Marriage and Celibacy among Christians[a]
Chapter 7
Christian Marriage.[b] 1 Now I will move on to the matters about which you wrote. Yes, it is a good thing for a man to refrain from touching a woman. 2 However, to avoid the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 A husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise a wife should fulfill her conjugal obligations to her husband. 4 For a wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, a husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by mutual consent for a specified time so as to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you by taking advantage of your lack of self-control. 6 I suggest this not as a command but by way of concession. 7 I wish that all of you would be as I myself am. However, each person has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.
8 To the unmarried and to widows, I say that it is a good thing for them to remain as they are, as I do. 9 However, if they are unable to exercise self-control, they should marry, for it is better to be married than to burn with passion.
10 To those who are married, I give this command, which is not mine but the Lord’s: a wife should not separate from her husband— 11 and if she does separate, she must either remain unmarried or become reconciled to her husband—and a husband should not divorce his wife.
12 Living at Peace with an Unbelieving Spouse.[c] To the rest, I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she is willing to remain with him, he should not divorce her. 13 And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to remain with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, whereas in fact they are holy.
15 However, if the unbelieving partner chooses to separate, let that person go. The brother or sister is no longer bound in this case. God has called you to live in peace. 16 As a wife, how can you be certain that you will save your husband? As a husband, how can you be certain that you will save your wife?
17 Living Where Christ Calls Us. Everyone should accept the role in life assigned to each one by the Lord, continuing as he was when the Lord called him. This is the rule that I give to all the Churches. 18 Was a man called after he had been circumcised? Then he must remain circumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should remain uncircumcised. 19 To be circumcised is of no importance, and to be uncircumcised is of no importance. What matters is keeping God’s commandments. 20 Everyone should remain as he was when he was called.
21 Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that concern you. But if you have an opportunity to gain your freedom, take it. 22 For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord, just as whoever was free when he was called is a slave of Christ. 23 You were purchased at a price. Do not become slaves of men. 24 Therefore, brethren, everyone should remain before God in the condition in which he was called.
25 Virginity—Total Consecration to Christ.[d] In regard to virgins, I have received no instructions from the Lord, but let me offer my own opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy can be considered trustworthy. 26 I think that in this time of stress, a man should remain in his current state. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife. 28 However, if you do marry, you do not sin, nor does a virgin sin if she marries. But those who marry will experience hardships in this life,[e] and from these I would like to spare you.
29 What I am saying, brethren, is that our time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had nothing, 31 and those who make use of the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the world as we know it is passing away.
32 It is my wish that you be free of all anxieties. An unmarried man devotes himself to the Lord’s affairs and is concerned as to how he can please the Lord. 33 However, a man who is married devotes himself to worldly matters and is concerned about how he can please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. In the same way, an unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord and strives to be holy in both body and spirit, whereas the married woman is concerned about worldly matters and how she may please her husband.
35 I am speaking about this for your own good. I have no intention to impose any restraint upon you, but I wish you to be guided by a sense of propriety, to devote yourself to the Lord free from distraction.
36 Freedom To Marry.[f] If a man feels that he is behaving improperly toward his virgin because a critical moment has come[g] and it seems that something should be done, let him do what he wills. He does not sin if there is a marriage. 37 However, if he stands firm in his resolve and is under no obligation and, being free to carry out his will, decides in his heart to keep his virgin, he also does well. 38 Therefore, the man who gives her in marriage does well, and the one who does not give her in marriage does better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But should the husband die, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only let it be in the Lord. 40 However, in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is, and I believe that I too have the Spirit of God.
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 7:1 The Apostle here expounds some basic ideas about marriage; elsewhere he will develop some deeper aspects of it (Eph 5:4-33). His reply is formulated in response to concrete situations. When he speaks of celibacy, he manifests something of his personal conviction resulting from his experience of a life devoted entirely to Christ. This chapter remains one of the major Christian documents for understanding consecrated virginity, but also for keeping alive in the Church the discussion of marriage and celibacy as choices of ways of life.
- 1 Corinthians 7:1 The call to celibacy is an excellent gift, but conjugal life is also a gift of the Lord and continues to be the normal condition. In speaking of couples, Paul emphasizes their life in common, their mutual belonging, and the reciprocal gift of self. He reminds his readers of the clear Gospel message: the conjugal community is an indissoluble one (see Mt 5:32; 19:9; Mk 10:11-12; Lk 16:18). Spouses may follow calls to a more intense spiritual life, but let them first safeguard the essential realities of their union.
- 1 Corinthians 7:12 What is to be done if one of the spouses is a pagan? The pagan spouse has the right to be free, and if he or she wants to leave the household, the Christian spouse (“the believing partner”: v. 15) regains his or her own freedom. This is the so-called Pauline Privilege.
- 1 Corinthians 7:25 Paul looks for words and ideas to render intelligible the entirely new experience of virginity as the gift of one’s life to the Lord. Man and woman are made for one another, but when Christ came into the world, he threw a new light on the realities of the present world: these do not say the final word about the human condition, but represent only a stage (this includes even marriage; see Mt 22:30) on the way to the final fulfillment. We must judge everything in the light of the coming kingdom and give first place to love of the Lord.
Jesus had already stressed the grandeur of celibacy as a radical consecration to God and to the kingdom, but he did not impose it (Mt 19:10-12). Paul gives the same counsel to those Christians of Corinth who are not bound by the state of matrimony. - 1 Corinthians 7:28 Hardships in this life: literally, “tribulations of the flesh,” which refer not so much to the difficulties of spouses as to the trials proper to the last times. Those who possess material goods or family in this world will feel more deeply the trial of having to leave them (see Lk 17:26-37). Christians ought to be already living, at least spiritually, in that eschatological era.
- 1 Corinthians 7:36 It is not clear whether Paul is speaking of a father who has a daughter of marriage age, or of the guardian of an orphan, or simply of fiancés (a Jewish espousal was a real marriage, but not yet consummated). Paul is keeping to his general principle: Answer God’s call in the life situation in which we find ourselves.
Another translation could read as follows:
“36If a man feels that he is behaving improperly toward his fiancée and he believes that something should be done because he is having difficulty restraining his passions, they should marry as he wishes. There is nothing sinful in that. 37However, if he stands firm in his resolve and is under no obligation, and, being free to carry out his own will, he decides to respect her virginity, he will do well. 38Therefore, the man who marries his fiancée does well, and the man who refrains from marriage does better still.” - 1 Corinthians 7:36 A critical moment has come: this probably refers to the fact that the woman or virgin may soon be beyond the usual age to marry and bear children or the fact that passions are becoming uncontrollable (see 1 Cor 7:9).