Beginning
9 I am an apostle, God’s messenger, responsible to no mere man. I am one who has actually seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes. And your changed lives are the result of my hard work for him. 2 If in the opinion of others, I am not an apostle, I certainly am to you, for you have been won to Christ through me. 3 This is my answer to those who question my rights.
4 Or don’t I have any rights at all? Can’t I claim the same privilege the other apostles have of being a guest in your homes? 5 If I had a wife, and if she were a believer,[a] couldn’t I bring her along on these trips just as the other disciples do, and as the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter does? 6 And must Barnabas and I alone keep working for our living while you supply these others? 7 What soldier in the army has to pay his own expenses? And have you ever heard of a farmer who harvests his crop and doesn’t have the right to eat some of it? What shepherd takes care of a flock of sheep and goats and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? 8 And I’m not merely quoting the opinions of men as to what is right. I’m telling you what God’s law says. 9 For in the law God gave to Moses he said that you must not put a muzzle on an ox to keep it from eating when it is treading out the wheat. Do you suppose God was thinking only about oxen when he said this? 10 Wasn’t he also thinking about us? Of course he was. He said this to show us that Christian workers should be paid by those they help. Those who do the plowing and threshing should expect some share of the harvest.
11 We have planted good spiritual seed in your souls. Is it too much to ask, in return, for mere food and clothing? 12 You give them to others who preach to you, and you should. But shouldn’t we have an even greater right to them? Yet we have never used this right but supply our own needs without your help. We have never demanded payment of any kind for fear that, if we did, you might be less interested in our message to you from Christ.
13 Don’t you realize that God told those working in his temple to take for their own needs some of the food brought there as gifts to him? And those who work at the altar of God get a share of the food that is brought by those offering it to the Lord. 14 In the same way the Lord has given orders that those who preach the Gospel should be supported by those who accept it.
15 Yet I have never asked you for one penny. And I am not writing this to hint that I would like to start now. In fact, I would rather die of hunger than lose the satisfaction I get from preaching to you without charge. 16 For just preaching the Gospel isn’t any special credit to me—I couldn’t keep from preaching it if I wanted to. I would be utterly miserable. Woe unto me if I don’t.
17 If I were volunteering my services of my own free will, then the Lord would give me a special reward; but that is not the situation, for God has picked me out and given me this sacred trust, and I have no choice. 18 Under this circumstance, what is my pay? It is the special joy I get from preaching the Good News without expense to anyone, never demanding my rights.
19 And this has a real advantage: I am not bound to obey anyone just because he pays my salary; yet I have freely and happily become a servant of any and all so that I can win them to Christ. 20 When I am with the Jews I seem as one of them so that they will listen to the Gospel and I can win them to Christ. When I am with Gentiles who follow Jewish customs and ceremonies I don’t argue, even though I don’t agree, because I want to help them. 21 When with the heathen I agree with them as much as I can, except of course that I must always do what is right as a Christian. And so, by agreeing, I can win their confidence[b] and help them too.
22 When I am with those whose consciences bother them easily, I don’t act as though I know it all and don’t say they are foolish; the result is that they are willing to let me help them. Yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him. 23 I do this to get the Gospel to them and also for the blessing I myself receive when I see them come to Christ.
24 In a race everyone runs, but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. 25 To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup,[c] but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. 26 So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around. 27 Like an athlete I punish my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to. Otherwise I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to stand aside.
10 For we must never forget, dear brothers, what happened to our people in the wilderness long ago. God guided them by sending a cloud that moved along ahead of them; and he brought them all safely through the waters of the Red Sea. 2 This might be called their “baptism”—baptized both in sea and cloud!—as followers of Moses—their commitment to him as their leader. 3-4 And by a miracle God sent them food to eat and water to drink[d] there in the desert; they drank the water that Christ gave them. He was there with them as a mighty Rock of spiritual refreshment. 5 Yet after all this most of them did not obey God, and he destroyed them in the wilderness.
6 From this lesson we are warned that we must not desire evil things as they did, 7 nor worship idols as they did. (The Scriptures tell us, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to dance” in worship of the golden calf.)
8 Another lesson for us is what happened when some of them sinned with other men’s wives, and 23,000 fell dead in one day. 9 And don’t try the Lord’s patience—they did and died from snake bites. 10 And don’t murmur against God and his dealings with you as some of them did, for that is why God sent his Angel to destroy them.
11 All these things happened to them as examples—as object lessons to us—to warn us against doing the same things; they were written down so that we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end.
12 So be careful. If you are thinking, “Oh, I would never behave like that”—let this be a warning to you. For you too may fall into sin. 13 But remember this—the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you. And no temptation is irresistible. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it.
14 So, dear friends, carefully avoid idol worship of every kind.
15 You are intelligent people. Look now and see for yourselves whether what I am about to say is true. 16 When we ask the Lord’s blessing upon our drinking from the cup of wine at the Lord’s Table, this means, doesn’t it, that all who drink it are sharing together the blessing of Christ’s blood? And when we break off pieces of the bread from the loaf to eat there together, this shows that we are sharing together in the benefits of his body. 17 No matter how many of us there are, we all eat from the same loaf, showing that we are all parts of the one body of Christ. 18 And the Jewish people, all who eat the sacrifices, are united by that act.
