New Testament in a Year

7 Now to the topics you raised in your last letter. Some have said, “It is better for a man to abstain from having sex with his wife.” ² Well, I disagree. Because of our tendency to embrace immoralities, each man should feel free to join together in sexual intimacy with his own wife, and each woman should join with her own husband. ³ Husbands and wives have reciprocal duties. Each husband has the responsibility to meet his wife’s sexual desires, and each wife should do the same for her husband. ⁴ In marriage neither the husband nor the wife should act as if his or her body is private property—your bodies now belong to one another, and together they are whole. ⁵ So do not withhold sex from one another, unless both of you have agreed to devote a certain period of time to prayer. When the agreed time is over, come together again so that Satan will not tempt you when you are short on self-control. ⁶ I am trying to encourage you and give you some wise counsel, so don’t take this advice as a command. ⁷ I wish that all of you could live as I do, unmarried. But the truth is all people are different, each gifted by God in various and dissimilar ways.

⁸ To those who are unmarried or widowed, here’s my advice: it is a good thing to stay single as I do. ⁹ If they do not have self-control, they should go ahead and get married. It is much better to marry than to be obsessed by sexual urges.

¹⁰ To those who are married, here’s my command (to be clear, this isn’t merely my opinion; it comes from the teaching of the Lord Jesus): it is not right for a wife to leave her husband. ¹¹ If she does, she must either remain single or reconcile with her husband, but she should not marry someone else. Likewise, the husband should not divorce his wife.

^12-13 To everyone else, here’s my counsel (this is not a direct command from the Lord; it is my opinion): if a brother has a wife who does not believe Jesus’ teachings and the truth of His resurrection, he is to stay with her as long as she is willing to live with him. The same is true for any sister; you should not leave your husband even if he has no allegiance to Jesus. ¹⁴ Here’s the reason: An unbelieving husband is consecrated by that union—touched by the grace of God through his believing wife—and the same is true when the husband is a man of faith and he’s wed to an unbelieving wife. His wife is consecrated through their union. If this weren’t so, your children wouldn’t be pure; but as it is when faith enters in, God sets apart these children to be used uniquely for His purposes. ¹⁵ If the unbelieving spouse decides the marriage is over, then let him or her go; the believing partner is freed from the marital vows because God has called you to peace. ¹⁶ Remember that anything is possible, so the life you lead and the love you show under this strain may be what finally liberates your partner.

¹⁷ So here is my instruction to all the churches: each must live with the gifts the Lord Jesus grants you and with the call God offers you. ¹⁸ When you heard the voice of Jesus, what were your circumstances? Were you living as a circumcised Jew? If so, then don’t try to undo your circumcision. Were you living as if you were an uncircumcised outsider? If so, you don’t need to become a Jew. ¹⁹ You see, whether you are circumcised or not—these outward signs aren’t the issue—the way you live out the commands of God is what really matters.