New Testament in a Year

²⁰ Each of you should continue as you were when God called you to come to him. ²¹ You may have been a slave when God called you. That does not matter. But if you have the chance to become a free person, accept it. ²² The Lord may call a slave to come to him. Then, that slave has become free, because he belongs to the Lord. In the same way, when God calls a free person to belong to Christ, he becomes Christ's slave. ²³ God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So do not let anyone else make you their slave. ²⁴ My Christian friends, each of you should continue as you were when God first called you to come to him.^[a] Remember that you serve God.

²⁵ You asked me a question about people who have not yet married. The Lord has not told me any special rule about this. But I will tell you what I myself think about it. The Lord has been very kind to me. You know that you can believe what I say. ²⁶ This is what I think: There are many troubles in the world today. So it is better for everybody to continue as they are. ²⁷ If you have a wife, do not try to send her away. If you do not have a wife, do not try to marry. ²⁸ But if you do marry, that is not wrong. And if a young woman marries, that is not wrong. But people who marry will have many troubles during their life together. I want to save you from problems like that.

²⁹ My Christian friends, this is what I mean: The time that remains is very short. So men who have wives should live as if they had no wife. ³⁰ People who are sad should live as if they were not sad. People who are happy should live as if they had nothing to laugh about. People who buy things should live as if those things do not belong to them. ³¹ If you enjoy the things of this world, do not live as if those things are important. This world, as it is now, will soon finish.

³² I do not want you to worry about troubles. A man who has not married wants to serve the Lord. He wants to live in a way that makes the Lord happy. ³³ But a man who has married thinks a lot about this world's things. He wants to live in a way that makes his wife happy. ³⁴ As a result, he thinks in two opposite ways.

It is the same for a woman who has no husband, or a young girl who has not married. She wants to serve the Lord very well. She wants to be completely pure, both in her body and in her spirit. But a woman who has a husband has to think about this world's things. She wants to live in a way that makes her husband happy.

³⁵ I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not making rules that you have to obey. Instead, I want you to live in a right way. I do not want you to worry about troubles. Then you will be able to serve the Lord very well.

³⁶ Perhaps a man has agreed to marry a young woman. They may have decided to wait before they marry. But, as they grow older, the man may think differently. He may think that he needs to marry her. Then, he should do what he wants to do. It is good for them to marry. It is not wrong. ³⁷ But another man may not change his thoughts. He may be sure that he does not need to marry his young woman. If he decides not to marry her, he is doing the right thing. ³⁸ So the man who marries his young woman is doing a good thing. But the man who does not marry is doing a better thing.

³⁹ If a woman has married, she may not leave her husband while he still lives. But if he dies, then she is free to marry again. She may marry any man that she wants to. But he must be someone who belongs to the Lord. ⁴⁰ I do think that she would be happier if she remains without a husband. That is what I think, and God's Spirit also helps me with this.