"good" or "better"

B. Ward Powers bwpowers at optusnet.com.au
Sun Jun 23 19:44:06 EDT 2002


Dear Iver,

At 09:28 AM 020621 +0200, Iver Larsen wrote:
> > However, quite possibly the meaning of 1 Corinthians 7:1 should
> > be rendered
> > with "good" rather than "better": "It is good for a man not to be having
> > sexual relations with his wife."
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Ward
>
>Thanks for conceding the "good" option.


I agree that KALOS certainly could be taken as simply "good", though I 
would say there are some parallels (I quoted one) for regarding it as 
"better". This does not affect the main point I have proposed about our 
seeing this verse as Paul citing what was being said at Corinth (which he 
then argues against), and that that Corinthian view being that it is "good" 
(or "better") for husband and wife to give up their sexual relations in 
marriage.


>But now you introduce another questionable translation by saying "with his
>wife". The text says:
>
>ANQRWPWi GUNAIKOS MH hAPTESQAI - a man not to have sexual relations with a 
>woman
>
>Your translation would require THS GUNAIKOS AUTOU (not found in any
>manuscript). Alternatively, if GUNAIKOS was dependent on ANHR rather than
>ANQRWPOS it could possibly be construed to mean wife, but it should still be
>definite since a husband has only one wife, and it is obvious that he should
>not have sex with just any woman who is not his wife. The text of 7:1 refers
>to a woman, not a wife. I am not aware of any translation that renders the
>word here "wife" rather than "woman".
>
>I think it is quite likely that the Corinthians could have said what you are
>suggesting, and this could have been one of statements in their letter that
>Paul is responding to in 2-5. The problem is that our text does not say so.


I have already set out the reasons which there are for taking GUNH here as 
woman, and I will just summarize here the main ones:

1. The word GUNH is the ordinary word for "wife". In the passages familiar 
to us in any of our respected translations in English where the word "wife" 
occurs, if we check the Greek, we are going to find GUNH.

2. In chapters 5 and 6 Paul refers to incest, homosexuality, adultery, 
prostitution, and those who engage in idolatrous "sacred" sex with the 
"temple prostitutes" of pagan gods (I take it these are covered by the 
"idolaters" of 6:9) and fornication (or, "sexual immorality" in general). 
Is there any type of human-to-human sexual behaviour (marriage apart) that 
he does not cover? (Rape would be covered also by one or other of the 
categories he does mention.)

3. He identifies "some of you" in Corinth as having engaged in such 
behaviour (6:11). So sexual behaviour was an issue at Corinth.

4. He says that he is now turning to a new topic (7:1a). He next discusses 
the one thing he has not covered thus far: sexual activity within marriage. 
He strongly approves of it, even to the extent of describing withholding 
sex as "depriving one another" (of something which is a legitimate part of 
the marriage relationship), something they must not do (MH APOSTEREITE, 
7:5a). To do so would be to expose themselves to Satan's temptation (7:5b).

5. He has said that the Corinthians (or some of them) had written to him 
about issues affecting sexual behaviour (7:1) and in response to what they 
said he responds that "But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, 
each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband" (7:2, 
ESV). The DIA TAS PORNEIAS here (7:2, with the article) would most 
logically be taken as the various kinds of wrong sexual behaviour to which 
he has just been referring. If one does not have a sexual relationship 
within marriage, the temptation would be to engage in some sort of such 
relationship OUTSIDE marriage.

7. The word GUNH is used several times in verses 2ff. with the significance 
"wife". It is no great leap to see its use in 7:1 as having that meaning also.

8. There are quotations of or references to what is being said or done at 
Corinth in such verses as 1:11-12, 3:4, 6:12, 10:23, 11:2, 14:12, 15:12, 
15:35, 16:17; and apparently also in 4:5, 4:18, 5:1, 6:6, 6:18, 8:1, 8:4, 
9:3, 10:20-22, 10:27-28, 12:3. In these passages we find an indication of 
the extent of Paul's knowledge about the Corinthian church. I submit that 
when Paul says PERI DE hWN EGRAYATE, "Now concerning the matters about 
which you wrote" (7:1), and goes on to make a statement with which he then 
disagrees, it is reasonable to recognize that statement "It is good for a 
man not to have sexual relations with a GUNH" (ESV plus a Greek word) as a 
citation of what is being said at Corinth, and in their letter he received.

9. In response to the comment:

>Your translation would require THS GUNAIKOS AUTOU (not found in any
>manuscript). Alternatively, if GUNAIKOS was dependent on ANHR rather than
>ANQRWPOS it could possibly be construed to mean wife, but it should still be
>definite since a husband has only one wife, and it is obvious that he should
>not have sex with just any woman who is not his wife. The text of 7:1 refers
>to a woman, not a wife.

If it were referring to a woman not his wife, it would simply be a 
restatement of Paul's condemnation of fornication and adultery from chapter 
6, whereas we have noted that Paul is going on to a new topic, that the one 
topic about sex that he has not dealt with is marital sex, and that what he 
goes on to discuss is sex within marriage.

I started checking the usage of ANHR and GUNH without AUTOU (and with and 
without an article). Certainly the article is often used, and often also 
AUTOU or similar. I only checked a few places, as it seemed to me these 
indicated GUNH did not HAVE to have an AUTOU (or similar) to mean "wife" 
(or ANHR "husband"). Many places GUNH would definitely appear to refer to a 
married woman without any particular emphasis upon the fact. I noted these 
places, for instance:

Matthew 11:11; 13:33; 18:25; 19:29 (Majority Text); 22:27; Mark 10:2; 
12:19; 12:20; Luke 2:36; 18:29; 20:28; 20:29; Ephesians 5:23; 5:24; 5:25; 
Colossians 3:18; 3:19.

I did not check more, but I conclude it is a valid usage to find GUNH 
meaning "wife" or "married woman" without the use of AUTOU and with or 
without the article.

10. My conclusion (which I offer for consideration to those interested) is 
that 7:1 is to be recognized as Paul citing what the Corinthians are 
saying, and then in subsequent verses disagreeing with it, and expounding 
instead the purpose and intention of God the Creator in making humankind as 
male and female with sexual natures, and that what these Corinthians were 
urging (with which Paul disagrees) was that it is good for husband and wife 
to discontinue an ongoing sexual relationship within marriage. "Now 
concerning the matters about which you wrote: 'It is good for a man not to 
have sexual relations with (his) wife'." Paul protests in disagreement, 
"But because of the temptation to immorality each man should have his own 
wife, and each woman her own husband." If they were to do what these 
Corinthians urge for them, they would be open to temptations to the very 
things Paul has just ruled out (chapter 6). He then goes on to expound a 
positive view of the role and function of sex within marriage.

For consideration.

Ward


                                http://www.netspace.net.au/~bwpowers
Rev Dr B. Ward Powers        Phone (International): 61-2-8714-7255
259A Trafalgar Street          Phone (Australia): (02) 8714-7255
PETERSHAM  NSW  2049      email: bwpowers at optusnet.com.au
AUSTRALIA.                         Director, Tyndale College




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