So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
The verse is the third part of the reply to inquiries from the Corinthian church, standing alongside the expediency of marriage in the church and the propriety of separation from unbelieving partners. It belongs to a chapter dealing directly with home relations, answering matters that perplexed believers amid heathen customs and a persecuting people. That setting gives it continuing value when the customs of the times and the peculiar situation of the church are understood, and its lesson is still needed today amid looseness on moral questions. It teaches the duty of heads of families in regard to giving in marriage their daughters, or wards, or other virgins under their charge.
A father or guardian who permits a female under his care to marry does well, while one who keeps her unmarried does better, provided he acts with integrity and without a prior obligation. That choice is weighed against the social expectation that a girl should marry and the unhappiness or discredit she might face if she did not. The verse carries the thought of consecration before God into married life, applying the call to leave horrible and detestable sins and to remember God's goodness in saving from a former sinful condition to the marriage relation.
It belongs to the plain teaching on the marriage relation which approves bringing children into the world under proper conditions for their care, education, and training for immortality. The same teaching condemns selfish yielding to appetite as the curse of the marriage relation ever since sin came, from which those who are candidates for translation must be delivered before the close of probation. The verse also covers what a believing wife with an unconverted husband who demands meat, tea, and coffee and everything contrary to health reform should do about cooking for him. A wife cannot be a conscience for her husband and cannot compel him to obey in her place, because obedience is of the heart instead of the act, although the principle in the heart determines the character of the act. If a wife is compelled to do for her husband what she would never do for herself, the spirit of self-sacrifice and loyalty in her is accepted of God, and what would be sin if done for her own sake is counted as obedience and righteousness because of the motive in her heart.
The verse is the third part of the reply to inquiries from the Corinthian church, standing alongside the expediency of marriage in the church and the propriety of separation from unbelieving partners. It belongs to a chapter dealing directly with home relations, answering matters that perplexed believers amid heathen customs and a persecuting people. That setting gives it continuing value when the customs of the times and the peculiar situation of the church are understood, and its lesson is still needed today amid looseness on moral questions. It teaches the duty of heads of families in regard to giving in marriage their daughters, or wards, or other virgins under their charge.
A father or guardian who permits a female under his care to marry does well, while one who keeps her unmarried does better, provided he acts with integrity and without a prior obligation. That choice is weighed against the social expectation that a girl should marry and the unhappiness or discredit she might face if she did not. The verse carries the thought of consecration before God into married life, applying the call to leave horrible and detestable sins and to remember God's goodness in saving from a former sinful condition to the marriage relation.
It belongs to the plain teaching on the marriage relation which approves bringing children into the world under proper conditions for their care, education, and training for immortality. The same teaching condemns selfish yielding to appetite as the curse of the marriage relation ever since sin came, from which those who are candidates for translation must be delivered before the close of probation. The verse also covers what a believing wife with an unconverted husband who demands meat, tea, and coffee and everything contrary to health reform should do about cooking for him. A wife cannot be a conscience for her husband and cannot compel him to obey in her place, because obedience is of the heart instead of the act, although the principle in the heart determines the character of the act. If a wife is compelled to do for her husband what she would never do for herself, the spirit of self-sacrifice and loyalty in her is accepted of God, and what would be sin if done for her own sake is counted as obedience and righteousness because of the motive in her heart.