Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

7 You wrote me a letter. Here is my answer to the things in the letter. It is good if a man has nothing to do with a woman.

² But wrong sex is always a danger to us. So it is better for each man to have his own wife and each woman to have her own husband.

³ The husband should give his wife what is right. So also, the wife should give her husband what is right.

⁴ The wife does not have full right over her own body. But her husband has a right to it. In the same way, the husband does not have full right over his own body. But his wife has a right to it.

⁵ Do not keep from the other what is right for them to have. It is all right to stay from each other for a while, if you both agree to it. Then you will have time for prayer. Afterwards, come together again. If you do not, Satan might tempt you to do wrong.

⁶ I say you may do this. I do not say that you must do it.

⁷ I wish that all men were like I am. But God has made everyone different. One man can live one way and another man can live another way.