What Does 1 Corinthians 7:4 Mean?
The wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.THE KEY
The same authority over the body is stated in both directions, making reciprocity the verse’s structure.
THE MEANING
The verse describes marriage as reciprocal bodily authority: each spouse’s own body is named as being under the other’s authority. The same Greek verb applies in both halves, and “likewise” repeats the relation in reverse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the claim that this sentence gives the husband unilateral authority: the same claim is turned toward him, with the wife named as his counterpart.
THE ROOT
ἐξουσιάζει
exousiazei
GROWS FROM
ἐξουσιάζω (exousiazō), related to ἐξουσία (exousia)
To exercise authority or a right; the word family is associated with what is permitted or within one’s authority.
“rule over” in this verse is exousiazei. The verb names authority or right, rather than physical strength. Because the same form, ἐξουσιάζει (exousiazei, “exercises authority”), is repeated in both halves, the verse gives the same kind of claim in opposite directions.
ALSO GROWS
exousia: Authority, right, or jurisdiction
ἐξουσία
The related noun names the authority expressed by the verb, clarifying the kind of “power” at issue.
exesti: It is permitted; it is possible
ἔξεστι
This related expression points toward permission or scope of action, rather than force; the verse applies that authority reciprocally.
ὁμοίως
homoiōs
GROWS FROM
ὅμοιος
hómoios
Like, alike, or of the same kind.
“likewise” in this verse is homoiōs. This likeness marker applies to the husband the same relation already stated of the wife. Reciprocity is built into the sentence’s grammar, not added as an inference.
ALSO GROWS
hómoios: Like, alike, similar
ὅμοιος
This adjective is the word family behind “likewise,” marking the second clause as corresponding to the first.
homoiotēs: Likeness, similarity
ὁμοιότης
This related noun carries the same idea of correspondence that the repeated clause makes explicit.
THE PATTERN
In marriage, bodily union is described through reciprocal claims, with the same relational bond running in both directions.
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.Let the husband give to the wife what is owed in goodwill, and likewise the wife to the husband.So husbands owe love to their wives, as to their own bodies. The one who loves his wife loves himself.THE THREAD
Let the husband give to the wife what is owed in goodwill, and likewise the wife to the husband.The preceding verse uses the same “likewise also” symmetry, naming mutual giving; this verse names mutual authority over the body. Together, their parallel structure makes reciprocity the organizing pattern of the passage.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us