Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Accept anyone who is weak in faith, but don’t argue about disputed matters.

²One person believes he may eat anything, while one who is weak eats only vegetables.

³One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.

⁴Who are you to judge another’s household servant? Before his own Lord he stands or falls. And he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.

⁶Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God.

⁷For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself.

⁸If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

⁹Christ died and returned to life for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.

¹⁰But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

¹¹For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God.

¹²So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

¹³Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister.

¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.

¹⁵For if your brother or sister is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy, by what you eat, someone for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Therefore, do not let your good be slandered,

¹⁷for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Whoever serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and receives human approval.

¹⁹So then, let us pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.

²⁰Do not tear down God’s work because of food. Everything is clean, but it is wrong to make someone fall by what he eats.

²¹It is a good thing not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.

²²Whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

²³But whoever doubts stands condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith, and everything that is not from faith is sin.

¹Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.

²Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

³For even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

⁴For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

⁵Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus,

⁶so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.

⁷Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God.

⁸For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers,

⁹and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to your name.

¹⁰Again it says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people!

¹¹And again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples praise him!

¹²And again, Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; the Gentiles will hope in him.

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

¹⁵Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. My purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God.

¹⁸For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles,

¹⁹by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.

²⁰My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation,

²¹but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.

²²That is why I have been prevented many times from coming to you.

²³But now I no longer have any work to do in these regions, and I have strongly desired for many years to come to you

²⁴whenever I travel to Spain. For I hope to see you when I pass through and to be assisted by you for my journey there, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while.

²⁵Right now I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints,

²⁶because Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

²⁷Yes, they were pleased, and indeed are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual benefits, then they are obligated to minister to them in material needs.

²⁸So when I have finished this and safely delivered the funds to them, I will visit you on the way to Spain.

²⁹I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in fervent prayers to God on my behalf.

³¹Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

³²and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you.

³³May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen.

¹I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae.

²So you should welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever matter she may require your help. For indeed she has been a benefactor of many — and of me also.

³Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus,

⁴who risked their own necks for my life. Not only do I thank them, but so do all the Gentile churches.

⁵Greet also the church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epaenetus, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.

⁶Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews and fellow prisoners. They are noteworthy in the eyes of the apostles, and they were also in Christ before me.

⁸Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our coworker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.

¹⁰Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet those who belong to the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

¹²Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who have worked hard in the Lord. Greet my dear friend Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord.

¹³Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother — and mine.

¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them.

¹⁵Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.

¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send you greetings.

¹⁷Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles contrary to the teaching that you learned. Avoid them,

¹⁸because such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites. They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting with smooth talk and flattering words.

¹⁹The report of your obedience has reached everyone. Therefore I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise about what is good, and yet innocent about what is evil.

²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹Timothy, my coworker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you.

²²I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.

²³Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.

²⁴

²⁵Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages

²⁶but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles —

²⁷to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ — to him be the glory forever! Amen.

¹Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother:

²To the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord — both their Lord and ours.

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus,

⁵that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.

⁶In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you,

⁷so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.

¹¹For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by members of Chloe’s people, that there is rivalry among you.

¹²What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?

¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

¹⁵so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.

¹⁶I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t recall if I baptized anyone else.

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

¹⁸For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.

¹⁹For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.

²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?

²¹For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.

²²For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom,

²³but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

²⁴Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,

²⁵because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.

²⁷Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

²⁸God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world  — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,

²⁹so that no one may boast in his presence.

³⁰It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us — our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,

³¹in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

¹When I came to you, brothers and sisters, announcing the mystery of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.

²I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

³I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

⁴My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

⁵so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power.

⁶We do, however, speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

⁷On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.

⁸None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

⁹But as it is written, What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived — God has prepared these things for those who love him.

¹⁰Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

¹²Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.

¹³We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

¹⁴But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

¹⁵The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.

¹⁶For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

¹For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.

²I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready,

³because you are still worldly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans?

⁴For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting like mere humans?

⁵What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.

⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

⁷So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

⁸Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁹For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it.

¹¹For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.

¹²If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,

¹³each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.

¹⁴If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.

¹⁵If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved  — but only as through fire.

¹⁶Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness;

²⁰and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are futile.

²¹So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours  —

²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come  — everything is yours,

²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

¹A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God.

