1 Corinthianschapter 7
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Speaks with:1 Corinthians 7×351 Timothy 5×4Colossians 3×4Matthew 19×31 Peter 3×31 John 2×3
Summary
Chapter summary
Paul's extended counsel on marriage and singleness. It is good for a man not to touch a woman, yet to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife. Render due benevolence. Let not the believing spouse depart from the unbelieving. Abide in the calling in which you were called. Paul recommends singleness for those without obligation, given the present distress, but warns against binding consciences. Calvin sees the chapter as pastoral wisdom applied to diverse circumstances under the gospel's freedom.
Context
Epistle · Paul — 1 Corinthians overview
- A. 1–9 Marriage, Mutual Rights, and the Gift of Singleness
- B. 10–16 Do Not Leave — Even the Unbelieving Spouse
- C. 17–24 Stay Where God Called You: Circumcised, Slave, or Free
- D. 25–40 Virgins, a Short Time, and Undistracted Devotion
The outline
A.Marriage, Mutual Rights, and the Gift of Singlenessvv. 1 to 9
Read vv. 1 to 9 →B.Do Not Leave — Even the Unbelieving Spousevv. 10 to 16
Read vv. 10 to 16 →C.Stay Where God Called You: Circumcised, Slave, or Freevv. 17 to 24
Read vv. 17 to 24 →D.Virgins, a Short Time, and Undistracted Devotionvv. 25 to 40
Read vv. 25 to 40 →
The world behind this chapter
1 Corinthians 7The history
This chapter begins Paul's replies to a letter they sent him — the repeated "now concerning" marks each new question. He is answering their agenda, not setting his own, which is why the topics jump.
Marriage in that world was arranged, economic, and about family alliance and property; a dowry moved with the bride, and divorce could be initiated by either party under Roman law with little formality. A believing spouse married to an unbeliever faced a genuine crisis if the marriage was suddenly seen as unclean.
Paul's ruling that the believer sanctifies the marriage rather than the unbeliever defiling it reverses the expected direction of contamination, and it protects the children's standing in the household.
Slavery gets the same treatment. He tells slaves not to be troubled by their status, though if they can gain freedom to take it. Roman manumission was common enough that this was a real possibility, and the point is that neither condition changes anything before God.
The "present distress" he mentions is not explained. Some connect it to a food shortage or civic hardship in Achaia at the time; the text simply does not say, and honest readers should not overclaim.
What it meant to them
The first hearers were given something rare in their culture: mutual obligation in marriage stated symmetrically, the husband's body belonging to the wife as hers to him.
They were also told that singleness was not a defect. In a society where an unmarried adult was suspect and childless women had no security, Paul commends undivided devotion as a genuine good — while refusing to make it a rule for anyone.
Sources cited
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
- Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 1 Corinthians 7. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.