1 Corinthians 7:1-24 - Concerning Christian Marriage

¹ Now about the questions in your letter. It is an excellent thing for a man to have no intercourse with a woman; ² but there is so much immorality that every man had better have a wife of his own and every woman a husband of her own. ³ The husband must give the wife her conjugal dues, and the wife in the same way must give her husband his; ⁴ the wife cannot do as she pleases with her body ??her husband has power, and in the same way the husband cannot do as he pleases with his body ??his wife has power. ⁵ Do not withhold sexual intercourse from one another, unless you agree to do so for a time in order to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again. You must not let Satan tempt you through incontinence. ⁶ But what I have just said is by way of concession, not command. ⁷ I would like all men to be as I am. However, everyone is endowed by God in his own way; he has a gift for the one life or the other.

⁸ To the unmarried and to widows I would say this: it is an excellent thing if like me they remain as they are. ⁹ Still, if they cannot restrain themselves, let them marry. Better marry than be aflame with passion!

¹⁰ For married people these are my instructions (and they are the Lord's, not mine). A wife is not to separate from her husband ??11 if she has separated, she must either remain single or be reconciled to him ??and a husband must not put away his wife. ¹² To other people I would say (not the Lord): ??if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and if she consents to live with him, he must not put her away; ¹³ and if any wife has a husband who is not a believer, and if he consents to live with her, she must not put her husband away. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is consecrated in the person of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated in the person of the Christian brother she has married; otherwise, of course, your children would be unholy instead of being consecrated to God. ¹⁵ (Should the unbelieving partner be determined to separate, however, separation let it be; in such cases the Christian brother or sister is not tied to marriage.) It is to a life of peace that God has called us. ¹⁶ O wife, how do you know you may not save your husband? O husband, how do you know you may not save your wife?

¹⁷ Only, everyone must lead the lot assigned him by the Lord; he must go on living the life in which God's call came to him. (Such is the rule I lay down for all the churches). ¹⁸ Was a man circumcised at the time he was called? Then he is not to efface the marks of it. Has any man been called when he was uncircumcised? Then he is not to get circumcised. ¹⁹ Circumcision counts for nothing, uncircumcision counts for nothing; obedience to God's commands is everything. ²⁰ Everyone must remain in the condition of life where he was called. ²¹ You were a slave when you were called? Never mind. Of course, if you do find it possible to get free, you had better avail yourself of the opportunity. ²² But a slave who is called to be in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord. Just as a free man who is called is a slave of Christ ²³ (for you were bought for a price; you must not turn slaves to any man). ²⁴ Brothers, everyone must remain with God in the condition of life where he was called.