²In this regard, it is required that managers be found faithful.

³It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself.

⁴For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me.

⁵So don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

⁶Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be arrogant, favoring one person over another.

⁷For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?

⁸You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us — and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!

⁹For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.

¹⁰We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!

¹¹Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless;

¹²we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

¹³when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the scum of the earth, like everyone’s garbage.

¹⁴I’m not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.

¹⁵For you may have countless instructors in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

¹⁶Therefore I urge you to imitate me.

¹⁷This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

¹⁸Now some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.

¹⁹But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk, but the power of those who are arrogant.

²⁰For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

²¹What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles  — a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.

²And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this?

³Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing.

⁴When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

⁶Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough?

⁷Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

⁸Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.

¹¹But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

¹²For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside?

¹³God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you.

¹If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

²Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?

³Don’t you know that we will judge angels — how much more matters of this life?

⁴So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame! Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?

⁶Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷As it is, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

⁸Instead, you yourselves do wrong and cheat — and you do this to brothers and sisters!

⁹Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males,

¹⁰no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.

¹¹And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

¹³“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

¹⁵Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!

¹⁶Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.

¹⁷But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

¹⁹Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

²⁰for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

¹Now in response to the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to use a woman for sex.”

²But because sexual immorality is so common, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman should have sexual relations with her own husband.

³A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.

⁴A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does.

⁵Do not deprive one another — except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶I say this as a concession, not as a command.

⁷I wish that all people were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one person has this gift, another has that.

⁸I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am.

⁹But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, since it is better to marry than to burn with desire.

¹⁰To the married I give this command  — not I, but the Lord — a wife is not to leave her husband.

¹¹But if she does leave, she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband — and a husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹²But I (not the Lord) say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.

¹³Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce her husband.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace.

¹⁶Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.

¹⁷Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches.

¹⁸Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.

¹⁹Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters.

²⁰Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called.

²¹Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it concern you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.

²²For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave.

²³You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of people.

²⁴Brothers and sisters, each person is to remain with God in the situation in which he was called.

²⁵Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is faithful.

²⁶Because of the present distress, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

²⁸However, if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

²⁹This is what I mean, brothers and sisters: The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none,

³⁰those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they didn’t own anything,

³¹and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.

³²I want you to be without concerns. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord — how he may please the Lord.

³³But the married man is concerned about the things of the world — how he may please his wife —

³⁴and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world — how she may please her husband.

³⁵I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

³⁶If any man thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage, and he feels he should marry — he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married.

³⁷But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will ) and has decided in his heart to keep her as his fiancée, will do well.

³⁸So then he who marries his fiancée does well, but he who does not marry will do better.

³⁹A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants — only in the Lord.

⁴⁰But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

²If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

³But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

⁴About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth — as there are many “gods” and many “lords” —

⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.

⁷However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

⁹But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols?

¹¹So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge.

¹²Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

²If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, because you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³My defense to those who examine me is this:

⁴Don’t we have the right to eat and drink?

⁵Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas?

⁶Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working?

⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?

⁸Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing?

⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain. Is God really concerned about oxen?

¹⁰Isn’t he really saying it for our sake? Yes, this is written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing the crop.

¹¹If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?

¹²If others have this right to receive benefits from you, don’t we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right; instead, we endure everything so that we will not hinder the gospel of Christ.

¹³Don’t you know that those who perform the temple services eat the food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the offerings of the altar?

¹⁴In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.

¹⁵For my part I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case. For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast!

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach  — and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

¹⁷For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a commission.

¹⁸What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel.

¹⁹Although I am free from all and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people.

²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law — though I myself am not under the law  — to win those under the law.

²¹To those who are without the law, like one without the law — though I am not without God’s law but under the law of Christ — to win those without the law.

²²To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

²³Now I do all this because of the gospel, so that I may share in the blessings.

²⁴Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize.

²⁵Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.

²⁶So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.

²⁷Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

¹Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea,

²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³They all ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.

⁷Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.

⁸Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.

⁹Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes.

¹⁰And don’t complain as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

¹¹These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

¹²So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

¹³No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.

¹⁴So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying.

¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

¹⁹What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

²²Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

²³“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up.

²⁴No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.

²⁵Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience,

²⁶since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it.

²⁷If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience.

²⁸But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience.

²⁹I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks?

³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

³²Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God,

³³just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.