New Testament in a Year

Concerning Marriage and Singleness

7 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is ^(A)good for a man not to touch a woman. ² But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. ³ The husband must ^[a]fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ^5 (B)Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and ^[b]come together again so that ^(C)Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ But this I say as a concession, ^(D)not as a command. ^7 [c]Yet I wish that all men were ^(E)even as I myself am. However, ^(F)each man has his own gift from God, one this way, and another that.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is ^(G)good for them if they remain ^(H)even as I. ⁹ But if they do not have self-control, ^(I)let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰ But to the married I give instructions, ^(J)not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not ^[d]leave her husband ¹¹ (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not ^[e]divorce his wife.

¹² But to the rest ^(K)I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not ^[f]divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not divorce her husband. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through ^[g]her believing husband. For otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are ^(L)holy. ¹⁵ Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases, but God has called ^[h]us ^[i](M)to peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, O wife, whether you will ^(N)save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷ Only, ^(O)as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And ^(P)so I direct in ^(Q)all the churches. ¹⁸ Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? ^(R)He is not to be circumcised. ^19 (S)Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is ^(T)the keeping of the commandments of God.