What Does 1 Corinthians 7:1 Mean in the King James?
Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here “touch” is a discreet way to speak of sexual union, so the verse praises restraint without making every touch, or a woman’s body, unclean.
THE MEANING
This verse names abstaining from sexual union as good. The Greek verb can mean to take hold or attach, and here it refers to sexual intimacy rather than every ordinary contact between a man and a woman.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that sexual union is required for goodness: this verse calls abstaining from it good.
THE ROOT
ἅπτεσθαι
haptesthai
GROWS FROM
ἅπτ-
hapt-
To fasten, attach, or make contact; in the middle voice, to touch or take hold.
The English “touch” can sound like any physical contact, but this Greek verb carries the sense of taking hold, and the phrase is a discreet expression for sexual union. The root itself does not make touch wrong: its sense shifts with what is being joined and the context in which contact occurs.
ALSO GROWS
haptomai: To touch or take hold.
ἅπτομαι
The same verb appears in Mark 1:41 when Jesus touches the man with leprosy, showing that the word can describe healing contact as well as intimate union.
haphē: Touch, contact, or connection.
ἁφή
This related noun appears in Colossians 2:19 for bodily connections, echoing the root’s sense of contact and joining.
THE PATTERN
Sexual desire does not make sexual union necessary; restraint can be named as good.
There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;THE THREAD
And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.Mark uses the same Greek verb for Jesus’ touch, where contact brings cleansing. The shared root shows that “touch” itself is not condemned; in 1 Corinthians, the phrase points to sexual union.
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