1 Corinthians 7:3

Contextual Overview

¹ Now I will discuss the things you wrote me about. You asked if it is better for a man not to have any sexual relations at all. ¹ Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well for a man not to touch a woman. ¹ As concerninge the thinges wherof ye wrote vnto me: it is good for a ma not to touche a woman. ¹ Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. ¹ Now concerning the things you wrote about: It's good for a man not to touch a woman.[fn]1 Corinthians 7:8,26;">[xr] ¹ Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. ¹ Now I will discuss the things you wrote me about. It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. ¹ Now concerning the things whereof you wrote: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ¹ Now concerning the things of which ye wrote to me: [It is] good for a man not to touch a woman. ¹ Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 21:10, 1 Peter 3:7

Reciprocal: 1 Corinthians 7:33 - how

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence,.... The Syriac version renders it, חובא דמתתחיב, "due love"; and so the Arabic; and may include all the offices of love, tenderness, humanity, care, provision, and protection, which are to be performed by the husband to his wife; though it seems chiefly, if not solely, here to respect what is called, ענתה, Exodus 21:10 "her marriage duty", as distinct from food and raiment to be allowed her; and what is meant by it the Jewish doctors will tell us: one says t, it is

תשמיש המטה, "the use of the marriage bed"; and, says another u,

לבא עליה, "it is to lie with her", according to the way of all the earth. And so the phrase here, "due benevolence", is an euphemism, and designs the act of coition; which as it is an act of love and affection, a sign of mutual benevolence, so of justice; it is a due debt from divine ordination, and the matrimonial contract. The Jewish doctors have fixed and settled various canons w concerning the performance, of this conjugal debt: and the apostle may not be altogether without some view to the rules and customs which obtained in his own nation.

And, likewise also the wife unto the husband; she is not to refuse the use of the bed when required, unless there is some just impediment, otherwise she comes under the name of מורדת, a "rebellious wife"; concerning whom, and her punishment, the Jews x give the following rules:

"a woman that restrains her husband from the use of the bed, is called rebellious; and when they ask her why she rebels, if she says, because it is loathsome to me, and I cannot lie with him; then they oblige him to put her away directly, without her dowry; and she may not take any thing of her husband's, not even her shoe strings, nor her hair lace; but what her husband did not give her she may take, and go away: and if she rebels against her husband, on purpose to afflict him, and she does to him so or so, and despises him, they send to her from the sanhedrim, and say to her, know thou, that if thou continuest in thy rebellion, thou shalt not prosper? and after that they publish her in the synagogues and schools four weeks, one after another, and say, such an one has rebelled against her husband; and after the publication, they send and say to her, if thou continuest in thy rebellion, thou wilt lose thy dowry; and they appoint her twelve months, and she has no sustenance from her husband all that time; and she goes out at the end of twelve months without her dowry, and returns everything that is her husband's.''

This account, with a little variation, is also given by Maimonides y.

t Mosis Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, praecept. neg. 81. Sol. Jarchi in Exod. xxi. 10. u Maimon. Hilch. Isbot, c. 12. sect. 2. Vid. Aben Ezra in Exod. xxi. 10. w Vid. Misn. Cetubot, c. 5. sect. 6. & Mikvaot, c. 8. sect. 3. x Mosis Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. neg. 81. y Hilch. Ishot, c. 14. sect. 8, 9, 10. Vid. Misn. Cetubot, c. 5. sect. 7. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let the husband ... - “Let them not imagine that there is any virtue in bring separate from each other, as if they were in a state of celibacy” - “Doddridge.” They are bound to each other; in every way they are to evince kindness, and to seek to promote the happiness and purity of each other. There is a great deal of delicacy used here by Paul, and his expression is removed as far as possible from the grossness of pagan writers. His meaning is plain; but instead of using a word to express it which would be indelicate and offensive, he uses one which is not indelicate in the slightest degree. The word which he uses εὔνοιαν eunoian,” benevolence”) denotes kindness, good-will, affection of mind. And by the use of the word “due” ὀφειλομένην opheilomenēn, he reminds them of the sacredness of their vow, and of the fact that in person, property, and in every respect, they belong to each other. It was necessary to give this direction, for the contrary might have been regarded as proper by many who would have supposed there was special virtue and merit in living separate from each other; as facts have shown that many have imbibed such an idea - and it was not possible to give the rule with more delicacy than Paul has done. Many mss., however, instead of “due benevolence,” read ὀφειλὴν opheilēn, “a debt, or that which is owed;” and this reading has been adopted by Griesbach in the text. Homer, with a delicacy not unlike the apostle Paul, uses the word φιλότητα filotēta, “friendship,” to express the same idea.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 7:3. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence — την οφειλομενην ευνοιαν. Though our version is no translation of the original, yet few persons are at a loss for the meaning, and the context is sufficiently plain. Some have rendered the words, not unaptly, the matrimonial debt, or conjugal duty-that which a wife owes to her husband, and the husband to his wife; and which they must take care mutually to render, else alienation of affection will be the infallible consequence, and this in numberless instances has led to adulterous connections. In such cases the wife has to blame herself for the infidelity of her husband, and the husband for that of his wife. What miserable work has been made in the peace of families by a wife or a husband pretending to be wiser than the apostle, and too holy and spiritual to keep the commandments of God!