Old/New Testament

²⁰ Everyone should stay the way he was when God called him.

²¹ If you were a slave when God called you, do not let that trouble you. But if there is some way for you to get free, then do so.

²² If a man was a slave when the Lord called him, he is the Lord's free man. So also if a man was free when he was called, he is Christ's slave.

²³ You were bought and paid for. Do not become slaves of men!

²⁴ So, Christian brothers, everyone should go on living as he was when God called him. But now he lives with God.

²⁵ Here is what I say about those who are not married. (I have no law from the Lord about this. But here is what I think. You can trust me because the Lord has helped me.)

²⁶ I think that, since there is now trouble in the world, it is good for each one to stay as he is.

²⁷ If you have married a wife, do not try to be free from her. If you have no wife, do not look for one.

²⁸ But, if you marry, it is not wrong. And if a woman marries, it is not wrong. People who marry will have trouble in this life. And I want to keep you out of it.

²⁹ Here, my brothers, is what I mean. The time is short. In the time that is left, men who have wives should live as though they did not.

³⁰ People who cry should live as though they were not sad. People who laugh should live as though they were not glad. People who buy things should live as though they did not own them.

³¹ And people who are busy with things in this world should not be too busy. The world as we see it is passing away.

³² I want your minds to be free. The man who is not married thinks about the things of the Lord. He tries to please the Lord.

³³ But the man who is married thinks about the things of this world. He tries to please his wife.

³⁴ In the same way, there is a difference between the woman who is married and the one who is not. The woman who is not married thinks about the things of the Lord. She wants her body and her spirit to be holy. But the married woman thinks about the things of this life. She tries to please her husband.

³⁵ I say this to help you, not to make it hard for you. I want to show you what is good. I do not want anything to stop you from serving the Lord.

³⁶ And if a man feels that he is doing the right thing for the woman he is to marry, then let him marry her. That is, if she is no longer young, and if he wants her very much. Then he must do as he thinks best. It is not wrong for him to do it.

³⁷ But the man who has made up his mind not to marry his woman will do well. That is, if he does not have to marry her, and is able to control himself, and if he is sure about it in his own mind.

³⁸ So the man who marries his woman will do what is good. But the man who does not marry her will do better.

³⁹ A wife may not leave her husband as long as he is living. But if he dies, she is free to marry any man she wants. Only this, he must be a Christian.

⁴⁰ But I think that she is happier if she stays as she is and does not marry again. (I think too that I am saying what the Spirit of God wants me to say in this matter.)