1 Corinthians 7:3
in 1 Corinthians 7The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
KJV
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 7
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Let the husband ... - “Let them not imagine that there is any virtue in bring separate from each other, as if they were in a state of celibacy” - “Doddridge.” They are bound to each other; in every way they are to evince kindness, and to seek to promote the happiness and purity of each other. There is a great deal of delicacy used here by Paul, and his expression is removed as far as possible from the grossness of pagan writers.
This site's exposition
render unto the wife due benevolence
on 1 Corinthians 7:3-5
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband: Paul states the marriage bed as a mutual debt rather than a one sided claim, the wife's authority over her husband's body named in the same sentence as his over hers, a symmetry striking against a culture that granted the husband far more claim than the wife. Defraud ye not one the other except it be with consent for a time guards the same mutuality, permitting a season set apart for fasting and prayer only by agreement and only briefly, and come together again lest Satan exploit the very self denial meant to serve devotion. The bench reads the whole unit as Paul correcting an ascetic impulse already circulating in the church, one that would turn marriage's ordinary intimacy into a spiritual liability rather than a covenant duty.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Husband and wife must submit to one another in this matter, since the two of them are one flesh and one will, according to the law of nature.
What (of the fact) that she endured not to have been met alone; but in the presence of Adam, not yet her husband, not yet bound to lend her his ears, she is impatient of keeping silence, and makes him the transmitter of that which she had imbibed from the Evil One?
A commentator
Theodoret of CyrusCOMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 201 · Written before 458.
proposed
Human laws demand that women be chaste and if they are not they are punished for it, but they do not demand the same from men. Since it was men who made the laws, they did not make themselves equal with woman but allowed themselves …
Now what is the meaning of "the due honor? The wife hath not power over her own body;" but is both the slave and the mistress of the husband. And if you decline the service which is due, you have offended God. But if thou wish to withdraw thyself, it must be with the husband's permission, though it be but a for short time. For this is why he calls the matter a debt, to shew that no one is master of himself but that they are servants to each other. When therefore thou seest an harlot tempting thee, say, "My body is not mine, but my wife's." The same also let the woman say to those who would undermine her chastity, "My body is not mine, but my husband's." Now if neither husband nor wife hath power even over their own body, much less have they over their property. Hear ye, all that have husbands and all that have wives: that if you must not count your body your own, much less your money. Elsewhere I grant He gives to the husband abundant precedence, both in the New Testament, and the Old saying, "Thy turning shall be towards thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Paul doth so too by making a distinction thus, and writing, "Husbands, love your wives; and let the wife see that she reverence her husband." But in this place we hear no more of greater and less, but it is one and the same right. Now why is this? Because his speech was about chastity. "In all other things," says he, "let the husband have the prerogative; but not so where the question is about chastity." "The husband hath no power over his own body, neither the wife." There is great equality of honor, and no prerogative.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Consider love for one another as a debt; and since it is a debt, you are necessarily obligated to show it to one another.
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
That conjugal chastity is to be approved according to the evangelical law is shown by authority, as follows. 1 Corinthians 7: Let the husband render to the wife the debt owed, and the wife to the husband. The husband does not have power over his …
Then when he says, the husband should give, he deals with the use of the marriage contract: first, about rendering the conjugal debt; secondly, about postponing the debt (v. 5). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he states his proposition, saying: …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Let not married persons fancy that there is any perfection in living with each other, as if they were unmarried. The debt - This ancient reading seems far more natural than the common one.
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence,....
He gives direction to those who are married to continue together, though they might have an unbelieving relative, unless the unbeliever would part, in which case a Christian would not be in bondage,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence - Την οφειλομενην ευνοιαν· Though our version is no translation of the original, yet few persons are at a loss for the meaning, and the context is sufficiently plain. Some have rendered the words, not unaptly, the matrimonial debt, or conjugal duty - that which a wife owes to her husband, and the husband to his wife; and which they must take care mutually to render, else alienation of affection will be the infallible consequence, and this in numberless instances has led to adulterous connections. In such cases the wife has to blame herself for the infidelity of her husband, and the husband for that of his wife. What miserable work has been made in the peace of families by a wife or a husband pretending to be wiser than the apostle, and too holy and spiritual to keep the commandments of God!
The words behind it
14 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| τῇ | tea | To the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γυναικὶ | gunaiki | wife | G1135 → | 211 times |
| ὁ | ho | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀνὴρ | aner | husband | G435 → | 216 times |
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὀφειλὴν | opheilen | debt | G3782 → | |
| ἀποδιδότω· | apodidoto | should fulfill; | G591 → | |
| ὁμοίως | homoios | likewise | G3668 → | 30 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἡ | he | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γυνὴ | gune | wife | G1135 → | 211 times |
| τῷ | to | to the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀνδρί. | andri | husband. | G435 → | 216 times |
τῇTo the
teaG3588 →19766 times
γυναικὶwife
gunaikiG1135 →211 times
ὁthe
hoG3588 →19766 times
ἀνὴρhusband
anerG435 →216 times
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
ὀφειλὴνdebt
opheilenG3782 →
ἀποδιδότω·should fulfill;
apodidotoG591 →
ὁμοίωςlikewise
homoiosG3668 →30 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
καὶalso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἡthe
heG3588 →19766 times
γυνὴwife
guneG1135 →211 times
τῷto the
toG3588 →19766 times
ἀνδρί.husband.
andriG435 →216 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 3:7Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
it leads to
- Colossians 3:19
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
- Genesis 2:23–24
And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”
- Ephesians 5:25–28
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
- Matthew 19:3–9
Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
- Ephesians 5:33
Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
- Colossians 3:19
Through
Exodus 21:10If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 7:1–6
Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations.
- 1 Corinthians 7:1–6
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 3; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 19; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, Of Patience; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 201; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.