8. I say to those who are not married, especially to widows: It is good for you to stay single like me.
9. However, if you cannot control your desires, you should get married. It is better for you to marry than to burn ⌊with sexual desire⌋.
10. I pass this command along (not really I, but the Lord): A wife shouldn’t leave her husband.
11. If she does, she should stay single or make up with her husband. Likewise, a husband should not divorce his wife.
12. I (not the Lord) say to the rest of you: If any Christian man is married to a woman who is an unbeliever, and she is willing to live with him, he should not divorce her.
13. If any Christian woman is married to a man who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to live with her, she should not divorce her husband.
14. Actually, the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and an unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise, their children would be unacceptable ⌊to God⌋, but now they are acceptable to him.
15. But if the unbelieving partners leave, let them go. Under these circumstances a Christian man or Christian woman is not bound ⌊by a marriage vow⌋. God has called you to live in peace.
16. How do you as a wife know whether you will save your husband? How do you as a husband know whether you will save your wife?
17. Everyone should live the life that the Lord gave him when God called him. This is the guideline I use in every church.
18. Any man who was already circumcised when he was called to be a Christian shouldn’t undo his circumcision. Any man who was uncircumcised when he was called to be a Christian shouldn’t get circumcised.
19. Circumcision is nothing, and the lack of it is nothing. But keeping what God commands is everything.
20. All people should stay as they were when they were called.