My God and My Country

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Church at Corinth

Chapter 7:1-9

1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, It were good for a man not to touch a woman.

2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

3 Let the husband give unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

4 The wife hath not the power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not the power of his own body, but the wife.

5 Defraud not one another, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and again come together, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

6 But I speak this by permission, not by commandment.

7 For I would that all men were even as I myself am: but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.

8 Therefore I say unto the unmarried, and unto the widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I do.

9 But if they cannot abstain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

Related Scripture:

Ephesians 5:24; Colossians 3:18-19; 1 Peter 3:1, 7

Commentary by Adam Clarke - Theologian

Verse 2

“Let every man have one woman, his own; and every woman one man, her own. Here, plurality of wives and husbands is most strictly forbidden; and they are commanded to marry for the purpose of procreating children.

In the Jewish constitutions there are some things not only curious, but useful, respecting marriage. "There are four causes which induce men to marry:

Impure desire;

To get riches;

To become honorable;

For the glory of God.

Those who marry through the first motive beget wicked and rebellious children. Those who marry for the sake of riches have the curse of leaving them to others. Those who marry for the sake of aggrandizing their family, their families shall be diminished. Those who marry to promote the glory of God, their children shall be holy, and by them shall the true Church be increased."

Verse 3

Some have rendered the words, not unaptly, the matrimonial debt, or conjugal duty - that which a wife owes to her husband, and the husband to his wife; and which they must take care mutually to render, else alienation of affection will be the infallible consequence, and this in numberless instances has led to adulterous connections. In such cases the wife has to blame herself for the infidelity of her husband, and the husband for that of his wife. What miserable work has been made in the peace of families by a wife or a husband pretending to be wiser than the apostle, and too holy and spiritual to keep the commandments of God.

Verse 4 - Self explanatory

Verse 5

What ye owe thus to each other never refuse paying, unless by mutual consent; and let that be only for a certain time, when prudence dictates the temporary separation, or when some extraordinary spiritual occasion may render it mutually agreeable, in order that ye may fast and pray, and derive the greatest possible benefit from these duties by being enabled to wait on the Lord without distraction. It is most evident that the separations permitted by the Apostle, for he enjoins none, are only for a season, on extraordinary occasions; and that the persons may come together again, lest Satan, taking advantage of their matrimonial abstinence, might tempt either party to illicit commerce.

Verse 6

It was a constant custom of the more conscientious rabbins, to make a difference between the things which they enjoined on their own judgment, and those which they built on the authority of the law. We may understand the apostle here as saying that the directions already given were from his own judgment, and not from any Divine inspiration; and we may take it for granted that where he does not make this observation he is writing under the immediate afflatus of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 7

He wished that all that were then in the Church were, like him self, unmarried; but this was in reference to the necessities of the Church, or what he calls, (See1 Corinthians 7:26), the present distress: for it never could be his wish that marriage should cease among men, and that human beings should no longer be propagated upon earth; nor could he wish that the Church of Christ should always be composed of single persons; this would have been equally absurd; but as the Church was then in straits and difficulties, it was much better for its single members not to encumber themselves with domestic embarrassments.

Verse 8

It is supposed that the apostle speaks here of men who had been married, in the word, but were now widowers; as he does of women who had been married, in the word, but were now widows. And when he says, even as I, he means that he himself was a widower; for several of the ancients rank Paul among the married apostles.

Verse 9

If they find it inconvenient and uncomfortable to continue as widowers and widows, let them [so]remarry.