Chapter Seven
1 Cor. 7:1. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me.
Having corrected the disorders of divisions, fornication, and covetousness, he now sets forth rules concerning marriage and virginity. For the Corinthians had asked him in their letter: should one abstain from a wife, or not?
1 Cor. 7:1. It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
Good, excellent, he says, if every person, and not only a priest (as some wrongly understand this), were not to touch a wife at all and remained a virgin. But it is safer and closer to our weakness to enter into marriage. Therefore he adds the following.
1 Cor. 7:2. But, to avoid fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
He speaks about both sides. For it may happen that the husband loves chastity, but the wife does not, or vice versa. With the words "to avoid fornication" he urges restraint. For if marriage is permitted to avoid fornication, then those joined in marriage ought not to have relations with one another without any moderation, but rather chastely.
1 Cor. 7:3. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence; and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
Consider love for one another as a debt; and since it is a debt, you are necessarily obligated to show it to one another.
1 Cor. 7:4. The 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.
Now he proves that love for one another is indeed a necessary obligation. For spouses, he says, do not have authority over their own bodies, but the wife is both a slave and a mistress of her husband: a slave, since she does not have authority over her own body to sell it to whomever she wishes, but her husband has ownership of it; and a mistress, because the body of her husband is her body, and he does not have the authority to give it to harlots. In the same way, the husband is both a slave and a master of his wife.
1 Cor. 7:5. Do not deprive one another, except by agreement, for a time.
That is, against the will of the husband the wife must not abstain, and likewise the husband must not abstain against the desire of the wife. For one to abstain against the will of the other means to deprive oneself, just as is also said concerning money; but to abstain by mutual will is an entirely different matter, as for example when both (husband and wife) by agreement set a definite time for mutual abstinence.
1 Cor. 7:5. For the practice of fasting and prayer.
He explains what his expression "for a time" means, that is, when the time comes to devote oneself to prayer, that is, to pray with particular fervor. For he did not simply say: for prayer, but: "for devotion to prayer." Indeed, if the apostle found in marital cohabitation an obstacle to ordinary daily prayer, how could he have said elsewhere: "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17)? So, in order that your prayer may be more fervent, abstain, he says, from one another, because conjugal union, although it does not defile, nevertheless hinders pious occupation.
1 Cor. 7:5. And then be together again, lest Satan tempt you through your lack of self-control.
I, – reasons the apostle, – say that you should come together again; but I do not lay this down as a law, but prescribe it so "that Satan may not tempt you," that is, by urging you toward fornication. Since, however, the devil is not himself the cause of fornication, but rather our own lack of self-control, the apostle added: "because of your lack of self-control," for therein lies the reason that the devil tempts us.
1 Cor. 7:6. But I speak this as a permission, and not as a commandment.
So that you would not deprive one another before the time, I said this, says the apostle, "as a concession" (κατά συγγνώμην), that is, out of condescension to your weakness, "and not as a commandment" that is absolute.
1 Cor. 7:7. For I wish that all men were as I myself.
Everywhere, wherever the apostle prescribes some difficult feat, he usually sets himself as an example. Therefore here too he says: I wish that all would always abstain.
1 Cor. 7:7. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner, another in that.
Remaining in virginity, he says, is a gift from God; however, this feat also requires our own efforts. Why then does he call it a gift? To console the Corinthians, whom he had struck a sensitive blow with the words "your lack of self-control" (v. 5). Meanwhile, note that he considers marriage itself also a gift; for he said: "each one has his own gift from God, one in this way," that is, the gift of remaining in virginity, "and another in that way," that is, the gift of living in marriage.
1 Cor. 7:8-9. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them to remain as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Do you see the wisdom of Paul, how he both shows the superiority of virginity and at the same time does not compel abstinence from marriage for one who is unable to abstain, lest otherwise he suffer a more grievous fall? If, he says, you experience great force and burning (for the power of desire is strong), then free yourself from those labors and struggles, lest, having undertaken them, you fall into a worse evil.