HomeLog inTodaySubscriptionVerse LibraryApproachAboutPrivacy中文English
← Back to Library

1 Corinthians 7:3-4

哥林多前书 7:3-4

The Passage

Let the husband render to his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife doesn't have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but the wife.

In the other language

丈夫当用合宜之分待妻子；妻子待丈夫也要如此。妻子没有权柄主张自己的身子，乃在丈夫；丈夫也没有权柄主张自己的身子，乃在妻子。

Theme

Belonging to each other

Bring a question to this passage

Many readers arrive here from a real question. These are reflections for how this passage speaks to the questions people bring most often — not an answer about what will happen, but an invitation to sit with it slowly.

How do I face this season of pressure at work?

These words concern mutual marital affection and bodily belonging, not pressure at work. Their repeated movement toward both spouses matters: neither person is presented as the only one whose needs count. This is not permission for coercion, nor a model of authority for your employer. If you are married, the passage may invite you to notice how work pressure affects the care you and your spouse share. Exhaustion can leave little room for attention, honest conversation, or tenderness. You do not need to turn that into another performance demand. These words concern marriage, not work. If you are married, could you pause in this pressured season to notice the care you and your spouse need from each other?

Carry thisMutual care includes honest attention to needs and limits.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

I want to learn to love better in this relationship.

In these words about marriage, affection and bodily responsibility run in both directions. Neither spouse is presented as the only one whose needs matter. If your relationship is not a marriage, the passage does not address it directly, though its mutual concern still invites reflection. The language about authority must not become permission for coercion or disregard for consent. Loving attention listens to the person, including their limits, rather than treating their body as something owed on demand. You can notice whether affection has become a bargain, an obligation imposed, or a gift offered with care. How could you make more room for mutual care and freely expressed boundaries?

Carry thisMutual care makes room for affection, dignity, and consent.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

What do I need to let go of in the coming weeks?

Within marriage, this passage places a responsibility on both spouses, not just one: each owes affection and consideration to the other. It does not tell you what to let go of in every relationship. Its repeated mutuality does, however, challenge the idea that your needs are the only ones that count. If you are married, you might bring possessiveness, indifference, or the demand to always set the terms into prayer. This language is not permission for coercion or for ignoring consent; mutual care cannot be reduced to entitlement. Who comes to mind as you acknowledge that this passage does not specify what you need to let go of, but calls you, if you are married, to give and receive affection with mutual care?

Carry thisMutual care makes room for both people to matter.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

How can I find stillness in a busy life?

Between the demands of a busy day, your closest relationships can begin to feel like another task. This passage does not speak directly about stillness, but it draws your attention to mutual care within marriage. Its language of belonging asks something of both partners; it is not permission to coerce or disregard either person's dignity and consent. If you are married, you might pause over whether affection has room to be received as well as offered. You need not turn this reading into another obligation; you can bring your weariness and your need for tenderness before God. In these words about mutual belonging, what kind of attentive care might help you rest rather than strive?

Carry thisMutual care leaves room for listening without pressure.

Other passages for this questionGenesis 1:26-28 · Isaiah 41:10 · 2 Corinthians 10:2-6

Have a different question?

Write what you are actually carrying right now, and Lectio will answer it with this passage — 1 Corinthians 7:3-4.

Or walk this passage through the five steps of Lectio →

1 Corinthians 7 — in context

1Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

2But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

3Let the husband render to his wife the affection owed her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

4The wife doesn’t have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn’t have authority over his own body, but the wife.

5Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment.

7Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind.

8But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am.

9But if they don’t have self-control, let them marry. For it’s better to marry than to burn.

10But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the wife not leave her husband

More from 1 Corinthians

Begin a Lectio reading

Log in

Continue with Google
or use email

Don't have an account? Sign up