Beginning

Wickedness in the Church

5 Now, it is actually being said that there is sexual sin among you. And it is of such a bad kind that it does not happen even among those who do not know God. A man there is living sinfully with his stepmother. ² And still you are proud of yourselves! You should have been filled with sadness. And the man who did that sin should be put out of your group. ³ My body is not there with you, but I am with you in spirit. And I have already judged the man who did that sin. I judged him just as I would if I were really there. ⁴ Meet together as the people of our Lord Jesus. I will be with you in spirit, and you will have the power of our Lord Jesus with you. ⁵ Then give this man to Satan, so that his sinful self^[a] will be destroyed. And then his spirit can be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁶ Your bragging is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” ⁷ Take out all the old yeast so that you will be a new batch of dough. And you really are new dough without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, was killed to cleanse us. ⁸ So let us continue our feast, but not with the bread that has the old yeast. That old yeast is the yeast of sin and wickedness. But let us eat the bread that has no yeast. This is the bread of goodness and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter that you should not associate with those who take part in sexual sin. ¹⁰ But I did not mean that you should not associate with the sinful people of this world. People of the world do take part in sexual sin, or they are selfish and they cheat each other, or they worship idols. But to get away from them you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ I am writing to tell you that the person you must not associate with is this: anyone who calls himself a brother in Christ but who takes part in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or lies about others, or gets drunk, or cheats people. Do not even eat with someone like that.

^12-13 It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the church. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are part of the church. The Scripture says, “You must get rid of the evil person among you.”^[b]

Judging Problems Among Christians

6 When one of you has something against a brother in Christ, why do you go to the judges in the law courts? Those people are not right with God. So why do you let them decide who is right? You should be ashamed! Why do you not let God’s people decide who is right? ² Surely you know that God’s people will judge the world. So if you are to judge the world, then surely you are able to judge small things as well. ³ You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge things in this life. ⁴ So if you have disagreements that must be judged, why do you take them to those who are not part of the church? They mean nothing to the church. ⁵ I say this to shame you. Surely there is someone among you wise enough to judge a complaint between two brothers in Christ. ⁶ But now one brother goes to court against another brother. And you let men who are not believers judge their case!

⁷ The lawsuits that you have against each other show that you are already defeated. It would be better for you to let someone wrong you! It would be better for you to let someone cheat you! ⁸ But you yourselves do wrong and cheat! And you do this to your own brothers in Christ!

^9-10 Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not receive God’s kingdom. Do not be fooled. These people will not receive God’s kingdom: those who are sexually immoral, or worship idols, or take part in adultery, or men who have physical relations with other men, or steal, or are selfish, or get drunk, or lie about others, or cheat. ¹¹ In the past, some of you were like that. But you were washed clean. You were made holy. And you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Use Your Bodies for God’s Glory

¹² “I am allowed to do all things.” But not all things are good for me to do. “I am allowed to do all things.” But I must not do those things that will make me their slave. ¹³ “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” Yes. But God will destroy them both. The body is not for sexual immorality. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ By God’s power God raised the Lord Jesus from death. And God will also raise us from death. ¹⁵ Surely you know that your bodies are parts of Christ himself. So I must never take parts of Christ and join them to a prostitute! ¹⁶ It is written in the Scriptures, “The two people will become one body.”^[c] So you should know that a man who joins himself with a prostitute becomes one with her in body. ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself with the Lord is one with the Lord in spirit.

¹⁸ So run away from sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person does is outside the body. But those who are sexually immoral sin against their own bodies. ¹⁹ You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in you. You have received the Holy Spirit from God. You do not own yourselves. ²⁰ You were bought by God for a price. So honor God with your bodies.

About Marriage

7 Now I will discuss the things you wrote to me about. It is good for a man not to marry. ² But sexual immorality is a danger. So each man should have his own wife. And each woman should have her own husband. ³ The husband should give his wife all that she should have as his wife. And the wife should give her husband all that he should have as her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have power over her own body. Her husband has the power over her body. And the husband does not have power over his own body. His wife has the power over his body. ⁵ Do not refuse to give your bodies to each other. But you might both agree to stay away from intimate relations for a time. You might do this so that you can give your time to prayer. Then come together again. This is so that Satan cannot tempt you in your weakness. ⁶ I say this to give you permission. It is not a command. ⁷ I wish everyone were like me. But each person has his own gift from God. One has one gift, another has another gift.

⁸ Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for them to stay single as I am. ⁹ But if they cannot control their bodies, then they should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with lust.

¹⁰ Now I give this command for the married people. (The command is not from me; it is from the Lord.) A wife should not leave her husband. ¹¹ But if she does leave, she must not marry again. Or she should go back to her husband. Also the husband should not divorce his wife.

