Instruction on Marriage

7 Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations.^{[a] 2} But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.

³ The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. ⁴ The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.

⁵ Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ I say this as a concession, not as a command. ⁷ But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another.

⁸ So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am. ⁹ But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.

²⁵ Now regarding your question about the young women who are not yet married. I do not have a command from the Lord for them. But the Lord in his mercy has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will share it with you.

²⁶ Because of the present crisis,^[a] I think it is best to remain as you are.

³² I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him.

³³ But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife.

³⁹ A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but only if he loves the Lord.^[a]

⁴⁰ But in my opinion it would be better for her to stay single, and I think I am giving you counsel from God’s Spirit when I say this.