# 1 Corinthians 07 đź“–: Marriage and Singleness
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> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#🧠Chapter Summary]]
> [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]]
> [[#đź’¬ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#đź”— Related Passages]]
> [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#đź“‚ Internal Notes]]
## đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
### Celibacy and Marriage
**Principle**: Honor your spouse. Honor singles.
[[#Verse 01.]] Now with regard to the issues you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”Â
[[#Verse 02.]] But because of immoralities, each man should have relations with his own wife and each woman with her own husband.Â
[[#Verse 03.]] A husband should fulfill his marital responsibility to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.Â
[[#Verse 04.]]Â It is not the wife who has the rights to her own body, but the husband. In the same way, it is not the husband who has the rights to his own body, but the wife.Â
[[#Verse 05.]] Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then resume your relationship, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.Â
[[#Verse 06.]]Â I say this as a concession, not as a command.Â
[[#Verse 07.]]Â I wish that everyone was as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one this way, another that.
## A Word to the Unmarried
**Principle**: Singleness is good. Marriage is good. Don't look down on others because they are in a different season or have a different path to walk. (As long as it stays within a sinless lifestyle.)
[[#Verse 08.]]Â To the unmarried and widows I say that it is best for them to remain as I am.Â
[[#Verse 09.]]Â But if they do not have self-control, let them get married. For it is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
## About Married People
**Principle**: Serve your spouse.
[[#Verse 10.]] To the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord—a wife should not divorce a husbandÂ
[[#Verse 11.]]Â (but if she does, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband), and a husband should not divorce his wife.
[[#Verse 12.]] To the rest I say—I, not the Lord—if a brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is happy to live with him, he should not divorce her.Â
[[#Verse 13.]]Â And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is happy to live with her, she should not divorce him.Â
[[#Verse 14.]] For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.Â
[[#Verse 15.]] But if the unbeliever wants a divorce, let it take place. In these circumstances the brother or sister is not bound. God has called you in peace.Â
[[#Verse 16.]] For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will bring your wife to salvation?
### The Circumstances of Your Calling
**Principle**: Live free as you are.
[[#Verse 17.]] Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches.Â
[[#Verse 18.]]Â Was anyone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision.Was anyone called who is uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.Â
[[#Verse 19.]] Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Instead, keeping God’s commandments is what counts.Â
[[#Verse 20.]] Let each one remain in that situation in life in which he was called.Â
[[#Verse 21.]] Were you called as a slave? Do not worry about it. But if indeed you are able to be free, make the most of the opportunity.Â
[[#Verse 22.]] For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. In the same way, the one who was called as a free person is Christ’s slave.Â
[[#Verse 23.]]Â You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men.Â
[[#Verse 24.]] In whatever situation someone was called, brothers and sisters, let him remain in it with God.
### Remaining Unmarried
**Principle**: Use wisdom in deciding on relationships.
[[#Verse 25.]] With regard to the question about people who have never married, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one shown mercy by the Lord to be trustworthy.Â
[[#Verse 26.]]Â Because of the impending crisis I think it best for you to remain as you are.
[[#Verse 27.]]Â The one bound to a wife should not seek divorce. The one released from a wife should not seek marriage.Â
[[#Verse 28.]] But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face difficult circumstances, and I am trying to spare you such problems.Â
[[#Verse 29.]]Â And I say this, brothers and sisters:Â The time is short. So then those who have wives should be as those who have none,Â
[[#Verse 30.]]Â those with tears like those not weeping, those who rejoice like those not rejoicing, those who buy like those without possessions,Â
[[#Verse 31.]]Â those who use the world as though they were not using it to the full. For the present shape of this world is passing away.
[[#Verse 32.]]Â And I want you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.Â
[[#Verse 33.]]Â But a married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife,Â
[[#Verse 34.]] and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, to be holy both in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband.Â
[[#Verse 35.]]Â I am saying this for your benefit, not to place a limitation on you, but so that without distraction you may give notable and constant service to the Lord.
[[#Verse 36.]] If anyone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the bloom of youth and it seems necessary, he should do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry.Â
[[#Verse 37.]]Â But the man who is firm in his commitment, and is under no necessity but has control over his will, and has decided in his own mind to keep his own virgin, does well.Â
[[#Verse 38.]] So then, the one who marries his own virgin does well, but the one who does not, does better.
