“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”
But because of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. — The 'but' (de) marks Paul's crucial qualification: while singleness may be spiritually ideal, it is not universally possible or advisable. The phrase dia tēn akatharpsian (because of sexual immorality, literally 'because of incontinence') acknowledges the intensity of sexual desire and its moral dangers. Mutual marital relation becomes a prophylactic against porneia (sexual sin). Notably, Paul frames marriage as mutual obligation and reciprocal right, not male privilege—a radical egalitarianism for the 1st century.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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