Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.

²For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

³Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.

⁴Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

⁵One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

⁶He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

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

⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

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

¹⁰But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

¹¹For it is written: “As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”

¹²So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

¹³Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

¹⁴I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

¹⁵Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Therefore do not let your good 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 he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

¹⁹Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

²⁰Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.

²¹It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.

²²Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

²³But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

¹We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

²Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.

³For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”

⁴For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

⁵Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,

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

⁷Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.

⁸Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

⁹and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.”

¹⁰And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”

¹¹And again: “Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!”

¹²And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”

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

¹⁴Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

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

¹⁶that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God.

¹⁸For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient—

¹⁹in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

²⁰And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation,

²¹but as it is written: “To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand.”

²²For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you.

²³But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you,

²⁴whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.

²⁵But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints.

²⁶For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.

²⁷It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

²⁸Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.

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

³⁰Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me,

³¹that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

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

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

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

²that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.

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

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

⁵Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ.

⁶Greet Mary, who labored much for us.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

⁸Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.

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

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

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

¹²Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who labored much in the Lord.

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

¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren 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. The churches of Christ greet you.

¹⁷Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

¹⁸For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

¹⁹For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.

²⁰And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

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

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

²³Gaius, my host and the host of the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, and Quartus, a brother.

²⁴The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

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 kept secret since the world began

²⁶but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—

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

¹Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

²To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs 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 to you by Christ Jesus,

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

⁶even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,

⁷so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁸who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

¹¹For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

¹²Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”

¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

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

¹⁵lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.

¹⁶Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

¹⁸For the message 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 bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

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

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

²²For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;

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

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

²⁵Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

²⁷But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

²⁸and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

²⁹that no flesh should glory in His presence.

³⁰But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

³¹that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

¹And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

²For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

³I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

⁴And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

⁵that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

⁶However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

⁷But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,

⁸which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

⁹But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

¹⁰But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

¹¹For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

¹³These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

¹⁴But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

¹⁵But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

¹⁶For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

¹And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

²I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;

³for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

⁴For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

⁵Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?

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

⁷So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

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

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

¹⁰According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

¹¹For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

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

¹³each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

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

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

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

¹⁷If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

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

²⁰and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

²¹Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours:

²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours.

²³And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

¹Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

²Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

⁴For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.

⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

⁶Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.

⁷For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

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

⁹For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

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

¹¹To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.

¹²And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;

¹³being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.

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

¹⁵For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

¹⁶Therefore I urge you, imitate me.

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

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

¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.

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

²¹What do you want? Shall 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 such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!

²And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

³For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁵deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

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

⁷Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

⁸Therefore let us keep 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 epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

¹¹But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— not even to eat with such a person.

¹²For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?

¹³But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

¹Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

²Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

³Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

⁴If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?

⁵I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?

⁶But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?

⁸No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!

⁹Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

¹¹And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

¹²All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

¹³Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!

¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”

¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

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

²⁰For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

¹Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

²Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

³Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

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

⁵Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment.

⁷For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.

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

⁹but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband.

¹¹But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹²But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her.

¹³And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him.

¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

¹⁵But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.

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

¹⁷But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.

¹⁸Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.

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

²⁰Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.

²¹Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it.

²²For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.

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

²⁴Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.

²⁵Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy.

²⁶I suppose therefore that this is good because 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 loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

²⁸But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.

²⁹But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even 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 did not possess,

³¹and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.

³²But I want you to be without care. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord.

³³But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife.

³⁴There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.

³⁵And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

³⁶But if any man thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of youth, and thus it must be, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin; let them marry.

³⁷Nevertheless he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so determined in his heart that he will keep his virgin, does well.

³⁸So then he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.

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

⁴⁰But she is happier if she remains as she is, according to my judgment—and I think I also have the Spirit of God.

¹Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.

²And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.

³But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

⁴Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other 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, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

⁷However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.

⁹But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.

¹⁰For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?

¹¹And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

¹²But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

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

²If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless 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 have no right to eat and drink?

⁵Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

⁶Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?

⁷Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

⁸Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also?

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

¹⁰Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.

¹¹If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?

¹²If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.

¹³Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?

¹⁴Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void.

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!

¹⁷For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.

¹⁸What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.

¹⁹For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;

²⁰and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law;

²¹to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law;

²²to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

²³Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

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

²⁵And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

²⁶Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.

²⁷But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

¹Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,

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

³all ate the same spiritual food,

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

⁵But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

⁷And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”

⁸Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;

⁹nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;

¹⁰nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

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

¹²Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

¹³No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

¹⁷For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

¹⁸Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

¹⁹What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?

²⁰Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

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

²²Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

²³All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.

²⁴Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.

²⁵Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake;

²⁶for “the earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness.”

²⁷If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake.

²⁸But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness.”

²⁹“Conscience,” I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience?

³⁰But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks?

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

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

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