Bible in 90 Days

Unity: modeled by the Messiah, encouraged by scripture

15 We, the “strong” ones, should bear with the frailty of the “weak,” and not please ourselves. ² Each one of us should please our neighbor for his or her good, to build them up.

³ The Messiah, you see, did not please himself. Instead, as the Bible says, “the reproaches of those who reproached you are fallen on me.” ⁴ Whatever was written ahead of time, you see, was written for us to learn from, so that through patience, and through the encouragement of the Bible, we might have hope. ⁵ May the God of patience and encouragement grant you to come to a common mind among yourselves, in accordance with the Messiah, Jesus, ⁶ so that, with one mind and one mouth, you may glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

United praise under the Messiah’s universal rule

⁷ Welcome one another, therefore, as the Messiah has welcomed you, to God’s glory. ⁸ Let me tell you why: the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised people in order to demonstrate the truthfulness of God—that is, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, ⁹ and to bring the nations to praise God for his mercy. As the Bible says:

¹⁰ And again it says,

¹¹ And again,

¹² And Isaiah says once more:

¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.

Coming to Rome at last

¹⁴ When I think of you, my dear family, I myself am thoroughly convinced that you are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and well able to give one another instruction. ¹⁵ But I have written to you very boldly at some points, calling things to your mind through the grace which God has given me ¹⁶ to enable me to be a minister of Messiah Jesus for the nations, working in the priestly service of God’s good news, so that the offering of the nations may be acceptable, sanctified in the holy spirit.

¹⁷ This is the glad confidence I have in Messiah Jesus, and in God’s own presence. ¹⁸ Far be it from me, you see, to speak about anything except what the Messiah has accomplished through me for the obedience of the nations, in word and deed, ¹⁹ in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s spirit. I have completed the announcement of the Messiah’s good news from Jerusalem round as far as Illyricum. ²⁰ My driving ambition has been to announce the good news in places where the Messiah has not been named, so that I can avoid building on anyone else’s foundation. ²¹ Instead, as the Bible says,

²² That’s why I have faced so many obstacles to stop me coming to you. ²³ But now, finding myself with no more room in these regions, I have a great longing to come to you now at last after so many years, ²⁴ and so to make my way to Spain. You see, I’m hoping to see you as I pass through, and to be sent on my way there by you, once I have been refreshed by you for a while.

Aid for Jerusalem

²⁵ Now, though, I am going to Jerusalem to render service to God’s people there. ²⁶ Macedonia and Achaea, you see, have happily decided to enter into partnership with the poor believers in Jerusalem. ²⁷ They were eager to do this, and indeed they owe them a debt. If the nations have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, it is right and proper that they should minister to their earthly needs. ²⁸ So when I have completed this, and tied up all the loose ends, I will come via you to Spain. ²⁹ And I know that when I come to you I shall come with the full blessing of the Messiah.

³⁰ I urge you, my dear family, through our Lord Jesus the Messiah and through the love of the spirit: fight the battle for me in your prayers to God on my behalf, ³¹ so that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judaea, and so that my service for Jerusalem may be welcomed gladly by God’s people. ³² If this happens, I will come to you in joy, through the will of God, and be refreshed by being with you. ³³ May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Commending Phoebe, greeting friends

16 Let me introduce you to our sister Phoebe. She is a deacon in the church at Cenchreae. ² I want you to welcome her in the Lord, as is proper for one of God’s people. Please give her whatever practical assistance she may need from you. She has been a benefactor to many people, myself included.

³ Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Messiah Jesus. ⁴ They put their lives on the line for me. It isn’t only me, but all the Gentile churches, that owe them a debt of gratitude. ⁵ Greet the church in their house as well.

Greet my dear Epainetus; he was the first fruits of the Messiah’s harvest in Asia. ⁶ Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. ⁷ Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and fellow prisoners, who are well known among the apostles, and who were in the Messiah before I was. ⁸ Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. ⁹ Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in the Messiah, and my dear Stachys. ¹⁰ Greet Apelles, who has proved his worth in the Messiah. Greet the people from the Aristobulus household.

¹¹ Greet my relative Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the household of Narcissus. ¹² Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard in the Lord. Greet dear Persis, who has done a great deal of work in the Lord. ¹³ Greet Rufus, one of the Lord’s chosen, and also his mother—my mother too, in effect! ¹⁴ Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the family with them.

¹⁵ Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas too, and all God’s people who are with them. ¹⁶ Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the Messiah’s churches send you greetings.

Warnings and greetings

¹⁷ I urge you, my dear family, to watch out for those who cause divisions and problems, contrary to the teaching you learned. Avoid them. ¹⁸ People like that are serving their own appetites instead of our Lord the Messiah. They deceive the hearts of simple-minded people with their smooth and flattering speech. ¹⁹ Your obedience, you see, is well known to all, and so I am rejoicing over you. But I want you to be wise when it comes to good, and innocent when it comes to evil. ²⁰ The God of peace will quickly crush the satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹ Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you greetings, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my relatives. ²² I, Tertius, the scribe for this letter, greet you in the Lord. ²³ Gaius, who is host to me and the whole church, sends you greetings. Erastus the city treasurer sends you greetings, as does another brother, Quartus.

