Chronological

Deviant Behavior^[a]

Chapter 5

Reports of Sexual Immorality. ¹ There have been widely circulated reports of sexual immorality among you, immorality of such a nature that not even pagans practice—the union of a man with his father’s wife. ² How can you be proud of yourselves? You should rather have been overcome with grief and expelled from the community anyone who acted in such a manner.

³ I for my part am with you in spirit, even though I am not physically present. I have already passed judgment on the man who did this, as if I were actually present. ⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you have all assembled together and I am with you in spirit through the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to hand over this man to Satan to be destroyed in the flesh, so that on the day of the Lord his spirit may be saved.

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a small amount of yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ^7 [b]Throw out the old yeast so that you may become a fresh batch of unleavened dough. And truly you already are, because Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of depravity and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ In my letter, I wrote to you not to associate with people who are leading immoral lives.^{[c] 10} Obviously, I was not referring to contact with people in the world who are immoral or with those who are greedy or thieves or worshipers of false gods, since to do this you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ What I really meant to get across was that you should not associate with any brother or sister who is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard or a robber. You should not even eat with such a person.

¹² It is no concern of mine to judge those who are outside the fold.^[d] It is your responsibility to judge those who are inside. ¹³ God will pass judgment on the outsiders. Banish the evil person from your midst.

Chapter 6

Avoid Lawsuits against Each Other.^{[e] 1} If any of you has a dispute with another, how can you seek judgment before those who are unrighteous^[f] instead of before the saints? ² Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, how can you consider yourselves as incompetent to deal with smaller cases? ³ Do you not realize that we are to judge angels?^[g] Why then should we not deal with matters of this life?

⁴ Therefore, if you have such matters to resolve, how can you seek judgment from those who have no standing in the Church? ⁵ I write this to make you ashamed. Is it really possible that there is no one among you who is wise enough to mediate a dispute between brethren? ⁶ Why should a brother go to court against another brother, seeking a decision from unbelievers?

⁷ In truth, the very fact that you engage in lawsuits with one another is a misfortune for you. Why not prefer to be wronged? Why not prefer to be defrauded? ⁸ Instead, you yourself are guilty of wronging and defrauding your own brethren.

⁹ Are you not aware that wrongdoers will never inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites,^{[h] 10} thieves, extortioners, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once such as these. However, now you have been washed clean, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

¹² All Things Are Lawful for Me!^[i]“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not allow myself to be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach is meant for food,” but God will destroy them both. However, the body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ God raised up the Lord, and he will raise us up also by his power.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I then take Christ’s members and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But anyone who joins himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.^[j]

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ You have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

Marriage and Celibacy among Christians^[k]

Chapter 7

Christian Marriage.^{[l] 1} Now I will move on to the matters about which you wrote. Yes, it is a good thing for a man to refrain from touching a woman. ² However, to avoid the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³ A husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise a wife should fulfill her conjugal obligations to her husband. ⁴ For a wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, a husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

⁵ Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by mutual consent for a specified time so as to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you by taking advantage of your lack of self-control. ⁶ I suggest this not as a command but by way of concession. ⁷ I wish that all of you would be as I myself am. However, each person has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.

⁸ To the unmarried and to widows, I say that it is a good thing for them to remain as they are, as I do. ⁹ However, if they are unable to exercise self-control, they should marry, for it is better to be married than to burn with passion.

¹⁰ To those who are married, I give this command, which is not mine but the Lord’s: a wife should not separate from her husband— ¹¹ and if she does separate, she must either remain unmarried or become reconciled to her husband—and a husband should not divorce his wife.

¹² Living at Peace with an Unbelieving Spouse.^[m] To the rest, I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she is willing to remain with him, he should not divorce her. ¹³ And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to remain with her, she should not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, whereas in fact they are holy.

¹⁵ However, if the unbelieving partner chooses to separate, let that person go. The brother or sister is no longer bound in this case. God has called you to live in peace. ¹⁶ As a wife, how can you be certain that you will save your husband? As a husband, how can you be certain that you will save your wife?

