Beginning
9 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you people not proof of the work I do for the Lord?
2 If other people do not call me an apostle, yet surely I am an apostle to you. You people are the proof that I am an apostle for the Lord.
3 Here is what I say to the people who say wrong things about me.
4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink?
5 Do we not have the right to have a Christian wife with us as do the other apostles, and the brothers of our Lord, and Cephas?
6 Must Barnabas and I work for our living though the other apostles do not?
7 What soldier pays for his own food when he goes to war? Who plants a garden and does not eat what grows in it? Who takes care of animals and does not get any of the milk?
8 Am I saying only what men say? Does not God's law also say the same?
9 Moses wrote in his books of the law of God, `Do not tie shut the mouth of an ox when it is treading the grain.' Does God care about the oxen?
10 Does he not say this altogether for our sakes? Yes, he said it for our sakes. There are people who plough the ground and beat the grain. They do this work because they believe they will have a part of the food for themselves.
11 We have planted seed by teaching you the good things of the Spirit. So we should receive something from you to help us to pay for our living.
12 If it is right for other teachers to receive something from you, then we have more of a right to receive it. But we did not use our right. Instead, we do anything we can so that we will not stop the good news of Christ from going out.
13 You know there are men who do the work in the temple. They get their food from the temple. Those who help to make sacrifices in the temple get a part of the sacrifice.
14 It is the same with those who work telling the good news. The Lord said they should get their living from that work.
15 And I am not writing this to ask you to do these things for me. I would rather die! It is something I am proud of, and no one shall take it away from me.
16 My telling the good news is not something for me to be proud of. It is something I must do. Yes, it would be very, very wrong for me if I did not tell the good news.
17 If I do it because I want to do it, I get my pay. But if I do not want to do it, it is still my duty to do it.
18 So what is my pay? My pay is to tell the good news and not be paid for it! That is why I do not use my right to take pay for telling the good news.
19 Even though I am no one's slave, yet I have made myself a slave to everyone. I have done this so that I might win more people to Christ.
20 When I was with the Jews, I lived like the Jews, so that I might win the Jews to Christ. I was not under the law. But I lived as if I was under the law of the Jews. I did this so that I might win to Christ those who are under the law.
21 When I was with those who do not have the law of the Jews, I lived as if I did not have the law of the Jews. I did this so that I might win them also. Of course, I myself have laws. I follow the laws of Christ.
22 When I was with weak people, I lived like a weak person. I did this so that I might win weak people to Christ. I lived like all kinds of people to save some of them.
23 I do all this for the good news, so that I also will have some of its blessing.
24 You know when people are running a race, they all run. But only one man will win. The way you should run is to run to win.
25 Everyone who wants to show his strength must control himself in every way. They do it for a prize that will spoil. But what we do, we do for a reward that will never, never spoil.
26 So I do not run as if I did not know where I was going. And I do not fight like a man just beating the air.
27 But I control my own body really well. I make my body obey me. After telling others the good news, I myself do not want to be left out.
10 My brothers, here is something you should know. Long ago, all our fathers were led by the cloud of God over them. They all went through the Red Sea.
2 It was as if they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They all ate the same food from the Spirit.
4 They all drank the same water sent by the Spirit. The water they drank came from a Rock of the Spirit which went with them. That Rock was Christ.
5 But God was not pleased with most of them. They died in the wilderness.
6 This teaches us not to want wrong things as they did.
7 Do not worship idols, as some of them did. The holy writings say, `The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and danced.'
8 We must not use sex the wrong way as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand people died in one day!
9 We must not test the Lord, as some of them did. They were bitten by bad snakes and died!
10 Do not grumble, as some of them did. They were killed by the Angel of Death!
11 These things happened to them to teach other people. They were written in the holy writings to teach us who are living in the last days of the world.
12 Therefore, when a person thinks, `I am strong; I can stand,' let that person be careful, or he will fall.
13 No testing has come to you that other people do not have. But God will not fail you. He will not allow the testing to be too hard for you. No. When the testing comes, God will make a way out for you, so that you can go through the testing.
14 So then, my dear brothers, do not worship idols.
15 I talk to you as people with good sense. Decide for yourselves about what I say.
16 We ask God to bless the cup at the Lord's supper. When we drink from this cup it means that the blood of Christ is for us all. We break the bread. When we eat this bread, it means that the body of Christ is for us all.