Final blessing

²⁵ Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel, the proclamation of Jesus the Messiah, in accordance with the unveiling of the mystery kept hidden for long ages ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings, according to the command of the eternal God, for the obedience of faith among all the nations— ²⁷ to the only wise God, through Jesus the Messiah, to whom be glory to the coming ages! Amen.

Thankful for God’s grace

1 Paul, called by God’s will to be an apostle of Messiah Jesus, and Sosthenes our brother; ² to God’s assembly at Corinth, made holy in Messiah Jesus, called to be holy, with everyone who calls on the name of our Lord, Messiah Jesus, in every place—their Lord, indeed, as well as ours! ³ Grace to you and peace from God our father and Messiah Jesus the Lord.

⁴ I always thank my God for you, for the grace of God that was given to you in Messiah Jesus. ⁵ You were enriched in him in everything, in every kind of speech and knowledge, ⁶ just as the messianic message was established among you, ⁷ so that you aren’t missing out on any spiritual gift as you wait eagerly for our Lord, Messiah Jesus, to be revealed. ⁸ He will establish you right through to the end, so that you are blameless on the day of our Lord, Messiah Jesus. ⁹ God is faithful! And it is through God that you have been called into the fellowship of his son, Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

Beware of divisions!

¹⁰ Now I must appeal to you, my brothers and sisters, through the name of Messiah Jesus our Lord, that you should all be in agreement, and that there should be no divisions among you. Instead, you should be fully equipped with the same mind and the same opinion.

¹¹ You see, my dear family, Chloe’s people have put me in the picture about you—about the fact that you are having quarrels. ¹² What I’m talking about is this. Each one of you is saying, “I’m with Paul!” “I’m with Apollos!” “I’m with Cephas!” “I’m with the Messiah!”

¹³ Well! Has the Messiah been cut up into pieces? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into Paul’s name?! ¹⁴ I’m grateful to God that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that none of you could say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶ (All right, I did baptize Stephanas and his household as well. Apart from that, I don’t know if I baptized anybody else.) ¹⁷ This is the point, you see: the Messiah didn’t send me to baptize; he sent me to announce the gospel! Not with words of wisdom, either, otherwise the Messiah’s cross would lose its power.

God’s folly

¹⁸ The word of the cross, you see, is madness to people who are being destroyed. But to us—those who are being saved—it is God’s power. ¹⁹ This is what the Bible says, after all:

²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the debater of this present age? Don’t you see that God has turned the world’s wisdom into folly? ²¹ This is how it’s happened: in God’s wisdom, the world didn’t know God through wisdom, so it gave God pleasure, through the folly of our proclamation, to save those who believe. ²² Jews look for signs, you see, and Greeks search for wisdom; ²³ but we announce the crucified Messiah, a scandal to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, the Messiah—God’s power and God’s wisdom. ²⁵ God’s folly is wiser than humans, you see, and God’s weakness is stronger than humans.

Boasting in the Lord

²⁶ Think back to your own call, my brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise in human terms. Not many of you were powerful. Not many were nobly born. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose the insignificant and despised things of the world—yes, even things that don’t exist!—to abolish the power of the things that do exist, ²⁹ so that no creature could boast in God’s presence. ³⁰ Who and what you now are is a gift from God in Messiah Jesus, who has become for us God’s wisdom—and righteousness, sanctification and redemption as well; ³¹ so that, as the Bible puts it, “Anyone who boasts should boast in the Lord.”

The powerful message of the cross

2 This is how it was for me, too, my dear family. When I came to you, I didn’t come and proclaim God’s mystery to you by means of a superior style of speaking or wisdom. ² No: I decided to know nothing in my dealings with you except Jesus the Messiah, especially his crucifixion. ³ I came to you in weakness, in great fear and trembling. ⁴ My speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in transparent proof brought home powerfully by the spirit, ⁵ so that your faith might not be in human wisdom but in God’s power.

God’s strange wisdom

⁶ We do, however, speak wisdom among the mature. But this isn’t a wisdom of this present world, or of the rulers of this present world—those same rulers who are being done away with. ⁷ No: we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery. This is the wisdom God prepared ahead of time, before the world began, for our glory.

⁸ None of the rulers of this present age knew about this wisdom. If they had, you see, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But, as the Bible says,

¹⁰ —and that’s what God has revealed to us through the spirit! The spirit, you see, searches everything, yes, even the depths of God. ¹¹ Think of it this way: who knows what is really going on inside a person, except the spirit of the person which is inside them? Well, it’s like that with God. Nobody knows what is going on inside God except God’s spirit. ¹² And we haven’t received the spirit of the world, but the spirit that comes from God, so that we can know the things that have been given to us by God.

¹³ That, then, is what we speak. We don’t use words we’ve been taught by human wisdom, but words we’ve been taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual things to spiritual people.

Spiritual or merely human?

¹⁴ Someone living at the merely human level doesn’t accept the things of God’s spirit. They are foolishness to such people, you see, and they can’t understand them because they need to be discerned spiritually. ¹⁵ But spiritual people discern everything, while nobody else can discern the truth about them! ¹⁶ For “Who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of the Messiah.

