^24 (A)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

⁴ And He answered and said, “Have you not read ^(A)that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘^(B)For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(C)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

¹⁶ He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered and said to Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.”

Unbelief and Its Consequences

¹⁸ For ^(A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who ^(B)suppress the truth ^[a]in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because ^(C)that which is known about God is evident ^[b]within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For ^(D)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ^(E)being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not ^[c]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became ^(F)futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. ^22 (G)Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and they ^(H)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and ^[d]crawling creatures.

²⁴ Therefore ^(I)God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be ^(J)dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for ^[e](K)falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(L)who is blessed ^[f]forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(M)God gave them over to ^(N)degrading passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature, ²⁷ and likewise the men, too, abandoned natural relations ^[g]with women and burned in their desire toward one another, ^(O)males with males committing ^[h]shameful acts and receiving in ^[i]their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit ^[j]to acknowledge God, ^(P)God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, ²⁹ people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are ^(Q)gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, ^[k](R)haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, ^(S)disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, ^(T)unfeeling, and unmerciful; ³² and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of ^(U)death, they not only do the same, but also ^(V)approve of those who practice them.

¹¹ But ^[a]actually, I ^[b]wrote to you not to associate ^[c]with any so-called ^(A)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(B)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person.

⁹ Or ^(A)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(B)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(C)Do not be deceived; ^(D)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[a]homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(E)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (F)Such were some of you; but you were ^(G)washed, but you were ^(H)sanctified, but you were ^(I)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[b]in the Spirit of our God.

^18 (A)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[a]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(B)do you not know that ^(C)your body is a ^[b]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[c]God, and that ^(D)you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(E)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(F)your body.

Teaching on Marriage

7 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is ^(A)good for a man ^[a]not to touch a woman. ² But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. ³ The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise the wife also to her husband.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is ^(A)good for them if they remain ^(B)even as I. ⁹ But if they do not have self-control, ^(C)let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.