Devotional 13 November 2025

November 13, 2025 • Steve Torres

1 Corinthians 7:4.jpg

“Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.” (1 Corinthians 7:1–7, ESV)

Paul continues the theme of 1 Corinthians 6 by showing what it means to “glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:20). The Corinthians had written to him saying, “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman,” an idea likely born from ascetic influence and a belief that true spirituality meant distancing oneself from bodily life. Paul affirms that there is a place for celibacy, but immediately qualifies it. He is quoting their statement, not making one of his own. His goal is not to discourage marriage, but to correct a misunderstanding of the body and of holiness.

Paul’s response begins with pastoral realism. Because sexual temptation is real, and because God created human beings as embodied creatures, marriage is a gracious provision against sexual immorality (Gen 2:24; Prov 5:15–19; Heb 13:4). This does not reduce marriage to mere function. Rather, within the covenantal bond, husband and wife become a place of mutual love, comfort, protection, and delight. Paul emphasizes mutual authority (something radical in his world) teaching that each spouse belongs to the other (1 Cor 7:3–4; Eph 5:21). This mutuality guards against selfishness and ensures that neither spouse treats the other as a mere instrument for personal gratification.

For this reason, Paul instructs couples not to deprive one another. Deprivation for the sake of deprivation is not spiritual maturity; it is spiritual vulnerability. When one withholds intimacy without cause, it creates opportunities for temptation (1 Cor 7:5). True spirituality is not found in rejecting the body but in honoring God with the body. Abstinence for prayer is appropriate only when the couple agrees and only for a limited time. Anything beyond this is not a mark of holiness but a distortion of it.

Paul then clarifies his tone: his permission regarding temporary abstinence is a concession, not a command. He is not saying that marriage is a concession. On the contrary, marriage is a gift of God. What Paul concedes is that their slogan, “it is good to abstain,” has some merit only for those who, like Paul, have been given the gift of celibacy (Matt 19:11–12). Most believers do not possess this gift, and God does not require one to pretend otherwise. For the majority, marriage is the wise, holy, God-given context for embodied obedience.

In all of this, Paul is teaching that holiness is not the abandonment of the body; it is the offering of the body to God in love, purity, and covenantal faithfulness.