Beginning

A Missionary’s Rights

9 Am I not a missionary? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not Christians because of the work I have done for the Lord? ² Other people may not think of me as a missionary, but you do. It proves I am a missionary because you are Christians now. ³ When people ask questions about me, I say this: ⁴ Do we not have the right to have food and drink when we are working for the Lord? ⁵ Do we not have the right to take a Christian wife along with us? The other missionaries do. The Lord’s brothers do and Peter does. ⁶ Are Barnabas and I the only ones who should keep working for a living so we can preach?

⁷ Have you ever heard of a soldier who goes to war and pays for what he needs himself? Have you ever heard of a man planting a field of grapes and not eating some of the fruit? Have you ever heard of a farmer who feeds cattle and does not drink some of the milk? ⁸ These things are not just what men think are right to do. God’s Law speaks about this. ⁹ God gave Moses the Law. It says, “When the cow is made to walk on the grain to break it open, do not stop it from eating some.” ^(A) Does God care about the cow? ¹⁰ Did not God speak about this because of us. For sure, this was written for us. The man who gets the fields ready and the man who gathers in the grain should expect some of the grain. ¹¹ We have planted God’s Word among you. Is it too much to expect you to give us what we need to live each day? ¹² If other people have the right to expect this from you, do we not have more right? But we have not asked this of you. We have suffered many things. We did this so the Good News of Christ would not be held back.

¹³ You must know that those who work in the house of God get their food there. Those who work at the altar in the house of God get a part of the food that is given there. ¹⁴ The Lord has said also that those who preach the Good News should get their living from those who hear it.

¹⁵ I have not used any of these things. I am not writing now to get anything. I would rather die than lose the joy of preaching to you without you paying me. ¹⁶ I cannot be proud because I preach the Good News. I have been told to do it. It would be bad for me if I do not preach the Good News. ¹⁷ If I do this because I want to, I will get my reward. If I do not want to do it, I am still expected to do it. ¹⁸ Then what is my reward? It is when I preach the Good News without you paying me. I do not ask you to pay me as I could.

Learning to Get Along

¹⁹ No man has any hold on me, but I have made myself a workman owned by all. I do this so I might lead more people to Christ. ²⁰ I became as a Jew to the Jews so I might lead them to Christ. There are some who live by obeying the Jewish Law. I became as one who lives by obeying the Jewish Law so I might lead them to Christ. ²¹ There are some who live by not obeying the Jewish law. I became as one who lives by not obeying the Jewish law so I might lead them to Christ. This does not mean that I do not obey God’s Law. I obey the teachings of Christ. ²² Some are weak. I have become weak so I might lead them to Christ. I have become like every person so in every way I might lead some to Christ. ²³ Everything I do, I do to get the Good News to men. I want to have a part in this work.

Live a Life That Pleases Christ

²⁴ You know that only one person gets a crown for being in a race even if many people run. You must run so you will win the crown. ²⁵ Everyone who runs in a race does many things so his body will be strong. He does it to get a crown that will soon be worth nothing, but we work for a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ In the same way, I run straight for the place at the end of the race. I fight to win. I do not beat the air. ²⁷ I keep working over my body. I make it obey me. I do this because I am afraid that after I have preached the Good News to others, I myself might be put aside.

The Danger of Worshiping False Gods

10 Christian brothers, I want you to know what happened to our early fathers. They all walked from the country of Egypt under the cloud that showed them the way, and they all passed through the waters of the Red Sea. ² They were all baptized as they followed Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ All of them ate the same holy food. ⁴ They all drank the same holy drink. They drank from a holy Rock that went along with them. That holy Rock was Christ. ⁵ Even then most of them did not please God. He destroyed them in the desert.

⁶ These things show us something. They teach us not to want things that are bad for us like those people did. ⁷ We must not worship false gods as some of them did. The Holy Writings tell us, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to play.” ^{(B) 8} We must not do sex sins as some of them did. In one day 23,000 died. ⁹ We must not test the Lord as some of them did. They were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ We must not complain against God as some of them did. That is why they were destroyed.

¹¹ All these things happened to show us something. They were written to teach us that the end of the world is near. ¹² So watch yourself! The person who thinks he can stand against sin had better watch that he does not fall into sin. ¹³ You have never been tempted to sin in any different way than other people. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted more than you can take. But when you are tempted, He will make a way for you to keep from falling into sin.

Teaching About the Lord’s Supper

¹⁴ My dear friends, keep away from the worship of false gods. ¹⁵ I am speaking to you who are able to understand. See if what I am saying is true. ¹⁶ When we give thanks for the fruit of the vine at the Lord’s supper, are we not sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread we eat at the Lord’s supper, are we not sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ There is one bread, and many of us Christians make up the body of Christ. All of us eat from that bread.

