1 Corinthians 7:3

7:3 A husband should give to his wife her sexual rights, ¹  and likewise a wife to her husband.

1 Corinthians 7:1

Celibacy and Marriage

7:1 Now with regard to the issues you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” ² 

1 Corinthians 1:4-8

Thanksgiving

1:4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus. 1:5 For you were made rich ³  in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge ⁴  – 1:6 just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you – 1:7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation ⁵  of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:8 He ⁶  will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:25-33

5:25 Husbands, love your ⁷  wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 5:26 to sanctify her by cleansing her ⁸  with the washing of the water by the word, 5:27 so that he ⁹  may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. ¹⁰  5:28 In the same way ¹¹  husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 5:29 For no one has ever hated his own body ¹²  but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, 5:30 for we are members of his body. ¹³  5:31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become ¹⁴  one flesh. ¹⁵  5:32 This mystery is great – but I am actually ¹⁶  speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 5:33 Nevertheless, ¹⁷  each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, ¹⁸  and the wife must ¹⁹  respect ²⁰  her husband.

Colossians 3:19

3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 3:7

3:7 You also lived your lives ²¹  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.

¹ tn Grk “fulfill the obligation” or “pay the debt,” referring to the fulfillment of sexual needs within marriage.

² tn Grk “It is good for a man not to touch a woman,” a euphemism for sexual relations. This idiom occurs ten times in Greek literature, and all of the references except one appear to refer to sexual relations (cf., e.g., Josephus, Ant. 1.8.1 [1.163]; Gen 20:6 [LXX]; Prov 6:29 [LXX]). For discussion see G. D. Fee, First Corinthians (NICNT), 275. Many recent interpreters believe that here again (as in 6:12-13) Paul cites a slogan the Corinthians apparently used to justify their actions. If this is so, Paul agrees with the slogan in part, but corrects it in the following verses to show how the Corinthians misused the idea to justify abstinence within marriage (cf. 8:1, 4; 10:23). See also G. D. Fee, “1 Corinthians 7:1 in the NIV,” JETS 23 (1980): 307-14.

³ sn Made rich refers to how God richly blessed the Corinthians with an abundance of spiritual gifts (cf. v. 7).

⁴ sn Speech and knowledge refer to the spiritual gifts God had blessed them with (as v. 7 confirms). Paul will discuss certain abuses of their gifts in chapters 12-14, but he thanks God for their giftedness.

⁵ sn The revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ refers to the Lord’s return, when he will be revealed (cf. the reference to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in v. 8).

⁶ tn Grk “who,” referring to Christ. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁷ tn The Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

⁸ tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.

⁹ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

¹⁰ tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”

¹¹ tn Grk “So also.”

¹² tn Grk “flesh.”

¹³ tc Most Western witnesses, as well as the majority of Byzantine mss and a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 0285^vid Ï lat), add the following words to the end of the verse: ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ (ek th" sarko" autou kai ek twn ostewn autou, “of his body and of his bones”). This is a (slightly modified) quotation from Gen 2:23a (LXX). The Alexandrian text is solidly behind the shorter reading (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B 048 33 81 1739* 1881 pc). Although it is possible that an early scribe’s eye skipped over the final αὐτοῦ, there is a much greater likelihood that a scribe added the Genesis quotation in order to fill out and make explicit the author’s incomplete reference to Gen 2:23. Further, on intrinsic grounds, it seems unlikely that the author would refer to the physical nature of creation when speaking of the “body of Christ” which is spiritual or mystical. Hence, as is often the case with OT quotations, the scribal clarification missed the point the author was making; the shorter reading stands as original.

¹⁴ tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”

¹⁵ sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.

¹⁶ tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.

¹⁷ tn The translation of πλήν (plhn) is somewhat difficult in this context, though the overall thrust of the argument is clear. It could be an adversative idea such as “but,” “nevertheless,” or “however” (see NIV, NASB, NRSV), or it could simply be intended to round out and bring to conclusion the author’s discussion. In this latter case it could be translated with the use of “now” (so A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 384).

¹⁸ tn Grk “Nevertheless, you also, one by one, each his own wife so let him love as himself.” This statement is cumbersome and was cleaned up to reflect better English style.

¹⁹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

²⁰ tn The Greek verb φοβέομαι (fobeomai) here has been translated “respect” and the noun form of the word, i.e., φόβος (fobos), has been translated as “reverence” in 5:21.

²¹ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).