“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.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 7:2
Having corrected the three heaviest things laid to their charge, one, the distraction of the Church, another, about the fornicator, a third, about the covetous person, he thenceforth uses a milder sort of speech. And he interposes some exhortation and advice about marriage and virginity, giving the hearers some respite from more unpleasant subjects. But in the second Epistle he does the contrary; he begins from the milder topics, and ends with the more distressing. And here…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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