|
Chapter 7 |
| 1 | Now concerning
the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a
woman. |
| 2 |
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own
wife, and let every woman have her own husband. |
| 3 | Let the
husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto
the husband. |
| 4
| The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband:
and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the
wife. |
| 5 |
Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a
time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together
again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. |
| 6 | But I speak
this by permission, and not of commandment. |
|
7 | For I would that all men
were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after
this manner, and another after that. |
| 8 | I say therefore to the
unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. |
| 9 |
But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to
burn. |
| 10 |
And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let
not the wife depart from her husband: |
| 11 | But and if she depart, let
her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband
put away his wife. |
| 12 | But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If
any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with
him, let him not put her away. |
| 13 | And the woman which hath an
husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not
leave him. |
| 14
| For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife,
and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children
unclean; but now are they holy. |
| 15 | But if the unbelieving
depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such
cases: but God hath called us to peace. |
|
16 | For what knowest thou, O
wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether
thou shalt save thy wife? |
|
17 | But as God hath distributed to every
man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all
churches. |
| 18
| Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become
uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be
circumcised. |
|
19 | Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is
nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. |
| 20 | Let every
man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. |
| 21 | Art thou
called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use
it rather. |
| 22
| For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is
the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's
servant. |
| 23
| Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of
men. |
| 24 |
Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide
with God. |
| 25
| Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord:
yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be
faithful. |
| 26
| I suppose therefore that this is good for the present
distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. |
| 27 | Art thou
bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not
a wife. |
| 28
| But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a
virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the
flesh: but I spare you. |
| 29 | But this I say, brethren, the time is short:
it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
|
| 30 | And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as
though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed
not; |
| 31 |
And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the
fashion of this world passeth away. |
| 32 | But I would have you without
carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the
Lord, how he may please the Lord: |
| 33 | But he that is married careth
for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. |
| 34 |
There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman
careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in
spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may
please her husband. |
| 35 | And this I speak for your own profit; not
that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may
attend upon the Lord without distraction. |
|
36 | But if any man think that
he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her
age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them
marry. |
| 37
| Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart,
having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in
his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. |
| 38 | So then he
that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage
doeth better. |
|
39 | The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband
liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she
will; only in the Lord. |
| 40 | But she is happier if she so abide, after my
judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God. |
