Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 7:2 Go To 1 Corinthians 7
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Nevertheless to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife. Lest being unmarried, and unwilling to live a chaste life, he fall into fornication. Every Prayer of Manasseh , say Melancthon and Bucer, must include the priest and the monk. I reply that every man means every man that is free, not bound by vow, disease, or old age: for such are incapable if matrimony. Laws and documents must be interpreted according to their subject-matter: they only apply to those capable of receiving them, not to those who are not. To him then who is free, and unbound, and can fulfil the requirements of matrimony, the apostle gives to precept, but advice and permission, that if he fears to fall into fornication he should marry a wife, or keep to her that he has already married, rather than fall into any danger of committing such a sin. So the Fathers whom I will quote at ver9 all agree in saying. This must be the Apostle"s meaning, for otherwise he would contradict himself, for throughout the whole chapter he urges the life of chastity.
Moreover, the apostle is speaking primarily to the married alone, and not to the unmarried. To these latter he begins to speak in ver8 , Now I say to the unmarried and widows, where the adversative now marks the change. He says too here let every man have, not let every man marry, because he is speaking to those who already had wives. So S. Jerome (lib. i. contra Jovin.) says, "Let every man that is married have his own wife," i.e, continue to have her, not dismiss or repudiate her, but rather use her lawfully and chastely. The word have signifies not an inchoate but a continuous action. So 2 Timothy 1:13: "Hold fast the form of sound words," where the same word is used. So in S. Luke 19:26: Unto every one that hath (that uses his talent) shall be given; and from him that hath not (does not use), even that he hath shall be taken away from him; otherwise there cannot well be taken from a man what he has not. That this is the true meaning is evident from that follows in ver3.
