Now concerning the things about which you wrote: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
But, because there is so much sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
Let the husband fulfill his obligation to the wife, and likewise also the wife to the husband.
The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does, and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
Do not deprive one another unless it is by mutual consent for a set time, so that you have leisure time for prayer and then come together again, so that the Adversary does not tempt you because of your lack of self control.
Now I say this by way of concession, not by God’s command,
for I would like everyone to be just as I myself. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
Now I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain single, just as I am.
But if they are not exercising self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
Now to the married I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife not depart from her husband
(but should she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife.
But to the rest I say (I, not the Lord), if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her.
And the woman that has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband.
For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
Yet if the unbelieving departs, let him depart, the brother or the sister is not bound in such cases, but God has called us in peace.
For how do you know, O wife, if you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, if you will save your wife?
Live as You Are Called
Only as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, so let him walk. Indeed, this is my rule in all the churches.
Was any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has any been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is everything.
Each one should remain in that calling in which he was called.
Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it. But if you are able also to become free, rather do that.
For whoever is in union with the Lord, who was called while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise whoever was called while free is Christ’s slave.
You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of other people.
Brothers and sisters, let each one, in whatever condition he was called, remain in that with God.
The Unmarried and the Widowed
Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has received mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.
I consider, therefore, that this is good because of the present distress; that it is good for a man to remain as he is.
Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
But if you marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned. Yet those who do marry will have trouble in the flesh, and I am trying to spare you.
But this I say, brothers, the appointed time has grown short, so from now on those who have wives should be as if they had none;
and those crying as not crying; and those rejoicing as not rejoicing; and those who buy things, as if they did not have them;
and those who use the world, as not using it to the full, for the present form of this world is passing away.
I want you to be free from anxieties. He who is unmarried is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he can please the Lord,
but he who is married is anxious about the things of the world, how he can please his wife,
and is divided. So also, the woman who is unmarried and the virgin are anxious for the things of the Lord, so that she can be holy both in body and in spirit, but she who is married is anxious about the things of the world, how she can please her husband.
And this I say for your own profit, not to impose a restraint on you, but to promote that which is proper, and so you can be devoted to the Lord without distraction.
But if any man thinks that he is acting improperly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past the bloom of her youth, and if need so requires, let him do what he will; he does not sin; let her marry.
But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power as touching in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, will do well.
So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well; and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.
A wife is bound for as long a time as her husband is living, but if the husband has fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wants, but only if he is in the Lord.
But, in my opinion, she is more blessed if she remain as she is, and I think that I also have the spirit of God.