3 In my own case, my dear family, I couldn’t speak to you as spiritual people, but as people who were all too obviously merely human, little babies in the Messiah. ² I fed you with milk, not solid food, because you weren’t able to take it—and you still can’t, even now! ³ You’re still determined to live in the old way! Yes, wherever there is jealousy and quarrelling, doesn’t that mean you’re living in the old way, behaving as any merely human being might do? ⁴ When someone says “I’m with Paul!” and someone else says “I’m with Apollos!” are you not mere humans?

God’s farm, God’s building

⁵ So what d’you suppose Apollos actually is? What d’you think Paul is? I’ll tell you: servants, through whom you came to faith, each one as the Lord gave. ⁶ I planted and Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the growth. ⁷ It follows that the person who plants isn’t anything special, and the person who waters isn’t anything special; what matters is God who gives the growth. ⁸ The person who plants and the person who waters are just the same, and each will receive his own reward according to his own work. ⁹ We are God’s fellow workers, you see: you are God’s farm, God’s building.

¹⁰ According to God’s grace, I laid the foundation like a wise master builder, and someone else is building on it. Everyone should take care how they build on it. ¹¹ Nobody can lay any foundation, you see, except the one which is laid, which is Jesus the Messiah!

The coming day, the coming fire

¹² If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass or straw— ¹³ well, everyone’s work will become visible, because the Day will show it up, since it will be revealed in fire. Then the fire will test what sort of work everyone has done. ¹⁴ If the building work that someone has done stands the test, they will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If someone’s work is burned up, they will be punished by bearing the loss; they themselves will be saved, however, but only as though through a fire.

¹⁶ Don’t you see? You are God’s Temple! God’s spirit lives in you! ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s Temple, God will destroy them. God’s Temple is holy, you see, and that is precisely what you are.

Everything belongs to you

¹⁸ Don’t let anyone deceive themselves. If anyone among you supposes they are wise in the present age, let them become foolish, so that they can become wise. ¹⁹ The wisdom of this world, you see, is folly with God. This is what the Bible says: “He catches the wise in their trickery.” ²⁰ And again, “The Lord knows the thinking of the wise—and he knows that it’s all a sham!”

²¹ So don’t let anyone boast about mere human beings. For everything belongs to you, ²² whether it’s Paul or Apollos or Cephas, whether it’s the world or life or death, whether it’s the present or the future—everything belongs to you! ²³ And you belong to the Messiah; and the Messiah belongs to God.

Judgment then rather than now

4 This is how we should be thought of: as servants of the Messiah, and household managers for God’s mysteries. ² And this is what follows: the main requirement for a manager is to be trustworthy. ³ Having said that, I regard it as a matter of minimal concern to think that I should be interrogated by you, or indeed by any human court. I don’t even interrogate myself. ⁴ I don’t actually know of anything that stands against me, but that isn’t what vindicates me; it’s the Lord who interrogates me.

⁵ So don’t pass judgment on anything before the time when the Lord comes! He will bring to light the secrets of darkness, and will lay bare the intentions of the heart. Then everyone will receive praise—from God.

Apostles on display

⁶ I have applied all this to myself and Apollos because of you, my dear family, so that you may learn from us, as the saying goes, not to go beyond what the Bible says—so that nobody gets puffed up in favor of one person and against another.

⁷ Who is going to concede that you are special, after all? What have you got that you didn’t receive? Well then, if you received it, why boast as if you didn’t? ⁸ Do you really suppose you’ve already had all the food you need? Do you think you’ve already become rich? Do you think you’ve already been crowned as royalty, leaving us behind? I wish you really were already reigning, so that we could reign alongside you!

⁹ This is how I look at it, you see: God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like people sentenced to death. We have become a public show for the world, for angels and humans alike. ¹⁰ We are fools because of the Messiah, but you are wise in the Messiah! We are weak, but you are strong! You are celebrated, we are nobodies! ¹¹ Yes, right up to the present moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are badly clothed, roughly treated, with no home to call our own. ¹² What’s more, we work hard, doing manual labor. When we are insulted, we give back blessings. When we are persecuted, we put up with it. ¹³ When we are slandered, we speak gently in return. To this day we have become like the rubbish of the world, fit only to be scraped off the plate and thrown away with everything else.

Puffed up or powerful?

¹⁴ I’m not writing this to make you ashamed! I am simply treating you as dear children, and putting you straight. ¹⁵ You’ve got a thousand babysitters in Christ, I know, but you haven’t got many fathers—because I became your father in the Messiah, Jesus, through the gospel.

¹⁶ So let me appeal to you: copy me! ¹⁷ That’s why I have sent Timothy to you; he’s my child in the Lord, and I love him and trust him. He will remind you how I conduct myself in the Messiah Jesus, just as I teach everywhere, in every assembly.

¹⁸ Some people are getting puffed up, as though I wasn’t going to come to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you quickly, if the Lord wants it that way; and then I’ll find out, not what these puffed-up people are saying, but how powerful they are. ²⁰ The kingdom of God, you see, isn’t about talk—it’s about power. ²¹ What d’you want, then? Shall I come to you with a big stick, or with love, and in a gentle spirit?

