1 Corinthians · 40 verses
1 Corinthians 7
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The time is short enough that a husband is told to live as though he had no wife, and a buyer as though he owned nothing.
Marriage, with the astonishing exchange of bodiesvv. 1–16
The chapter opens with marriage as a mutual surrender of bodily authority: neither spouse is master of their own body, but each is entrusted with the other's. Even abstinence is to be temporary and agreed, chiefly so that prayer may have its interval without leaving temptation an empty chair. The speaker carefully distinguishes his instructions: to the married comes a command “not I, but the Lord”; to those with an unbelieving spouse, advice marked “I, not the Lord”. Yet the advice is remarkably steady—stay together if the unbelieving partner is willing, and let the departing one go if not. The children, unexpectedly, are called holy.
Remain where the call found youvv. 17–24
The governing refrain is to remain in the condition in which the call arrived. Circumcision is neither here nor there; a slave may take freedom if it appears, while remaining, in a splendid reversal, the Lord’s freedman. The free man, meanwhile, is Christ’s slave. Human arrangements are neither erased nor allowed to become the master of the called person.
The shortness of time and the unsettled householdvv. 25–40
On virgins, the speaker has no command from the Lord, only a judgment offered under mercy. The present crisis and the shortness of time make remaining as one is seem good; marriage is permitted, but arrives carrying troubles in this life. Then the ordinary furniture of existence is made deliberately provisional: marriage, grief, joy, buying, and the use of the world are all to be handled as though their opposites were already standing in the room. The unmarried can give undivided attention to the Lord, while the married person's interests are divided between the Lord and a spouse—an arrangement the chapter describes without pretending that either side has vanished. A betrothed pair may marry without sin, or not marry and do better; a widow is free to marry, provided it is in the Lord, though remaining as she is is judged happier.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
1 Cor 7:1Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations.
1 Cor 7:2But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
1 Cor 7:3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
1 Cor 7:4The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.
1 Cor 7:5Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control.
1 Cor 7:6I say this as a concession, not as a command.
1 Cor 7:7I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
1 Cor 7:8Now to the unmarried and widows I say this: It is good for them to remain unmarried, as I am.
1 Cor 7:9But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
1 Cor 7:10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.
1 Cor 7:11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
1 Cor 7:12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If a brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
1 Cor 7:13And if a woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.
1 Cor 7:14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
1 Cor 7:15But if the unbeliever leaves, let him go. The believing brother or sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace.
1 Cor 7:16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
1 Cor 7:17Regardless, each one should lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is what I prescribe in all the churches.
1 Cor 7:18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man still uncircumcised when called? He should not be circumcised.
1 Cor 7:19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commandments is what counts.
1 Cor 7:20Each one should remain in the situation he was in when he was called.
1 Cor 7:21Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it concern you—but if you can gain your freedom, take the opportunity.
1 Cor 7:22For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman. Conversely, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.
1 Cor 7:23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
1 Cor 7:24Brothers, each one should remain in the situation he was in when God called him.
1 Cor 7:25Now about virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
1 Cor 7:26Because of the present crisis, I think it is good for a man to remain as he is.
1 Cor 7:27Are you committed to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you free of commitment? Do not look for a wife.
1 Cor 7:28But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.
1 Cor 7:29What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;
1 Cor 7:30those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing;
1 Cor 7:31and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
1 Cor 7:32I want you to be free from concern. The unmarried man is concerned about the work of the Lord, how he can please the Lord.
1 Cor 7:33But the married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can please his wife,
1 Cor 7:34and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the work of the Lord, how she can be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband.
1 Cor 7:35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but in order to promote proper decorum and undivided devotion to the Lord.
1 Cor 7:36However, if someone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his betrothed, and if she is beyond her youth and they ought to marry, let him do as he wishes; he is not sinning; they should get married.
1 Cor 7:37But the man who is firmly established in his heart and under no constraint, with control over his will and resolve in his heart not to marry the virgin, he will do well.
1 Cor 7:38So then, he who marries the virgin does well, but he who does not marry her does even better.
1 Cor 7:39A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, as long as he belongs to the Lord.
1 Cor 7:40In my judgment, however, she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 324 passages were voted onto 38 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 31 Peter 3:7Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
- 2Ephesians 5:28In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
- 231 Corinthians 6:20you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
- 311 John 2:17The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
- 39Romans 7:2–3For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
- 2Ephesians 5:33Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
- 231 Peter 1:18–19For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
- 23Titus 2:14He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- 32Matthew 6:25–34Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- 21 Corinthians 7:9But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
- 10Matthew 5:32But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
- 351 Corinthians 7:33–34But the married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can please his wife,
- 14Malachi 2:15–16Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
- 23Leviticus 25:42Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.
- 23Revelation 5:9And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
- 311 Peter 4:7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.
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