1 Corinthians 7 (VOICE) (2024)

Salvation is a costly proposition. You and your body belong to God, so use your body for the work of God, not for selfish pursuits.

7Now to the topics you raised in your last letter. Some have said, “It is better for a man to abstain from having sex with his wife.” ²Well, I disagree. Because of our tendency to embrace immoralities, each man should feel free to join together in sexual intimacy with his own wife, and each woman should join with her own husband. ³Husbands and wives have reciprocal duties. Each husband has the responsibility to meet his wife’s sexual desires, and each wife should do the same for her husband. ⁴In marriage neither the husband nor the wife should act as if his or her body is private property—your bodies now belong to one another, and together they are whole. ⁵So do not withhold sex from one another, unless both of you have agreed to devote a certain period of time to prayer. When the agreed time is over, come together again so that Satan will not tempt you when you are short on self-control. ⁶I am trying to encourage you and give you some wise counsel, so don’t take this advice as a command. ⁷I wish that all of you could live as I do, unmarried. But the truth is all people are different, each gifted by God in various and dissimilar ways.

⁸To those who are unmarried or widowed, here’s my advice: it is a good thing to stay single as I do. ⁹If they do not have self-control, they should go ahead and get married. It is much better to marry than to be obsessed by sexual urges.

¹⁰To those who are married, here’s my command (to be clear, this isn’t merely my opinion; it comes from the teaching of the Lord Jesus): it is not right for a wife to leave her husband. ¹¹If she does, she must either remain single or reconcile with her husband, but she should not marry someone else. Likewise, the husband should not divorce his wife.

^12-13To everyone else, here’s my counsel (this is not a direct command from the Lord; it is my opinion): if a brother has a wife who does not believe Jesus’ teachings and the truth of His resurrection, he is to stay with her as long as she is willing to live with him. The same is true for any sister; you should not leave your husband even if he has no allegiance to Jesus. ¹⁴Here’s the reason: An unbelieving husband is consecrated by that union—touched by the grace of God through his believing wife—and the same is true when the husband is a man of faith and he’s wed to an unbelieving wife. His wife is consecrated through their union. If this weren’t so, your children wouldn’t be pure; but as it is when faith enters in, God sets apart these children to be used uniquely for His purposes. ¹⁵If the unbelieving spouse decides the marriage is over, then let him or her go; the believing partner is freed from the marital vows because God has called you to peace. ¹⁶Remember that anything is possible, so the life you lead and the love you show under this strain may be what finally liberates your partner.

¹⁷So here is my instruction to all the churches: each must live with the gifts the Lord Jesus grants you and with the call God offers you. ¹⁸When you heard the voice of Jesus, what were your circ*mstances? Were you living as a circumcised Jew? If so, then don’t try to undo your circumcision. Were you living as if you were an uncircumcised outsider? If so, you don’t need to become a Jew. ¹⁹You see, whether you are circumcised or not—these outward signs aren’t the issue—the way you live out the commands of God is what really matters. ²⁰It is important for all people to live out faith in the circ*mstances they know.

The call to faith is not a call to abandon your life, family, neighborhood, and culture. We must play with the hand God deals us, not look for a new deck. He works through faith to redeem broken lives and wasted years, not to provide a change of scenery. Even in the worst circ*mstances, faith can change the believer from the inside.

²¹Did you hear God’s voice while you were a slave? Don’t be concerned. (But if the opportunity comes to gain your freedom, then take it.) ²²For the slave who hears the Lord’s call is set free to belong to the Lord. In the same way, the so-called free person is called to become a slave of the Anointed One. ²³A high price has been paid for your freedom, so don’t devalue God’s investment by becoming a slave to people. ²⁴My brothers and sisters, each of you should remain in whatever external circ*mstances you were in when God called you.

²⁵Now when it comes to unmarried young women, I do not have a command from our Lord. The best I can do is to give you my advice as a trustworthy brother who knows the Lord’s mercy well. ²⁶Because of the challenging times we live in, I think the best plan is to stay as you are. ²⁷If you are married, don’t divorce. If you are single, there is no need to get married. ²⁸But if you decide to get married, this is not a sin; there is nothing wrong with a young woman taking a husband, but know that marriage is not easy and those who marry will face hard times. I am only trying to protect you. ²⁹But hear what I say, brothers and sisters: the time is short and growing shorter. So for the time remaining, even if you have wives, live with the undivided focus of those who do not have them. ³⁰Those who cry should live as those who have no tears. Those who rejoice should live as those who have no pleasure. Those who buy things should live as those who do not possess anything. ³¹If you make use of this rebellious and broken world, live as if you have no use for it—because the form of this world is fading away.

