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OET (OET-LV) The wife over_her own body not is_having_authority, but the husband, and likewise, also the husband over_his own body not is_having_authority, but the wife.
OET (OET-RV) wives’ bodies belong to their husbands, not to themselves, and similarly, husbands’ bodies belong to their wives, not to themselves.
In an earlier letter to Paul, the Corinthians had mentioned some problems and asked him some questions. There are no longer any copies of this letter, so we can only guess what they wrote by reading Paul’s answers. Apparently some of the questions the Corinthians had asked were about marriage and sex. In this section Paul discussed these topics. He wrote about sexual intercourse, divorce, marrying again after a person’s husband or wife dies, and never marrying.
From the way Paul talked, it appears that the Corinthians were thinking that if believers want to be holy, they should abstain from sexual relations. The Corinthians were wondering if married people should sleep together, if Christians who were married to non-Christians should divorce them, and if Christians should get married. Paul gave them some wise teaching on each of these topics. In 7:1–16 he addressed Christians who were married. In 7:17–24 he wrote about his general rule for Christians: Remain as you are. In 7:25–38 he taught Christians who were not married. In 7:39–40 he addressed women whose husbands had died.
Other possible section headings include:
Paul gave/wrote instructions about Christian marriage
Paul’s teaching on marriage
Paul began to discuss the subjects the Corinthians had written to him about. It seems that some believers were thinking that sexual intercourse was not good. Those people even said that married Christians should not have sexual intercourse with each other. Paul said that it was good for married believers to live together normally as man and wife. This would help them avoid being tempted to commit sex sins.
The wife does not have authority over her own body,
The wife does not own/control her body.
A married woman is not the boss over her own body.
A married woman cannot always do just what she wants to do.
but the husband.
Rather, her husband owns/controls it.
Instead her husband is also the boss over her body.
She must do what her husband wants.
The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband: Paul was saying that when people marry they agree to keep their bodies for the person they are married to. They agree that the person they are married to is the only one with the right to their bodies. Other ways to translate this include:
The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband (NIV)
A wife is not the master of her own body, but her husband is. (GNT)
have authority over: The Greek word that the BSB translates as have authority over means to have power or rights over someone. Paul meant that married people have the right to expect to have sexual intercourse with the person they are married to. That is a right which is part of their marriage agreement.
Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body,
Likewise, the husband does not own/control his body.
Also, a married man is not the boss over his body.
Also, a married man cannot always do just what he wants to do.
but the wife.
Rather, his wife owns/controls it.
Instead, his wife is the boss over his body.
He must do what his wife wants to do.
Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife: Paul said the same thing to the husband that he had said to the wife. Both husband and wife have the same right and duty of having intercourse with their spouse. In your translation, try to use the same verb phrase in these verses that you used in 7:4a-b.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / genericnoun
ἡ γυνὴ & ὁ ἀνήρ & ὁ ἀνὴρ & ἡ γυνή
the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἡ γυνή τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλά ὁ ἀνήρ ὁμοίως δέ καί ὁ ἀνήρ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλά ἡ γυνή)
Just as in [7:3](../07/03.md), Paul here refers to the husband and the wife in the singular, but he is speaking generically about any husband and wife. If your language does not use the singular form to refer to people in general, you can use a form that does refer generically to people in your language. Alternate translation: [each wife … her husband does … each husband … his wife does]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
(Occurrence -1) τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἡ γυνή τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλά ὁ ἀνήρ ὁμοίως δέ καί ὁ ἀνήρ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει ἀλλά ἡ γυνή)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea behind authority, you can express the idea by using a verb or verbal phrase such as “control” or “claim as one’s own.” Alternate translation: [does not control her own body … does not control his own body] or [does not claim her body as her own … does not claim his body as his own]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / ellipsis
ὁ ἀνήρ & ἡ γυνή
the husband & the wife
In both these places, Paul omits some words that may be required in your language to make a full sentence. You could supply words from the first half of each statement in order to complete the thought, as the ULT does. Alternate translation: [the husband has authority over her body … the wife has authority over his body]
7:1-40 Paul consistently states his strong conviction that true Christians, as slaves of Christ, are wholly claimed by Christ the Lord for his own service. Because of this, he recommends that Christians remain single, but concedes that getting married is no sin.
OET (OET-LV) The wife over_her own body not is_having_authority, but the husband, and likewise, also the husband over_his own body not is_having_authority, but the wife.
OET (OET-RV) wives’ bodies belong to their husbands, not to themselves, and similarly, husbands’ bodies belong to their wives, not to themselves.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.