1 Corinthians 7
7
1 NOW AS to the matters of which you wrote me. It is well [and by that I mean advantageous, expedient, profitable, and wholesome] for a man not to touch a woman [to cohabit with her] but to remain unmarried.
2 But because of the temptation to impurity and to avoid immorality, let each [man] have his own wife and let each [woman] have her own husband.
3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights (goodwill, kindness, and what is due her as his wife), and likewise the wife to her husband.
4 For the wife does not have [exclusive] authority and control over her own body, but the husband [has his rights]; likewise also the husband does not have [exclusive] authority and control over his body, but the wife [has her rights].
5 Do not refuse and deprive and defraud each other [of your due marital rights], except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves unhindered to prayer. But afterwards resume marital relations, lest Satan tempt you [to sin] through your lack of restraint of sexual desire. [Exod. 19:15.]
6 But I am saying this more as a matter of permission and concession, not as a command or regulation.
7 I wish that all men were like I myself am [in this matter of self-control]. But each has his own special gift from God, one of this kind and one of another.
8 But to the unmarried people and to the widows, I declare that it is well (good, advantageous, expedient, and wholesome) for them to remain [single] even as I do.
9 But if they have not self-control (restraint of their passions), they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame [with passion and tortured continually with ungratified desire].
10 But to the married people I give charge–not I but the Lord–that the wife is not to separate from her husband.
11 But if she does [separate from and divorce him], let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband. And [I charge] the husband [also] that he should not put away or divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I declare–I, not the Lord [for Jesus did not discuss this]–that if any brother has a wife who does not believe [in Christ] and she consents to live with him, he should not leave or divorce her.
13 And if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he consents to live with her, she should not leave or divorce him.
14 For the unbelieving husband is set apart (separated, withdrawn from heathen contamination, and affiliated with the Christian people) by union with his consecrated (set-apart) wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart and separated through union with her consecrated husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean (unblessed heathen, outside the Christian covenant), but as it is they are prepared for God [pure and clean].
15 But if the unbelieving partner [actually] leaves, let him do so; in such [cases the remaining] brother or sister is not morally bound. But God has called us to peace.
16 For, wife, how can you be sure of converting and saving your husband? Husband, how can you be sure of converting and saving your wife?
17 Only, let each one [seek to conduct himself and regulate his affairs so as to] lead the life which the Lord has allotted and imparted to him and to which God has invited and summoned him. This is my order in all the churches.
18 Was anyone at the time of his summons [from God] already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the evidence of circumcision. Was anyone at the time [God] called him uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
19 For circumcision is nothing and counts for nothing, neither does uncircumcision, but [what counts is] keeping the commandments of God.
20 Everyone should remain after God calls him in the station or condition of life in which the summons found him.
21 Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that trouble you. But if you are able to gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.
22 For he who as a slave was summoned in [to union with] the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, just so he who was free when he was called is a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).
23 You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for by Christ]; then do not yield yourselves up to become [in your own estimation] slaves to men [but consider yourselves slaves to Christ].
24 So, brethren, in whatever station or state or condition of life each one was when he was called, there let him continue with and close to God.
25 Now concerning the virgins (the marriageable maidens) I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion and advice as one who by the Lord's mercy is rendered trustworthy and faithful.
26 I think then, because of the impending distress [that is even now setting in], it is well (expedient, profitable, and wholesome) for a person to remain as he or she is.
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
28 But if you do marry, you do not sin [in doing so], and if a virgin marries, she does not sin [in doing so]. Yet those who marry will have physical and earthly troubles, and I would like to spare you that.
29 I mean, brethren, the appointed time has been winding down and it has grown very short. From now on, let even those who have wives be as if they had none,
30 And those who weep and mourn as though they were not weeping and mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not possess anything,
31 And those who deal with this world [overusing the enjoyments of this life] as though they were not absorbed by it and as if they had no dealings with it. For the outward form of this world (the present world order) is passing away.
32 My desire is to have you free from all anxiety and distressing care. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord–how he may please the Lord;
33 But the married man is anxious about worldly matters–how he may please his wife–
34 And he is drawn in diverging directions [his interests are divided and he is distracted from his devotion to God]. And the unmarried woman or girl is concerned and anxious about the matters of the Lord, how to be wholly separated and set apart in body and spirit; but the married woman has her cares [centered] in earthly affairs–how she may please her husband.
35 Now I say this for your own welfare and profit, not to put [a halter of] restraint upon you, but to promote what is seemly and in good order and to secure your undistracted and undivided devotion to the Lord.