19 What am I trying to say? Am I saying that the idols to whom the heathen bring sacrifices are really alive and are real gods, and that these sacrifices are of some value? No, not at all. 20 What I am saying is that those who offer food to these idols are united together in sacrificing to demons, certainly not to God. And I don’t want any of you to be partners with demons when you eat the same food, along with the heathen, that has been offered to these idols. 21 You cannot drink from the cup at the Lord’s Table and at Satan’s table, too. You cannot eat bread both at the Lord’s Table and at Satan’s table.
22 What? Are you tempting the Lord to be angry with you? Are you stronger than he is?
23 You are certainly free to eat food offered to idols if you want to; it’s not against God’s laws to eat such meat, but that doesn’t mean that you should go ahead and do it. It may be perfectly legal, but it may not be best and helpful. 24 Don’t think only of yourself. Try to think of the other fellow, too, and what is best for him.
25 Here’s what you should do. Take any meat you want that is sold at the market. Don’t ask whether or not it was offered to idols, lest the answer hurt your conscience. 26 For the earth and every good thing in it belongs to the Lord and is yours to enjoy.
27 If someone who isn’t a Christian asks you out to dinner, go ahead; accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is on the table and don’t ask any questions about it. Then you won’t know whether or not it has been used as a sacrifice to idols, and you won’t risk having a bad conscience over eating it. 28 But if someone warns you that this meat has been offered to idols, then don’t eat it for the sake of the man who told you, and of his conscience. 29 In this case his feeling about it is the important thing, not yours.
But why, you may ask, must I be guided and limited by what someone else thinks? 30 If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why let someone spoil everything just because he thinks I am wrong? 31 Well, I’ll tell you why. It is because you must do everything for the glory of God, even your eating and drinking. 32 So don’t be a stumbling block to anyone, whether they are Jews or Gentiles or Christians. 33 That is the plan I follow, too. I try to please everyone in everything I do, not doing what I like or what is best for me but what is best for them, so that they may be saved.
11 And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.
2 I am so glad, dear brothers, that you have been remembering and doing everything I taught you. 3 But there is one matter I want to remind you about: that a wife is responsible to her husband, her husband is responsible to Christ, and Christ is responsible to God. 4 That is why, if a man refuses to remove his hat while praying or preaching, he dishonors Christ. 5 And that is why a woman who publicly prays or prophesies without a covering on her head dishonors her husband, for her covering is a sign of her subjection to him.[e] 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, then she should cut off all her hair. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her head shaved, then she should wear a covering. 7 But a man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for his hat is a sign of subjection to men.[f]
God’s glory is man made in his image, and man’s glory is the woman. 8 The first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came out of man.[g] 9 And Adam, the first man, was not made for Eve’s benefit, but Eve was made for Adam. 10 So a woman should wear a covering on her head as a sign that she is under man’s authority,[h] a fact for all the angels to notice and rejoice in.
11 But remember that in God’s plan men and women need each other. 12 For although the first woman came out of man, all men have been born from women ever since, and both men and women come from God their Creator.
13 What do you yourselves really think about this? Is it right for a woman to pray in public without covering her head? 14-15 Doesn’t even instinct itself teach us that women’s heads should be covered? For women are proud of their long hair, while a man with long hair tends to be ashamed. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, all I can say is that we never teach anything else than this—that a woman should wear a covering when prophesying or praying publicly in the church, and all the churches feel the same way about it.
17 Next on my list of items to write you about is something else I cannot agree with. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together for your communion services. 18 Everyone keeps telling me about the arguing that goes on in these meetings, and the divisions developing among you, and I can just about believe it. 19 But I suppose you feel this is necessary so that you who are always right will become known and recognized!
20 When you come together to eat, it isn’t the Lord’s Supper you are eating, 21 but your own. For I am told that everyone hastily gobbles all the food he can without waiting to share with the others, so that one doesn’t get enough and goes hungry while another has too much to drink and gets drunk. 22 What? Is this really true? Can’t you do your eating and drinking at home to avoid disgracing the church and shaming those who are poor and can bring no food? What am I supposed to say about these things? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly do not!
23 For this is what the Lord himself has said about his Table, and I have passed it on to you before: That on the night when Judas betrayed him, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks to God for it, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this and eat it. This is my body, which is given[i] for you. Do this to remember me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new agreement between God and you that has been established and set in motion by my blood. Do this in remembrance of me whenever you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup you are retelling the message of the Lord’s death, that he has died for you. Do this until he comes again.
27 So if anyone eats this bread and drinks from this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, he is guilty of sin against the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 That is why a man should examine himself carefully before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. 29 For if he eats the bread and drinks from the cup unworthily, not thinking about the body of Christ and what it means, he is eating and drinking God’s judgment upon himself; for he is trifling with the death of Christ. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick, and some have even died.
31 But if you carefully examine yourselves before eating you will not need to be judged and punished. 32 Yet, when we are judged and punished by the Lord, it is so that we will not be condemned with the rest of the world. 33 So, dear brothers, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper—the communion service—wait for each other; 34 if anyone is really hungry he should eat at home so that he won’t bring punishment upon himself when you meet together.
I’ll talk to you about the other matters after I arrive.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.