¹² For all the others I say this (I am saying this, not the Lord): A brother in Christ might have a wife who is not a believer. If she will live with him, he must not divorce her. ¹³ And a woman might have a husband who is not a believer. If he will live with her, she must not divorce him. ¹⁴ The husband who is not a believer is made holy through his believing wife. And the wife who is not a believer is made holy through her believing husband. If this were not true, then your children would not be clean. But now your children are holy.

¹⁵ But if the person who is not a believer decides to leave, let him leave. When this happens, the brother or sister in Christ is free. God called us^[d] to a life of peace. ¹⁶ Wives, maybe you will save your husband; and husbands, maybe you will save your wife. You do not know now what will happen later.

Live As God Called You

¹⁷ But each one should continue to live the way God has given him to live—the way he was when God called him. This is a rule I make in all the churches. ¹⁸ If a man was already circumcised when he was called, he should not change his circumcision. If a man was without circumcision when he was called, he should not be circumcised. ¹⁹ It is not important if a man is circumcised or not circumcised. The important thing is obeying God’s commands. ²⁰ Each one should stay the way he was when God called him. ²¹ If you were a slave when God called you, do not let that bother you. But if you can be free, then become free. ²² The person who was a slave when the Lord called him is free in the Lord. He belongs to the Lord. In the same way, the one who was free when he was called is now Christ’s slave. ²³ You all were bought for a price. So do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brothers, in your new life with God each one of you should continue the way you were when you were called.

Questions About Getting Married

²⁵ Now I write about people who are not married. I have no command from the Lord about this, but I give my opinion. And I can be trusted, because the Lord has given me mercy. ²⁶ This is a time of trouble. So I think that it is good for you to stay the way you are. ²⁷ If you have a wife, then do not try to become free from her. If you are not married, then do not try to find a wife. ²⁸ But if you decide to marry, this is not a sin. And it is not a sin for a girl who has never married to get married. But those who marry will have trouble in this life. And I want you to be free from this trouble.

²⁹ Brothers, this is what I mean: We do not have much time left. So starting now, those who have wives should use their time to serve the Lord as if they had no wives. ³⁰ Those who are sad should live as if they are not sad. Those who are happy should live as if they are not happy. Those who buy things should live as if they own nothing. ³¹ Those who use the things of the world should live as if those things are not important to them. You should live like this, because this world, the way it is now, will soon be gone.

³² I want you to be free from worry. A man who is not married is busy with the Lord’s work. He is trying to please the Lord. ³³ But a man who is married is busy with things of the world. He is trying to please his wife. ³⁴ He must think about two things—pleasing his wife and pleasing the Lord. A woman who is not married or a girl who has never married is busy with the Lord’s work. She wants to give herself fully—body and soul—to the Lord. But a married woman is busy with things of the world. She is trying to please her husband. ³⁵ I am saying this to help you. I am not trying to limit you. But I want you to live in the right way. And I want you to give yourselves fully to the Lord without giving your time to other things.

³⁶ A man might think that he is not doing the right thing with the girl he is engaged to. The girl might be almost past the best age to marry. So he might feel that he should marry her. He should do what he wants. They should get married. It is no sin. ³⁷ But another man might be more sure in his mind. There may be no need for marriage, so he is free to do what he wants. If he has decided in his own heart not to marry, he is doing the right thing. ³⁸ So the man who marries his girl does right. And the man who does not marry does even better.

³⁹ A woman must stay with her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to marry any man she wants. But she must marry another believer. ⁴⁰ The woman is happier if she does not marry again. This is my opinion, and I believe that I have God’s Spirit.

About Food Offered to Idols

8 Now I will write about meat that is sacrificed to idols. We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs you up with pride, but love builds up. ² Whoever thinks he knows something does not yet know anything as he should. ³ But he who loves God is known by God.

⁴ So this is what I say about eating meat sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is really nothing in the world. And we know that there is only one God. ⁵ It is really not important if there are things called gods, in heaven or on earth. (And there are many things that people call “gods” and “lords.”) ⁶ But for us there is only one God. He is our Father. All things came from him, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord—Jesus Christ. All things were made through Jesus, and we also have life through him.

⁷ But not all people know this. Until now, some people have had the habit of worshiping idols. So now when they eat meat, they still feel as if it belongs to an idol. They are not sure that it is right to eat this meat. When they eat it, they feel guilty. ⁸ But food will not make us closer to God. Refusing to eat does not make us less pleasing to God. And eating does not make us better in God’s sight.

⁹ But be careful with your freedom. Your freedom may cause those who are weak in faith to fall into sin. ¹⁰ Suppose one of you who has knowledge eats in an idol’s temple.^[e] Someone who is weak in faith might see you eating there. This would encourage him to eat meat sacrificed to idols. But he really thinks it is wrong. ¹¹ So this weak brother is ruined because of your “knowledge.” And Christ died for this brother. ¹² When you sin against your brothers in Christ like this and cause them to do what they feel is wrong, you are also sinning against Christ. ¹³ So if the food I eat makes my brother fall into sin, I will never eat meat again. I will stop eating meat, so that I will not cause my brother to sin.