36 But if any man thinks that he is not acting properly toward and in regard to his virgin [that he is preparing disgrace for her or incurring reproach], in case she is passing the bloom of her youth and if there is need for it, let him do what to him seems right; he does not sin; let them marry.
37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart [strong in mind and purpose], not being forced by necessity but having control over his own will and desire, and has resolved this in his heart to keep his own virginity, he is doing well.
38 So also then, he [the father] who gives his virgin (his daughter) in marriage does well, and he [the father] who does not give [her] in marriage does better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband by law as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she will, only [provided that he too is] in the Lord.
40 But in my opinion [a widow] is happier (more blessed and to be envied) if she does not remarry. And also I think I have the Spirit of God.
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1 Corinthians 7
7
1And concerning the things of which ye wrote to me: good [it is] for a man not to touch a woman,
2and because of the whoredom let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her proper husband;
3to the wife let the husband the due benevolence render, and in like manner also the wife to the husband;
4the wife over her own body hath not authority, but the husband; and, in like manner also, the husband over his own body hath not authority, but the wife.
5Defraud not one another, except by consent for a time, that ye may be free for fasting and prayer, and again may come together, that the Adversary may not tempt you because of your incontinence;
6and this I say by way of concurrence — not of command,
7for I wish all men to be even as I myself [am]; but each his own gift hath of God, one indeed thus, and one thus.
8And I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they may remain even as I [am];
9and if they have not continence — let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn;
10and to the married I announce — not I, but the Lord — let not a wife separate from a husband:
11but and if she may separate, let her remain unmarried, or to the husband let her be reconciled, and let not a husband send away a wife.
12And to the rest I speak — not the Lord — if any brother hath a wife unbelieving, and she is pleased to dwell with him, let him not send her away;
13and a woman who hath a husband unbelieving, and he is pleased to dwell with her, let her not send him away;
14for the unbelieving husband hath been sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife hath been sanctified in the husband; otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
15And, if the unbelieving doth separate himself — let him separate himself: the brother or the sister is not under servitude in such [cases], and in peace hath God called us;
16for what, hast thou known, O wife, whether the husband thou shalt save? or what, hast thou known, O husband, whether the wife thou shalt save?
17if not, as God did distribute to each, as the Lord hath called each — so let him walk; and thus in all the assemblies do I direct:
18being circumcised — was any one called? let him not become uncircumcised; in uncircumcision was any one called? let him not be circumcised;
19the circumcision is nothing, and the uncircumcision is nothing — but a keeping of the commands of God.
20Each in the calling in which he was called — in this let him remain;
21a servant — wast thou called? be not anxious; but if also thou art able to become free — use [it] rather;
22for he who [is] in the Lord — having been called a servant — is the Lord's freedman: in like manner also he the freeman, having been called, is servant of Christ:
23with a price ye were bought, become not servants of men;
24each, in that in which he was called, brethren, in this let him remain with God.
25And concerning the virgins, a command of the Lord I have not; and I give judgment as having obtained kindness from the Lord to be faithful:
26I suppose, therefore, this to be good because of the present necessity, that [it is] good for a man that the matter be thus: —
27Hast thou been bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; hast thou been loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
28But and if thou mayest marry, thou didst not sin; and if the virgin may marry, she did not sin; and such shall have tribulation in the flesh: and I spare you.
29And this I say, brethren, the time henceforth is having been shortened — that both those having wives may be as not having;
30and those weeping, as not weeping; and those rejoicing, as not rejoicing; and those buying, as not possessing;
31and those using this world, as not using [it] up; for passing away is the fashion of this world.
32And I wish you to be without anxiety; the unmarried is anxious for the things of the Lord, how he shall please the Lord;
33and the married is anxious for the things of the world, how he shall please the wife.
34The wife and the virgin have been distinguished: the unmarried is anxious for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, and the married is anxious for the things of the world, how she shall please the husband.
35And this for your own profit I say: not that I may cast a noose upon you, but for the seemliness and devotedness to the Lord, undistractedly,
36and if any one doth think [it] to be unseemly to his virgin, if she may be beyond the bloom of age, and it ought so to be, what he willeth let him do; he doth not sin — let him marry.
37And he who hath stood stedfast in the heart — not having necessity — and hath authority over his own will, and this he hath determined in his heart — to keep his own virgin — doth well;
38so that both he who is giving in marriage doth well, and he who is not giving in marriage doth better.
39A wife hath been bound by law as long time as her husband may live, and if her husband may sleep, she is free to be married to whom she will — only in the Lord;
40and she is happier if she may so remain — according to my judgment; and I think I also have the Spirit of God.
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