¹⁸ Look at the Jews. They ate the animals that were brought to God as gifts in worship and put on the altar. Did this not show they were sharing with God? ¹⁹ What do I mean? Am I saying that a false god or the food brought to it in worship is worth anything? ²⁰ No, not at all! I am saying that the people who do not know God bring gifts of animals in worship. But they have given them to demons, not to God. You do not want to have any share with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons. You cannot eat at the Lord’s table and at the demon’s table. ²² Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Do we think we are stronger than the Lord?

²³ We are allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for us to do. We are allowed to do anything, but not all things help us grow strong as Christians. ²⁴ Do not work only for your own good. Think of what you can do for others. ²⁵ Eat any meat that is sold in the stores. Ask no questions about it. Then your heart will not say it is wrong. ²⁶ The Holy Writings say, “The earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord.” ^{(C) 27} If a person who is not a Christian wants you to eat with him, and you want to go, eat anything that is on the table. Ask no questions about the food. Then your heart will not say it is wrong. ²⁸ But if someone says, “This meat has been given as a gift to false gods in worship,” do not eat it. In that way, it will not hurt the faith of the one who told you and his heart will have peace. ²⁹ How the other person feels is important. We are not free to do things that will hurt another person. ³⁰ If I can give thanks to God for my food, why should anyone say that I am wrong about eating food I can give thanks for? ³¹ So if you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything to honor God. ³² Do nothing that would make trouble for a Greek or for a Jew or for the church of God. ³³ I want to please everyone in all that I do. I am not thinking of myself. I want to do what is best for them so they may be saved from the punishment of sin.

11 Follow my way of thinking as I follow Christ.

How Christian Women Should Live

² I think you have done well because you always remember me and have followed the things I taught you. ³ I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man. The husband is the head of his wife. God is the head of Christ. ⁴ If any man prays or preaches with his head covered, he does not give honor to Christ. ⁵ Every woman who prays or preaches without her head covered does not respect her head. It is the same as if she had her hair cut off. ⁶ If a woman does not cover her head, she might as well cut off her hair also. If a woman is ashamed to have her hair cut off, she should cover her head. ⁷ Man is made like God and His shining-greatness. For this reason a man should not have his head covered when he prays or preaches, but the woman respects the man. ⁸ Man was not made from woman. Woman was made from man, ⁹ and man was not made for woman. Woman was made for man. ¹⁰ For this reason a woman should have a covering on her head. This shows she respects man. This is for the angels to see also. ¹¹ In God’s plan women need men and men need women. ¹² Woman was made from man, but man is born of woman. God made all things.

¹³ Think this over yourselves. Does it look right for a woman to pray with no covering on her head? ¹⁴ Have we not already learned that it is a shame for a man to have long hair? ¹⁵ But a woman can be proud to have long hair. Her hair is given to her for a covering. ¹⁶ If anyone wants to argue about this, my answer is that this is what we teach, and all the churches agree with me.

How the Lord’s Supper Should Be Eaten

¹⁷ While writing about these things, let me tell you what I think. Nothing good is coming from your meeting together. ¹⁸ First of all, I hear that when you meet together in the church you are divided into groups and you argue. I almost believe this is true. ¹⁹ For there must be different groups among you. In that way, those who are right will be seen from those who are wrong. ²⁰ When you gather together for your meetings, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper. ²¹ Each one is in a hurry to eat his own food first. He does not wait for others. In this way, one does not get enough food and drink. Others get too much and get drunk. ²² You have your own homes to eat and drink in. Or do you hate the church of God and shame those who are poor? What am I to say to you? Am I to say you are right? No! I cannot say you are right in this.

The Meaning of the Lord’s Supper

²³ I have given you the teaching I received from the Lord. The night Jesus was handed over to the soldiers, He took bread. ²⁴ When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take this bread and eat it. This is My body which is broken for you. Do this to remember Me.”

²⁵ In the same way after supper, He took the cup. He said, “This cup is the New Way of Worship made between God and you by My blood. Whenever you drink it, do it to remember Me.”

²⁶ Every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you are telling of the Lord’s death until He comes again. ²⁷ Anyone who eats the bread or drinks from the cup, if his spirit is not right with the Lord, will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ This is why a man should look into his own heart and life before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. ²⁹ Anyone who eats the bread and drinks from the cup, if his spirit is not right with the Lord, will be guilty as he eats and drinks. He does not understand the meaning of the Lord’s body. ³⁰ This is why some of you are sick and weak, and some have died. ³¹ But if we would look into our own lives and see if we are guilty, then God would not have to say we are guilty. ³² When we are guilty, we are punished by the Lord so we will not be told we are guilty with the rest of the world.

³³ Christian brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home. Then he will not be guilty as you meet together. I will talk about the other things when I come.