1 Corinthians 7:4

1Co 7:4. Ἰδίου, of her own) This word with the phrase, she has not power, makes an elegant paradox. The rights of both are equal.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thirdly, he warneth them that they are each in other’s power, as touching the body, so that they may not defraud one another.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

A paradox. She hath not power over her body, and yet it is her own. The oneness of body in which marriage places husband and wife explains this. The one complements the other. Neither without the other realizes the perfect ideal of man.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. The wife hath not power, c.] Her person belongs to her husband her husband's person belongs to her: neither of them has any authority to refuse what the other has a matrimonial right to demand. The woman that would act so is either a knave or a fool. It would be trifling to attribute her conduct to any other cause than weakness or folly. She does not love her husband; or she loves some one else better than her husband; or she makes pretensions to a fancied sanctity unsupported by Scripture or common sense.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) Of her own body.—Bengel notices that these words, “She has not power of her own body,” form an elegant paradox, bringing out the equal rights of both.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife] We here are reminded of the valuable principle that in everything connected with the duties of married life each should consult the comfort, well-being, and happiness of the other before their own, and should be especially careful that they do not, by any selfishness on their part, ‘cause their brother to offend.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wife hath not power of her own body,.... To refrain the use of it from her husband; or to prostitute it to another man:

but the husband; he has the sole power over it, and may require when he pleases the use of it:

and likewise also the husband has not power over his own body: to withhold due benevolence, or the conjugal debt from his wife; or abuse it by self-pollution, fornication, adultery, sodomy, or any acts of uncleanness: but the wife; she only has a power over it, a right to it, and may claim the use of it: this power over each other's bodies is not such, as that they may, by consent, either the husband allow the wife, or the wife the husband, to lie with another.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.

Ver. 4. The wife hath no power, &c.] The husband’s body is servant to the wife, and the wife’s to the husband: they have passed themselves one to another by mutual covenant, and God keeps the bonds, Pro 2:17; Mal 2:14.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wife hath not power ... - By the marriage covenant that power, in this respect, is transferred to the husband,

And likewise, also, the husband - The equal rights of husband and wife, in the Scriptures, are everywhere maintained. They are to regard themselves as united in most intimate union, and in most tender ties.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He gives the reason of it; because marriage takes away from each married person the power over his or her own body, and giveth it to their correlate. The apostle seemeth here to answer a question propounded to him by some members of this church: Whether, though they were married, the husband and wife might not forbear each other’s bed, and make us of their society each with other merely for helps in other things, such as getting an estate, looking after the affairs of a family, &c.? Which the apostle doth by no means judge advisable.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Hath not power—Or rightful authority. The original vow, as well as the nature of the institution, presupposes this concession.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wife hath not power, Marriage is not a capricious union, but a holy bond. "They two" become "one flesh."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wife-the husband - Let no one forget this, on pretense of greater purity.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

4. “The wife hath not authority over her own body, but the husband: likewise also the husband hath not authority over his own body, but the wife.” While this verse evidently refers directly to the peculiar rights of matrimony, it has still a broader signification. In this transitory and perilous life, we all need some person on whom we can depend for personal attention, especially in case of sickness, disappointment and sorrow. If my dear companion should get sick, I would feel it my duty to go home and do my utmost for her convalescence and comfort, as my body is her property under the law of matrimony, to serve her after the manner of a slave. The same is true with reference to her body, as the servitor of my necessity and comfort. Body here in both cases is antithetical to spirit, which belongs to God. My wife has no control over my immortal spirit, my never dying soul, which belongs to God alone, exclusively devoted to His service for time and eternity, while this fleeting body, pursuant to the law of matrimony, belongs to my companion, to labor, make a living for her, and administer to her temporal comfort. The same is true in her case with reference to soul and body, the latter belonging to her husband and the former to God. It is very wicked in either party to interfere with the religious privileges of the other. A staunch member of a Methodist church who had no salvation, forbade his wife to attend the Holiness revival services, though in the church where he held his membership. She asked the evangelist what to do in the case. He said, “Go home, take down your Bible and read to him the first commandment, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods beside me’; and say to him, ‘Sir, I married you for a husband and not for a god, as that place was supplied before I became acquainted with you. Now if you are content to be my husband, all right, but if you are going to be my god you can just trot out.’” He was a man of intelligence, and at once saw his mistake, changed his apparel and went with her to the next meeting, taking his seat in the rear of the audience, she going down to the front and taking an active part in the meeting. In the introductory testimonies, standing before the audience she said, “My dear husband is in the congregation; I request you all to remember him in your prayers.” The evangelist preached and invited seekers to the altar. Among others this man came, got his soul converted, and soon after swept into Beulah land.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. The wife hath not power over her own body, etc. Each sex here is put on exactly the same footing. The body of each belongs to the other, and cannot be yielded to other parties. The spirit of the passage not only forbids adultery, but polygamy.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

4. οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει. A.V. hath not power. Better, hath no right. ἐξουσία sometimes stands for power, as in Rev 9:3. But the more usual sense of the word is authority.

τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος. Over her own body. Because in everything connected with the duties of married life each should consult the comfort, well-being, and happiness of the other before their own, and should be especially careful that they do not, by any selfishness on the part of either, ‘cause their brother to offend’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4.] The duty of cohabitation incumbent on the married. This point was in all probability raised in the letter of the Corinthians. The Apostle’s command is a legitimate following out of διὰ τὰς πορνείας above.

4.] The axiom is introduced without a γάρ, as frequently.

τοῦ ἰδίου … οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει] ‘sui, cum potestatem non habet, elegans facit paradoxon.’ Bengal. The ground of this being another’s while they remain their own, is to be found in the oneness of body, in which the marriage state places them.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. ἡ γυνή. It is probably not in order to mark the equality of the sexes that the order is changed: the wife is here mentioned first because she has just been mentioned in the previous verse. Equality between the sexes is indicated by using the same expression respecting both, thus correcting Jewish and Gentile ideas about women.

τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει. The words involve, as Bengel points out, elegans paradoxon. How can it be one’s own if one cannot do as one likes with it? See on 6:12. But in wedlock separate ownership of the person ceases. Neither party can say to the other, ‘Is it not lawful for me (ἔξεστίν μοι) to do what I will with mine own?’ (Mat 20:15). By pointing out that the aim is to be, not self-gratification, but the fulfilment of a duty which each owes to the other, St Paul partly anticipates the criticism mentioned above. He raises the matter from the physical level to the moral.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_7:3-5

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: ‹7› and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except (it be) with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

There is abundant evidence in the New Testament of the early manifestation of those principles of asceticism which soon produced such wide-spread effects, and which to so great a degree modified the reigning Spirit of the church. The idea that marriage was a less holy state than celibacy, naturally led to the conclusion that married persons ought to separate; and it soon came to be regarded as an evidence of eminent spirituality when such separation was final. The Apostle teaches that neither party has the right to separate from the other; that no separation is to be allowed which is not with mutual consent, for a limited time, for the purpose of special devotion, and with the definite intention of reunion. Nothing can be more foreign to the mind of the Apostle than the Spirit which filled the monasteries and convents of the mediaeval church.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.