Chronological NT Plan

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.

¹Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

²Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

³But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.

⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head.

⁵Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since that is one and the same as having her head shaved.

⁶For if a woman doesn’t cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. But if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her head be covered.

⁷A man should not cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God. So too, woman is the glory of man.

⁸For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man.

⁹Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.

¹⁰This is why a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, and man is not independent of woman.

¹²For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, and all things come from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

¹⁴Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a disgrace to him,

¹⁵but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her as a covering.

¹⁶If anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

¹⁹Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

²⁰When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

²¹For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk!

²²Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,

²⁴and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁵In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.

²⁹For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

³⁰This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep.

³¹If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged,

³²but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned with the world.

³³Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another.

³⁴If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather together you will not come under judgment. I will give instructions about the other matters whenever I come.