Bible in 90 Days
15 Some of us trust God with strong faith. We must help those believers whose faith is weaker. We must be patient with them. We should not just do things that will make us happy ourselves. 2 Instead, each of us should do things that will make other believers happy. We should help them to trust God more strongly. 3 Even Christ did not just do things that would make himself happy. It is written in the Bible that he said this: ‘People have insulted you, God. In that way they have also insulted me.’[a]
4 Everything that people wrote in the Bible in past times is there to teach us something. Those words help us to be patient and strong. As a result, we can trust God to do what he has promised.
5 It is God himself who helps us to be patient and strong. So I pray that he will help you to agree with each other and to be friends. That is how Christ Jesus wants you to live. 6 As a result, all of you will praise God together with the same thoughts. You will all agree that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is very great.
Christ saves both Jews and Gentiles
7 Christ has accepted you, so you must accept each other. In that way you will be praising God. 8 Remember this: Christ became a servant of the Jews so that they could understand God's true message. He showed them that God has now done what he promised to their ancestors.[b] 9 The Gentiles also praise God because he has been kind to them. This is written in the Bible:
‘I will tell the Gentiles about you, God.
I will praise you with songs, to show how great you are.’[c]
10 It says also in the Bible:
‘Be very happy, you Gentiles!
Praise God together with his people.’[d]
11 It also says this:
‘Say how great the Lord is, all you Gentiles.
All people, from every country, should say how great he is.’[e]
12 God's prophet Isaiah says this:
‘The root of Jesse will arrive.
He will come to rule the Gentiles.
The Gentiles will trust him to save them.’[f]
13 God is the one who causes us to hope for good things. I pray that God will bless you very much. I pray that he will cause you to be happy and to have peace in your minds. He will do this because you believe in him. As a result, God's Holy Spirit will make you strong with his power, so that you hope even more certainly.
Paul's reason for writing this letter
14 My Christian friends, I myself am completely sure that you are always good. You know everything about God's message, so that you are able to teach one another what is right. 15 I know that is true, but I still needed to write this letter to you. I have written to you strongly, so that you would remember certain things. Because God is kind, he has chosen me to serve him in this way. 16 I am a servant of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. I tell people God's good news. I work like a priest so that God will accept the Gentiles. I offer them to God. The Holy Spirit has made them clean and so God accepts them.
17 So I can be proud about my work. I can serve God well because I belong to Christ Jesus. 18 But I will only speak about the work that Christ has made me able to do. I have lived among the Gentiles and I have spoken God's message to them. They have obeyed God as a result of Christ's work through me. 19 God's Holy Spirit used his power to do many miracles. He caused many great and powerful things to happen. As a result, I have told the whole good news about Christ to many people. I have told it while I travelled all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum.[g]
20 I want to go to places where nobody has ever told people about Christ before. I want to tell the good news to people in those places. That is what I have always wanted to do. I do not want to work in a place where someone else has already started to teach God's message. 21 This is written in the Bible about God's Messiah:
‘Those people that nobody ever told them about him will now see.
Those people who have never heard about him will now understand.’[h]
Paul hopes to visit Rome
22 That is why, many times, I have not had a chance to visit you. 23 For many years I have been waiting for the chance to come. But now I have finished my work in these places here. 24 So I hope to visit you while I am travelling to Spain. I will stay with you in Rome for a short time. I will really enjoy having some time together with you there. Then you can help me to continue my journey.
25 But now, I am ready to go to Jerusalem to help God's people there. 26 Some of them are poor, and the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia wanted to help them. So they got some money to send to those people. 27 The Christians in Macedonia and Achaia were happy to share what they had.[i] But really, they have a duty to help the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. It is the Jews who shared good things from God to help the Gentiles in their spirits. So now the Gentiles ought to help the Jewish Christians with things that they need for their bodies.
28 So I must take their gift safely to the Christians in Jerusalem. When I have finished that job, I will come to visit you. Then I will continue my journey to Spain. 29 When I visit you, I know that Christ will bless us very much while we are together.
30 My Christian friends, please pray for me as I do this difficult work. Together we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. God's Spirit has given us love for each other. So I ask you to help me and to pray with me. 31 Pray that God will keep me safe from those people in Judea who have refused to believe in Jesus. Pray also that God's people at Jerusalem will happily accept the gift that I am taking to them.[j]
32 If God agrees, I will then be able to come to you, and we will be happy together. I will enjoy having some rest while I stay there with you. 33 I pray that God will give you peace in your minds. I pray that he will be with all of you and help you. Amen.
