Hebrews 13:4

Heb_13:4

Marriage is honourable

Marriage:

It is not to be denied that marriage hath its proper inconveniences.

There are peculiar cares and hindrances belonging to it. For the new relations that are acquired by it, as those of husband and wife, father and mother, master and mistress, are attended with peculiar crosses and troubles. But then it is to be considered that there is no condition of life whatsoever without inconveniences, and particularly celibacy is a great trouble of itself; it is comfortless and unarmed, exposed to hazards, and beset with dangerous temptations. But the state of wedlock, if it be wisely entered into, hath a natural tendency to a happy way of living, as it is conducing to order and government, to industry and diligence, to frugality, to stability, and to a care for futurity. It is best for the good of mankind, for the uses of human life, for the interest of the universe, and the welfare of Christian societies. But there have been always some in the world that have remonstrated against this state of life, and these are of two sorts--the religious and the witty; that is, those who would be thought to be such. Saturnius, a professed gnostic, held that marriage was of the devil, as Iremeus relates, and most of that sect cried it down as a cursed and diabolical thing. The Marcionites, the Montanists, and the Manicheans declared it to be unlawful. The Hierachites held that marriage excluded from heaven, and they admitted none but single persons into their communion. But here by the way we are to note, that the gnostics and some others, who were very fierce against marrying, practised promiscuous lust. It is an honour then to this state that it is doomed by such. Some make use of the Holy Scripture to patronise this cause; and the chief place which they allege is 1Co_7:1. We are to know, then, that when the apostle lived the times were perilous, and persecution was the allotment of the faithful Christians; and therefore that was an unfit season for embracing a conjugal life. We see then that the authority of the apostle is made use of to no purpose, because it is wholly misunderstood. Of which we cannot but be convinced, when we find in this very chapter a positive license given to the Christians to change their condition, if they saw occasion for it, and were willing to venture on the dangers which attended matrimony. But if thou marry, saith he, thou hast not sinned (verse 28). There is no absolute unlawfulness in doing so. And he condemned those heretics that taught otherwise, forbidding to marry (1Ti_4:3). But the witty people are another sort of men, that affect to rally upon marriage; and that they may have a full shock at it, they except against the other sex itself.

The Jewish Rabbins think themselves great wits in jeering the sex for their restless tongues and false tears, as we frequently find in their writings. Nay, they are so virulent as to publish to the world, that the honestest woman on earth is a witch, and given to enchantment and sorcery. The Arabians vote all married persons to be fools in that proverb of theirs, If all men were wise (that is, if they would abstain from marriage) the world would soon be at an end. Even some men of gravity cannot abstain from inveighing against the sex, as such Cato often said that if the world was without women, the gods would come down and converse with men; but whilst those are here, these will never visit us. Yea, Chrysostom, the celebrated father of the Greek Church, the famous pulpit orator, made a sermon in the dispraise of all women, and tells us that matrimony in its own nature is a sin, only by Divine permission it is excusable. In brief, he is reckoned the wittiest man that is most dexterous in defaming of women, though at the same time he defames himself. Whatever prejudiced, fanciful men may suggest, we are sure the apostle is in the right, and utters an incontestible truth, Marriage is honourable in all. The married state is not only lawful, but noble, appointed by God, and of Divine institution. It was first ordained in Paradise, in the state of innocency (Gen_2:18). This gives repute and authority to wedlock, and renders it commendable. And it hath been always esteemed as such by those who have a reverence for Gods ordinance. It is observable that our Saviour Himself honoured marriage with His first miracle, gracing the solemnity by turning water into wine. Here I may take notice of the high esteem some nations have had of a married life, and how concerned they were that men should not always be single. Among the Lacedemonians there were actions brought against men for not marrying, and for marrying late; and those that lived unmarried were infamous among that people by the law. There were penalties among the Romans inflicted on those that refused to marry after such a term of years, as Tacitus and the Code testify. Every one is bound to embrace matrimony at twenty-five years of age by the Alcoran. The Tartars think this so good and excellent a thing, that they believe their god Matagai hath a wife and children. And if their sons and daughters die before they are at age, they celebrate a marriage between parties thus deceased, that they may be man and wife in the other world. Though this is very gross indeed, and is a sign they are unacquainted with what our Saviour said, In heaven they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; yet it shows what respect and esteem these people have for the state of wedlock, and how congruous it is to the natural reason and sentiments of mankind.

1. Marriage must be with great deliberation. There is no undertaking of mans life that doth more require freedom of thought and choice than this doth. Plato would have no man marry before thirty, nor Aristotle before thirty-five years of age, designing thereby not peremptorily to confine persons to that computation, but to warn them against a precipitant changing of their state, and to put them in mind of acting very cautiously in this affair. Nor should they only weigh and consider the matter themselves, but apply to their friends, but especially their parents, for their advice and counsel.

2. Marry not merely for money or estate. This is the prevailing fault of men, as well as women, they court the estate rather than the person who hath it; they may be said to wed the lands and money, not the possessor. A wife is put to sale, and marriage is a mere bargain.

3. Let not the man marry the woman merely for beauty, or finery, for feature, for dress, which latter is the bodys artificial beauty.

4. Marry not a woman merely on the account of her wit, learning, or parts. Arts and sciences are not the proper talent of that sex.

5. Though you are not to marry merely for money, beauty, or wit, yet never marry one that is poor, or deformed, or a fool. A single life with indigency may be endured, but that and wedlock together are a double misery. If you be not able with your own estate and way of living to maintain a wife, never take one that hath none. Again, choose not one whose deformity is very conspicuous and remarkable, unless some extraordinary qualities and perfections compound for it, lest you should be tempted afterwards to change the object of your sight, and look upon others as more acceptable. Wherefore make choice of one who hath competent comeliness, or who by modesty mends her countenance, and gives it a beauty by blushes. Mate such a one as we know is mistress of those accomplishments and graces which are not liable to be impaired by any accidents whatsoever, that so we may ever find that in her which deserves our love. Lastly, methinks that there should be no need of advising a man or woman not to marry one that is noted for folly and weakness, for this too plainly shows that they themselves are liable to the same imputation.

