³⁸ So then, he who marries his fiancée^[a] does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

⁴ Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.^(A)

³⁷ But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée,^[a] he will do well.

³² I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord,^{(A) 33} but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, ³⁴ and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit, but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.^(B)

⁸ To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain unmarried as I am.^(A)

Directions concerning Marriage

7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” ² But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

²⁶ I think that, in view of the impending^[a] crisis,^[b] it is good for you to remain as you are.^(A)