Beginning

Sexual Immorality in the Church

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, that someone has ^(A)his father’s wife. ² And ^[a]you ^(B)have become puffed up and ^[b]have not ^(C)mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^(D)removed from your midst.

³ For I, on my part, though ^(E)absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present: ^4 (F)in the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ^[c]I with you in spirit, ^(G)with the power of our Lord Jesus, ^5 (H)deliver such a one to ^(I)Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in ^(J)the day of ^[d]the Lord.

^6 (K)Your boasting is not good. ^(L)Do you not know that ^(M)a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our ^(N)Passover lamb, also was sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us celebrate the feast, ^(O)not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote you in my letter ^(P)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 ^(Q)idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you not to associate ^[e]with any so-called ^(R)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or greedy, or ^(S)an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging ^(T)outsiders? ^(U)Are you not to judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God will judge. ^(V)Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

Lawsuits Among Believers

6 Does any one of you, when he has a ^[f]case against another, dare to be tried before the unrighteous and ^(W)not before the ^[g]saints? ² Or ^(X)do you not know that ^(Y)the ^[h]saints will judge ^(Z)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not worthy to ^[i]constitute the smallest law courts? ^3 (AA)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴ So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint those who are of no account in the church as judges? ^5 (AB)I say this to your shame. Is it really this way: there is not one wise man among you who will be able to pass judgment between his ^(AC)brothers? ⁶ On the contrary, brother is tried with brother, and that before ^(AD)unbelievers!

⁷ Actually, then, it is already a failure for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^(AE)Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your ^(AF)brothers.

⁹ Or ^(AG)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(AH)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(AI)Do not be deceived; ^(AJ)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[j]effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will ^(AK)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (AL)And such were some of you; but you were ^(AM)washed, but you were ^(AN)sanctified, but you were ^(AO)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Flee Sexual Immorality

^12 (AP)All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ^13 (AQ)Food is for the ^[k]stomach and the ^[l]stomach is for food, but God will ^(AR)do away with both ^[m]of them. Yet the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(AS)for the Lord, and ^(AT)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only ^(AU)raised the Lord, but ^(AV)will also raise us up through His power. ^15 (AW)Do you not know that ^(AX)your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? ^(AY)May it never be! ¹⁶ Or ^(AZ)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(BA)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(BB)one spirit with Him. ^18 (BC)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the ^[n]sexually immoral man sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(BD)do you not know that ^(BE)your body is a ^[o]sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from ^[p]God, and that ^(BF)you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(BG)you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in ^(BH)your body.

Concerning Marriage and Singleness

7 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is ^(BI)good for a man not to touch a woman. ² But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. ³ The husband must ^[q]fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ^5 (BJ)Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and ^[r]come together again so that ^(BK)Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ But this I say as a concession, ^(BL)not as a command. ^7 [s]Yet I wish that all men were ^(BM)even as I myself am. However, ^(BN)each man has his own gift from God, one this way, and another that.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is ^(BO)good for them if they remain ^(BP)even as I. ⁹ But if they do not have self-control, ^(BQ)let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰ But to the married I give instructions, ^(BR)not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not ^[t]leave her husband ¹¹ (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not ^[u]divorce his wife.

¹² But to the rest ^(BS)I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not ^[v]divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not divorce her husband. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through ^[w]her believing husband. For otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are ^(BT)holy. ¹⁵ Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases, but God has called ^[x]us ^[y](BU)to peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, O wife, whether you will ^(BV)save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷ Only, ^(BW)as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And ^(BX)so I direct in ^(BY)all the churches. ¹⁸ Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? ^(BZ)He is not to be circumcised. ^19 (CA)Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is ^(CB)the keeping of the commandments of God. ^20 (CC)Each man must remain in that ^[z]condition in which he was called.

²¹ Were you called while a slave? ^[aa]Do not worry about it. But if you are able also to become free, rather ^[ab]do that. ²² For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is ^(CD)the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who was called while free, is ^(CE)Christ’s slave. ^23 (CF)You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brothers, ^(CG)each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.

²⁵ Now concerning virgins I have ^(CH)no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who ^[ac](CI)by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. ²⁶ I think then that this is good because of the ^[ad]present ^(CJ)distress, that ^(CK)it is good for a man ^[ae]to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have ^[af]trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you. ²⁹ But this I say, brothers, ^(CL)the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; ³⁰ and those who cry, as though they did not cry; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; ³¹ and those who use the world, as though they did not ^(CM)make full use of it. For ^(CN)the form of this world is passing away.

³² But I want you to be free from concern. One who is ^(CO)unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. ³³ But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, ³⁴ and his interests have been divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit. But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. ³⁵ Now this I say for your own benefit, not to put a restraint upon you, but ^[ag]to promote propriety and undistracted devotion to the Lord.

³⁶ But if any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let ^[ah]her marry. ³⁷ But he who stands firm in his heart, ^[ai]being under no compulsion, but has authority ^[aj]over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well. ³⁸ So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

^39 (CP)A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband has ^[ak]fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only ^(CQ)in the Lord. ⁴⁰ But ^(CR)in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

Take Care with Your Liberty

8 Now concerning ^(CS)things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have ^(CT)knowledge. Knowledge ^(CU)puffs up, but love ^(CV)builds up. ^2 (CW)If anyone thinks that he has known anything, he has not yet ^(CX)known as he ought to know; ³ but if anyone loves God, he ^(CY)has been known by Him.

⁴ Therefore, concerning the eating of ^(CZ)things sacrificed to idols, we know that ^[al]an idol is ^(DA)nothing in the world, and that ^(DB)there is no God but one. ⁵ For even if ^(DC)there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, ⁶ yet for us ^(DD)there is one God, ^(DE)the Father, ^(DF)from whom are all things and we exist for Him, and ^(DG)one Lord, Jesus Christ, ^(DH)by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

⁷ However, not all men ^(DI)have this knowledge; but ^(DJ)some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸ But ^(DK)food will not ^[am]commend us to God. We neither lack if we do not eat, nor abound if we do eat. ⁹ But ^(DL)see to it that this ^[an]authority of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the ^(DM)weak. ¹⁰ For if someone sees you, who have ^(DN)knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be built up to eat ^(DO)things sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ For through ^(DP)your knowledge he who is weak ^(DQ)is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. ^12 (DR)And in that way, by sinning against the brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin ^(DS)against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, ^(DT)if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again—ever, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.