6. Above all things make choice of a virtuous person, one that fears God, one whose mind is endued with a deep sense of religion, and whose conversation is regular and upright. All the aforesaid qualifications must give place to this, and without this they are mean and inconsiderable, and of no real value.

7. Next to religion good nature is to be prized most. This contains in it a peaceable and quiet temper, a sweet disposition, an obliging and winning carriage, free from all extravagant passion, wrath, and bitterness. Else a man, in a worse sense than the Duke of Venice, marries the Adriatic, is espoused to waves and storms.

8. Be careful to marry one suitable to you; suitable in age, birth, and humour. Such a one will be truly a meet-help.

9. Be well satisfied of one anothers love, chastity, and faithfulness, and increase and nourish them by all means. A wife, as Sir Thomas Overbury rightly saith, is an abbreviature of all the rest of the sex: to her husband she must be (as Eve was) all the world of womankind.

10. Let it never be known which of them is superior. Always divide and share your power.

11. Begin and proceed in the conjugal state with prayer and great devotion, and all acts of religion and piety. (J. Edwards, D. D.)

Marriage honourable

I. DIVINE INSTITUTION IS SUFFICIENT TO RENDER ANY STATE OR CONDITION OF LIFE HONOURABLE.

II. THE MORE USEFUL ANY STATE OF LIFE IS, THE MORE HONOURABLE IT IS. The honour of marriage arises much from its usefulness.

III. THAT WHICH IS HONOURABLE BY DIVINE INSTITUTION, AND USEFUL IN ITS OWN NATURE, MAY BE ABUSED AND RENDERED VILE BY THE MISCARRIAGES OF MEN; as marriage may be.

IV. IT IS A BOLD USURPATION OF AUTHORITY OVER THE CONSCIENCES OF MEN, AND A CONTEMPT OF THE AUTHORITY OF GOD, TO FORBID THAT STATE UNTO ANY, WHICH GOD HATH DECLARED HONOURABLE AMONG ALL.

V. MEANS FOR PURITY AND CHASTITY, NOT ORDAINED, BLESSED, NOR SANCTIFIED UNTO THAT END, WILL PROVE FURTHERANCES OF IMPURITY AND UNCLEANNESS, OR OF WORSE EVILS.

VI. The state of marriage being honourable in the sight of God Himself, IT IS THE DUTY OF THEM THAT ENTER THEREUNTO DULY TO CONSIDER HOW THEY MAY APPROVE THEIR CONSCIENCES UNTO GOD IN WHAT THEY DO.

VII. IN THE STATE OF MARRIAGE THERE IS REQUIRED OF MEN A DUE CONSIDERATION OF THEIR CALL UNTO IT, OF THEIR ENDS IN IT, THAT THEY ARE THOSE OF GODS APPOINTMENT; prayer for, and expectation of His blessing on it; reverence of Him as the great witness of the marriage covenant; with wisdom to undergo the trials and temptations inseparable from this state of life.

VIII. WHATEVER LIGHT THOUGHTS MEN MAY HAVE OF SIN, OF ANY SIN, THE JUDGMENT OF GOD CONCERNING ALL SIN, WHICH IS ACCORDING TO TRUTH, MUST STAND FOR EVER. TO have slight thoughts of sin will prove no relief unto sinners.

IX. FORNICATION AND ADULTERY ARE SINS IN THEIR OWN NATURE, DESERVING ETERNAL DAMNATION. If the due wages of all sin be death, much more is it so of so great abomination.

X. ALL OCCASIONS OF, ALL TEMPTATIONS LEADING UNTO THESE SINS, ARE TO BE AVOIDED, AS WE TAKE CARE OF OUR SOULS. (Joliet Owen, D. D.)

Whoremongers and adulterers

Whoremongers and adulterers

I. WHO ARE COMPREHENDED UNDER THIS CHARACTER. Every person will at once perceive that all who live in common fornication, or who defile the marriage-bed, are evidently comprehended in this description. Let those then tremble, and know that this is their true state and name, who, though they disdain the open and more notorious commerce, yet secretly beguile the innocent and unwary, and become the agents of Satan in the ruin of others. Neither let those deceive themselves who, though they may not traverse the ranges of unbounded lust, yet keep up a cursed league with some particular person with whom they live in a state of fornication or adultery; let them not flatter themselves with an idea that this is a small matter, or shelter themselves under the fashion or the opinion of the times; God is not ruled by caprice or fashion, nor does His eternal standard of rectitude and good vary with human desires or modes of action.

II. THE TESTIMONY OF THE WORD OF GOD AGAINST THIS SIN.

1. God has directly and expressly forbidden it in His Divine law. Thou shalt not commit adultery is the seventh of those commandments which stand in the sacred decalogue, as the injunctions of God to mankind. And that every avenue to this sin may be stopped, and His holy displeasure against it plainly testified, He has again enforced it by taking a part of it into the tenth commandment: Thou shalt not so much as covet thy neighbours wife. Nor is this law any matter of Jewish obligation only, but equally incumbent upon us; for our Lord Himself in Mat_5:1-48. enjoins this command in a very peculiar manner, and through the whole of the New Testament it is abundantly charged and enforced (1Co_6:9; 1Th_4:2-8; Eph_4:19-20; Eph_5:3-5).

2. We may learn Gods hatred and displeasure against these sins from the odious and alarming description given of them in the Scriptures. The author of the Book of Proverbs is peculiarly diligent in endeavouring to lay before the thoughtless sinner the snares and delusive temptations which draw men into these evils, as well as the miserable and fatal consequences which attend them. The sixth and seventh chapters are almost entirely taken up with this subject, and part of the second and ninth is employed to the same purpose. Now we must remember that it is the intention of the sacred writers in setting these things thus before us to imprint the same odious image of them on our hearts, that we may know their nature, and flee their practice. Happy if it might but thus succeed!

3. I shall, in the next place, call your attention to the dreadful threatenings which the Word of God denounces against impure sinners. This sin is declared in the Scriptures as the cause of Gods controversy with nations and with individuals (Hos_4:1-3). And Jeremiah (chap. 5.) represents God as ready to give His people up, and to forbid His prophets to reprove them any more. His mercy and forgiveness seem to put, as it were, to a stand. And in 1Co_3:1-23., when the apostle had represented this sin as a defilement of the body, which is the Temple of God, he adds this awful word, If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy, for the temple of God is (or ought to be) holy, and not made a nest of unclean lusts. St. John, in the Book of the Revelation, declares the doom of whoremongers to be with the rest of notorious sinners, in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. How impiously bold then are those sinners who dare all these terrors for the gratification of a base lust! To such as have been entangled with this sin, and have a real desire to be delivered from it (as well as to those who are anxious to secure their modesty and virtue), I would suggest a few considerations.

