1 Corinthians 7:1-24 - Concerning Christian Marriage

¹ Now, as to the things in your letter to me: It is good for a man to have nothing to do with a woman. ² But because of the desires of the flesh, let every man have his wife, and every woman her husband. ³ Let the husband give to the wife what is right; and let the wife do the same to the husband. ⁴ The wife has not power over her body, but the husband; and in the same way the husband has not power over his body, but the wife. ⁵ Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control. ⁶ But this I say as my opinion, and not as an order of the Lord. ⁷ It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am. ⁹ But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire.

¹⁰ But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband ¹¹ (Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife. ¹² But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her. ¹³ And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband. ¹⁴ For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy. ¹⁵ But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another. ¹⁶ For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?

¹⁷ Only, as the Lord has given to a man, and as is the purpose of God for him, so let him go on living. And these are my orders for all the churches. ¹⁸ If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change. ¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing, and its opposite is nothing, but only doing the orders of God is of value. ²⁰ Let every man keep the position in which he has been placed by God. ²¹ If you were a servant when you became a Christian, let it not be a grief to you; but if you have a chance to become free, make use of it. ²² For he who was a servant when he became a Christian is the Lord's free man; and he who was free when he became a Christian is the Lord's servant. ²³ It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men. ²⁴ My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.