Scandal and judgment

5 Everybody’s talking about the sex scandal that’s going on in your community, not least because it’s a kind of immorality that even the pagans don’t practice! Well I never—a man taking his father’s wife! ² And you’re puffed up! Why aren’t you in mourning? Why aren’t you getting rid of the person who’s done such a thing?

³ Let me tell you what I’ve already done. I may be away from you physically, but I’m present in the spirit; and I’ve already passed judgment, as though I was there with you, on the person who has behaved in this way. ⁴ When you are assembled together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and my spirit is there too with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you must hand over such a person to the satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus.

Get rid of the “leaven”!

⁶ Your boasting is no good. Don’t you know that a little leaven works its way through the whole lump of dough? ⁷ Cleanse out the old leaven, so that you can be a new lump, the leaven-free lump you really are. It’s Passover-time, you see, and our Passover lamb—the Messiah, I mean—has already been sacrificed! ⁸ What we now have to do is to keep the festival properly: none of the leaven of the old life, and none of the leaven of depravity and wickedness, either. What we need is leaven-free bread, and that means sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in the previous letter not to become associated with immoral people. ¹⁰ I didn’t (of course) mean immoral people in the world at large, or greedy people, or thieves, or idolaters. To avoid them, you’d have to remove yourselves from the world altogether! ¹¹ No; I was referring to people who call themselves Christians but who are immoral, or greedy, or idolaters, or blasphemers, or drunkards or robbers. You shouldn’t associate with them; you shouldn’t even eat with a person like that. ¹² Why should I worry about judging people outside? It’s the people inside you should judge, isn’t it? ¹³ God judges the people outside. “Drive out the wicked person from your company.”

Lawsuits in the church?

6 Can it really be the case that one of you dares to go to law against a neighbor, to be tried before unjust people, and not before God’s people? ² Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you really incompetent to try smaller matters? ³ Don’t you know that we shall be judging angels? Why not then also matters to do with ordinary life? ⁴ So if you have lawsuits about ordinary matters, are you actually going to appoint as judges people whom the church despises? ⁵ I’m saying this to bring shame on you. Is it really true that there is no wise person among you who is able to decide between one Christian and another? ⁶ But one Christian is being taken to court by another, and before unbelievers at that!

⁷ Actually, to have lawsuits with one another at all represents a major setback for you. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather put up with loss? ⁸ But you yourselves are wronging and defrauding people, and fellow Christians at that!

Inheriting God’s kingdom—or not

⁹ Don’t you know that the unjust will not inherit God’s kingdom? Don’t be deceived! Neither immoral people, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor practicing homosexuals of whichever sort, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor greedy people, nor drunkards, nor abusive talkers, nor robbers will inherit God’s kingdom. ¹¹ That, of course, is what some of you were! But you were washed clean; you were made holy; you were put back to rights—in the name of the Lord, Messiah Jesus, and in the spirit of our God.

What is the body for?

¹² “Everything is lawful for me”—but not everything is helpful! “Everything is lawful for me”—but I’m not going to let anything give me orders! ¹³ “Food for the stomach, and the stomach for food, and God will destroy the one and the other”—but the body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ What’s more, God raised the Lord; and he will raise us, too, through his power.

¹⁵ Don’t you know that your bodies are members of the Messiah? Shall I then take the members of the Messiah and make them members of a prostitute? Of course not! ¹⁶ Or don’t you know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? “The two shall become one flesh”—that’s what it says. ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

¹⁸ Run away from immorality. Every sin that it’s possible for someone to commit happens outside the body; but immorality involves sinning against your own body. ¹⁹ Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit within you, the spirit God gave you, so that you don’t belong to yourselves? ²⁰ You were quite an expensive purchase! So glorify God in your body.

Life within marriage

7 Let me now turn to the matters you wrote about. “It is good for a man to have no sexual contact with a woman.” ² Well, yes; but the temptation to immorality means that every man should maintain sexual relations with his own wife, and every woman with her own husband. ³ The man should give his wife her marital rights, and the woman should do the same for her husband. ⁴ The woman isn’t in charge of her own body; her husband is. In the same way, the man isn’t in charge of his own body; his wife is. ⁵ Don’t deny one another, except perhaps by agreement for a period of time, so that you may have more space for prayer. But then come together again, in case the satan might tempt you because of your weakness of will.

⁶ I’m not saying this as a command, but as a concession. ⁷ I would be happy to see everyone be in the same situation as myself. But each person has his or her own gift from God, one this way, another that way.

Marriage and divorce

⁸ To unmarried people, and to widows, I have this to say: it’s perfectly all right for you to remain like me. ⁹ But if you don’t have power over your passions, then get married. Much better to marry than to have desire smoldering away inside you!

¹⁰ I have a command, too, for married people—actually, it’s not just from me, it’s from the Lord: that a woman should not separate from her husband. ¹¹ If she does, she should remain unmarried or return to her husband. So, too, a man should not divorce his wife.

