1 Corinthians

¹Now concerning the matters you wrote to me about: ‘it is good for a man not to touch a woman.’ ²However, to avoid sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. ³Let the husband render to his wife the affection due to her, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does! ⁵Do not deprive each other {of marital relations} unless it is by consent and for a season, so that you may give yourselves to fasting¹⁷⁶⁹ and prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶Nevertheless, I say this by way of concession, not as a command. ⁷Indeed, I wish that everyone would be like me. However, each person has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. ⁸Still, I say this to those who are unmarried and to widows¹⁷⁷⁰ as well: it is good for them if they remain as I am. ⁹But if they do not have self-control, let them marry. Indeed, it is better to marry than to burn. ¹⁰But to those who are married, I command (not I, but the Lord) that the wife should not leave her husband ¹¹(but if she leaves, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not leave his wife.

¹²As for other cases, I (not the Lord) say this: if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and if she is content to live with him, he should not leave her. ¹³[Likewise,] if any woman has an unbelieving husband who is content to live with her, she should not leave him. ¹⁴This is because the unbelieving husband is sanctified in his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but in fact, they are holy. ¹⁵Yet, if the unbeliever decides to leave, let there be separation. The brother or sister is not under constraint¹⁷⁷¹ in such cases, but God has called us in peace. ¹⁶Truly, how do you know, wife, if you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, if you will save your wife?

Each person’s state of life

¹⁷However that may be, let each of you lead the life to which God called you as the Lord has assigned. This is what I command in all the Churches.

¹⁸Was anyone called when he was circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised! Was anyone called when he was not circumcised? Let him not be circumcised! ¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing: what matters is ’the observance of God’s commandments. ²⁰Let everyone stay in that calling in which he was called. ²¹Were you called when you were a slave? Do not let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it. ²²Anyone who was called in the Lord while being a slave is a free human being who belongs to the Lord. Conversely, whoever was called while free is a slave of Christ. ²³You were bought with a price! Do not become slaves of [other] people. ²⁴Brethren, let everyone, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.

Advice to virgins and widows

²⁵Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my opinion¹⁷⁷² as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord so as to be trustworthy. ²⁶I think that it is good (in view of the present distress) for a man to remain as he is. ²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet, those [who marry] will have tribulations in the flesh, and I want to spare you. ²⁹Yet, I say this, brethren: the time is short, and from now on, those who have wives should be as though they had none; ³⁰and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; ³¹and those who use this world, as not using it to the fullest.¹⁷⁷³ The reason is that the outward form of this world is fading away. ³²However, I desire that you should be free from [such] cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. ³³But he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. ³⁴There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin: the unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and spirit. But a married woman cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. ³⁵I say this for your own benefit; not that I may ensnare you, but [aiming] for what is appropriate, so that you may serve the Lord without distraction. ³⁶Nevertheless, if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin,¹⁷⁷⁴ if she has passed the flower of her age, and if it is required, let him do what he wills.¹⁷⁷⁵ He does not sin; let them marry. ³⁷As for the one who stands steadfast in his heart, (having no necessity, but having control over his own will to keep his virginity): he does well. ³⁸And so, he who marries [his betrothed¹⁷⁷⁶] does well, but he who does not does better.

³⁹A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, [but] only in the Lord. ⁴⁰In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is, and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Concerning things sacrificed to idols

1769. CT omits “fasting and”
1770. Or “widowers”
1771. Or “bondage,” “is not bound”
1772. Or “judgment”
1773. NJB translates as “those who are involved with the world as though they were people not engrossed in it”
1774. This seems to be a reference to a Christian man who was betrothed to a virgin with the intention to remain in an unconsummated relationship, perhaps in imitation of St. Joseph and the Theotokos.
1775. Or “desires”
1776. Greek “her”