Paul says ‘hello’
16 I want you to know that our Christian friend Phoebe is a good person. She is a servant of the church at Cenchrea. 2 Please be kind to her when she comes to you, because you belong to the Lord. Help her in the way that God's people ought to help one another. Give to her the things that she needs. She has worked to help me as well as many other people.[k]
3 Say ‘hello’ on my behalf to Priscilla and Aquila. They have worked together with me as servants of Christ Jesus. 4 They were even ready to die so that they could help me. So I have a good reason to thank them. All the groups of Gentile believers also have a good reason to thank them. 5 Also say ‘hello’ for me to the group of believers who meet in Priscilla and Aquila's house.
Say ‘hello’ to my very good friend Epenetus. He was the first person in the region of Asia who believed in Christ.
6 Say ‘hello’ to Mary, who has worked very much on your behalf. 7 Say ‘hello’ to my relatives Andronicus and Junia, who were in prison with me. The apostles know them well and respect them. They became believers in Christ before I did.
8 Say ‘hello’ to Ampliatus on my behalf. He is my very good friend in the Lord's family. 9 Say ‘hello’ to Urbanus, who works with us to serve Christ. Also say ‘hello’ to my good friend Stachys. 10 Say ‘hello’ to Apelles. He has shown that he trusts Christ very well. Say ‘hello’ to those people who belong to Aristobulus's family. 11 Say ‘hello’ to my relative Herodion. Say ‘hello’ to those people in Narcissus's family who belong to the Lord.
12 Say ‘hello’ to Tryphena and Tryphosa. They work hard to serve the Lord. Say ‘hello’ to my good friend Persis. She has worked very hard to serve the Lord. 13 Say ‘hello’ to Rufus. He is a special servant of the Lord. Say ‘hello’ also to his mother, who has been kind to me, like a mother.
14 Say ‘hello’ to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas and Hermas. Say ‘hello’ also to all our Christian friends who are there with them. 15 Say ‘hello’ to Philologus and Julia, to Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas. Say ‘hello’ also to all God's people who are there with them.
16 When you meet, kiss each other as Christian brothers and sisters. The people of all the Christian churches here say ‘hello’ to you.
False teachers
17 My Christian friends, I want to tell you something important. Be very careful about people who teach wrong things. They teach things that are different from God's true message that you learned. Those people cause you to quarrel with each other. They cause people to turn away from God. You must stay away from them. 18 People who are like that are not servants of our Lord Christ. Instead, they are doing the things which please themselves. They speak words that seem very nice, but they deceive people who easily accept a false message.
19 Everyone knows that you obey God well. So I am very happy because of you. But I want you to understand clearly what things are good. And I want you to stay away from the things that are bad. 20 God gives us peace in our minds. He will quickly help you to win against the power of Satan. I pray that our Lord Jesus will continue to be kind to you.
Paul finishes his letter
21 Timothy, who is working together with me, says ‘hello’ to you. My relatives Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, also say ‘hello’ to you.
22 I, Tertius, have written down this letter for Paul. I also belong to the Lord and I say ‘hello’ to you.[l]
23 Gaius also says ‘hello’ to you. I, Paul, am staying in his house. The group of Christians here also meet together in his house. Erastus also says ‘hello’ to you. He is an officer who takes care of the city's money. Our Christian friend Quartus says ‘hello’ to you too.
[24 I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to all of you.][m]
25 We praise God because he is great! He is able to make you strong in your spirits! That is the good news that I teach. That good news is the message about Jesus Christ that God has kept secret since long ago. But now he has shown this message to us. 26 God's prophets already wrote that this good news would come. God, who lives for ever, has commanded us to tell it to people. He wants people from all nations to know this message. Then they can believe in God and obey him.
27 Yes, we praise God! Only he is completely wise. We praise him for ever, because of Jesus Christ! This is true. Amen.
Paul says ‘Hello’
1 This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. That is what he wanted. Our Christian friend Sosthenes is with me here as I write to you.
2 I am sending this letter to you, the people of God's church in Corinth. God has made you clean because you belong to Christ Jesus. He has chosen you to be his special people. So you join together with all people everywhere who worship our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is their Lord, as he is our Lord.
