Lessons relating to marriage and celibacy. Virginity is preferable to a married state.

¹ Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

² But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.¹

1. 7:2Have his own wife: That is, keep to his wife, which he has. His meaning is not to exhort the unmarried to marry: on the contrary, he would have them rather continue as they are. (Ver. 7:8.) But he speaks here to them that are already married; who must not depart from one another, but live together as they ought to do in the marriage state.(Challoner)

³ A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should also act similarly toward her husband.

⁴ It is not the wife, but the husband, who has power over her body. But, similarly also, it is not the husband, but the wife, who has power over his body.

⁵ So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence.

⁶ But I am saying this, neither as an indulgence, nor as a commandment.¹

1. 7:6By indulgence: That is, by a condescension to your weakness.(Challoner)

⁷ For I would prefer it if you were all like myself. But each person has his proper gift from God: one in this way, yet another in that way.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them, if they would remain as they are, just as I also am.

⁹ But if they cannot restrain themselves, they should marry. For it is better to marry, than to be burned.¹²

1. 7:9The Latin says ‘than to be burned,’ i.e. in the fires of Hell, due to sins of fornication. The Latin does not say ‘than to burn,’ i.e. to burn with desire.(Conte)
2. 7:9If they do not contain, etc: This is spoken of such as are free, and not of such as, by vow, have given their first faith to God; to whom if they will use proper means to obtain it, God will never refuse the gift of continency. Some translators have corrupted this text, by rendering it, if they cannot contain.(Challoner)

¹⁰ But to those who have been joined in matrimony, it is not I who commands you, but the Lord: a wife is not to separate from her husband.

¹¹ But if she has separated from him, she must remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband should not divorce his wife.

¹² Concerning the rest, I am speaking, not the Lord. If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.¹

1. 7:12I speak, not the Lord: Viz., by any express commandment, or ordinance.(Challoner)

¹³ And if any woman has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce her husband.

¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through the believing husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, whereas instead they are holy.¹

1. 7:14Is sanctified: The meaning is not, that the faith of the husband or the wife is of itself sufficient to put the unbelieving party, or their children, in the state of grace and salvation; but that it is very often an occasion of their sanctification, by bringing them to the true faith.(Challoner)

¹⁵ But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. For a brother or sister cannot be made subject to servitude in this way. For God has called us to peace.

¹⁶ And how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷ However, let each one walk just as the Lord has distributed to him, each one just as God has called him. And thus do I teach in all the churches.

¹⁸ Has any circumcised man been called? Let him not cover his circumcision. Has any uncircumcised man been called? Let him not be circumcised.

¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; there is only the observance of the commandments of God.

²⁰ Let each and every one remain in the same calling to which he was called.

²¹ Are you a servant who has been called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you ever have the ability to be free, make use of it.

²² For any servant who has been called in the Lord is free in the Lord. Similarly, any free person who has been called is a servant in Christ.

²³ You have been bought with a price. Do not be willing to become the servants of men.

²⁴ Brothers, let each one, in whatever state he was called, remain in that state with God.

²⁵ Now, concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord. But I give counsel, as one who has obtained the mercy of the Lord, so as to be faithful.

²⁶ Therefore, I consider this to be good, because of the present necessity: that it is good for a man to be such as I am.

²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be freed. Are you free of a wife? Do not seek a wife.

²⁸ But if you take a wife, you have not sinned. And if a virgin has married, she has not sinned. Even so, such as these will have the tribulation of the flesh. But I would spare you from this.

²⁹ And so, this is what I say, brothers: The time is short. What remains of it is such that: those who have wives should be as if they had none;

³⁰ and those who weep, as though they were not weeping; and those who rejoice, as if they were not rejoicing; and those who buy, as if they possessed nothing;

³¹ and those who use the things of this world, as if they were not using them. For the figure of this world is passing away.

³² But I would prefer you to be without worry. Whoever is without a wife is worried about the things of the Lord, as to how he may please God.

³³ But whoever is with a wife is worried about the things of the world, as to how he may please his wife. And so, he is divided.

³⁴ And the unmarried woman and the virgin think about the things that are of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit. But she who is married thinks about the things that are of the world, as to how she may please her husband.

³⁵ Furthermore, I am saying this for your own benefit, not in order to cast a snare over you, but toward whatever is honest and whatever may provide you with the ability to be without hindrance, so as to worship the Lord.

³⁶ But if any man considers himself to seem dishonorable, concerning a virgin who is of adult age, and so it ought to be, he may do as he wills. If he marries her, he does not sin.¹

1. 7:36Let him do what he will; he sins not, etc: The meaning is not, as libertines would have it, that persons may do what they will and not sin, provided they afterwards marry; but that the father, with regard to the giving his virgin in marriage, may do as he pleases; and that it will be no sin to him if she marry.(Challoner)

³⁷ But if he has decided firmly in his heart, and he does not have any obligation, but only the power of his free will, and if he has judged this in his heart, to let her remain a virgin, he does well.

³⁸ And so, he who joins with his virgin in matrimony does well, and he who does not join with her does better.

³⁹ A woman is bound under the law for as long as her husband lives. But if her husband has died, she is free. She may marry whomever she wishes, but only in the Lord.

⁴⁰ But she will be more blessed, if she remains in this state, in accord with my counsel. And I think that I, too, have the Spirit of God.