Paul says good not to marry?

This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.

Criticism

Critics ask why the Church teaches that marriage is essential for full exaltation, when Paul says it is good for a man not to marry? (1 Corinthians 7:1)

Source(s) of the criticism

• Tower to Truth Ministries, "50 Questions to Ask Mormons," towertotruth.net (accessed 15 November 2007). 50 Answers

Answer

The author of the question has misinterpreted Paul. The King James Version reads:

NOW concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. (1 Cor 7:1)

The New English Translation (NET) Version reads:

Now with regard to the issues you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

So, Paul isn't saying that it IS good for a man not to marry (or, more properly, good not to have sex with a woman); what he is doing is quoting what the Corinthians have written to him in their letter, to which he is replying. He then goes on to correct this idea. (And, surely we can’t expect that Paul thought unmarried sex was a good idea! So, this necessarily requires marriage.)

The footnote from the NET Bible reads:

"Many recent interpreters believe that here again (as in 6:12-13) Paul cites a slogan the Corinthians apparently used to justify their actions. If this is so, Paul agrees with the slogan in part, but corrects it in the following verses to show how the Corinthians misused the idea to justify abstinence within marriage (cf. 8:1, 4; 10:23). See also G. D. Fee, “1 Corinthians 7:1 in the NIV,” JETS 23 (1980): 307-14."

So, Paul corrects a false idea which the Corinthians—and the critics—have expressed.

Conclusion

In any case, however one chooses to read the scripture, Paul says immediately after (verse 6) that he is only giving his opinion about how to manage these things, not speaking authoritatively.