marriage and virginity

⁴May marriage be honorable in every way, and may the marriage bed be immaculate. For God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

¹³He shall take a virgin as his wife. ¹⁴But a widow, or one who has been repudiated or defiled, or also a mistress, he shall not accept, but only a maiden from among his own people.

²⁴For this reason, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife; and the two shall be as one flesh.

¹Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ²But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. ³A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should also act similarly toward her husband. ⁴It is not the wife, but the husband, who has power over her body. But, similarly also, it is not the husband, but the wife, who has power over his body. ⁵So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence. ⁶But I am saying this, neither as an indulgence, nor as a commandment.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them, if they would remain as they are, just as I also am. ⁹But if they cannot restrain themselves, they should marry. For it is better to marry, than to be burned.

¹⁸Flee from fornication. Every sin whatsoever that a man commits is outside of the body, but whoever fornicates, sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or do you not know that your bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰For you have been bought at a great price. Glorify and carry God in your body.

²But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

¹⁶If a man has led astray a virgin not yet betrothed, and he has slept with her, he shall pay her dowry and have her as a wife. ¹⁷If the father of the virgin is not willing to give her, he shall pay money according to manner of a dowry, which virgins are accustomed to receive.

¹And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. ²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

³For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication, ⁴that each one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵not in passions of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God, ⁶and that no one should overwhelm or circumvent his brother in business. For the Lord is the vindicator of all these things, just as we have preached and testified to you. ⁷For God has not called us to impurity, but to sanctification. ⁸And so, whoever despises these teachings, does not despise man, but God, who has even provided his Holy Spirit within us.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and handed himself over for her,

³³Yet truly, each and every one of you should love his wife as himself. And a wife should fear her husband.

¹³If a man takes a wife, and afterwards he has hatred for her, ¹⁴and so he seeks opportunities to dismiss her, imputing a very wicked name to her by saying, ‘I received this woman as a wife, and upon entering to her, I found her not to be a virgin,’ ¹⁵then her father and mother shall take her, and they shall bring with them the signs of her virginity, to the elders of the city who are at the gate. ¹⁶And the father shall say: ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife. And because he hates her, ¹⁷he accuses her with a very wicked name, by saying: “I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.” But behold, these are the signs of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the clothing before the elders of the city. ¹⁸And the elders of that city shall apprehend that man and beat him.

⁶And so, now they are not two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.”

¹⁸The Lord God also said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. Let us make a helper for him similar to himself.”

¹²All is lawful to me, but not all is expedient. All is lawful to me, but I will not be driven back by the authority of anyone. ¹³Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food. But God shall destroy both the stomach and food. And the body is not for fornication, but rather for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴Truly, God has raised up the Lord, and he will raise us up by his power. ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are a part of Christ? So then, should I take a part of Christ and make it a part of a harlot? Let it not be so! ¹⁶And do you not know that whoever is joined to a harlot becomes one body? “For the two,” he said, “shall be as one flesh.” ¹⁷But whoever is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

³But let not any kind of fornication, or impurity, or rapacity so much as be named among you, just as is worthy of the saints,