Re: 1Cor 7:1 - Not to touch a woman....

Michael Holmes (holmic@bethel.edu)
Mon, 2 Dec 1996 17:21:49 -0600 (CST)

At 03:06 PM 12/2/96 MST, Wes Williams wrote:
> Paul tells us in 1 Cor 7:1 to KALON ANQRWPWi GUNAIKOS MH hAPTESQAI.
>
> Presupposing that Paul was here referring to legitimate sexual
> intimacies within the marital arrangement, what references are there
> in Greek literature where hAPTESQAI has the meaning of sexual intimacy
> that may support this thought?
>

First, the phrase is likely not Paul's; he appears to be quoting the/a
Corinthian position from their letter (a view which goes back at least as
far as Origen). For details see (among others) the commentary on 1
Corinthians by Gordon Fee (Eerdmans, 1987) 273-276.

For the lexical question, see Fee, p. 275, who offers nine occurrances
across six centuries, all of which, he says, refer to having sexual
intercourse (not simply "not marry").

Mike Holmes