"Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: 'It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.' But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband."
These verses make a distinction between "sexual relations" and "sexual immorality." The former refers to relations within the marriage setting. The later is outside of marriage. Paul is not saying that you should avoid sexual relations within marriage (the next few verses make that abundantly clear). He is saying that it is best for men not to get married. But then he makes the concession that if remaining unmarried will lead you to engage in extramarital relations, you should be married. To put it another way, marriage isn't a good idea, but if you can't contain yourself, get married.
These words seem strange and foreign to us. Do these verses indicate that the Christian church wrong to put such an emphasis on marriage. Should we be supporters of celibacy as a better option than marriage? One might come to believe that from this passage. But a later verse in this chapter helps us to understand the situation in which these comments were made. It is "in view of the present distress." The church was experiencing a time of persecution. And in that situation, it would be better not to be married. But even then, it was better to be married than to be given over to immorality.
Today's Christian should take at least two lessons away. One, relations within marriage are not immoral. They keep you from immorality. Two, if you are single and struggling with the desire for sexual relations, wait until you are married.
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