(1) Seek for a spirit of true and hearty repentance for all the uncleanness of which you have been guilty before God; rest not in a mere wishing you had been more wise, or a dislike of your conduct from prudential maxims; but seek to God to give you true repentance by the grace of His Holy Spirit.

(2) Be ever upon your guard against the first appearance of this evil. Keep at a distance from the tempter. If you would be kept from harm, keep out of harms way. And this caution must be observed, not only respecting any particular person, but also the places and other occasions which may tempt you to sin.

(3) Let sinners of this kind think much of death and hell.

(4) Apply daily to the mercy-seat for the Divine aid. In the blood of Christ there is virtue to wash away the foulest guilt; in His grace there is sufficiency of power to subdue the most raging sins. (J. King, B. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 13:4. Marriage is honourable in, or for, all sorts of persons, clergy as well as laity, though the Romanists teach otherwise; and the bed undefiled — Consistent with the highest purity. For who can imagine that God would make any thing morally evil absolutely necessary for the support of the human race in future generations? But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge — That is, punish, and frequently does so in a very awful manner, even in the present world; though they frequently escape punishment from men. The distinction between these two characters, whoremongers and adulterers, is well known to be this: that the former are single persons who have unlawful converse with one another, and the latter are those who are both, or at least one of them, in a married state. The sin of the first is fornication, of the other adultery; although the word πορνεια, fornication, may sometimes be used to denote any uncleanness, and so to comprise adultery also.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:4 Give honor to marriage means to protect it and hold it as highly valuable. • Immoral refers to all sexually illicit behavior. • Adultery breaks the marriage vow by engaging in sexual activity outside the marriage relationship.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 13:4. Τίμιος) viz. ἔστω, comp. Heb 13:5, i.e. let it be honoured. It is an antithesis to whoremongers. He exhorts the unmarried, who are in great danger of falling into fornication, to marry, acknowledging it as something precious [so τίμιος often means], and worthily to use the good which it confers: comp. 1Th 4:4.—γάμος) marriage.—ἐν πᾶσι) in all. There is obviously greater danger of fornication than of adultery; comp. 1Co 7:2, ἕκαστος, every one [“To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife”]; and all ought to value marriage highly, so that if a man does not enter into that state himself, he should not prevent others from doing so, 1Ti 4:3.—ἡ κοίτη) the bed, the couch, the state and use of marriage. Marriage—the bed—whoremongers—adulterers: a Chiasmus.—ἀμίαντος, undefiled) Supply again, let—be. An antithesis to adulterers.—κρινεῖ ὁ Θεὸς, GOD will judge) By far the greatest number of whoremongers and adulterers escape the notice of human tribunals. As such intrigues are not made known in the way in which they formerly were, Num 5:20-21, a great number, although their conduct is well known, yet escape civil punishment and ecclesiastical discipline, or are made to feel it very slightly. [Sometimes, indeed, judges themselves are whoremongers and adulterers, men that are placed in the highest ecclesiastical and political offices: and therefore they know how to take measures for their own impunity; but they also take measures for the impunity of others like themselves, when the case admits of it (or when a case occurs). Very many acts of this sort remain entirely concealed in the world, or are extenuated by various devices, or are upheld by violence.—V. g.] God will judge: [A thing dreadful to be spoken! ch. Heb 10:30-31.—V. g.]—He most of all punishes them, whom man does not punish. Comp. 2Sa 3:39. The apostle speaks of the judgment as near. [At that greatest of all days, what deeds, I pray you, will be brought to light! Then indeed execrable crimes will no longer be reckoned as a mark of polished manners.—V. g.]

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

Heb_13:4. Exhortation to chastity in the narrower sense.

Τίμιος] held in estimation, honourable, sc. ἔστω. Others supplement ἐστίν. So already the Peshito (honoratum est connubium inter omnes), then Beza, Grotius (apud omnes gentes moratas honos est conjugio), MCaul, and others. But against this stands the addition: καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος, since the latter could not be asserted as a truth in point of fact. Rather might the indicative rendering thereof be preserved by taking the clauses descriptively: Marriage honourable in all things, etc., which then would not be different in sense from the direct requirement that marriage should be honourable. Nevertheless, this mode of interpretation toorecently adopted by Delitzschcould only be justified if it were followed by a long series of similar statements; here, on the other hand, where imperatives are placed in close proximity before and after, it is unnatural.

ὁ γάμος] marriage. In this sense the word occurs frequently with the Greeks. In the N. T. it has everywhere else the signification: wedding, and its celebration.

ἐν πᾶσιν] is neuter: in all things. The majority take ἐν πᾶσιν as masculine. There is then found expressed in it the precept, either, as by Luther and others, that marriage should in the estimation of all be held in honour, i.e. not desecrated by adultery; or, as by Böhme, Schulz, and others, that it should not be despised or slighted by any unmarried person (according to Hofmann, by any one, whether he live in wedlock, or he think that he ought for his own part to decline it); or finally, as by Calvin and many, that it is to be denied to no order of men (as later to the Catholic priests). In the two last cases it is generally supposed that the reference is to a definite party of those who, out of ascetic or other interest, looked unfavourably upon the married life. But for all three modes of explanation, παρὰ πᾶσιν would have been more suitably written than ἐν πᾶσιν; and a preference for celibacy on the part of born Jews in particular, to whom nevertheless the Epistle to the Hebrews is addressed, is an unexplained presupposition, because one not in accordance with the teaching of history.

καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος] and the marriage bed (against the ordinary usus loquendi, Valckenaer and Schulz: the cohabitation) be undefiled.

