OUR FATHER WHO MADE MARRIAGE 

The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verses 1 - 9, changes the subjects to address a question that the Corinthian church had asked of him regarding the proper structure of marriage.

Paul started by saying that ideally, men and women would stay chaste but he conceded that it was a tall order to require that they do so permanently and so, to avoid the unmarried and widows falling into immorality, the apostle Paul laid out the structure of marriage as one man and one woman and he outlined this economy of marriage to be one where the affections to each member of the marriage be rendered as a duty because in marriage, the body of each spouse belongs to the other person. ( A married person is joined in the flesh to their spouse and this intertwining is what causes the members of the marriage to own each otherˋs body.)

Paul recommended couples not to deprive each other of affection unless they did so by mutual consent for spiritual purposes and even so, for a limited time only to ensure that they did not fall to temptation due to the potential for lapses in self-control.

1 Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment. 7 For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; 9 but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Even though Paul endorsed the single life of celibacy that he practiced, he acknowleged that not everyone was gifted with that capacity and thus he balanced his teaching on marriage by telling unmarried people and widows that they could marry if they found that they had no self-control. 

Amen.

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