1 Corinthians 7:1-2

The context

First Corinthians 7 begins a section answering questions the congregation had put in a letter, and the formula 'now concerning the things about which you wrote' marks the shift. The chapter deals with marriage, singleness, divorce, and the unsettled conditions of the moment, and it is the longest treatment of the subject in the letters.

What it establishes

The verses establish a position against ascetic abstinence within marriage. Paul quotes a slogan and then answers it: because of temptation, each man is to have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The instruction is mutual, and it assumes ordinary married life continues.

What it does not establish

It is disputed whether verse 1 is Paul's view or a quotation. The words may be a Corinthian slogan he qualifies, and the chapter has been read both ways. Nor does the verse make marriage a concession to the weak; Paul commends singleness but makes no rule of it.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

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Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.