1 Corinthians 7:1-11

Now for my response concerning the issues you’ve asked me to address. You wrote saying, “It is proper for a man to live in celibacy.” Perhaps. But because of the danger of immorality, each husband should have sexual intimacy with his wife and each wife should have sexual intimacy with her husband. A husband has the responsibility of meeting the sexual needs of his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. Neither the husband nor the wife have exclusive rights to their own bodies, but those rights are to be surrendered to the other. So don’t continue to refuse your spouse those rights, except perhaps by mutual agreement for a specified time so that you can both be devoted to prayer. And then you should resume your physical pleasure so that the Adversary cannot take advantage of you because of the desires of your body. I’m not giving you a divine command, but my godly advice. I would wish that all of you could live unmarried, just as I do. Yet I understand that we are all decidedly different, with each having a special grace for one thing or another. So let me say to the unmarried and those who have lost their spouses, it is fine for you to remain single as I am. But if you have no power over your passions, then you should go ahead and marry, for marriage is far better than a continual battle with lust. And to those who are married, I give this charge—which is not mine, but the Lord’s —that the wife should not depart from her husband. But if she does, then she should either remain unmarried or reconcile with her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.