1 Corinthians 4-7

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Faithful Manager

4 A person should consider us in this way: as servants^(A) of Christ and managers^(B) of God’s mysteries.^{(C) 2} In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one of them be found faithful.^{(D) 3} It is of little^(E) importance to me that I should be evaluated^(F) by you or by any human court.^[a] In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. ⁴ For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified^(G) by this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord. ⁵ Therefore don’t judge^(H) anything prematurely, before the Lord comes,^(I) 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.^(J)

The Apostles’ Example of Humility

⁶ Now, brothers,^(K) I have applied these things to myself and Apollos^(L) for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.”^[b] The purpose is that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over another. ⁷ For 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? ⁸ You 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! ⁹ For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ!^(M) We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! ¹¹ Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless; ¹² we labor, working^(N) with our own hands.^(O) When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the world’s garbage, like the dirt everyone scrapes off their sandals.^(P)

Paul’s Fatherly Care

¹⁴ I’m not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.^{(Q) 15} For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can’t have many fathers. For I became your father^(R) in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you to imitate me. ¹⁷ This is why I have sent^(S) Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful^(T) son in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some are inflated with pride, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon,^(U) if the Lord wills, and I will know not the talk but the power of those who are inflated with pride. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. ²¹ What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod,^(V) or in love and a spirit of gentleness?^(W)

Immoral Church Members

5 It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality^(X) among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated^[c] among the Gentiles^(Y)—a man is living with his father’s wife.^{(Z) 2} And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with grief^(AA) so that he who has committed this act might be removed from your congregation. ³ For though I am absent in body but present in spirit,^(AB) I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,^(AC) so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.^(AD)

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast^(AE) permeates the whole batch of dough?^{(AF) 7} Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover^(AG) has been sacrificed.^{[d] 8} Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil^(AH) but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Church Discipline

⁹ I wrote to you in a letter not to associate^(AI) with sexually immoral people.^{(AJ) 10} I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy^(AK) and swindlers^(AL) or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.^{(AM) 11} But now I am writing^[e] you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer^[f](AN) who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard^(AO) or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. ¹² For what business is it of mine to judge^(AP) outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? ¹³ But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.^(AQ)[g]

Lawsuits among Believers

6 If any of you has a legal dispute against another, do you dare go to court^(AR) before the unrighteous,^[h] and not before the saints? ² Or 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 smallest cases? ³ Don’t you know that we will judge angels—not to mention ordinary matters? ⁴ So if you have cases pertaining to this life, do you select those^[i] who have no standing^(AS) in the church to judge? ⁵ I say this to your shame!^(AT) Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between his brothers?^{(AU) 6} Instead, believer^[j] goes to court against believer, and that before unbelievers!^(AV)

⁷ Therefore, to have legal disputes against one another is already a moral failure for you.^(AW) Why not rather put up with injustice?^(AX) Why not rather be cheated?^{(AY) 8} Instead, you act unjustly and cheat—and you do this to believers! ⁹ Don’t you know that the unrighteous^(AZ) will not inherit God’s kingdom?^(BA) Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters,^(BB) adulterers,^(BC) or anyone practicing homosexuality,^{[k](BD) 10} no thieves,^(BE) greedy^(BF) people, drunkards, verbally abusive people,^(BG) or swindlers^(BH) will inherit God’s kingdom. ¹¹ And some of you used to be like this.^(BI) But you were washed, you were sanctified,^(BJ) you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Glorifying God in Body and Spirit

¹² “Everything is permissible^(BK) for me,”^[l] but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything. ¹³ “Food^(BL) for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them.^[m] The body is not for sexual immorality^(BM) but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.^{(BN) 15} Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body?^(BO) So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.^{(BP)[n] 17} But anyone joined^(BQ) to the Lord is one spirit^(BR) with Him.

¹⁸ Run^(BS) from sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.”^[o] On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoral^(BT) sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary^(BU) of the Holy Spirit^(BV) who is in you,^(BW) whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought^(BX) at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.^[p]

Principles of Marriage

7 Now in response to the matters you wrote^[q] about: “It is good for a man not to have relations with^[r] a woman.”^{[s] 2} But because sexual immorality is so common,^[t](BY) each man should have his own wife,^(BZ) and each woman should have her own husband. ³ A husband should fulfill his marital responsibility^(CA) to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. ⁴ A 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. ⁵ Do not deprive^(CB) one another sexually—except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to^[u] prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ I say the following^[v] as a concession, not as a command. ⁷ I wish that all people were just like me. But each has his own gift^(CC) from God, one person in this way and another in that way.

A Word to the Unmarried

⁸ I say to the unmarried and to widows:^(CD) It is good for them if they remain as I am. ⁹ But if they do not have self-control,^(CE) they should marry, for it is better to marry^(CF) than to burn with desire.

About Married People

¹⁰ I command the married^(CG)—not I, but the Lord—a wife is not to leave^[w] her husband. ¹¹ But if she does leave, she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband—and a husband is not to leave his wife.^{(CH) 12} But I (not the Lord)^[x] say to the rest: If any brother^(CI) has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not leave her. ¹³ Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not leave her husband. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is set apart for God^(CJ) by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart for God by the husband.^[y] Otherwise your children would be corrupt, but now they are set apart for God. ¹⁵ But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you^[z] to live in peace. ¹⁶ For you, wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Or you, husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?

Various Situations of Life

¹⁷ However, each one must live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called^(CK) him.^[aa] This is what I command in all the churches. ¹⁸ Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. ¹⁹ Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter, but keeping God’s commands does. ²⁰ Each person should remain in the life situation^[ab] in which he was called. ²¹ Were you called while a slave? It should not be a concern to you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.^{[ac] 22} For he who is called by the Lord as a slave^(CL) is the Lord’s freedman.^[ad] Likewise he who is called as a free man^[ae] is Christ’s slave. ²³ You were bought^(CM) at a price; do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brothers, each person should remain with God in whatever situation he was called.

About the Unmarried and Widows

²⁵ About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy^(CN) is trustworthy.^{(CO) 26} Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine for a man to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ However, if you do get married,^(CP) you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life,^[af] and I am trying to spare you. ²⁹ And I say this, brothers: The time is limited,^(CQ) so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, ³⁰ those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice^(CR) as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, ³¹ and 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.^(CS)

³² I want you to be without concerns. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord—how he may please^(CT) the Lord. ³³ But a married man is concerned about the things of the world—how he may please his wife— ³⁴ and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord,^(CU) so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. ³⁵ Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but because of what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

³⁶ But if any man thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin,^[ag] if she is past marriageable age,^[ah] and so it must be, he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married. ³⁷ But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will^(CV)) and has decided in his heart to keep his own virgin, will do well. ³⁸ So then he who marries^[ai] his virgin does well, but he who does not marry^[aj] will do better.

³⁹ A wife is bound^[ak] 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.^{[al] 40} But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.