Servants of Christ

4 This is the way any person is to regard us: as ^(A)servants of Christ and ^(B)stewards of ^(C)the mysteries of God. ² In this case, moreover, it is required ^[a]of stewards that one be found trustworthy. ³ But to me it is an insignificant matter that I would be examined by you, or by any human ^[b]court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. ⁴ For I ^(D)am not aware of anything against myself; however I am not ^(E)vindicated by this, but the one who examines me is the Lord. ⁵ Therefore ^(F)do not go on ^[c]passing judgment before ^[d]the time, but wait ^(G)until the Lord comes, who will both ^(H)bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then ^(I)praise will come to each person from God.

⁶ Now 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 ^(J)what is written, so that no one of you will ^(K)become ^[e]arrogant ^(L)in behalf of one against the other. ⁷ For who considers you as superior? ^(M)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?

⁸ You are ^(N)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! ⁹ For I think, God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all as men ^(O)condemned to death, because we ^(P)have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind. ¹⁰ We are ^(Q)fools on account of Christ, but ^(R)you are prudent in Christ! ^(S)We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are without honor! ¹¹ Up to this present hour we are both ^(T)hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless; ¹² and we labor, ^(U)working with our own hands; when we are ^(V)verbally abused, we bless; when we are ^(W)persecuted, we endure it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we ^[f]reply as friends; we have ^(X)become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

¹⁴ I do not write these things to ^(Y)shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved ^(Z)children. ¹⁵ For if you were to have countless ^(AA)tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in ^(AB)Christ Jesus I ^(AC)became your father through the ^(AD)gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you, be ^(AE)imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I ^(AF)have sent to you ^(AG)Timothy, who is my ^(AH)beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, ^(AI)just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some have become ^[g](AJ)arrogant, as though I were not ^(AK)coming to you. ¹⁹ But I ^(AL)will come to you soon, ^(AM)if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the ^[h]words of those who are ^(AN)arrogant, but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God is ^(AO)not in ^[i]words, but in power. ²¹ What do you desire? ^(AP)That I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

Sexual Immorality Rebuked

5 It 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 ^(AQ)his father’s wife. ^2 [j]You ^(AR)have become ^[k]arrogant and ^[l]have not ^(AS)mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^(AT)removed from your midst.

³ For I, on my part, though ^(AU)absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. ^4 (AV)In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ^[m]I with you in spirit, ^(AW)with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ I have decided ^[n]to ^(AX)turn such a person over to ^(AY)Satan for the destruction of his ^[o]body, so that his spirit may be saved on ^(AZ)the day of the ^[p]Lord.

^6 (BA)Your boasting is not good. ^(BB)Do you not know that ^(BC)a little ^[q]leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? ⁷ Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our ^(BD)Passover also has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, ^(BE)not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(BF)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(BG)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But ^[r]actually, I ^[s]wrote to you not to associate ^[t]with any so-called ^(BH)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(BI)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹² For what business of mine is it to judge ^(BJ)outsiders? ^(BK)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God ^[u]judges. ^(BL)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

Message to Thyatira

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in ^(A)Thyatira write:

^(B)The Son of God, ^(C)who has ^[a]eyes like a flame of fire, and ^[b]feet like burnished bronze, says this:

¹⁹ ‘^(D)I know your deeds, and your love and faith, and service and ^[c]perseverance, and that your ^[d]deeds of late are greater than ^[e]at first. ²⁰ But ^(E)I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman ^(F)Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they ^(G)commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ^21 (H)I gave her time to repent, and she ^(I)does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who ^(J)commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of ^[f]her deeds. ²³ And I will kill her children with ^[g]plague, and all the churches will know that I am He who ^(K)searches the ^[h]minds and hearts; and ^(L)I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

Rank in the Kingdom

18 ^(A)At that ^[a]time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “^(B)Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ² And He called a child to Himself and set him among them, ³ and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you ^[b]change and ^(C)become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me; ⁶ but ^(D)whoever ^(E)causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to ^[c]sin, it is better for him that a ^[d]heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Stumbling Blocks

⁷ “Woe to the world because of its ^[e]stumbling blocks! For ^(F)it is inevitable that ^[f]stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the ^[g]stumbling block comes!

⁸ “And ^(G)if your hand or your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or without a foot, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. ⁹ And ^(H)if your eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the ^[h](I)fiery hell.

¹⁰ “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones; for I say to you that ^(J)their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.^[i]

Ninety-nine Plus One

¹² “What do you think? ^(K)If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, and go and search for the one that is lost? ¹³ And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray. ¹⁴ So it is not the will ^[j]of your Father who is in heaven for one of these little ones to perish.

Discipline and Prayer

¹⁵ “Now ^(L)if your brother sins^[k], go and ^[l]show him his fault ^[m]in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ^(M)on the ^[n]testimony of two or three witnesses every ^[o]matter may be confirmed. ¹⁷ And if he refuses to listen to them, ^(N)tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^(O)he is to be to you as ^[p]a Gentile and ^[q]a tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly I say to you, ^(P)whatever you ^[r]bind on earth ^[s]shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you ^[t]loose on earth ^[u]shall have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹ “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, ^(Q)it shall be done for them ^[v]by My Father who is in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three have gathered together in My name, ^(R)I am there in their midst.”

Forgiveness

²¹ Then Peter came up and said to Him, “Lord, ^(S)how many times shall my brother sin against me and I still forgive him? Up to ^(T)seven times?” ²² Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to ^[w](U)seventy-seven times.

²³ “For this reason ^(V)the kingdom of heaven ^[x]is like a king who wanted to ^(W)settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴ And when he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ^[y]ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵ But since he ^[z](X)did not have the means to repay, his master commanded that he ^(Y)be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment be made. ²⁶ So the slave fell to the ground and ^(Z)prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ ²⁷ And the master of that slave felt compassion, and he released him and ^(AA)forgave him the ^[aa]debt. ²⁸ But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred ^[ab]denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe!’ ²⁹ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ ³⁰ But he was unwilling, ^[ac]and went and threw him in prison until he would pay back what was owed. ³¹ So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their master all that had happened. ³² Then summoning him, his master *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ^33 (AB)Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And his master, moved with anger, handed him over to the ^[ad]torturers until he would repay all that was owed him. ^35 (AC)My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your ^[ae]heart.”