¹² To everyone else I have this to say (this is just me, not the Lord). If a Christian has an unbelieving wife, and she is happy to live with him, he shouldn’t divorce her. ¹³ If a woman has an unbelieving husband, and he is happy to live with her, she shouldn’t divorce him. ¹⁴ The unbelieving husband, you see, is made holy by his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by her husband; otherwise your children would be impure, whereas in fact they are holy. ¹⁵ But if the unbelieving partner wants to separate, let them separate; a brother or sister is not bound in a case like that. God has called you in peace. ¹⁶ If you’re a wife, how d’you know whether or not you will save your husband? If you’re a husband, how d’you know whether or not you will save your wife?

Stay the way you were called

¹⁷ This is the overriding rule: everyone should conduct their lives as the Lord appointed, as God has called them. This is what I lay down in all the churches. ¹⁸ If someone was circumcised when he was called, he shouldn’t try to remove the marks. If someone was uncircumcised when he was called, he shouldn’t get circumcised. ¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing; uncircumcision is nothing; what matters is keeping God’s commandments!

²⁰ Everyone should stay within the calling they had when they were called. ²¹ Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t worry about it (but if you get the chance of freedom, seize it!). ²² The one who is in the Lord and called as a slave is the Lord’s freedman, just as the one who is called as a free person is the Messiah’s slave. ²³ You were bought at a high price; don’t become the slaves of human beings. ²⁴ So, brothers and sisters, let each person remain before God in the state in which they were called.

On remaining unmarried

²⁵ Now when it comes to unmarried people, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as (thanks to the Lord’s mercy!) a trustworthy person. ²⁶ This, then, is what I think is for the best: just at the moment we are in the middle of a very difficult time, and it’s best for people to remain as they are. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Don’t try to dissolve the marriage. Have you had your marriage dissolved? Don’t look for another wife. ²⁸ But if you do marry, you are not sinning, and if an unmarried woman marries, she is not sinning. But people who go that way will have trouble at a human level, and I would prefer to spare you that.

²⁹ This is what I mean, my brothers and sisters. The present situation won’t last long; for the moment, let those who have wives live as though they weren’t married, ³⁰ those who weep as though they were not weeping, those who celebrate as though they were not celebrating, those who buy as though they had no possessions, ³¹ those who use the world as though they were not making use of it. The pattern of this world, you see, is passing away.

Divided loyalties

³² I want you to be free from worries. The unmarried man worries about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord; ³³ but the married man worries about the things of the world, in other words, how to please his wife— ³⁴ and he is pulled in both directions. So too the unmarried woman or girl worries about the things of the Lord, how to be holy both in body and spirit; but the married woman worries about the things of the world, in other words, how to please her husband.

³⁵ I’m saying this for your own benefit. I’m not placing restrictions on you; my aim is that nothing will get in the way of your appropriate behavior and steady devotion to the Lord.

³⁶ If anyone thinks he is behaving improperly towards his fiancée—if he finds the situation overly stressful, and matters reach a point of necessity—then let him do as he wishes, he won’t be sinning: let them marry. ³⁷ But the man who settles it firmly in his heart and is not under necessity, but in control of his own will, and has made his judgment in his own heart to keep her as his fiancée, will do well. ³⁸ So the one who marries his fiancée will do well; and the one who holds back from marrying will do better.

³⁹ A woman is bound in marriage as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies she is free to marry anyone she likes, only in the Lord. ⁴⁰ But in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think I too have the spirit of God.

Meat offered to idols

8 Now when it comes to meat offered to idols, we know that “We all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs you up, but love builds you up! ² If anybody thinks they “know” something, they don’t yet “know” in the way they ought to know. ³ But if anybody loves God, they are “known”—by him.

⁴ So when it comes to food that has been offered to idols, we know that “idols are nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” ⁵ Yes, indeed: there may be many so-called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many “gods” and many “lords.” ⁶ But for us

Respecting weak consciences

⁷ The problem is that not everybody has this “knowledge.” Some have been accustomed up to now to eating idol-food with the assumption that it really does belong to the idol. This has left them with a weak conscience, and now that conscience will be polluted. ⁸ But the food we eat won’t recommend us to God. We won’t be any worse off if we don’t eat, and we won’t be any better off if we do.

⁹ But you must take care in case this official right of yours becomes a danger to the weak. ¹⁰ Look at it like this: if someone with a weak conscience sees you, a person with “knowledge,” sitting down to eat in an idol-house, that conscience of theirs is likely to make up its mind actually to eat idol-food, isn’t it? ¹¹ And so, you see, the weak person—a brother or sister for whom the Messiah died!—is then destroyed by your “knowledge.” ¹² That means you’ll be sinning against your brother or sister, and attacking their weak conscience; and in doing this you’ll be sinning against the Messiah. ¹³ So, for this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to stumble, I will never ever eat meat, so that I won’t make my brother or sister trip up.

The “rights” of an apostle

9 I’m a free man, aren’t I? I’m an apostle, aren’t I? I’ve seen Jesus our Lord, haven’t I? You are my work in the Lord, aren’t you? ² I may not be an apostle to other people, but I certainly am to you; in fact, you are the authorized stamp of my apostleship in the Lord.

