Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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III.—Answers to Questions asked by the Church at Corinth.
note
1 With reference to the subjects about which you
wrote to me:—It would be well for a man to
remain single.
2 But, owing to the prevalence of
immorality, I advise every man to have his own wife, and
every woman her husband.
3 A husband should give his wife
her due, and a wife her husband.
4 It is not the wife, but the
-- --
husband, who exercises power over her body; and so, too, it
is not the husband, but the wife, who exercises power over his
body.
5 Do not deprive each other of what is due—unless it is
only for a time and by mutual consent, so that your minds may
be free for prayer till you again live as man and wife—
lest Satan should take advantage of your want of self-control
and tempt you.
6 I say this, however, as a concession, not
as a command.
7 I should wish every one to be just what I am
myself. But every one has his own gift from God—one in
one way, and one in another.
8 My advice, then, to those who are not married, and to
widows, is this:—It would be well for them to remain as I
am myself.
9 But, if they cannot control themselves, let them
marry, for it is better to marry than to be consumed with
passion. ⪆⪆
10 To those who are married my direction is—
yet it is not mine, but the Master's—that a woman is not to
leave her husband (if she has done so,
11 let her remain as she is,
or else be reconciled to her husband) and also that a man is not
to divorce his wife. ⪆⪆ note
12 To all others I say—I,
not the Master:—If a Brother is married to a
woman, who is an unbeliever but willing to live
with him, he should not divorce her;
13 and a woman who is
married to a man, who is an unbeliever but willing to live with
her, should not divorce her husband.
14 For, through his wife, the
husband who is an unbeliever has become associated with
Christ's People; and the wife who is an unbeliever has
become associated with Christ's People through our Brother
whom she has married. Otherwise your children would be
‘defiled,’ but, as it is, they belong to Christ's People.
15 However,
if the unbeliever wishes to be separated, let him be so.
Under such circumstances neither the Brother nor the Sister
is bound; God has called you to live in peace.
16 How can you
tell, wife, whether you may not save your husband? and
how can you tell, husband, whether you may not save your
wife?
note
17 In any case, a man should continue to live in the
condition which the Lord has allotted to him, and
in which he was when God called him. This
is the rule that I lay down in every Church.
18 Was
a man already circumcised when he was called? Then he
should not efface his circumcision. Has a man been called
when uncircumcised? Then he should not be circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing; the want of it is nothing; but to
keep the commands of God is everything.
20 Let every one
remain in that condition of life in which he was when the
Call came to him.
21 Were you a slave when you were called?
Do not let that trouble you. No, even if you are able to gain
your freedom, still do your best.
22 For the man who was a
-- --
slave when he was called to the Master's service is the Master's
freed-man; so, too, the man who was free when called is
Christ's slave.
23 You were bought, and the price was paid. Do
not let yourselves become slaves to men.
24 Brothers, let every
one remain in the condition in which he was when he was
called, in close communion with God.
note
25 With regard to unmarried women, I have no
command from the Master to give you, but I tell
you my opinion, and it is that of a man whom the
Master in his mercy has made worthy to be trusted.
26 I think, then, that, in view of the time of suffering that has
now come upon us, what I have already said is best—that a
man should remain as he is.
27 Are you married to a wife?
Then do not seek to be separated. Are you separated from a
wife?
28 Then do not seek for a wife. Still, if you should marry,
that is not wrong; nor, if a young woman marries, is that
wrong. But those who marry will have much trouble to bear,
and my wish is to spare you. ⪆⪆
29 What I mean, Brothers,
is this.— The time is short. Meanwhile, let those who have
wives live as if they had none,
30 those who are weeping as if not
weeping, those who are rejoicing as if not rejoicing, those who
buy as if not possessing,
31 and those who use the good things of
the world as using them sparingly; for this world as we see it
is passing away.
32 I want you to be free from anxiety. The
unmarried man is anxious about the Master's Cause, desiring
to please him;
33 while the married man is anxious about worldly
matters, desiring to please his wife; and so his interests are
divided.
34 Again, the unmarried woman, whether she is old or
young, is anxious about the Master's Cause, striving to be pure
both in body and in spirit, while the married woman is anxious
about worldly matters, desiring to please her husband.
35 I say
this for your own benefit, not with any intention of putting a
halter round your necks, but in order to secure for the Master
seemly and constant devotion, free from all distraction.
36 If, however, a father thinks that he is not acting fairly
by his unmarried daughter, when she is past her youth, and
if under these circumstances her marriage ought to take
place, let him act as he thinks right. He is doing nothing
wrong—let the marriage take place.
37 On the other hand, a
father, who has definitely made up his mind, and is under no
compulsion, but is free to carry out his own wishes, and who
has come to the decision, in his own mind, to keep his unmarried
daughter at home, will be doing right.
38 In short, the
one who consents to his daughter's marriage is doing right,
and yet the other will be doing better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives; but, if
the husband should pass to his rest, the widow is free to
marry any one she wishes, provided he is a believer.
40 Yet
-- --
she will be happier if she remains as she is—in my opinion,
for I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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