Render Due Benevolence 1 Corinthians 7:3

Paul the apostle told the church members in Corinth, “it is good for a man not to touch a woman”, but “to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband”. In chapter seven and verse three of First Corinthians, Paul told the “husbands and wives” among the church members to, “render due benevolence” where we read:

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

The verse begins, “Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence:” Paul began with the word, “Let” or “render, requite and recompense” “the husband” which means “the married man”“render unto” or “requite, recompense, discharge and pay off” “the wife” which means “the married woman” “due benevolence” which means “owed, due, in debt goodwill, kindness and conjugal duty”. The “husband”, according to Paul, was to “recompense and pay off” “the wife” with “conjugal duties”.

The verse goes on to say, “and likewise also the wife unto the husband.” Paul continued with the words, “and likewise also” which means “and equally and in the same way even and indeed” “the wife” or “the married woman”“unto the husband” which means “toward the married man”. The “wife” was also to “render conjugal duties” toward her “husband”.

When we meditate upon these words from Paul, we understand the reason he emphasized each man was to have his “own wife” and each “woman” was to have her “own husband”. In the marriage relationship, the “husband and the wife” were to “give” to one another “conjugal duties”. This was to keep the church members from committing “fornication”. Jesus Christ desires to keep His church “righteous”, and when a “husband and wife” obey this directive from Paul, the church will be kept “pure” and “holy”.

Next time Paul tells the church members that husbands and wives, “do not have power over” their “own bodies”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.