To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.

Concerning Change of Status

Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.

For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.

Concerning the Unmarried

Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord.

and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.

I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.

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

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

Paul’s Rights as an Apostle

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

Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

Idol Feasts and the Lord’s Supper

Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

Correcting an Abuse of the Lord’s Supper

In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.

So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat,

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

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

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

Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.