Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not to have quarrels over opinions.

²One person has faith that he may eat all things, but the one who is weak eats only vegetables.

³The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.

⁴Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One person values one day over another, another values every day the same. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.

⁶The one who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and the one who eats, does so with regard to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat, and he gives thanks to God.

⁷For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself;

⁸for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

⁹For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰But as for you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you as well, why do you regard your brother or sister with contempt? For we will all appear before the judgment seat of God.

¹¹For it is written: “AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, TO ME EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, AND EVERY TONGUE WILL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.”

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

¹³Therefore let’s not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this: not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s or sister’s way.

¹⁴I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to the one who thinks something is unclean, to that person it is unclean.

¹⁵For if because of food your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer walking in accordance with love. Do not destroy with your choice of food that person for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;

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

¹⁸For the one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and approved by other people.

¹⁹So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

²⁰Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the person who eats and causes offense.

²¹It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles.

²²The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

²³But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

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

²Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.

³For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “THE TAUNTS OF THOSE WHO TAUNT YOU HAVE FALLEN ON ME.”

⁴For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

⁵Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus,

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

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

⁸For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision in behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers,

⁹and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written: “THEREFORE I WILL GIVE PRAISE TO YOU AMONG THE GENTILES, AND I WILL SING PRAISES TO YOUR NAME.”

¹⁰Again he says, “REJOICE, YOU GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE.”

¹¹And again, “PRAISE THE LORD ALL YOU GENTILES, AND LET ALL THE PEOPLES PRAISE HIM.”

¹²Again Isaiah says, “THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM WILL THE GENTILES HOPE.”

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁴And concerning you, my brothers and sisters, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

¹⁵But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given to me from God,

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.

¹⁸For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,

¹⁹in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and all around as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

²⁰And in this way I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already known by name, so that I would not build on another person’s foundation;

²¹but just as it is written: “THEY WHO HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD ABOUT HIM WILL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD WILL UNDERSTAND.”

²²For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you;

²³but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you

²⁴whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while—

²⁵but now, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.

²⁶For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

²⁷For they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to do them a service also in material things.

²⁸Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.

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

³⁰Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

³¹that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints;

³²so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and relax in your company.

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

¹I recommend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea,

²that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.

³Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

⁴who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles;

⁵also greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.

⁶Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsfolk and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding in the view of the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

⁸Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.

¹⁰Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

¹²Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.

¹³Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.

¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters 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 greet you.

¹⁷Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

¹⁸For such people are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

¹⁹For the report of your obedience has reached everyone; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in 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 fellow worker, greets you, and so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

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

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

²⁴

²⁵Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,

²⁶but now has been disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;

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

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

²To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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

⁴I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,

⁶just as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,

⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁸who will also confirm you to the end, blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

¹¹For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.

¹²Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.”

¹³Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

¹⁵so that no one would say you were baptized in my name!

¹⁶But I did baptize the household of Stephanas also; beyond that, I do not know if I baptized anyone else.

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.

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

¹⁹For it is written: “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERSTANDING, I WILL CONFOUND.”

²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?

²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

²²For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

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

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

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind.

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

²⁷but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

²⁸and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

²⁹so that no human may boast before God.

³⁰But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

³¹so that, just as it is written: “LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

¹And when I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come as someone superior in speaking ability or wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the testimony of God.

²For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

³I also was with you in weakness and fear, and in great trembling,

⁴and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

⁵so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of mankind, but on the power of God.

⁶Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

⁷but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

⁸the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

⁹but just as it is written: “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which have not entered the human heart, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

¹⁰For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

¹¹For who among people knows the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the person that is in him? So also the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God.

¹²Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things 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, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

¹⁴But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

¹⁵But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no one.

¹⁶For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

¹And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ.

²I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able,

³for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people?

⁴For when one person says, “I am with Paul,” and another, “I am with Apollos,” are you not ordinary people?

⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

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

⁸Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁹For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it.

¹¹For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹²Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,

¹³each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work.

¹⁴If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

¹⁵If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire.

¹⁶Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

¹⁷If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

¹⁸Take care that no one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE BY THEIR CRAFTINESS”;

²⁰and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE THOUGHTS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE useless.”

²¹So then, no one is to be boasting in people. For all things belong to you,

²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,

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

¹This is the way any person is to regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

²In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

³But to me it is an insignificant matter that I would be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.

⁴For I am not aware of anything against myself; however I am not vindicated by this, but the one who examines me is the Lord.

⁵Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then praise will come to each person from God.

⁶Now these things, brothers and sisters, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos on your account, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other.