³ This is the defense I make to anyone who wants to bring a charge against me. ⁴ Do we not have the right to eat and drink? ⁵ Do we not have the right to take a Christian wife with us on our travels, as the other apostles do, as the Lord’s brothers do, as Cephas does? ⁶ Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who don’t have the right to be set free from the need to work? ⁷ Who serves in the army at their own expense? Who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat its fruit? Who looks after animals and doesn’t drink the milk?

⁸ I’m not just using human illustrations to make the point; the law says the same thing, doesn’t it? ⁹ This is what is written in Moses’s law: “You must not muzzle a threshing ox.” God isn’t concerned for oxen, is he? ¹⁰ Doesn’t it refer completely to us? Yes, it does—because it’s written that the one who ploughs should do so in hope of the produce, and the thresher should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. ¹¹ So if we have sown spiritual things among you, is it such a big thing that we should reap worldly things? ¹² If others have that kind of right over you, don’t we have it even more?

Giving up rights for the gospel

But we haven’t made use of this right. Instead, we put up with everything, so as to place no obstacle in the way of the Messiah’s gospel.

¹³ Don’t you know that those who work in the Temple eat the Temple food, and those who serve at the altar share in the food from the altar? ¹⁴ In the same way the Lord has laid it down that those who announce the gospel should get their living from the gospel.

¹⁵ But I haven’t made use of any of this. I’m not writing this in order to make it happen like this for me. It would be better for me to die than . . . Nobody’s going to deprive me of my boast! ¹⁶ If I announce the gospel, you see, that’s no reason for me to be proud. I’m under compulsion! Woe betide me if I don’t announce the gospel! ¹⁷ If I do it willingly, I have a reward; if I do it unwillingly—well, this is the commission that’s been entrusted to me! ¹⁸ So what is my reward? Just this: that when I announce the gospel I should give it away free of charge; that I shouldn’t make use of my rights in the gospel.

The apostle’s freedom—to be enslaved to everyone

¹⁹ The reason for all this is as follows. I am indeed free from everyone; but I have enslaved myself to everyone, so that I can win all the more. ²⁰ I became like a Jew to the Jews, to win Jews. I became like someone under the law to the people who are under the law, even though I’m not myself under the law, so that I could win those under the law. ²¹ To the lawless I became like someone lawless (even though I’m not lawless before God, but under the Messiah’s law), so that I could win the lawless. ²² I became weak to the weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that in all ways I might save some. ²³ I do it all because of the gospel, so that I can be a partner in its benefits.

The Christian athlete

²⁴ Don’t you know that when people run on the racetrack everybody runs, but only one person gets the prize? Run in such a way that you’ll win it. ²⁵ Everyone who goes in for athletics exercises self-discipline in everything. They do it to gain a crown that perishes; we do it for an imperishable one. ²⁶ Well then: I don’t run in an aimless fashion! I don’t box like someone punching the air! ²⁷ No: I give my body rough treatment, and make it my slave, in case, after announcing the message to others, I myself should end up being disqualified.

The first exodus

10 I don’t want you to be ignorant, my brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all went through the sea. ² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank, you see, from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Messiah. ⁵ But God wasn’t pleased with most of them, as you can tell by the fact that he laid them low in the desert.

Don’t make the same mistake again!

⁶ Now these things were patterns for us, so that we should not start to crave for wicked things as they did. ⁷ Nor should we commit idolatry, as some of them did—as the Bible says, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.” ⁸ Nor should we become immoral, like some of them became immoral, and twenty-three thousand fell on a single day. ⁹ Nor should we put the Messiah to the test, as some of them put him to the test, and were destroyed by serpents. ¹⁰ Nor should we grumble, as some of them grumbled and were destroyed by the destroyer.

¹¹ Now these things happened to them as a pattern, and they were written for our instruction, since it’s upon us that the ends of the ages have now come. ¹² As a result, anyone who reckons they are standing upright should watch out in case they fall over. ¹³ Every test that comes upon you is normal for human beings. But God is faithful: he won’t let you be tested beyond your ability. Along with the testing, he will provide the way of escape, so that you can bear it.

The table of the Lord and the table of demons

¹⁴ Therefore, my dear people, run away from idolatry. ¹⁵ I’m speaking as to intelligent people: you yourselves must weigh my words. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing which we bless is a sharing in the Messiah’s blood, isn’t it? The bread we break is a sharing in the Messiah’s body, isn’t it? ¹⁷ There is one loaf; well, then, there may be several of us, but we are one body, because we all share the one loaf.

¹⁸ Consider ethnic Israel. Those who eat from the sacrifices share in the altar, don’t they? ¹⁹ So what am I saying? That idol-food is real, or that an idol is a real being? ²⁰ No: but when they offer sacrifices, they offer them to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to be table-partners with demons. ²¹ You can’t drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t share in the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²² Surely you don’t want to provoke the Lord to jealousy? We aren’t stronger than him, are we?

Do everything to God’s glory

²³ “Everything is lawful,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is lawful,” but not everything builds you up. ²⁴ Nobody should seek their own advantage, but the other person’s instead.