[[#Verse 39.]] A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes (only someone in the Lord).
[[#Verse 40.]] But in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God!
## đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary
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## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. Chapter 7 begins Paul's answers to a letter the Corinthians had written to him (7:1).
2. "Now concerning" (*peri de*) introduces topics from their letter throughout 1 Corinthians (7:1, 25; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1, 12).
3. "It is good for a man not to touch a woman" (7:1) was likely a Corinthian slogan that Paul quotes and then qualifies.
4. Paul's teaching that the husband's body belongs to his wife just as hers belongs to him (7:4) was striking in a culture that gave men far more rights.
5. Paul separates his own instructions from the Lord's command (7:10, 12), since Jesus had taught directly about divorce (Mark 10:9-12).
6. Roman law allowed either spouse to end a marriage fairly easily.
7. "The present crisis" (7:26) may refer to famine, persecution, or general hardship. Scholars are not sure.
8. Caesar Augustus passed laws that penalized unmarried adults, so Paul's praise of singleness ran against Roman values.
9. Paul was apparently unmarried when he wrote this letter (7:7-8).
10. A widow is free to remarry, but "only in the Lord" (7:39), meaning to a fellow believer.
## 🧠Chapter Summary
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the Lord who bought us at a price, so we are His free people in whatever situation we were called (7:22-23). Whether married or single, our goal is undivided devotion to Him (7:35; Colossians 3:17).
## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đź’¬ Discussion Questions
1. Paul says both singleness and marriage are gifts from God (7:7). How can the church honor both?
2. Paul tells believers to remain in the situation they were in when God called them (7:17-24). How can you serve God right where you are?
3. Paul wants believers to live with undistracted devotion to the Lord (7:32-35). What distracts you most from that devotion?
## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember
- đź“– verse 7: Each person has his own gift from God, one this way and another that way.
- đź“– verse 17: Each person should live as the Lord has assigned and as God has called.
- đź“– verse 23: You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of people.
- đź“– verse 35: Paul wants believers to serve the Lord with undistracted devotion.
## đź”— Related Passages
- đź”— [[Proverbs 05#Verse 18.|Proverbs 5:18-19]] - Rejoice in the wife of your youth; honor marriage (7:2-5).
- đź”— [[Hebrews 13#Verse 04.|Hebrews 13:4]] - Rejoice in the wife of your youth; honor marriage (7:2-5).
- đź”— [[Matthew 19#Verse 06.|Matthew 19:6-9]] - Jesus' teaching on divorce (7:10-11).
- đź”— [[Mark 10#Verse 11.|Mark 10:11-12]] - Jesus' teaching on divorce (7:10-11).
- đź”— [[Malachi 02#Verse 15.|Malachi 2:15]] - God seeks godly offspring (7:14).
- đź”— [[Romans 12#Verse 18.|Romans 12:18]] - Live at peace with everyone (7:15).
- đź”— [[Galatians 05#Verse 06.|Galatians 5:6 and 6:15]] - What counts is faith and a new creation (7:19).
- đź”— [[Ephesians 06#Verse 06.|Ephesians 6:6]] - Servants of Christ doing God's will (7:22).
- đź”— [[1 Corinthians 06#Verse 20.|1 Corinthians 6:20]] - Bought with a price (7:23).
- đź”— [[1 John 02#Verse 17.|1 John 2:17]] - The world is passing away (7:29-31).
- đź”— [[Matthew 19#Verse 12.|Matthew 19:12]] - Undivided devotion to the Lord (7:32-35).
- đź”— [[Luke 10#Verse 40.|Luke 10:40-42]] - Undivided devotion to the Lord (7:32-35).
- đź”— [[Romans 07#Verse 02.|Romans 7:2-3]] - Marriage bound for life; marrying in the Lord (7:39).
- đź”— [[2 Corinthians 06#Verse 14.|2 Corinthians 6:14]] - Marriage bound for life; marrying in the Lord (7:39).
## 🙏 Devotional Reflection
đź“ť SOAP: [[1 Corinthians 07 - SOAP|God Is Able, Even There]]
## đź“‚ Internal Notes