Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ‘It is well for a man not to touch a woman.’ But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. (1Corinthians 7:1-5)

Paul is apparently responding to a specific question regarding sexual abstinence within marriage. As we will see, his general attitude toward marriage is ambivalent.

But within marriage Paul advocates an active and equal sexual life. The tone of the English is a bit grudging, even disdainful. The Greek may not be as chaste.

A 19th Century commentator dealing with the first verse wrote, "The learned reader need not be informed in what sense απτομαι (touch, bind, kindle, inflame) is used among the Greeks." It was a euphemism for a range of sexual acts.

The sexual and the sacred are related. The ecstatic experience of a saint has often been described using sexual terms.

Most important to Paul's teaching is the emphasis on sexual equality and mutuality. When sex is a euphemism for the sacred, Paul tells us the experience always affirms the other.

Above is Glad Day by William Blake, an artistic euphemism for his vision of Christ?