1 Corinthians 7:3

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
husband	ἀνὴρ anēr	G435	a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — nominative singular masculine
render	ἀποδιδότω· apodidotō	G591	to give away · verb — present active imperative, 3rd person singular
wife	γυναικὶ gunaiki	G1135	a woman · noun — dative singular feminine
due	ὀφείλω opheílō	G3784	to owe (pecuniarily)
benevolence	εὔνοιαν eunoian	G2133	kindness · noun — accusative singular feminine
and	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
likewise	ὁμοίως homoiōs	G3668	similarly · adverb
also	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
wife	γυνὴ gunē	G1135	a woman · noun — nominative singular feminine
husband	ἀνδρί. andri	G435	a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — dative singular masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs to…
Exodus 21:10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 7:1-9

The apostle comes now, as a faithful and skilful casuist, to answer some cases of conscience which the Corinthians had proposed to him. Those were things whereof they wrote to him, Co1 7:1. As the lips of ministers should keep knowledge, so the people should ask the law at their mouths. The apostle was as ready to resolve as they were to propose their doubts. In the former chapter, he warns them to avoid fornication; here he gives some directions about marriage, the remedy God had appointed for it. He tells them in general, I. That it was good, in that juncture of time at least, to abstain from marriage altogether: It is good for a man not to touch a woman (not to take her to wife), by good…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 7:3

The duty of cohabitation on the part of the married. due benevolence--The oldest manuscripts read simply, "her due"; that is, the conjugal cohabitation due by the marriage contract (compare Co1 7:4).

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 7:3

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence - Την οφειλομενην ευνοιαν· Though our version is no translation of the original, yet few persons are at a loss for the meaning, and the context is sufficiently plain. Some have rendered the words, not unaptly, the matrimonial debt, or conjugal duty - that which a wife owes to her husband, and the husband to his wife; and which they must take care mutually to render, else alienation of affection will be the infallible consequence, and this in numberless instances has led to adulterous connections. In such cases the wife has to blame herself for the infidelity of her husband, and the husband for that of his wife. What miserable work has been…

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John Gill on 1 Corinthians 7:3

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence,.... The Syriac version renders it, , "due love"; and so the Arabic; and may include all the offices of love, tenderness, humanity, care, provision, and protection, which are to be performed by the husband to his wife; though it seems chiefly, if not solely, here to respect what is called, Exodus 21:10 "her marriage duty", as distinct from food and raiment to be allowed her; and what is meant by it the Jewish doctors will tell us: one says (t), it is , "the use of the marriage bed"; and, says another (u), , "it is to lie with her", according to the way of all the earth. And so the phrase here, "due benevolence", is an euphemism, and des…

The Church Fathers

Husband and wife must submit to one another in this matter, since the two of them are one flesh and one will, according to the law of nature.
— Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

Human laws demand that women be chaste and if they are not they are punished for it, but they do not demand the same from men. Since it was men who made the laws, they did not make themselves equal with woman but allowed themselves extra indulgence. The holy apostle, however, inspired by divine grace, was the first one who made the law of chastity apply to men as well.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 201

What (of the fact) that she endured not to have been met alone; but in the presence of Adam, not yet her husband, not yet bound to lend her his ears, she is impatient of keeping silence, and makes him the transmitter of that which she had imbibed from the Evil One? Therefore another human being, too, perishes through the impatience of the one; presently, too, perishes of himself, through his own impatience committed in each respect, both in regard of God's premonition and in regard of the devil's cheatery; not enduring to observe the former nor to refute the latter.
— Tertullian, Of Patience

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Revelation of Christ — The second advent of Christ. Three different Greek words are used by the apostles to express this, (1) apokalupsis (1 Cor. 1;7; 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7, 13); (2) parousia (Matt. 24:3, 27; 1 Thess.…
Wife — The ordinance of marriage was sanctioned in Paradise (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:4-6). Monogamy was the original law under which man lived, but polygamy early commenced (Gen. 4:19), and continued to prevail…
Continence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Husband · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Husbands · Should have but one wife — Should have but one wife
Stoicism · .Celibacy — .Celibacy
Wife · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Wives · Duties of, to their husbands: To be faithful to them — Duties of, to their husbands: To be faithful to them

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Corinthians 7:3

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 7:1-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 7:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 7:3

John Gill on 1 Corinthians 7:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Corinthians 7:3

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 7:1-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Corinthians 7:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 7:3

John Gill on 1 Corinthians 7:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on 1 Corinthians 7:3-5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Corinthians 7:3-4