3 I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your minds.
Paul thanks God
4 I always thank God because of you. I thank him because he has been very kind to you. He has helped you like that because you belong to Christ Jesus. 5 As a result, God has given you all the things that you need. You are able to speak everything that he wants you to speak. You are able to understand everything that he wants you to know. 6 In that way, God has shown you that the message we told you about Christ is true. 7 As a result, God has given you every spiritual gift that you need. God has blessed you with those gifts as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to return. 8 God will also keep you safe and strong until the end. Then, on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns, you will not be guilty of anything wrong. 9 God always does what he has promised to do. He has chosen you to be friends with his Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Lord.
Christians must not quarrel
10 My Christian friends, I tell you this with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Please agree with each other. Do not become separate groups. Be united and think about things in the same way.’
11 Some people from Chloe's house have told me news about you. My friends, they say that you are quarrelling among yourselves. 12 It happens like this: One of you says, ‘I belong to Paul's group.’ Another person says, ‘I belong to Apollos's group.’ Another person says, ‘I belong to Peter's group.’ And another person says, ‘I belong to Christ's group.’
13 You should not speak like that! It seems that you are breaking Christ into several parts. I, Paul, did not die on a cross to save you. When they baptized you, it was not on my behalf. 14 I thank God that I myself did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15 So none of you can say, ‘I belong to Paul's group because he baptized me.’ 16 (Now I remember that I also baptized Stephanas and his family. I cannot remember that I baptized anyone else.) 17 Christ did not send me to baptize people. But he did send me to tell God's good news to people. When I speak his message, I do not use clever words. It is Christ's death on the cross that has power to save people. I do not want to spoil that power with clever words.
Christ's death on the cross
18 Some people think that the message about Christ's death on the cross is silly. Those people are destroying themselves. But it is different for us, the people that God is saving. The message about the cross shows us God's power to save us.
19 It says in the Bible:
‘I, God, will destroy all the clever thoughts of wise people.
I will show that their clever ideas are useless.’[n]
20 So the wise people in this world are not really important. The clever teachers of God's Law are not really important. People who know how to argue well are not really important. God has shown that the wise ideas that belong to this world have no value.
21 God himself is wise. He has decided that people cannot know him just because they are wise in their own way. Instead, God uses the message about Jesus to save people. That message may seem to be silly to some people. But when we tell it to people, God saves them if they believe it.
22 Jewish people want to see God do a miracle. Then they will listen. Gentile people want to listen to a message that has clever ideas. 23 But as for us, we tell people about how Christ died on a cross. That is a message that Jewish people refuse to accept as true. Gentile people think that it is a silly message. 24 But it is different for us whom God has called to come to him. Some of us are Jews, and some of us are Gentiles. For us, Christ shows God's great power. He shows how wise God is. 25 Christ's death on a cross may seem a silly thing for God to do. But really it shows that God is very wise. He is wiser than people with their clever ideas. Christ's death on a cross may seem to show that God is weak. But really he is stronger than any human power.
26 Christian friends, remember the time when God called you to come to him. Think about what you were like. Not many of you were clever or powerful in the way that people think is good. Not many of you belonged to important families. 27 Instead, God chose to use things that people think are silly. He did this so that clever people would be ashamed. Yes, God chose to use things that people think are weak. He did this so that powerful people would be ashamed. 28 God chose to use things that people think are useless. People who belong to this world do not like those things. They think that they have no value. God did this so that the things that seem important would become unimportant.
29 Because of all this, nobody can be proud of themselves in front of God. 30 It is because of God's work that you now belong to Christ Jesus. As a result of Christ's death on the cross, we share in God's wise plan. Because we belong to Christ, God makes us right with himself. He makes us his own special people. He makes us free from the power of sin.
31 Remember what is written in the Bible:
‘If you want to be proud about something,
be proud of what the Lord has done.’[o]
How Paul taught God's message
2 Christian friends, I came to tell you God's true message. I did not use clever words when I spoke to you. I did not try to make you think that I was very wise. 2 While I was with you, I decided to teach you only about Jesus Christ. I taught you about his death on a cross. I wanted to forget everything else.
3 I lived among you as someone who felt weak. I was very afraid. 4 When I spoke to you and when I taught you God's message, I did not use clever words. I did not want you to believe me because you thought I was wise. Instead, it was the power of God's Holy Spirit that showed you that my message was true. 5 As a result, you now believe because of God's power. You do not believe because of human ideas.