πόρνους γὰρ καὶ μοιχοὺς κρινεῖ ὁ Θεός] for fornicators and adulterers will God judge (condemn at the judgment of the world). Comp. 1Co_6:9 f., al. The ὁ Θεός placed at the close of the sentence is not without emphasis. It reminds that, though such sins of uncleanness remain for the most part unpunished by earthly judges, the higher Judge will one day be mindful of them.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 13:4 . τίμιος ὁ γάμος ἐν πᾶσιν . “Is ἔστω or ἐστὶ to be supplied?” Probably the former, as in Heb 13:5 , “Let marriage be held in honour among all”. As a natural result of holding marriage in honour, its ideal sanctity will be violated neither by the married nor by the unmarried. Therefore the καὶ links the two clauses closely together and has some inferential force, “and thus let the bed be undefiled” [ μιαίνειν τὴν κοίτην occurs in Plutarch to denote the violation of conjugal relations. Used with γυναῖκα in Eze 18:6 ; Eze 23:17 ]. The next clause shows in what sense the words are to be taken. William Penn’s saying must also be kept in view: “If a man pays his tailor but debauches his wife, is he a current moralist?” For marriage as a preventative against vice, cf. 1Co 7 and 1Th 4:4 . Weiss gathers from the insertion of this injunction that the writer is not guided in his choice of precepts by the condition of those to whom he is writing but by “theoretical reflection”. But in the face of Heb 12:16 , this seems an unwarranted inference. πόρνους … ὁ θεός . Fornicators may escape human condemnation, but God (in emphatic position) will judge them.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He commendeth chaste matrimony in all sorts of men, and threateneth utter destruction from God, against whoremongers and adulterers.

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

is, &c.--Translate, "Let marriage be treated as honorable": as Heb 13:5 also is an exhortation.

in all--"in the case of all men": "among all." "To avoid fornication let EVERY MAN have his own wife" (Co1 7:2). Judaism and Gnosticism combined were soon about to throw discredit on marriage. The venerable Paphnutius, in the Council of Nice, quoted this verse for the justification of the married state. If one does not himself marry, he should not prevent others from doing so. Others, especially Romanists, translate, "in all things," as in Heb 13:18. But the warning being against lasciviousness, the contrast to "whoremongers and adulterers" in the parallel clause, requires the "in all" in this clause to refer to persons.

the bed undefiled--Translate, as Greek requires "undefiled" to be a predicate, not an epithet, "And let the bed be undefiled."

God will judge--Most whoremongers escape the notice of human tribunals; but God takes particular cognizance of those whom man does not punish. Gay immoralities will then be regarded in a very different light from what they are now.

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. Marriage is honourable in all] Let this state be highly esteemed as one of God's own instituting, and as highly calculated to produce the best interests of mankind. This may have been said against the opinions of the Essenes, called Therapeutae, who held marriage in little repute, and totally abstained from it themselves as a state of comparative imperfection. At the same time it shows the absurdity of the popish tenet, that marriage in the clergy is both dishonourable and sinful; which is, in fact, in opposition to the apostle, who says marriage is honourable in ALL; and to the institution of God, which evidently designed that every male and female should be united in this holy bond; and to nature, which in every part of the habitable world has produced men and women in due proportion to each other.

The bed undefiled] Every man cleaving to his own wife, and every wife cleaving to her own husband, because God will judge, i.e. punish, all fornicators and adulterers.

Instead of δε but, γαρ, for, is the reading of AD*, one other, with the Vulgate, Coptic, and one of the Itala; it more forcibly expresses the reason of the prohibition: Let the bed be undefiled, FOR whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

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

4. Marriage is honourable in all, etc. Some think this an exhortation to the married to conduct themselves modestly and in a becoming manner, that the husband should live with his wife temperately and chastely, and not defile the conjugal bed by unbeseeming wantonness. Thus a verb is to be understood in the sense of exhorting, “Let marriage be honorable.” And yet the indicative is would not be unsuitable; for when we hear that marriage is honorable, it ought to come immediately to our minds that we are to conduct ourselves in it honorably and becomingly. Others take the sentence by way of concession in this way, “Though marriage is honorable, it is yet unlawful to commit fornication”; but this sense, as all must see, is rigid. I am inclined to think that the Apostle sets marriage here in opposition to fornication as a remedy for that evil; and the context plainly shows that this was his meaning; for before he threatens that the Lord would punish fornicators, he first states what is the true way of escape, even if we live honourable in a state of marriage.

Let this then be the main point, that fornication will not be unpunished, for God will take vengeance on it. And doubtless as God has blessed the union of man and wife, instituted by himself, it follows that every other union different from this is by him condemned and accursed. He therefore denounces punishment not only on adulterers, but also on fornicators; for both depart from the holy institution of God; nay, they violate and subvert it by a promiscuous intercourse, since there is but one legitimate union, sanctioned by the authority and approval of God. But as promiscuous and vagrant lusts cannot be restrained without the remedy of marriage, he therefore commends it by calling it “honorable”.

What he adds, and the bed undefiled, has been stated, as it seems to me, for this end, that the married might know that everything is not lawful for them, but that the use of the legitimate bed should be moderate, lest anything contrary to modesty and chastity be allowed.

By saying in all men, I understand him to mean, that there is no order of men prohibited from marriage; for what God has allowed to mankind universally, is becoming in all without exception; I mean all who are fit for marriage and feel the need of it.

It was indeed necessary for this subject to have been distinctly and expressly stated, in order to obviate a superstition, the seeds of which Satan was probably even then secretly sowing, even this, — that marriage is a profane thing, or at least far removed from Christian perfection; for those seducing spirits, forbidding marriage, who had been foretold by Paul, soon appeared. That none then might foolishly imagine that marriage is only permitted to the people in general, but that those who are eminent in the Church ought to abstain from it, the Apostle takes away every exception; and he does not teach us that it is conceded as an indulgence, as Jerome sophistically says, but that it is honourable. It is very strange indeed that those who introduced the prohibition of marriage into the world, were not terrified by this so express a declaration; but it was necessary then to give loose reins to Satan, in order to punish the ingratitude of those who refused to hear God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(4) Marriage is honourable in all.—Rather, Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. The precept is directed against impurity (Heb_12:16), and also against the false asceticism of men “forbidding to marry” (1Ti_4:3). The laxity of morals among Gentiles (Note on Act_15:20) and the prevalence of divorce amongst Jews (Mat_5:32) explain the sudden introduction of such warnings: of these sinners the all-seeing God will be the judge. (Comp. 1Th_4:6.)

