Bible Verses About Continence: General references

"You have heard that our fathers were told, `Do not commit adultery.'m

But I tell you that a man who even looks at a woman with the purpose of lusting after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Now to deal with the questions you wrote about: “Is it good for a man to keep away from women?”

Well, because of the danger of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

The husband should give his wife what she is entitled to in the marriage relationship, and the wife should do the same for her husband.

The wife is not in charge of her own body, but her husband is; likewise, the husband is not in charge of his own body, but his wife is.

Do not deprive each other, except for a limited time, by mutual agreement, and then only so as to have extra time for prayer; but afterwards, come together again. Otherwise, because of your lack of self-control, you may succumb to the Adversary’s temptation.

I am giving you this as a suggestion, not as a command.

Actually, I wish everyone were like me; but each has his own gift from God, one this, another that.

Now to the single people and the widows I say that it is fine if they remain unmarried like me;

but if they can’t exercise self-control, they should get married; because it is better to get married than to keep burning with sexual desire.

Now the question about the unmarried: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I offer an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy to be trusted.

I suppose that in a time of stress like the present it is good for a person to stay as he is.

That means that if a man has a wife, he should not seek to be free of her; and if he is unmarried, he should not look for a wife.

But if you marry you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does not sin. It is just that those who get married will have the normal problems of married life, and I would rather spare you.

What I am saying, brothers, is that there is not much time left: from now on a man with a wife should live as if he had none —

Now if a man thinks he is behaving dishonorably by treating his fiancée this way, and if there is strong sexual desire, so that marriage is what ought to happen; then let him do what he wants — he is not sinning: let them get married.

But if a man has firmly made up his mind, being under no compulsion but having complete control over his will, if he has decided within himself to keep his fiancée a virgin, he will be doing well.

So the man who marries his fiancée will do well, and the man who doesn’t marry will do better.

Do not rebuke an older man sharply, but appeal to him as you would to a father; treat younger men like brothers,

older women like mothers and younger women like sisters, with absolute purity.

These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been ransomed from among humanity as firstfruits for God and the Lamb;

on their lips no lie was found — they are without defect.