⁷For who considers you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you!

⁹For I think, God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind.

¹⁰We are fools on account of Christ, but you are prudent in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are without honor!

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

¹²and we labor, working with our own hands; when we are verbally abused, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

¹³when we are slandered, we reply as friends; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

¹⁴I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

¹⁵For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

¹⁶Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me.

¹⁷For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

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

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

²⁰For the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power.

²¹What do you desire? That I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, namely, that someone has his father’s wife.

²You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

³For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.

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

⁵I have decided to turn such a person over to Satan for the destruction of his body, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁶Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?

⁷Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

⁸Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people;

¹⁰I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world.

¹¹But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person.

¹²For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?

¹³But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE EVIL PERSON FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

¹Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?

²Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest law courts?

³Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

⁴So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you anyone wise who will be able to decide between his brothers and sisters,

⁶but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?

⁷Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁸On the contrary, you yourselves do wrong and defraud. And this to your brothers and sisters!

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

¹¹Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

¹²All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

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

¹⁴Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? Far from it!

¹⁶Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.”

¹⁷But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

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

¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

²⁰For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

¹Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

²But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.

³The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise the wife also to her husband.

⁴The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise the husband also does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

⁵Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶But this I say by way of concession, not of command.

⁷Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each has his own gift from God, one in this way, and another in that.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I.

⁹But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife is not to leave her husband

¹¹(but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹²But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.

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

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

¹⁵Yet if the unbelieving one is leaving, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us in peace.

¹⁶For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this way let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.

¹⁸Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.

²⁰Each person is to remain in that state in which he was called.

²¹Were you called as a slave? Do not let it concern you. But if you are also able to become free, take advantage of that.

²²For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave, is the Lord’s freed person; likewise the one who was called as free, is Christ’s slave.

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

²⁴Brothers and sisters, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.

²⁵Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I am offering direction as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.

²⁶I think, then, that this is good in view of the present distress, 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.

²⁸But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people as yourselves will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

²⁹But this I say, brothers, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none;

³⁰and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess;

³¹and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the present form of this world is passing away.

³²But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;

³³but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

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

³⁵I say this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

³⁶But if anyone thinks that he is acting dishonorably toward his virgin, if she is past her youth and it ought to be so, let him do what he wishes, he is not sinning; let them marry.

³⁷But the one who stands firm in his heart, if he is not under constraint, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin, he will do well.

³⁸So then, both the one who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and the one who does not give her in marriage will do better.

³⁹A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

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

¹Now concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes one conceited, but love edifies people.

²If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;

³but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

⁴Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing at all 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 indeed there are many gods and many lords,

⁶yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

⁷However, not all people have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Now food will not bring us close to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat.

⁹But take care that this freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will his conscience, if he is weak, not be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

¹¹For through your knowledge the one who is weak is ruined, the brother or sister for whose sake Christ died.

¹²And so, by sinning against the brothers and sisters and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to sin.

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; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³My defense to those who examine me is this:

⁴Do we not have a right to eat and drink?

⁵Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

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

⁷Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not consume some of the milk of the flock?

⁸I am not just asserting these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does the Law not say these things as well?

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE IT IS THRESHING.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He?

¹⁰Or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops.

¹¹If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

¹²If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

¹³Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar?

¹⁴So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have used none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make my boast an empty one!

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

¹⁷For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a commission nonetheless.

¹⁸What, then, is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more.

²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law;

²¹to those who are without the Law, I became as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law.

²²To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.

²³I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

²⁴Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

²⁵Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

²⁶Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air;

²⁷but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

¹For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea;

²and they all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

³and they all ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased; for their dead bodies were spread out in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they indeed craved them.

⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND TO DRINK, AND ROSE UP TO PLAY.”

⁸Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.

⁹Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes.

¹⁰Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

¹²Therefore let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall.

¹³No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak as to wise people; you then, judge what I say.

¹⁶Is the cup of blessing which we bless not a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

¹⁸Look at the people of Israel; are those who eat the sacrifices not partners in the altar?

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

²⁰No, but I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become partners with demons.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

²²Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

²³All things are permitted, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted, but not all things build people up.

²⁴No one is to seek his own advantage, but rather that of his neighbor.

²⁵Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions, for the sake of conscience;

²⁶FOR THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND ALL IT CONTAINS.

²⁷If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions, for the sake of conscience.

²⁸But if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of that one who informed you and for the sake of conscience;

²⁹Now by “conscience” I do not mean your own, but the other person’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered about that for which I give thanks?

³¹Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.

³²Do not offend Jews or Greeks, or the church of God;

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