6 But we do speak about wise thoughts to those of you who know Christ very well. But those wise thoughts do not belong to this world. They are not the ideas that the rulers of this world think are important. Those rulers will not be powerful for long. 7 No, the wise thoughts that we speak about belong to God. He has hidden them from people until now. But before God made the world, he decided to let us know these secrets. He wanted us to enjoy his glory. 8 None of the rulers of this world understood God's wise plan. If they had understood, they would not have killed Jesus on a cross. He is the Lord who rules heaven and earth. 9 This is written in the Bible:
‘Nobody ever saw or heard anything about this.
Nobody ever thought that it could happen.
But these are the things that God has prepared for his people who love him.’[p]
10 But God has sent his Spirit to show these secrets to us. God's Spirit looks carefully into everything. He even knows God's secret thoughts. 11 Only a person's own spirit can know everything that is in his thoughts. And it is the same with God. Only God's Spirit knows everything that is in God's thoughts. 12 We have received God's own Spirit, not a spirit that belongs to this world. As a result, we can understand all the good things that God has given to us. 13 Those are the things that we speak about. We do not use clever words to speak about human ideas. Instead, we speak the message that God's Spirit has taught us. In that way, we explain a spiritual message to people who have God's Spirit.
14 If someone does not believe in God, they cannot accept the message that comes from God's Spirit. They think that God's message is silly. They cannot even understand those things. Only God's Spirit can explain them to people. 15 But we have God's Spirit with us. So we can understand the true value of all things. But other people cannot truly understand us, who belong to God. 16 As it says in the Bible:
‘Nobody can know what the Lord God is thinking.
Nobody can tell him what he should do.’[q]
But we think about these things in the same way that Christ thinks.
God wants his people to grow as believers
3 My Christian friends, I could not teach you as I would teach people who have God's Spirit. I had to teach you as people who belong only to this world. You were like little children who could not understand the message about Christ very well. 2 I had to teach you things that were easy to understand, like a mother gives milk to a baby. You were not yet ready to receive proper food. And you are still not ready to receive God's complete message! 3 You still do what your human nature wants to do. You are jealous of each other, and you quarrel with each other. Yes! This shows that you do what your human nature wants to do. You live like people who do not know God. 4 Some of you say, ‘Paul is my leader.’ And other people say, ‘Apollos is my leader.’ When you speak like that, you are talking like people who belong to this world.
5 Is Apollos important? Is Paul important? No! We are God's servants. We told you God's good news and you believed it. Each of us is doing the job which the Lord has given to us. 6 When I told you God's good news, I was like someone who planted seeds. Then Apollos was like someone who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused everything to grow. 7 The person who plants the seeds is not important. The person who gives water to the plants is not important. The important person is God, because he causes everything to grow. 8 The person who plants and the person who gives water both have the same purpose. God will pay each person what is right for their work. 9 Apollos and I work together as God's servants. You are like God's field that we work in.
You are also like a building that belongs to God. 10 I am like a good builder. God has given that job to me and he has helped me to do it well. I was the person who built the foundation. Now other people are building on that foundation.[r] But each person must be careful how he builds. 11 God has already put Jesus Christ as the only foundation of this building. So nobody can put any other foundation there.
12 People may build on this foundation with gold, silver or valuable stones. Or they may build on it with wood, dry grass or leaves. 13 One day, God will show clearly how good each builder's work is. God will put each person's work into a fire on that great day.[s] The fire will show whether their work is good or bad. 14 If the fire does not destroy the work, then that builder will receive good things from God. 15 But if the fire destroys a builder's work, that person will lose everything. The person himself will be safe. But he will be like someone who has run through the fire to a safe place.
16 You surely know that you are like God's special house. As God's people, God's Spirit lives in you. 17 If anyone destroys God's special house, then God will destroy that person. And you are like that house. You belong to God in a special way.
18 Be careful! Do not think that you are better than you really are. Maybe you think that you are wise, like people today want to be wise. But if you want to become truly wise, be ready for other people to think that you are a fool. 19 People in this world think that some people are wise. But God thinks that those wise people are fools. It says in the Bible:
‘God causes the clever thoughts of wise people to confuse them.’[t]
20 In another place, the Bible says:
‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of wise people have no value.’[u]
21 Because of that, you should not be proud of any human leader. All leaders are there to serve you, as God's people. 22 Do not be proud of Paul, Apollos or Peter. We belong to you. All of this world, and life and death belong to you. The things of today and tomorrow belong to you. Everything belongs to you, 23 you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Church leaders
4 This is how you should think about us, who are leaders in the church. We are Christ's servants. God has also given a special job to us. We must explain his message to people so that they understand it. 2 Anyone who has that kind of job must do what his master wants. That is the important thing.