³²My primary desire is for you to be free from the worries that plague humanity. A single man can focus on the things of the Lord and how to please the Lord, ³³but a married man has to worry about the details of the here and now and how to please his wife. ³⁴A married man will always have divided loyalties. The same idea is true for a young unmarried woman. She concerns herself only with the work of the Lord and how to dedicate herself entirely, body and spirit, to her Lord. On the other hand, a married woman has vast responsibilities for her family and a desire to please her husband. ³⁵I am not trying to give you more rules and regulations. I only want to give you advice that is fitting and helpful. I want to help you live lives of faithful devotion to the Lord without any distraction.

³⁶But I have this advice for every single man: If anyone thinks he is behaving badly toward his fiancée, if his desires prove to be too much for him, and if he feels they ought to marry, then he should do what he wants; it is not wrong to marry her. It is better that we let men and women in this situation do as they wish and get married. ³⁷If a man has no compulsion and chooses not to marry his fiancée, but commits himself to live a celibate life for the sake of following God and has the strength to live out his conviction, then he is doing a good thing. ³⁸So those who marry do a good thing, and they will share in a holy blessing; those who do not marry do an even better thing because they are part of an even greater blessing in the service of God.

³⁹A wife should stay by her husband’s side all of his life. But if he dies, she is free to marry any man she wishes as long as it is in the Lord. ⁴⁰You can likely guess that in my opinion this woman would be better off to remain single, and I think that I have this insight from God’s Spirit.

Principles for Marriage

7Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ^(A)“It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” ²But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ^3(B)The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴For the 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. ^5(C)Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, ^(D)so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶Now as a concession, ^(E)not a command, I say this.^{[a] 7(F)}I wish that all were ^(G)as I myself am. But ^(H)each has his own gift from God, ^(I)one of one kind and one of another.

⁸To the unmarried and the widows I say that ^(J)it is good for them to remain single, ^(K)as I am. ⁹But if they cannot exercise self-control, ^(L)they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰To the married ^(M)I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): ^(N)the wife should not separate from her husband ¹¹(but if she does, ^(O)she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and ^(P)the husband should not divorce his wife.

¹²To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. ¹³If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. ¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. ^(Q)Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. ¹⁵But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you^{[b] (R)}to peace. ¹⁶For how do you know, wife, ^(S)whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Live as You Are Called

¹⁷Only let each person lead the life^{[c] (T)}that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. ^(U)This is my rule in ^(V)all the churches. ¹⁸Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? ^(W)Let him not seek circumcision. ^19(X)For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but ^(Y)keeping the commandments of God. ^20(Z)Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. ²¹Were you a bondservant^[d] when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) ²²For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is ^(AA)a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is ^(AB)a bondservant of Christ. ^23(AC)You were bought with a price; ^(AD)do not become bondservants of men. ²⁴So, brothers,^{[e] (AE)}in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

The Unmarried and the Widowed

²⁵Now concerning^[f] the betrothed,^{[g] (AF)}I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as ^(AG)one who by the Lord's mercy is ^(AH)trustworthy. ²⁶I think that in view of the present^[h] distress ^(AI)it is good for a person to remain as he is. ²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman^[i] marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. ²⁹This is what I mean, brothers: ^(AJ)the appointed time has grown very short. 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 ^(AK)as though they had no goods, ³¹and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For ^(AL)the present form of this world is passing away.

³²I want you to be ^(AM)free from anxieties. ^(AN)The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. ³³But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, ³⁴and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. ³⁵I say this for your own benefit, ^(AO)not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

³⁶If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed,^[j] if his^[k] passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. ³⁷But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. ³⁸So then he who marries his betrothed ^(AP)does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

^39(AQ)A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only ^(AR)in the Lord. ⁴⁰Yet ^(AS)in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think ^(AT)that I too have the Spirit of God.