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

4. Marriage is honourable in all] More probably this is an exhortation, “Let marriage be held honourable among all,” or rather “in all respects,” as in Heb_13:18. Scripture never gives even the most incidental sanction to the exaltation of celibacy as a superior virtue, or to the disparagement of marriage as an inferior state. Celibacy and marriage stand on an exactly equal level of honour according as God has called us to the one or the other state. The mediæval glorification of Monachism sprang partly from a religion of exaggerated gloom and terror, and partly from a complete misunderstanding of the sense applied by Jewish writers to the word “Virgins.” Nothing can be clearer than the teaching on this subject alike of the Old (Gen_2:18; Gen_2:24) and of the New Covenant (Mat_19:4-6; Joh_2:1-2; 1Co_7:2). There is no “forbidding to marry” (1Ti_4:1-3) among Evangelists and Apostles. They shared the deep conviction which their nation had founded on Gen_1:27; Gen_2:18-24 and which our Lord had sanctioned (Mat_19:4-6). The warning in this verse is against unchastity. If it be aimed against a tendency to disparage the married state it would shew that the writer is addressing some Hebrews who had adopted in this matter the prejudices of the Essenes (1Ti_4:3). In any case the truth remains “Honourable is marriage in all;” it is only lawless passions which are “passions of dishonour” (Rom_1:26).

and the bed undefiled] A warning to Antinomians who made light of unchastity (Act_15:20; 1Th_4:6).

whoremongers] Christianity introduced a wholly new conception regarding the sin of fornication (Gal_5:19; Gal_5:21; 1Co_6:9-10; Eph_5:5; Col_3:5-6; Rev_22:15) which, especially in the depraved decadence of Heathenism under the Empire, was hardly regarded as any sin at all. Hence the necessity for constantly raising a warning voice against it (1Th_4:6, &c.).

God will judge] The more because they often escape altogether the judgment of man (1Sa_2:25; 2Sa_3:39).

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.

Marriage is honourable in all,.... Some read these words as an exhortation, "let" it "be so"; others as an assertion, it is so. "Marriage" is the union of one man and one woman in wedlock, whereby they become one flesh; it is a joining together of male and female in this relation, and of two only, and of such as are not within the degrees of blood forbid by the law, Lev 18:6 and of such as are fit for marriage: and this is "honourable", as it was instituted by God, and has been honoured with the presence of Christ, Gen 2:22. And it is so in the ends of it, being to procreate children, multiply the earth, build up families, preserve a legitimate offspring, and prevent fornication and all uncleanness; and it is so, when the duties of the relation are performed on both sides: and it is honourable "in all"; in all things, in all respects, upon all accounts; "every way", as the Arabic version renders it; or as the Ethiopic version, "everywhere"; it has been honourably esteemed of among all nations; it becomes persons of all ranks and degrees, quality, and order; and it is honourable in all that are lawfully married, and do not violate the marriage contract, or defile the marriage bed: hereby are condemned such who despise marriage, that they may give a loose to their wandering and insatiable lusts; and such who, under a pretence of greater sanctity and perfection, reject it as unlawful; and the Papists, who deny it to men employed in sacred work:

and the bed undefiled: the Arabic version reads, "his bed"; and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, "their bed"; the bed of such whose marriage is honourable; which is not polluted by admitting others into it, or by acts of fornication and adultery: "but", or "for", as the Alexandrian copy reads,

whoremongers and adulterers God will judge; the former of these may be rendered "fornicators", as it is by the Vulgate Latin version: fornication is a sin committed by single persons, unmarried ones; and though it was reckoned among the Gentiles a thing indifferent, yet is contrary to the law of God, and is a work of the flesh, and makes unfit for the kingdom of God, and brings down the judgments of God both here and hereafter. And this is in opposition to marriage, which is appointed to prevent it. The sin "adulterers" are guilty of, is a sin committed by persons, who are either one or both in a married state, and so is directly a pollution of the marriage bed: this was punishable with death by the law of God, and light of nature; and though men may make light of it, God will judge and punish such as commit it, both in this life, with diseases, poverty, and disgrace, and in the world to come, at the great day of account; for however secretly it may be committed, God, who is omniscient, sees it, and will bring it into judgment; nor shall any be able to escape the righteous judgment of God, for he is omnipotent, as well as omniscient. The Jews say,

"whoever lies with another man's wife, shall not escape "the judgment", or damnation of hell (t)''

(t) T. Bab. Sota. fol. 4. 2.

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

4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Ver. 4. Marriage is honourable] And yet say the Rhemists, upon 1Co 7:9, marriage of priests is the worst sort of incontinency. Is not this to play the Antichrist

And the bed undefiled] Admonemus in ipso etiam matrimonio quandam esse scortationis speciem, siquis pure Dei done pure et sanete non utatur, ad eum finem cuius causa est institutum, saith Beza. The marriage bed, though lawful, may be defiled by excess, &c., and a man may be an adulterer of his own wife.

God will judge] The Anabaptists of Germany inferred from hence that therefore men ought not to punish adulterers; for God reserved them to his own judgment. (Joh. Manl. loc. com.) Two of them, Monetarius and Hetserus, were notorious whoremongers; being a pair of such preachers, as Zedekiah and Ahab were, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because they committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives and spake lies in God’s name, &c., Jer 29:22-23. But what a bold man was Latimer, bishop of Worcester, who presented to Henry VIII, for a new year’s gift, a New Testament with a napkin, having this posie about it, "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."

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.

Marriage is honorable in all - The object here is to state that “honor” is to be shown to the marriage relation. It is not to be undervalued by the pretence of the superior purity of a state of celibacy, as if marriage were improper for any class of people or any condition of life; and it should not be dishonored by any violation of the marriage contract. The course of things has shown that there was abundant reason for the apostle to assert with emphasis, that “marriage was an honorable condition of life.” There has been a constant effort made to show that celibacy was a more holy state; that there was something in marriage that rendered it “dishonorable” for those who are in the ministry, and for those of either sex who would be eminently pure. This sentiment has been the cause of more abomination in the world than any other single opinion claiming to have a religious sanction. It is one of the supports on which the Papal system rests, and has been one of the principal upholders of all the corruptions in monasteries and nunneries. The apostle asserts, without any restriction or qualification, that marriage is honorable in all; and this proves that it is lawful for the ministers of religion to marry, and that the whole doctrine of the superior purity of a state of celibacy is false; see this subject examined in the notes on 1 Cor. 7.