3 So what you think about me does not matter to me. What you decide, or what any human authority decides, is not important. I do not even try to decide about myself. 4 I am sure in my own mind that I have not done anything wrong. But that does not make me right. Only the Lord himself can judge me. 5 So you should not decide about things before the time is right. Wait until the Lord comes again. He will show everything clearly. He will show the bad things that people have done secretly. He will show the secret purpose of people's thoughts. Then God will praise each person in a way that is right for them.
6 My Christian friends, I want to help you to understand these things. That is why I have used Apollos and myself as examples. You should learn from us what this means: ‘Obey what is written in the Bible.’ None of you should be proud of one leader and not respect another leader. 7 Do not think that any of you are better than anyone else. You received from God everything that you have. So you have no reason to be proud of what you have. It is all a gift!
8 You already have everything that you need, do you? You think that you are very rich already! You are ready to rule as kings. You no longer need us to help you. I think it would be good if you had really become kings. Then we could also rule together with you! 9 This is what I think: as apostles, God has put us last of everyone. People see us like we are prisoners at the end of the line. They are taking us to die in a public place. Everybody in the world has come to look at us, both people and angels.
10 We have become like fools so that we can serve Christ. But you think that you are wise because you belong to Christ. We seem like weak people, but you seem to be strong! People respect you but they insult us!
11 Until now, we continue to be hungry and thirsty. Our clothes have become old. Sometimes people hit us for no reason. We do not have our own homes. 12 We work hard, so that we become very tired. When people insult us, we ask God to bless them. When people give us trouble, we are patient and brave. 13 When people say bad things against us, we answer with kind words. We have become like dirty things that people throw away. That is still true, even today.
14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed. You are like my own children that I love. So I want to teach you what is right. 15 When I told the good news about Jesus Christ to you, I became like a father for you. You may have ten thousand teachers to help you understand the message about Christ. But I am the only person who is like a father for you. 16 That is why I want you to copy my example. 17 To help you to do that, I have sent Timothy to visit you. He is like a son to me, and I love him very much. He continues to serve the Lord well. He will help you to remember how I live as a Christian. I teach the same things to all groups of Christians everywhere.
18 Some people among you have become proud. They think that I will never come back to warn them. 19 But I will come to visit you again soon, if the Lord wants me to. Then I will find out what these proud people are really like. It is not just the words that they say. I will find out if they have the power of God. 20 When people serve God as their king, they have God's power. They do not just speak proud words. 21 I will come and I will find out what is really true. So you must choose. Will I need to be angry and punish you? Or will I speak kind words to show that I love you? Which do you want me to do?
Send the bad person away from you
5 We have heard bad news about what is happening among you. Some of you are having sex in wrong ways. We have heard that one man is even having sex with his own father's wife! Even people who do not know God do not do things as bad as that! 2 But, you are still proud of yourselves! Instead, you ought to be very sad and ashamed. You should have sent this man away from your group.
3 My body is not there with you, but my spirit is with you. It seems like I am present with you. So I have already decided about this man. This is how you should punish him for what he has done. 4 You have the authority of the Lord Jesus to do this. When you meet together as a group, my spirit will be with you. The power of our Lord Jesus will also be with you. 5 When you meet, put this man under Satan's authority. Satan will then destroy the man's body. Then God may save the man's spirit on the day when the Lord Jesus returns.
6 You should not be so proud of yourselves. Think about what yeast does in bread. A very small amount of yeast changes the whole loaf of bread. 7 The yeast in the flour is like one person who does wrong things. You must remove this old yeast from among you. Then you will be like a new loaf of bread. You are really like a loaf which has no yeast in it.[v] You are pure, because Christ died as a sacrifice on our behalf. He is like the lamb that the Israelites killed for their Passover meal. 8 As a result, we can have our own Passover festival. We must remove everything that is bad from among us. That is like what the Israelites did when they removed all the old yeast from their homes. Instead we live in a way that is pure and honest. It is like we are eating bread which has no yeast in it.[w]
9 I already wrote a letter to you. I told you that you must not be friends with people who have sex in wrong ways. 10 But I was not talking about people who do not know God. Those people have sex in wrong ways. They want many things to please themselves. They deceive people and they rob them. They worship idols. You could not keep away from all people like that, unless you left this world!
