you to be free from
cares. He who is unmarried is concerned
for the things of the Lord, how he may
please the Lord;
33 but he who is married is concerned
about the things of the world, how he may
please his wife.
34 There is also a difference between a
wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman
cares about the things of the Lord, that she
may be holy both in body and in spirit.
But she who is married cares about the
things of the world—how she may please
her husband.
35 This I say for your own benefit, not
that I may ensnare you, but for that which
is appropriate, and that you may attend to
the Lord without distraction.
36 But if any man thinks that he is behaving
in appropriately toward his virgin, if
she is pasttheflower ofher age, and ifneed
so requires, let him do what he desires. He
doesn’t sin. Let them marry.
37 But he who stands steadfast in his
heart, having no urgency, but has power
over his own will, and has determined in
his own heart to keep his own virgin, does well.
38 So then both he who gives his own
virgin in marriage does well, and he who
doesn’t give her in marriage does better.
39 A wife is bound by law for as long
as her husband lives; but if the husband
is dead, she is free to be married to
whomever she desires, only in the Lord.
40 But she is happier if she stays as she is,
inmy judgment, andIthink thatI alsohave
God’s Spirit.