And the bed undefiled - Fidelity to the marriage vow.

But whore mongers and adulterers God will judge - All licentiousness of life, and all violations of the marriage covenant, will be severely punished by God; see the notes on 1Co 6:9. The sins here referred to prevailed everywhere, and hence, there was the more propriety for the frequent and solemn injunctions to avoid them which we find in the Scriptures.

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

Marriage honourable in all.[2] It is doubtful both in the Latin and Greek, whether the sense be, marriage is honourable, or let it be accounted honourable, as it rather seems to be by the rest of the text. Again it may be doubted whether the sense be honourable in all persons, or in all things, and in all respects; as it seems to be the obvious signification that persons do nothing to dishonour their state, as they do who violate by adulteries the fidelity they owe to one another, who regard not the sanctity of this sacrament, who love not each other, who take not care of the education of their children. It does not follow from hence, that all persons without any exception, even those who have already made a vow to God to lead a single life, may lawfully marry. Such persons, by pretending to marry, incur their damnation. See 1 Timothy v. 12. (Witham) --- Or, let marriage be honourable in all. That is, in all things belonging to the marriage state. This is a warning to married people, not to abuse the sanctity of their state, by any liberties or irregularities contrary thereunto. Now it does not follow from this text that all persons are obliged to marry, even if the word omnibus were rendered, in all persons, instead of in all things: for if it was a precept, St. Paul himself would have transgressed it, as he never married. Moreover those who have already made a vow to God to lead a single life, should they attempt to marry, would incur their own damnation. (Challoner) --- As marriage is a great sacrament, (Ephesians v.) married persons should be careful to honour and respect it, by chaste and prudent behaviour; (see 1 Peter iii. and 1 Thessalonians iv.) but it too often happens that by criminal incontinence they change a great sacrament into a great sacrilege.

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Honorabile connubium in omnibus, Greek: timios o gamos en posi.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Marriage is honourable in all: the next duty charged on the subjects of Christ’s kingdom, is chastity; the commendation of it is a precept to it. Marriage is that state which God instituted at the beginning, after the creation of Adam and Eve, which was by his law the making of them two to become one flesh, Gen 2:24; confirmed by Christ, Mat 19:5. On this state God, the fountain of all honour, hath stamped his own name and excellence, and hath made it, by an irreversible law, a glorious and honourable state. The connection is present, real, and necessary; God saith it, therefore it is so, and must be so; and this after God’s institution in all its concomitants every where, and in all times; but especially in all persons in the kingdom of Christ, true Christians of all sorts and degrees, of what state or calling soever, qualified for and called to it, whether magistrates, ministers, or church members; God by it preventing sin, preserving holy and pure communion between the married, propagating his church, and accomplishing the number of his chosen by it, Psa 111:3; Mal 2:15; 1Co 7:9; 1Th 4:3,4; 1Pe 3:1,7.

And the bed undefiled; a good, moral use of the marriage bed, the natural and lawful use of the wife by the husband, and of the husband by the wife, according to the law of God; which is so far from being unclean, filthy, and inconsistent with the purity of Christ, as papists, apostates from the faith, assert, 1Ti 4:1-4, that it is holy, pure, and chaste in itself, and a most excellent means of preserving chastity among the subjects of Christ’s kingdom, 1Th 4:4; Tit 2:5; 1Pe 3:2; by this they are kept in their bodies from being polluted or dishonoured by fornication or adultery. Marriage is thus honourable in all husbands and wives, of what degree or order soever, whilst they are such; and must be undefiled in all, because their bodies are the members of Christ, and temples of the Holy Ghost, 1Co 6:15,17-20.

But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge; but God hates unclean societies of all men and women, but especially of Christians; and as he will certainly judge, and inflict eternal punishment upon, all kind of unclean persons, so especially upon whoremongers and adulterers who profess themselves subjects of Christ’s pure kingdom, 2Pe 2:6; Jud 1:4,7; Re 2:21.

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

4. That social life may be peaceful married life must be pure.

Marriage is honourable—The verb should, unquestionably, be in the imperative, like the main verbs in the three previous verses and in Heb_13:5. Render it, Let marriage be (held) among you honourable in all respects, and the marriage bed be undefiled; for (not but) fornicators and adulterers God will judge. The Greek attains a solemn emphasis, unattainable by the English, by closing the sentence with God. The implication is, men may disregard the law of chastity, legislators and judges may set human laws against it; but there is a final judge by whom it will be avenged—God.

