1 Corinthians 7

¹Now concerning the matters you wrote about: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." ²But because of the prevalence of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³The husband must fulfill his sexual obligation 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, unless perhaps by mutual agreement for a set time, so that you may have leisure for prayer, and then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶I say this as a concession, not as a command. ⁷I wish that all people were as I am myself; but each has a specific gift of grace from God, one of this kind and another of that.

⁸To the unmarried and the widows I say: it is good for them if they remain as I am. ⁹But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to be consumed by the fire of passion. ¹⁰To those already married I give this charge—not I, but the Lord: "A wife must not separate from her husband— ¹¹but if she does separate, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband—and a husband must not divorce his wife."

¹²To the rest I say (I, not the Lord): if any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. ¹³And if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce the husband. ¹⁴For the unbelieving husband has been set apart for God through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been set apart for God through the brother. Otherwise, your children would be ritually unclean, but as it is, they are holy. ¹⁵But if the unbeliever separates, let them separate. In such cases, the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called us to live in peace. ¹⁶For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷Only, let each person live the life that the Lord has assigned to them and to which God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the assemblies. ¹⁸Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not try to undo it. Was anyone uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. ¹⁹Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing; what matters is keeping the commandments of God. ²⁰Each person should remain in the condition in which they were called. ²¹Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it trouble you. But if you are actually able to become free, take the opportunity. ²²For the slave who was called in the Lord is the Lord’s freedperson; likewise, the free person who was called is Christ’s slave. ²³You were bought for a price; do not become slaves of humans. ²⁴Brothers, let each person remain with God in the state in which they were called.

²⁵Now concerning the virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. ²⁶I think, then, that because of the present crisis, it is good for a person to remain as they are. ²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a release. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people will have worldly trouble, and I am trying to spare you. ²⁹This is what I mean, brothers: the time has been shortened. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, ³⁰and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, ³¹and those who use the world as though they did not use it to the full. For the outward form of this world is passing away.

³²I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. ³³But the married man is anxious about the things of the world—how he may please his wife— ³⁴and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. ³⁵I say this for your own benefit, not to throw a noose over you, but for the sake of propriety and devoted adherence to the Lord without distraction.

³⁶If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin, if she is past the bloom of youth and it ought to be so, let him do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry. ³⁷But whoever stands firm in his heart, being under no necessity but having authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart—to keep his own virgin—he will do well. ³⁸So then, the one who marries his virgin does well, and the one who does not marry her will do better.

³⁹A wife is bound for as long as her husband lives. But if the husband falls asleep, she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord. ⁴⁰But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I, too, have the Spirit of God.