There is no direction in this chapter to wives about making sure they give their bodies to their husbands regularly. That’s a wrong teaching in the church. The only directions here are to husbands and wives to not use their bodies to deny, control. We don’t keep ourselves from our spouse unless we agree together to do so to devote ourselves to prayer.

Paul talks about Satan tempting them because of their lack of self-control. A Christian has the Holy Spirit, who gives us self-control. They should have self-control, so should you.

Paul does go on to say that it is good to remain single. It is not a Biblical teaching that you are supposed to get married. In Genesis, Adam was the only human. That wasn’t good. He needed an Eve or there was only going to be one human. He was really going to be alone without her.

The Lord Himself gives a direction to married women. She should not separate from her husband, but if she does, she needs to remain unmarried or return to her husband. It is no sin for a woman to leave her husband if she remains faithful.

Jesus teaches that a husband may not divorce his wife for any reason except if she is unfaithful.

These directions from the Lord shows His protection for women and for marriage.

Paul gives his own directions, saying that if an unbelieving spouse leaves you, then you are free from the marriage. A wife is also told she’s free of the marriage if her husband dies.

Paul again says this is his own thoughts, not the Lord’s command, but talks about it being better to be single and focused on the things of the Lord than married and have divided interests.

I understood those verses wrongly in the past and it hurt my walk with the Lord because I thought I was to be concerned with how to please my husband, and I turned attention away from the Lord. The truth is, single people can be very worldly-focused, and a married person can be wholly focused on the Lord! I live that now!