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

Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. So in the A.V the first clause of this verse, which is taken as an assertion, the copula esti , being understood. So it is also taken by Chrysostom and other ancients. If so, it is a declaration, interposed among hortations, of the honorableness of the" estate of matrimony," with the hortatory purpose of suggesting this "remedy against sin", (as in 1Co_7:9) or as a protest against false asceticism, such as is alluded to in 1Ti_4:3, "forbidding to marry." And certainly the expression, timiov o gamov , taken by itself, would most naturally have this meaning. But most modern commentators understand it as an exhortation, supplying estw ; and this for the following cogent reasons: it occurs in the midst of a series of exhortations, and is therefore more likely to be one; it is difficult to understand the connected clause, "and the bed undefiled (kai h koith amiantov)," as a statement; and the exactly similar phrase in ver. 5, afilargurov o tropov , seems evidently hortatory. Hence we take it to mean "Let marriage be timov en pason ." Two questions remain that of the import of timiov , and whether pasin is masculine or neuter. Timiov elsewhere, when applied to persons, means "held in honor"; (as in Act_5:34, of Gamaliel) when applied to things, it means "precious". (as in 1Co_3:12; Rev_17:4 Rev_18:12, 16 21:19, of precious stones; in 1Pe_1:19, of the blood of the Lamb; 2Pe_1:4, of promises; Act_20:24, of "my own life;" Jam_5:7, of the fruit of the earth) Bengel explainsthus: "Caelibes, quibus periculum scortationis imminet, hortatur ut matrimonium contrahant, tanquam pretiosum quiddam agnoscentes, ejusque bone digne utantur. Conf. 1Th_4:4." And, taking pasin as masculine, he explains further: "Omnesque debent matrimonium magni facere, ut, si quis eo ipse non utatur, alios tamen non prohibeat." According to this view the first clause is an injunction to all to appreciate marriage, the second warns those that are married against any violation of the bond: Timiov gamov antitheton ad scortatotes, koith amiantov ad adulteros" (Bengel). But the more natural, and the usual, meaning of the common expression en pasin is "in all things," not "among all persons". (cf. Jaffa, ver. 18; also Col_1:18 Tit_2:9 2Ti_4:5) If so here, timiov o gamov must be taken rather as an injunction with respect to the sanctity of marriage when contracted: "Let it be held in honor in all respects; in all ways reverently regarded as a holy bond;" the succeeding clause, h koith amiantov , being a further explication of the same idea (cf. 1Th_4:4, "That every one of you should know how to possess his own vessel meaning, probably, as seems to be required by the verb ktasyai , "get to himself his own wife in sanctification and honor (en agiasmw kai timh);" where en timh may express the same ides as timiov in the text. "In the conclusion of the verse "for" (gar) suits the drift of the sentence as above understood, and is considered to be supported better than "but" (de) of the Textus Receptus. Observe, lastly, that, in "God will judge," "God" is emphatic, being placed last. Though the kind of sin spoken of is lightly regarded among men, and may escape detection or punishment now, yet certainly God will judge it. (1Th_4:6, "God is the Avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testified;" and 1Co_6:9, where fornicators and adulterers are included among those about whom Christians are not to deceive themselves, as though they would "inherit the kingdom of God

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

Marriage is honourable in, or for all sorts of men, clergy as well as laity: though the Romanists teach otherwise. And the bed undefiled - Consistent with the highest purity; though many spiritual writers, so called, say it is only licensed whoredom. But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge - Though they frequently escape the sentence of men.

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

Our apostle having, in the former verses, directed Christians to their duty on towards another, in this and the following verses, he directs them to perform their duty towards themselves; and because the two radical comprehensive lusts of corrupted nature are uncleanness and covetousness, he therefore commends unto their care and practice those two great duties of chastity and contention, the former in this, the latter in the next verse.

Now here observe, That to prevent the former sin, the ravings of unbridled lust our apostle prescribes the remedy which God appoints, marriage; that is, the conjunction of two individual persons that have freedom in choice and consent, and have power over themselves, not being within the degrees of affinity or consanguinity prohibited, between whom there results such an indissoluble union, that thereby they become one flesh; such marriage he affirms to be honourable, and to be so esteemed in regard to its Author, God himself, Gen 2:18 in regard of the place, paradise; in regard of the time, in man’s innocency: in regard of the end and usefulness of it, the continuation of the race of mankind; thus it it honourable, and ought to be had in honour.

The apostle adds, that is is thus Honourable in all; that is, amongst all orders, ranks, and degrees of men, that are called thereunto; the remedy is equally provided by God for all; and therefore the church of Rome to deny it to their clergy, is to usurp authority over the consciences of men, and to judge themselves too pure for an institution of their Maker, which our first parents in innocency did not think themselves too pure for.

Learn hence, 1. That divine institution is sufficient to render any state or condition of life honourable, and consequently the state of marriage.

2. That which is honourable by divine institution, may be rendered abominable by the miscarriages of men.

3. That it is an horrid contempt of the authority of God and a bold usurpation over the consciences of men, to forbid the state of marriage unto any, which God has made honourable among all.

Next to the state of marriage, the apostle adds the duty of that state, the bed undefiled, in opposition to the defiled bed of whoremongers and adulterers, and the preservation of marriage duties within their due bounds.

Having exhorted to conjugal purity and chastity in the former part of the verse, he adds a very cogent reason and forcible motive to it in the latter words, because whoremongers and adulterers God will judge; that is, all persons who in a single state of life do know on another carnally, without a marriage-vow or covenant between them; if both parties be single, their filthiness is called fornication; if either of them be married, adultery; neither of them shall escape the judgment of God; that is, temporal punishment in this life, and eternal damnation in the next.

Learn hence, That whatever light thought men have of the sin of uncleanness, yet we are assured it doth in its own nature deserve eternal condemnation, and such as live and die impenitently in it, shall certainly perish for it; and if so, then all occassions of, and all temptations leading to those sins, are to be avoided, as we love our souls; for of all sinners, those who have habitually given up themselves to the lust of the flesh, are most rarely and difficultly brought to repentance.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4–6. Marriage is honorable. Let it be held in honor, but licentiousness God will judge, even though men may tolerate it.

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. τίμιος ὁ γάμος κ.τ.λ. Probably this is an exhortation, “Let marriage be held honourable among all,” or rather “in all respects.” Scripture never gives even the most incidental sanction to the exaltation of celibacy as a superior virtue, or to the disparagement of marriage as an inferior state. Celibacy and marriage stand on an exactly equal level of honour according as God has called us to the one or the other state. The mediaeval glorification of Monachism sprang partly from a religion of exaggerated gloom and terror, and partly from a complete misunderstanding of the sense applied by Jewish writers to the word “Virgins.” Nothing can be clearer than the teaching on this subject alike of the Old (Gen 2:18; Gen 2:24) and of the New Covenant (Mat 19:4-6; Joh 2:1-2; 1Co 7:2). There is no “forbidding to marry” (1Ti 4:1-3) among Evangelists and Apostles. They shared the deep conviction which their nation had founded on Gen 1:27; Gen 2:18-24 and which our Lord had sanctioned (Mat 19:4-6). The warning in this verse is against unchastity. If it be aimed against a tendency to disparage the married state it would shew that the writer is addressing some Hebrews who had adopted in this matter the prejudices of the Essenes (1Ti 4:3). In any case the truth remains “Honourable is marriage in all”; it is only lawless passions which are “passions of dishonour” (Rom 1:26).

ἐν πᾶσιν. This may mean “in all things” as in Heb 13:18; or “among all,” which would however be normally expressed by παρὰ πᾶσιν. In the A.V. ἐστὶν is supplied, in the R.V. ἔστω.

