1 Corinthians 7

1Now about the matters you wrote of. “It is good for a man to have no sexual contact with a woman.” 2But because sexual immorality is all around, each man is to have relations with his own wife. Each woman, too, is to have relations with her own husband. 3A husband must give his wife what he owes her in marriage, and a wife must do the same for her husband. 4The wife does not rule over her own body; her husband does. In the same way, the husband does not rule over his own body; his wife does. 5Do not refuse each other, unless you both agree to it for a limited time so that you are free for prayer. Then be together again, or Satan may use your lack of self-control to tempt you. 6What I am saying here is a concession; it is not a command. 7I would like everyone to be as I am. Yet God gives each person a gift of their own, to one this way and to another that.

8Now I say to the unmarried and to widows: it is a good thing for them if they stay as I am. 9But if they are not keeping themselves under control, let them marry, for marrying is better than burning with desire.

10To those who are married I give a charge, and it is the Lord’s, not mine: a wife is not to leave her husband. 11If she does separate, she should either stay unmarried or be reconciled with him. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

12To everyone else I say this myself; it is not a word from the Lord. Suppose a brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is content to go on living with him: he must not divorce her. 13And if a woman has a husband who does not believe, and he is content to go on living with her, she must not divorce him. 14For through his wife the husband who does not believe has been made holy, and through the brother she is married to, the wife who does not believe has been made holy. If it were not so, your children would be unclean; in fact, they are holy. 15But if the one who does not believe chooses to separate, let the separation happen. A brother or a sister is not bound in circumstances like these. It is in peace that God has called us. 16How can you tell, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how can you tell, husband, whether you will save your wife? 17Whatever the case, each of you should lead the life the Lord has given you, the life you had when God called you. I give this same direction in every church. 18Was someone already circumcised when he was called? He must not try to reverse it. Was someone uncircumcised when he was called? He must not get circumcised. 19Being circumcised means nothing, and not being circumcised means nothing. What matters is obeying the commandments of God. 20Each of you should go on in the place in life where God’s call found you.

21Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that worry you. But if you do get the chance to become free, make the most of it. 22For a slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord’s freed slave; and in the same way, someone free who has been called is a slave of Christ. 23You were bought, and a price was paid for you. Do not become slaves of human beings. 24So, brothers and sisters, whatever your situation was when God called you, remain in it, living in God’s presence.

25Now about those who have never married: I have no command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as someone the Lord in his mercy has made trustworthy. 26So, because of the crisis we now face, I think this is good: it is good for a person to stay as they are. 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not try to get free. Are you free of a wife? Do not look for a wife. 28Yet if you do marry, you have done nothing sinful. And if a young woman who has never married takes a husband, she has done nothing sinful. But such people will meet hardship in this earthly life, and I am trying to spare you. 29Here is my point, brothers and sisters: the time has been cut short. So from now on, married men should be as though they had no wives, 30those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they kept nothing, 31and those who deal with the world as though they did not use it to the full. For this world’s present shape is passing away.

32I want you to be free from cares that divide you. The unmarried man gives his care to the things of the Lord, how he may please him. 33But the married man gives his care to the things of the world, how he may please his wife, 34and he is pulled two ways. And the unmarried woman, or the young woman who has never married, gives her care to the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body as well as in spirit. But the married woman gives her care to the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35I tell you this to help you, not to throw a noose over you. I want you to live as is fitting and to stay close beside the Lord with nothing to draw you away.

36Now if a man thinks he is not treating the woman he is engaged to rightly, because his desire for her is strong and the marriage ought to go ahead, he may do what he wants. He commits no sin. Let the two of them marry. 37But suppose a man stands firm in his heart. He is under no pressure, he has control over his own will, and he has decided in his own heart that the woman he is engaged to should stay as she is. He will do well. 38So the man who marries the woman he is engaged to does well, and the man who does not marry her will do better.

39A wife remains bound for as long as her husband is living. Should her husband die, she is free to marry whomever she wants, though only a man who belongs to the Lord. 40Even so, in my opinion she is more blessed if she remains a widow. And I believe that I too have the Spirit of God.