23It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men.
24My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.
25Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.
26In my opinion then, because of the present trouble, it is good for a man to keep as he is.
27If you are married to a wife, make no attempt to get free from her: if you are free from a wife, do not take a wife.
28If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.
29But I say this, my brothers, the time is short; and from now it will be wise for those who have wives to be as if they had them not;