ἀμίαντος. “And let the bed be undefiled” by adultery. A warning to Antinomians (such for instance as the Nicolaitans, Rev 2:6; Rev 2:15) who made light of unchastity (Act 15:20; 1Th 4:6).

πόρνους. Christianity introduced a wholly new conception regarding the sin of fornication (Gal 5:19; Gal 5:21; 1Co 6:9-10; Eph 5:5; Col 3:5-6; Rev 22:15) which, especially in the depraved decadence of Heathenism under the Empire, was hardly regarded as any sin at all. Hence the necessity for constantly raising a warning voice against it (1Th 4:6, &c.).

κρινεῖ. The more because they often escape altogether the judgement of man (1Sa 2:25; 2Sa 3:39).

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.] Exhortation to chastity. Let your marriage (γάμος, elsewhere in N. T. in the sense of a wedding, here has its ordinary Greek meaning) be (held) in honour in all things (see below) and your marriage bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God shall judge. There are several debateable matters in this verse. First, is it a command or an assertion? The latter view is taken in Syr. “Honourable is marriage among all, and their bed is undefiled:” Beza, Grot., our E. V., al. And so Chrys. (πῶς τίμιος ὁ γάμος; ὅτι ἐν σωφροσύνῃ, φησί, διατηρεῖ τὸν πιστόν), Œc., Thdrt. (apparently). But against this is the following clause, καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος: for it is impossible to keep to the same rendering in this case: cf. Syr. above: the E. V. has evaded this difficulty by rendering, “and the bed undefiled,” leaving it, as its guide Beza does, uncertain whether “undefiled” is an epithet, as usually taken by English readers, or a predicate, as the Greek absolutely requires. For had the meaning been, “Marriage is honourable among all, and the (an) undefiled bed,” certainly the article could not have stood before κοίτη without standing also before ἀμίαντος: it must have been καὶ κοίτη ἀμίαντος or καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἡ ἀμίαντος. So that the indicative supplement, ἐστιν, must be dismissed, as inconsistent with the requirements of the latter clause; and, I might add, with the context: in which, besides that the whole is of a hortatory character, the very same collocation of words immediately follows in ἀφιλάργυρος ὁ τρόπος, where no one suggests ἐστιν as our supplement. The imperative view has accordingly been taken by very many Commentators: as e. g. by Thl. (see below), and the great mass of moderns. Delitzsch holds that no supplement is wanted, the clause being an exclamation carrying with it a hortatory force. But surely this is equivalent to supplying ἔστω. The next question respects ἐν πᾶσιν, whether it is to be taken as masculine, ‘among all men,’ or as neuter, ‘in all things.’ The doubt was felt as early as Thl., who thus expresses it: ἐν πᾶσιν οὖν, μὴ ἐν τοῖς προβεβηκόσι μέν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς νέοις οὔ, ἀλλʼ ἐν πᾶσιν. ἢ καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τρόποις καὶ ἐν πᾶσι καιροῖς, μὴ ἐν θλίψει μέν, ἐν ἀνέσει δὲ οὔ, μὴ ἐν τούτῳ μὲν μέρει τίμιος, ἐν ἄλλῳ δὲ οὔ, ἀλλʼ ὅλος ἐν ὅλῳ τίμιος ἔστω. The masculine is taken by Erasmus, Cajetan, Luther, Calvin, Beza, and most Commentators, especially Protestants, and in later times by Schulz, Böhme, De Wette, Wahl, Kuinoel, Tholuck. And it is variously interpreted: either, α. as by Luther, that all should keep marriage in honour, by not violating it; β. as by Böhme, Schulz, al., that the unmarried should not despise it, but it should be held in honour by all; or, γ. as Calvin, al., that it is allowed to all conditions of men, not denied to any, as e. g. it is to the Romish priesthood. But it is altogether against the masculine sense, 1. that ἐν πᾶσιν would not be the natural expression for it, but παρὰ πᾶσιν: cf. Mat 19:26 (bis), and : Act 26:8: Rom 2:13: 2Th 1:6: Jas 1:27 (ἀμίαντος παρὰ τῷ θεῷ): and, 2. that our Writer uses ἐν πᾶσιν in this very chapter for ‘in all things,’ ver. 18. See also reff., and Col 1:18: Php 4:12. So that the neuter view is to be preferred: and so Œc., Corn. a-Lap., Calmet, the R.-Cath. expositors generally, Bleek, De Wette, Lünem., Delitzsch, al. For the phrase κοίτη ἀμίαντος, Wetst. quotes from Plutarch de Fluviis, p. 18, ὑπὸ τῆς μητρυιᾶς φιλούμενος, καὶ μὴ θέλων μιαίνειν τὴν κοίτην τοῦ γεννήσαντος. The latter clause carries with it the anticipation of condemnation in κρινεῖ. Man may, or may not, punish them: one thing is sure: they shall come into judgment, and if so into condemnation, when God shall judge all.

5,

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

Marriage is honorable in all (timiov oJ gamov ejn pasin). Gamov everywhere else in N. T. a wedding or wedding feast, often in the plural, as Mt 22:2, 3, 4; Luk 12:36. Timiov honorable or held in honor. Often in N. T. precious, of gold, stones, etc., as 1Co 3:12; Rev 17:4; Rev 18:12 : of life, Act 20:24 : the fruits of the earth, Jas 5:7; the blood of Christ, 1Pe 1:19; the divine promises, 2Pe 1:4. Rend. "let marriage be had in honor." The statement is hortatory, as suiting the character of the entire context, and especially the gar for; "for whoremongers," etc. En pasin in all respects, " as 1Ti 3:11; 2Ti 4:5; Tit 2:9; Col 1:18; Phi 4:12. If as A. V., the more natural expression would be para pasin as Mt 19:26; Act 26:8; Rom 2:13; 2Th 1:6; Jas 1:27. En pasin in all things appears in this chapter, ver. 18. 245 There are many points in which marriage is to be honored besides the avoidance of illicit connections. See on 1Th 4:6.

God will judge [κρινει ο θεος] . Note the emphatic position of oJ qeov. He will judge and condemn infractions of the marriage - bond, however social sentiment may condone them.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.