But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn.
- KJV But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
- BSB But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
- NKJV but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
- NASB But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
But those lacking self-control should marry, since it is better to marry than to burn with passion. It matters because marriage is God's good and honorable provision for sexual desire.
Overview
Paul gives a realistic, pastoral counterbalance: where the gift of celibacy is absent and passions are strong, marriage is the right and honorable course. Marrying is not a spiritual failure but God's wise provision. This protects against both unhealthy asceticism and the danger of immorality, affirming marriage as good.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 1 Tim 5:14I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting.
- 1 Cor 7:2But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
- 1 Tim 5:11But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry;
- 1 Cor 7:28But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you.
- 1 Cor 7:36But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn’t sin. Let them marry.
- 1 Cor 7:39A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 7:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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