Principles of Marriage

1Now concerning the matters about which you wrote ⁴³to me: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”

2But because of the cases of fornication, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.

3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

4The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

5Do not deprive one another, except by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to ⁴⁴fasting and ⁴⁵prayer and then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6Now I say this as a concession, not as a command.

7⁴⁶For I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person ⁴⁷in this manner and another in that manner.

8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them if they remain even as I am.

9But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

10Now to the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband

11(but if she does separate, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and a husband must not divorce his wife.

12Now to the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to dwell with him, he must not divorce her.

13And if a woman has an unbelieving husband and he consents to dwell with her, she must not divorce him.

14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through ⁴⁸her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

15But if the unbelieving spouse separates, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases. God has called ⁴⁹us to live in peace.

16For how do yoʋ know, O wife, whether yoʋ will save yoʋr husband? Or how do yoʋ know, O husband, whether yoʋ will save yoʋr wife?

Live the Life Assigned to You

17Nevertheless, each person should live the life that ⁵⁰God has assigned to him and to which ⁵¹the Lord has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.

18Was any man already circumcised when he was called? He should not remove the marks of circumcision. Was any man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not become circumcised.

19Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is keeping the commandments of God.

20Each person should remain in the calling in which he was called.

21Were yoʋ a slave when yoʋ were called? Do not be concerned about it, but if yoʋ are able to become free, make the most of the opportunity.

22For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freedman. In the same way, he who was called as a free man is Christ's slave.

23You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

24Brothers, each person should remain with God in the condition in which he was called.

The Unmarried and the Widowed

25Now concerning virgins, I do not have a command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has been shown mercy by the Lord to be trustworthy.

26I think it is good then, on account of the present distress, for a man to remain as he is.

27Are yoʋ pledged to marry a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are yoʋ free from such a commitment? Do not seek a wife.

28But even if yoʋ do marry, yoʋ have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will have tribulation in the flesh, and I am trying to spare you.

29But I say this, brothers: The time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as though they had none,

30and those who weep as though they were not weeping, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not possess,

31and those who use ⁵²this world as though they were not making full use of it. For the form of this world is passing away.

32But I want you to be free from concern. The unmarried man is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, how he ⁵³will please the Lord.

33But the married man is concerned about the affairs of the world, how he ⁵⁴will please his ⁵⁵wife.

34There is a difference between ⁵⁶a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, how she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the affairs of the world, how she ⁵⁷will please her husband.

35I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote proper behavior and devotion to the Lord without distraction.

36Now if any man thinks that he is acting improperly toward his virgin daughter by not letting her marry, if she is past the bloom of her youth and it seems necessary to do so, he should do what he wants. He is not sinning by letting her get married.

37But the man who stands firm in his heart, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and has determined in his heart to keep his virgin daughter from marrying, ⁵⁸does well.

38So then, he who gives ⁵⁹her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage ⁶⁰does better.

39A wife is bound ⁶¹by the law to her husband for as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wishes, but only in the Lord.

40Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. ⁶²And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.