17 The bread is all one loaf. In the same way, we are many people but we are one body. We all eat from the same loaf.
18 See what the Jews do. Those who eat the sacrifices all eat things that are sacrificed.
19 What do I mean by saying this? Is the food that has been given to idols really something holy? Or is an idol really something like God?
20 No. What I mean is this. Those people give the food to bad spirits and not to God. I do not want you to have anything to do with bad spirits.
21 You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of bad spirits. You cannot eat food at the table of the Lord and at the table of bad spirits.
22 Do we want to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is? No!
23 We are free to do anything we want to do. Yes, but some things do not make people better. It is better if we do not do such things.
24 A person must not think only of himself. But he should think of the other person as well.
25 Eat any meat that is sold at the market. Do not ask any questions about it because you think, `Is it wrong to eat it?'
26 The holy writings say, `The earth belongs to the Lord and everything that is in it.'
27 If one who is not a believer asks you to come and eat, if you want to go, then eat the food he gives you. Do not ask any questions about it because you fear it might be wrong to eat it.
28 But if anyone says to you, `This food has been given to an idol,' then do not eat it. Do not eat it because of the one who told you and because it might seem wrong. I mean it might seem wrong, not to you, but to him.
29 Since I am free, is it wrong for me to eat just because someone else thinks it is?
30 I thank God for my food. So why should anyone say it is wrong for me to eat what I thank God for?
31 So, whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to bring praise to God.
32 Do nothing that will make Jews, or Greeks, or those who belong to the church of God, turn away from God.
33 I, also, try to please everyone in all I do. I do not think of what will be good for me, but I think of what will be good for many people. I want them to be saved.
11 Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did.
2 You are doing well. You remember everything I told you. And you are doing what I taught you to do.
3 But I want you to know this. Christ is the head of every man. The husband is the head of the wife. And God is the head of Christ.
4 Any man who talks to God or speaks words from God with his head covered brings shame on his head.
5 But any woman who talks to God or speaks words from God with her head not covered brings shame on her head. She is just the same as a woman who has cut off all her hair.
6 If a woman does not cover her head, she might as well cut off her hair. But if it is a shame for a woman to cut off her hair, or to shave her head, then she should have her head covered.
7 A man does not need to cover his head because he was made like God is. Man is God's glory. Woman is man's glory.
8 Man was not made from woman, but woman was made from man.
9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man.
10 She should show this by having her head covered, because of the angels.
11 But the Lord did not make woman without man, and he did not make man without woman.
12 As woman comes from man, so man is born by woman. And everything comes from God.
13 What do you think? Does it look right for a woman to talk to God in public with her head not covered?
14 It would be a shame for a man to have long hair. Everyone knows this.
15 But long hair is something for the woman to be proud of. Her hair has been given to her for a covering.
16 Does anyone still want to quarrel about this matter? This is what we do. And this is what the churches of God do also.
17 In the next thing I have to talk about, I cannot say that you are doing well. Your meeting together is more bad than good.
18 First, I hear that in the church meeting you divide yourselves into groups. I think this may be true.
19 You also have groups of people who do not think the same way. Because of them you will soon learn which people please God the most.
20 When you meet together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat.
21 People take their own food and eat it without waiting. One gets nothing to eat. Another person drinks too much.
22 Do you not have your own homes where you can eat and drink? Do you have no respect for the church of God? Do you want to make poor people ashamed? What shall I say to you? Shall I say you are doing well? No, you are not doing well in this matter!
23 The Lord gave me what I taught you. This is what it was. On the night when the Lord Jesus was sold to his enemies, he took bread.
24 He thanked God for it. Then he broke it and said, `Take this bread and eat it. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this so that you will remember me.'
25 In the same way, after they had eaten, he took the cup. He said, `This cup is the new agreement made by my blood. Every time you drink from this cup, do it to remember me.'
26 Every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you tell about the Lord's death, until he comes again.
27 So then, when anyone eats the bread and drinks from the cup in a way that is not right, he has done wrong to the body and blood of the Lord.
28 Each one must look into his own heart carefully. When he has done that, he may eat the bread and drink from the cup.
29 The person who eats and drinks in a wrong way will be punished. He does not take it as the Lord's body.
30 That is why many of you are weak and sick. Many have died.
31 But if we took time to look into our hearts first, then we would not be punished.
32 When we are punished, the Lord is teaching us to do right, so that we will not be punished with the rest of the people of the world.
33 So, my Christian brothers, when you come together to eat the Lord's supper, wait on your turn.
34 If a man is hungry, he should eat at home. Then when you meet, you will not be found in the wrong. There are other matters. I will talk about them when I come to see you.
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