²⁵ Eat whatever is sold in the market without making any judgments on the basis of conscience. ²⁶ “The earth and its fullness,” after all, “belong to the Lord.” ²⁷ If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner, and you want to go, eat whatever is put in front of you without making any judgments on the basis of conscience. ²⁸ But if someone says “This was offered in sacrifice,” then don’t eat it—because of the person who told you about it, and because of conscience, ²⁹ by which I don’t mean your own conscience, but your neighbor’s. For why should my freedom be condemned by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰ If I eat my share gratefully, why should someone else speak evil of me because of something I’ve given thanks for?

³¹ So, then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything to God’s glory. ³² Be blameless before Jews and Greeks and the church of God, ³³ just as I try to please everybody in everything, not pursuing my own advantage, but that of the great majority, so that they may be saved.

11 Copy me, just as I’m copying the Messiah.

Male and female in the worshiping church

² I congratulate you that you are remembering me in everything, and you are keeping the traditions as I handed them on to you. ³ But I want you to know this: that the Messiah is the “head” of every man, and the husband is the “head” of every wife, and God is the “head” of the Messiah. ⁴ Every man who prays or prophesies while wearing something on his head brings shame on his “head”; ⁵ and every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered brings shame on her “head.” It would be just the same if she had her head shaved. ⁶ For if a woman isn’t covered, then she should be shaved; but if it’s shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then let her be covered.

⁷ A man ought not to cover his head, you see; he is the image and glory of God. But a wife is the glory of her husband. ⁸ For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. ⁹ And man was not created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. ¹⁰ That’s why the wife must have authority on her head, because of the angels. ¹¹ However, woman is not apart from man, nor man apart from woman, in the Lord; ¹² for just as woman came from man, so now man comes into the world by means of woman. And everything is from God.

¹³ Judge the matter for yourselves. Is it really appropriate for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? ¹⁴ Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is shameful to him, ¹⁵ but if a woman has long hair, it’s her glory? Her hair is given her, you see, instead of a covering. ¹⁶ If anyone wants to dispute this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.

Rich and poor at the table of the Lord

¹⁷ What I have to talk about now isn’t a matter for praise. When you meet together, you make things worse, not better! ¹⁸ What I mean is this: to begin with, I hear that when you come together in the assembly there are divisions among you. Well, I believe it—at least partly. ¹⁹ There are bound to be groupings among you; that’s how the genuine ones among you will stand out, I suppose! ²⁰ So when you gather together into one meeting, it isn’t the Lord’s Supper that you eat. ²¹ Everyone brings their own food to eat, and one person goes hungry while another gets drunk. ²² Haven’t you got houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? No, in this matter I shan’t!

Recognizing the body

²³ This, you see, is what I received from the Lord, and handed on to you. On the night when the Lord Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, ²⁴ gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body; it’s for you! Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷ It follows from this that anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Everyone should test themselves; that’s how you should eat the bread and drink the cup. ²⁹ You see, if you eat and drink without recognizing the body, you eat and drink judgment on yourself. ³⁰ That’s why several of you are weak and sick, and some have died. ³¹ But if we learned how to judge ourselves, we would not incur judgment. ³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are punished, so that we won’t be condemned along with the world.

³³ So, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, treat one another as honored guests by waiting for each other. ³⁴ If anyone is hungry, they should eat at home, so that you don’t come together and find yourselves facing judgment. I will put the other matters in order when I come.

The same spirit at work

12 Now: about things relating to the spirit’s work, my brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to remain ignorant. ² You know that when you were still pagans you were led off, carried away again and again, after speechless idols. ³ So I want to make it clear to you that nobody who is speaking by God’s spirit ever says “Jesus be cursed!”; and nobody can say “Jesus is Lord!” except by the holy spirit.

⁴ There are different types of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit; ⁵ there are different types of service, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are different types of activity, but it is the same God who operates all of them in everyone. ⁷ The point of the spirit being revealed in each one is so that all may benefit. ⁸ One person is given a word of wisdom through the spirit; another, a word of knowledge by the same spirit; ⁹ another, faith through the same spirit; another, gifts of healing by the one spirit; ¹⁰ another, the working of mighty deeds; another, prophecy; another, the ability to distinguish spirits; another, various kinds of languages; another, the interpretation of languages. ¹¹ It is the one spirit, the same one, whose work produces all these things, and the spirit gives different gifts to each one in accordance with the spirit’s own wishes.

Many members, one body

¹² Let me explain. Just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is the Messiah. ¹³ For we all were baptized into one body, by one spirit—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one spirit to drink.

¹⁴ For the body, indeed, is not one member, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot were to say, “Because I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” that wouldn’t make it any less a part of the body, would it? ¹⁶ And if the ear were to say, “Because I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” that wouldn’t make it any less a part of the body, would it? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were the sense of hearing, what would happen to the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, God has organized the members, placing each one individually in the body according to his wishes. ¹⁹ If all the parts were one member, where would the body be? ²⁰ So the result is this: there are many members, but one body.

