See the introduction to this section. Good News Bible‘s “to deal with” is implied in the Greek. Bible en français courant says “Let us pass now to the questions you asked me in your letter.” One may also say “Now, I am going to speak about the matters that you wrote to me about.”

It is well is literally “is good.” However, “good” in this context does not mean “morally good” but “good for (someone)” in the sense of being to someone’s advantage, as in Gen 2.18, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” One may also translate the phrase It is well for a man as “It is a good thing if a man…” or “If a man … he does a good thing.”

Touch a woman is a Greek euphemism for “have sexual relations with a woman,” whether one’s wife or not (see the Septuagint of Gen 20.4, 6; Pro 6.29). However, Good News Bible‘s translation “marry” may be justified in this verse because sex outside of marriage is not being referred to here. The tense of the verb touch suggests a single act. A woman means “any woman.” New English Bible‘s euphemism “to have nothing to do with women” is too general if one takes it literally. Translator’s New Testament‘s “not to have intercourse with a woman” is an explicit English way of saying this sentence. Other possible euphemisms are “live with a woman” or “stay and eat with a woman.” Each language has its own special ways of referring to the act of sexual intercourse.

Good News Bible has a footnote, “You say that a man does well not to marry,” which suggests that Paul is quoting from a letter that the Corinthian Christians had sent to him earlier. Barclay has “In regard to the point you make that….” Orr and Walther translate the words as a question that might have been asked by the Corinthians: “… the matters about which you wrote: is it good…?” Translators should take this suggestion seriously since Paul would be more likely to quote questions than statements from the Corinthians’ letter. A possible translation is New Jerusalem Bible‘s rendering, “Yes, it is a good thing…” (also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This suggests that Paul is about to use words from the Corinthians’ letter. Different languages have varying ways of indicating when a quotation is being made, quite apart from punctuation.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .