1 Corinthians 7:1-7
God provides both marriage and singleness as gifts through which believers can live faithfully before Him.
1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
3 Let the husband give his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife her husband.
4 The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife.
5 Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment.
7 Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind.
God provides both marriage and singleness as gifts through which believers can live faithfully before Him.
Paul addresses questions from the Corinthians about marriage and celibacy, teaching that marriage provides a proper context for sexual relations while affirming singleness as a gift for some.
After confronting sexual immorality in chapter 6, Paul transitions to addressing questions raised by the Corinthian church about marriage and sexuality. Some believers may have concluded that complete sexual abstinence was spiritually superior, even for married couples. Paul responds by affirming marriage as a legitimate and honorable context for sexual intimacy. His teaching emphasizes mutual responsibility between husband and wife and warns against depriving one another except temporarily for spiritual devotion. This section establishes a balanced Christian vision of marriage that resists both sexual immorality and extreme asceticism.
The Corinthian church appears to have written Paul with questions about marriage, sexuality, and singleness. Some believers may have adopted ascetic ideas that viewed sexual relations, even within marriage, as spiritually inferior. Paul responds by affirming marriage as a legitimate and healthy context for sexual intimacy while also acknowledging the value of singleness.
Marriage, Singleness, Calling, and Undistracted Devotion to the Lord
In light of the present age and the believer’s belonging to Christ, marriage and singleness are both gifts to be stewarded with holiness, faithfulness, contentment, and undistracted devotion to the Lord.