The responsibilities of each member

²¹ The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you”; and, again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” ²² No: the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, ²³ and we give much greater honor to the parts of the body we reckon more dishonorable, so that the parts we hide in shame have a far greater dignity ²⁴ which our more presentable parts don’t need. In fact, God has made the body a single, organized whole; he has given greater honor to the lesser part, ²⁵ so that there won’t be any division in the body, but that all the members may have the same concern for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is exalted, all the members celebrate along with it.

Gifts and ministries

²⁷ Now you together are the Messiah’s body, and individually you are members of it. ²⁸ In the church, God has placed apostles first, then prophets, then teachers, then powerful deeds, then gifts of healing, helpful deeds, organizational gifts, different types of languages. ²⁹ Not everyone is an apostle, are they? Not everyone is a prophet! Not everyone is a teacher! Not everyone does powerful deeds! ³⁰ Not everyone has gifts of healing! Not everyone speaks with tongues! Not everyone interprets!

³¹ You should be eager for the better kinds of gifts.

The need for love and the character of love

Now I’m going to show you a better way, a much better way.

Love: the bridge to God’s future

Priorities in worship

14 Pursue love; and long for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ² Someone who speaks in a tongue, you see, isn’t speaking to human beings but to God. Nobody can understand such speakers, because they speak mysteries in the spirit. ³ But the one who prophesies speaks to other people, to build them up, to strengthen them, and to console them. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself or herself; but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

⁵ I would be delighted for all of you to speak in tongues, but I would be even more delighted to have you all prophesying. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in a tongue, unless they also give an interpretation so that the church may be built up.

Speaking clearly in church

⁶ Well then, my brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how am I going to bring you any benefit unless I speak to you either in a revelation or in a word of knowledge or in a prophecy or in teaching? ⁷ It’s the same with lifeless objects that make a sound, like a flute or a lyre. If they don’t give a distinct note, how will anyone know what tune is being blown or plucked? ⁸ Think about it: if the trumpet doesn’t make a clear sound, who will get ready to fight?

⁹ It’s the same with you. Unless your tongue gives a distinct message, how will anyone be able to tell what you’re talking about? You will be like someone speaking into thin air. ¹⁰ To be sure, there are all kinds and types of languages in the world, and none of them is meaningless. ¹¹ But if I don’t know the force of the words, I will remain a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me. ¹² It’s the same with you. Since you are so eager for spiritual matters, try to specialize in doing things that will build up the church.

Praying with mind as well as spirit

¹³ So the one who speaks in a tongue should pray to be able to say the same thing in clear speech. ¹⁴ If I pray in a tongue, you see, my spirit prays, but my mind remains fruitless. ¹⁵ Why is that important? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind as well. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind as well. ¹⁶ You see, if you say a blessing in the spirit, how can someone who isn’t one of the inner circle say the “Amen” to your prayer? They won’t know what you’re talking about! ¹⁷ You may well be giving thanks in fine style, but the other person isn’t being built up. ¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹ But in the assembly I would rather speak five words with my mind, to teach other people, than a thousand words in a tongue.

Signs for believers and unbelievers

²⁰ Brothers and sisters, don’t be children in your thinking. Be babies when it comes to evil, but in your thinking be grown-ups. ²¹ This is what it says in the law: “I will speak to this people in foreign languages and with the lips of strangers, and even so they won’t listen to me, says the Lord.” ²² So tongues are not meant for believers, but are a warning for unbelievers; while prophecy is not designed for unbelievers, but for those who come to faith. ²³ What I mean is this: if the whole assembly comes together and everybody speaks in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers come in, they’ll say you’re crazy, won’t they? ²⁴ But if everyone prophesies, and outsiders or unbelievers come in, they will be called to account by everyone, judged by everyone, ²⁵ the secrets of their hearts will be laid bare, and so they will fall down on their faces and worship God, declaring that “God is truly among you.”

Final instructions for worship

²⁶ So where does this leave us, my brothers and sisters? When you come together, one person has a psalm, another some teaching, another a revelation, another a tongue, and another some interpretation. Let everything be done for the general upbuilding. ²⁷ If anyone speaks in a tongue, there should be two or at most three, each taking their turn, and one of them should put it into plain speech. ²⁸ But if none of them can do that, let them be silent in the assembly, and speak to themselves and to God.

²⁹ As for prophets, let two or three speak, and the others evaluate what is said. ³⁰ If fresh revelation comes to someone sitting there, the first person should be silent. ³¹ You can all prophesy one by one, so that everyone can learn, and everyone can be encouraged. ³² The spirits of prophets are under the control of prophets, ³³ since God is the God, not of chaos, but of peace.

As in all the assemblies of God’s people, ³⁴ the women should keep silence in the assemblies. They are not permitted to speak; they should remain in submission, just as the law declares. ³⁵ If they want to understand something more, they should ask their own husbands when they get home. It’s shameful, you see, for a woman to speak in the assembly. ³⁶ Do you suppose God’s word began with you? Are you the only ones it has reached?

³⁷ If anyone thinks they are a prophet, or spiritual, they should acknowledge that what I write to you is the Lord’s command. ³⁸ If anyone disregards this, they can be disregarded.

³⁹ So, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰ But everything should be done in a seemly fashion, and in proper order.