¹⁷ Living Where Christ Calls Us. Everyone should accept the role in life assigned to each one by the Lord, continuing as he was when the Lord called him. This is the rule that I give to all the Churches. ¹⁸ Was a man called after he had been circumcised? Then he must remain circumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should remain uncircumcised. ¹⁹ To be circumcised is of no importance, and to be uncircumcised is of no importance. What matters is keeping God’s commandments. ²⁰ Everyone should remain as he was when he was called.

²¹ Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that concern you. But if you have an opportunity to gain your freedom, take it. ²² For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord, just as whoever was free when he was called is a slave of Christ. ²³ You were purchased at a price. Do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Therefore, brethren, everyone should remain before God in the condition in which he was called.

²⁵ Virginity—Total Consecration to Christ.^[n] In regard to virgins, I have received no instructions from the Lord, but let me offer my own opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy can be considered trustworthy. ²⁶ I think that in this time of stress, a man should remain in his current state. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife. ²⁸ However, if you do marry, you do not sin, nor does a virgin sin if she marries. But those who marry will experience hardships in this life,^[o] and from these I would like to spare you.

²⁹ What I am saying, brethren, is that our time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none, ³⁰ and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had nothing, ³¹ and those who make use of the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the world as we know it is passing away.

³² It is my wish that you be free of all anxieties. An unmarried man devotes himself to the Lord’s affairs and is concerned as to how he can please the Lord. ³³ However, a man who is married devotes himself to worldly matters and is concerned about how he can please his wife, ³⁴ and his interests are divided. In the same way, an unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord and strives to be holy in both body and spirit, whereas the married woman is concerned about worldly matters and how she may please her husband.

³⁵ I am speaking about this for your own good. I have no intention to impose any restraint upon you, but I wish you to be guided by a sense of propriety, to devote yourself to the Lord free from distraction.

³⁶ Freedom To Marry.^[p] If a man feels that he is behaving improperly toward his virgin because a critical moment has come^[q] and it seems that something should be done, let him do what he wills. He does not sin if there is a marriage. ³⁷ However, if he stands firm in his resolve and is under no obligation and, being free to carry out his will, decides in his heart to keep his virgin, he also does well. ³⁸ Therefore, the man who gives her in marriage does well, and the one who does not give her in marriage does better.

³⁹ A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But should the husband die, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only let it be in the Lord. ⁴⁰ However, in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is, and I believe that I too have the Spirit of God.

Christians and Pagan Customs^[r]

The Question of Meat Sacrificed to Idols

Chapter 8

An Idol Is Not Nothing. ¹ Now concerning the question of meat that has been sacrificed to idols, we are well aware that all of us possess knowledge. However, while knowledge puffs up, love builds up. ² Anyone who believes that his knowledge about something is complete will soon discover that his knowledge is flawed, ³ but anyone who loves God is known by him.

⁴ Now in regard to the eating of meat sacrificed to idols, we know that idols are nothing in the world and that there is only one God. ⁵ Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth—and there are in fact many gods and many lords— ⁶ for us there is

Do Not Cause a Brother To Fall. ⁷ However, not everyone possesses this knowledge. There are some who have become so accustomed to idolatry up until now that when they consume meat that has been sacrificed to an idol, their conscience in its weakness is defiled.

⁸ Obviously, food cannot bring us closer to God. We do not lack anything if we do not eat, and we have no advantage if we do. ⁹ Just take care that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ If someone who regards you as knowledgeable observes you eating in an idol’s temple, will he not, burdened by a weak conscience, be influenced to eat food that has been sacrificed to idols?

¹¹ Therefore, through your knowledge, this weak believer is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died. ¹² And when you sin against your brethren and wound their weak consciences, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Hence, if food can lead my brother to sin, I will never again eat meat lest I cause the downfall of one of my brethren.