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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:1-9

The apostle comes now, as a faithful and skilful casuist, to answer some cases of conscience which the Corinthians had proposed to him. Those were things whereof they wrote to him, 1 Cor. 7:1. As the lips of ministers should keep knowledge, so the people should ask the law at their mouths. The apostle was as ready to resolve as they were to propose their doubts. In the former chapter, he warns them to avoid fornication; here he gives some directions about marriage, the remedy God had appointed... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 7:1-2

7:1-2 With regard to your letter and its suggestion that it would be a fine thing for a man not to have anything to do with a woman--to avoid fornication, let each man possess his own wife, and each woman her own husband. We have already seen that in Greek thought there was strong tendency to despise the body and the things of the body; and that that tendency could issue in a position where men said, "The body is utterly unimportant; therefore we can do what we like with it and it makes no... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 7:3-7

7:3-7 Let the husband give to the wife all that is due to her; and in the same way let the wife give to the husband all that is due to him. A wife is not in absolute control of her own body, but her husband is. In the same way a husband is not in absolute control of his own body, but his wife is. Do not deprive each other of each other's legitimate rights, unless it be by common agreement, and for a limited time. You could do so in order to have time for prayer and afterwards come together... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:2

Nevertheless, to avoid fornication ,.... Or "fornications"; meaning either the frequent commission of that sin; or all sorts of uncleanness and pollution, which may be avoided by wedlock, and the proper use of the marriage bed, where the gift of continency is not bestowed: wherefore to prevent unlawful copulations, as of single persons with one another, or of a married person with a single one, the apostle advises, as being what is right and proper, let every man have his own wife, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:3

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence ,.... The Syriac version renders it, חובא דמתתחיב , "due love"; and so the Arabic; and may include all the offices of love, tenderness, humanity, care, provision, and protection, which are to be performed by the husband to his wife; though it seems chiefly, if not solely, here to respect what is called, ענתה , Exodus 21:10 "her marriage duty", as distinct from food and raiment to be allowed her; and what is meant by it the Jewish... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:4

The wife hath not power of her own body ,.... To refrain the use of it from her husband; or to prostitute it to another man: but the husband ; he has the sole power over it, and may require when he pleases the use of it: and likewise also the husband has not power over his own body : to withhold due benevolence, or the conjugal debt from his wife; or abuse it by self-pollution, fornication, adultery, sodomy, or any acts of uncleanness: but the wife; she only has a power over it, a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 7:5

Defraud ye not one the other ,.... By withholding due benevolence, denying the use of the marriage bed, refusing to pay the conjugal debt, and which is called a "diminishing of her marriage duty", Exodus 21:10 where the Septuagint use the same word "defraud", as the apostle does here; it is what both have a right to, and therefore, if either party is denied, it is a piece of injustice, it is properly a defrauding; though with proper conditions, such as follow, it may be lawful for married... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 7:2

To avoid fornication - Δια τας πορνειας· verto, propter exercendam libidinem, vel ut libidinem licite exercere liceat. Probo hanc notionem ex Hebraeo, ibi זנה , zanah, est libidinem exercere , Hosea 4:10 ; : For they shall eat and not have enough; they shall commit whoredom, תזנו , libidinem exercebunt , and shall not increase. Here the prophet certainly does not speak of whoredom in our sense of the word; for the persons he mentions expected to have children, which cannot be... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 7:3

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence - Την οφειλομενην ευνοιαν· Though our version is no translation of the original, yet few persons are at a loss for the meaning, and the context is sufficiently plain. Some have rendered the words, not unaptly, the matrimonial debt, or conjugal duty - that which a wife owes to her husband, and the husband to his wife; and which they must take care mutually to render, else alienation of affection will be the infallible consequence, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 7:4

The wife hath not power, etc. - Her person belongs to her husband; her husband's person belongs to her: neither of them has any authority to refuse what the other has a matrimonial right to demand. The woman that would act so is either a knave or a fool. It would be trifling to attribute her conduct to any other cause than weakness or folly. She does not love her husband; or she loves some one else better than her husband; or she makes pretensions to a fancied sanctity unsupported by... read more

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