1 Corinthians 7:3

Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto her husband.

In marriage, the sensuous impulse, by being controlled and placed under religious sanctions is refined and purified ... Instead of being any longer the source of untold curses to mankind, it becomes a condition of their continuance and an element in their peace, because it is then placed under the blessing of God and of his church.[14]

Unto the wife her due ... also unto the husband ... The sexual relationship in married couples, far from being wrong, is a lawful and necessary function of Christian marriage. This verse establishes the idea that "Among some of the Corinthians there existed an exaggerated spiritualistic tendency which threatened to injure conjugal relations."[15] There existed a view among ascetics that sex relations were in and of themselves wicked, or evil; and the blight of this monastic error has fallen upon all succeeding generation.

[14] F. W. Farrar, op. cit., p. 224.

[15] Donald S. Metz, op. cit., p. 373.