1 Corinthians 7
7
To Be Married, to Be Single . . .
1Now, getting down to the questions you asked in your letter to me. First, Is it a good thing to have sexual relations?
2-6Certainly—but only within a certain context. It’s good for a man to have a wife, and for a woman to have a husband. Sexual drives are strong, but marriage is strong enough to contain them and provide for a balanced and fulfilling sexual life in a world of sexual disorder. The marriage bed must be a place of mutuality—the husband seeking to satisfy his wife, the wife seeking to satisfy her husband. Marriage is not a place to “stand up for your rights.” Marriage is a decision to serve the other, whether in bed or out. Abstaining from sex is permissible for a period of time if you both agree to it, and if it’s for the purposes of prayer and fasting—but only for such times. Then come back together again. Satan has an ingenious way of tempting us when we least expect it. I’m not, understand, commanding these periods of abstinence—only providing my best counsel if you should choose them.
7Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me—a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.
8-9I do, though, tell the unmarried and widows that singleness might well be the best thing for them, as it has been for me. But if they can’t manage their desires and emotions, they should by all means go ahead and get married. The difficulties of marriage are preferable by far to a sexually tortured life as a single.
10-11And if you are married, stay married. This is the Master’s command, not mine. If a wife should leave her husband, she must either remain single or else come back and make things right with him. And a husband has no right to get rid of his wife.
12-14For the rest of you who are in mixed marriages—Christian married to non-Christian—we have no explicit command from the Master. So this is what you must do. If you are a man with a wife who is not a believer but who still wants to live with you, hold on to her. If you are a woman with a husband who is not a believer but he wants to live with you, hold on to him. The unbelieving husband shares to an extent in the holiness of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is likewise touched by the holiness of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be left out; as it is, they also are included in the spiritual purposes of God.
15-16On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you’ve got to let him or her go. You don’t have to hold on desperately. God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can. You never know, wife: The way you handle this might bring your husband not only back to you but to God. You never know, husband: The way you handle this might bring your wife not only back to you but to God.
17And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life. Don’t think I’m being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches.
18-19Were you Jewish at the time God called you? Don’t try to remove the evidence. Were you non-Jewish at the time of your call? Don’t become a Jew. Being Jewish isn’t the point. The really important thing is obeying God’s call, following his commands.
20-22Stay where you were when God called your name. Were you a slave? Slavery is no roadblock to obeying and believing. I don’t mean you’re stuck and can’t leave. If you have a chance at freedom, go ahead and take it. I’m simply trying to point out that under your new Master you’re going to experience a marvelous freedom you would never have dreamed of. On the other hand, if you were free when Christ called you, you’ll experience a delightful “enslavement to God” you would never have dreamed of.
23-24All of you, slave and free both, were once held hostage in a sinful society. Then a huge sum was paid out for your ransom. So please don’t, out of old habit, slip back into being or doing what everyone else tells you. Friends, stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side.
25-28The Master did not give explicit direction regarding virgins, but as one much experienced in the mercy of the Master and loyal to him all the way, you can trust my counsel. Because of the current pressures on us from all sides, I think it would probably be best to stay just as you are. Are you married? Stay married. Are you unmarried? Don’t get married. But there’s certainly no sin in getting married, whether you’re a virgin or not. All I am saying is that when you marry, you take on additional stress in an already stressful time, and I want to spare you if possible.
29-31I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don’t complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple—in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is fading away.
32-35I want you to live as free of complications as possible. When you’re unmarried, you’re free to concentrate on simply pleasing the Master. Marriage involves you in all the nuts and bolts of domestic life and in wanting to please your spouse, leading to so many more demands on your attention. The time and energy that married people spend on caring for and nurturing each other, the unmarried can spend in becoming whole and holy instruments of God. I’m trying to be helpful and make it as easy as possible for you, not make things harder. All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.
36-38If a man has a woman friend to whom he is loyal but never intended to marry, having decided to serve God as a “single,” and then changes his mind, deciding he should marry her, he should go ahead and marry. It’s no sin; it’s not even a “step down” from celibacy, as some say. On the other hand, if a man is comfortable in his decision for a single life in service to God and it’s entirely his own conviction and not imposed on him by others, he ought to stick with it. Marriage is spiritually and morally right and not inferior to singleness in any way, although as I indicated earlier, because of the times we live in, I do have pastoral reasons for encouraging singleness.
39-40A wife must stay with her husband as long as he lives. If he dies, she is free to marry anyone she chooses. She will, of course, want to marry a believer and have the blessing of the Master. By now you know that I think she’ll be better off staying single. The Master, in my opinion, thinks so, too.
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1 Corinthians 7: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Qorintiyim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 7
7
1And concerning the matters you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2But because of whoring, let each one have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
3Let the husband render to his wife what is her due, and likewise also the wife to her husband.
4The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
5Do not deprive one another except with agreement for a time, to give yourselves to fasting and prayer. And come together again so that Satan does not try you because of your lack of self-control.
6And I say this as a concession, not as a command.
7For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from Elohim, one in this way and another in that.
8And I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am,
9but if they do not have self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn.
10And to the married I command, not I, but the Master: A wife should not separate from a husband.
11But if she is indeed separated, let her remain unmarried or be restored to favour with her husband, and let a husband not send away a wife.
12And to the rest I say, not the Master: If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she thinks well to live with him, let him not send her away.
13And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he thinks well to live with her, let her not send him away.
14For the unbelieving husband has been set-apart in the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set-apart in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are set-apart.
15And, if the unbelieving one separates, let him separate himself. A brother or a sister has not been enslaved in such matters. But Elohim has called us to peace.
16For how do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you shall save your wife?
17Only, as Elohim has distributed to each one, as the Master has called each one, so let him walk. And so I order in all the assemblies.
18Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
19The circumcision is naught, and the uncircumcision is naught, but the guarding of the commands of Elohim does matter!#See Rom. 2:26-29
20Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.
21Were you called while a slave? It matters not to you, but if you are able to become free too, rather use it.
22For he who is called in the Master while a slave is the Master’s freed man. Likewise he who is called while free is a slave of Messiah.#See Eph. 6:6; 1Pe. 2:16
23You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men.
24Brothers, let each one remain with Elohim in that calling in which he was called.
25And concerning maidens: I have no command from the Master, but I give judgment as one whom the Master in His compassion has made trustworthy.
26I think then that this is good because of the present necessity, that it is good 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.
28But even if you should marry, you have not sinned. And if a maiden should marry, she has not sinned. But such shall have pressure in the flesh, but I would spare you.
29And this I say, brothers, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none,
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,
31and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the scene of this world is passing away.
32And I wish you to be without concern. He who is unmarried is concerned about the matters of the Master – how to please the Master.
33But he who is married is concerned about the matters of the world – how to please his wife.
34There is a difference between a wife and a maiden. The unmarried woman is concerned about the matters of the Master, that she might be set-apart both in body and in spirit. But she who is married is concerned about the matters of the world – how to please her husband.
35And this I say for your own good, not to put a restraint on you, but for what is proper, and to attend to the Master without distraction.
36And if anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his maiden, if she is past the flower of her youth, and so it should be, let him do what he desires, he does not sin – let them marry.
37But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, and has authority over his own desire, and has so decided in his heart to guard his own maiden, does well.
38So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.
39A wife is bound by Torah as long as her husband lives, and if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she desires, only in the Master.
40But she is better off if she remains as she is, according to my opinion. And I think I also have the Spirit of Elohim.
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