Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 7:2
But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul responds to a question the Corinthians raised about abstaining from sexual relations (v. 1), addressing a community where sexual immorality is an active problem.
The words — πορνεία (porneia) is the standard Greek term for illicit sexual activity; Paul names the specific vice driving his counsel rather than using a vague moral label.
The thread — 1 Corinthians 7:9 restates the same principle in plainer terms ("better to marry than to burn with passion"), and Ephesians 5:28–33 develops the mutual obligation Paul assumes here.
Why it lands — Paul subordinates the ideal of abstinence to the concrete need for sexual integrity, placing the responsibility on each individual rather than on the community at large.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 5:28 In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
- Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
- 1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
- Proverbs 5:18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
- Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
- 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
- Proverbs 19:14 Houses and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.
- Malachi 2:14 Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
- 1 Timothy 4:3 They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.