It is good for a man not to TOUCH a woman (1 Cor. 7:1)

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Tue Jun 18 15:45:28 EDT 2002


(snip)
> PERI DE hWN EGRAYATE, KALON ANQRWPWi GUNAIKOS MH hAPTESQAI.
>
> Next, we note that 7:2 (indeed, the whole of 7:2-5) completely
> contradicts 7:1. The first verse of the chapter says in effect, "Don't
have
> sex with a GUNH", and 7:2-5 says every man should have his own GUNH and
has a
> responsibility to fulfil her sexual nature, and is not to neglect
> this. You can't get more opposite than that.

I don't see the contradiction if we consider the overall context. Paul is
not saying that EVERY man needs to marry. That should be clear from the
whole chapter. This means that hEKASTOS/hEKASTH in v. 2 must refer to every
man/woman who is married. Again in v. 2 Paul is using a euphemism for sexual
intercourse, i.e. "man having wife/woman having husband". (cf. John 4:18
where a woman "has" a man who is not officially her husband, and  Gal 4:27
which refers to Hagar "having" the man, Abraham, resulting in the birth of
Ishmael.)
So, the logic seems clear enough to me. In v. 1 Paul is giving his ideal in
a general statement which is that an unmarried man does well by not
attaching himself to a woman/wife (which must be inside the bounds of
marriage) - in view of the impending return of the Lord and the difficulties
and extra concerns of family life (cf. v. 7, 8, 25-35. v. 26 has a very
close parallel in wording to v. 1 and verses 25-28 helps to understand v.
1).
BUT, if an unmarried man or woman cannot control themselves and stay away
from PORNEIA, then it is better for them to marry (v. 9). Then they do not
have the gift of celibacy as Paul himself had.

It is likely that there was some teaching in Corinth which suggested that
married people were more spiritual if they did not have sexual relations.
Probably a fervent overreaction to the prevalent sexual sins in Corinth.
Paul corrects that misunderstanding. If you are married, sex is part of your
mutual responsibility, and not unspiritual at all. One of the reasons for
this advice is again to avoid the temptation of sex outside of marriage (v.
5).
>
> The explanation is that when Paul says "Now concerning the matters about
> which you wrote", he then quotes the Corinthians: "'It is good for a man
> not to have sexual relations with a woman.'" This has been pointed out by
> Jeffrey Gibson. And this is how the passage is translated by the English
> Standard Version. (My above wording is straight from the ESV.)
>
> In 1 Corinthians there are between ten and fifteen quotes of what
> was being said at Corinth, which Paul cites and then contradicts. As the
ESV takes
> it, this verse (7:1) is to be recognized as one of them.

No, I don't think so. Paul uses 6 PERI DE + genitive of topic (and one PERI
+ genitive of topic + OUN) introductions in 1 Cor and they all refer to some
questions the Corinthians had written to him about, but none of these 7
contain a direct quotation. I cannot see anything in the Greek text or the
context that would suggest a quotation.
If the text had been PERI DE hOU EGRAYATA possibly followed by hOTI, I might
grant the possibility of a quote. But with PERI DE hWN it seems to me that
Paul is introducing what they asked in an indirect way: Concerning the
things you wrote about: It is good...

Paul knows how to introduce a direct quote of what they said as in 1:12. If
he had meant a direct quote in 7:1, he would have said so.
>
> But there is more. In PERI DE hWN EGRAYATE, Paul indicates that he is
> turning to a new topic (the one which some of the Corinthians
> have written to him about). And then he goes on to discuss sex in marriage
as God's
> purpose.

Yes, agreed.

> Each man in to "have" his own GUNH (in contrast to the other
> alternatives of chapter 6). So we are to see, in context, that
> the meaning  of GUNH in 7:1 is the same as in 7:2-5. That is, what some of
the
> Corinthians were proposing to Paul in their letter to him, was
> that husband and wife are better off if they give up their sexual
relationship within
> their marriage: "It is better for a man not to have sexual relations with
> his wife (GUNH)." (Present tense because they are not referring to an act
> of intercourse but to the ongoing sexual relationship, for which the
> present is more appropriate.)

Yes, this is the topic of 2-5, but it does not allow us to assume that the
indefinite GUNH in v. 1 is used in the same sense as TNH hEAUTOU GUNAIKA.
Doing so leads to a contradiction. V. 1 is a statement about a man and woman
in general, and it introduces a topic which is further clarified through the
chapter. V. 2 talks about a man and a woman who are married and therefore
are in a different situation.

Iver Larsen




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