11 Now I am telling you this: I was talking about people who say that they are believers. If they say that, but they have sex in a wrong way, do not be friends with them. It is the same if they want many things for themselves. They may worship idols. They may insult people. They may often get drunk. They may deceive people and rob them. If one of your own group does things like that, do not even agree to eat a meal with them. 12-13 It is not right for me to decide about people who do not belong to the church group. God will judge those people. But you should decide what is right for the people who do belong to your group. Do what the Bible says:
‘Send the bad person away from among yourselves.’[x]
Quarrels between Christians
6 Perhaps one of you has a quarrel with another Christian. Who should decide which of you is right? You should never ask people who do not know God to decide. No! Instead, you should go to God's people. They should decide. 2 It is God's people who will judge all the people in the world one day. You surely know that. Since that is true, you should be able to decide about small quarrels between yourselves. 3 You know that we will judge the angels one day. So we must be able to decide about ordinary things here on earth.
4 If you want to decide an ordinary matter like that, what do you do? Sometimes you go to a judge who does not believe in God. You should never do that! The church does not respect people like that. 5 I say this so that you will feel ashamed. There is surely a wise person in your group who could decide quarrels between yourselves. 6 But instead, some believers among you accuse other believers in front of judges. And those judges are not believers!
7 When you accuse each other like that, it shows that you have already failed. It would be better to accept it when other people hurt you. Even if people rob you, it would be better to accept it. 8 Instead, you yourselves hurt other people, and you even rob them. And those other people are believers like you!
9 People who do wrong things like that will never belong to God's kingdom. You surely know that. Do not think that people like this will receive God's good things: People who have sex in wrong ways. People who worship idols. People who have sex with anyone that they are not married to. Men who have sex with other men. 10 People who rob other people. People who want many things for themselves. Drunks. People who insult other people. People who deceive other people to take things from them. None of these people will receive the good things of God's kingdom.
11 At one time, some of you were people like that. But God has now made you clean and pure, so that you belong to him. You have become right with God. Our God has done this with the power of his Spirit because you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Use your bodies in a good way
12 Some of you believers may say, ‘I am free to do anything that I want to do.’ That may be true, but not everything will help you. I could say, ‘I am free to do the things that I want to do.’ Yes, but I will not let anything rule over me.
13 Some of you may say, ‘God made food to feed our bodies. That is why people have stomachs. But one day God will destroy both stomachs and food.’ Yes, but the Lord gave our bodies to us. Our bodies belong to the Lord. So you should not use your bodies to have sex in a wrong way.[y] 14 God raised the Lord Jesus after he died. And God will use his power to make us alive again too.[z]
15 You know that your bodies are parts of Christ's own body. So you must never take your body and make it join with a prostitute's body. That is like you have done it with part of Christ's body. Never let that happen! 16 Anyone who makes his own body join to a prostitute becomes one body with that prostitute. You should know that. It says in the Bible:
‘The man and the woman become as one body.’[aa]
17 But everyone who is united to the Lord has the same spirit as him. 18 So never have sex in a wrong way! You may say, ‘If a person does a bad thing, it is not his body that does it.’ But if you have sex in a wrong way, you are doing a bad thing to your own body. 19 Remember this: Your body is the home of God's Holy Spirit. God gave his Holy Spirit to you and he lives in you. You do not belong to yourselves any longer. 20 God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So use your body to show how great God is.[ab]
Questions about marriage
7 You wrote to ask me about certain things. You say, ‘It is a good thing when a man does not marry.’ 2 That may be true, but then people may have sex in wrong ways. So every man should have his own wife and every woman should have her own husband. 3 Then they may have sex with each other in the right way. A husband should agree to have sex with his wife. And the wife should do the same thing for her husband. 4 The wife does not rule over her own body to decide when to have sex. She belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not rule over his own body. He belongs to his wife.
5 Do not refuse to have sex with each other, unless both of you agree to stop for a short time. Then you can use more time to pray. But you should come together again soon, as husband and wife. If not, Satan may try to make you do something wrong. You may want too strongly to have sex with someone else. 6 I am saying these things to help you. I am not telling you what you must do. 7 It would be good if all of you could live in the way that I do. But each person has his own gift from God. God helps one person to live in a certain way. God helps another person with a different gift.
8 I will say this to those of you who have not married yet, and to those who are widows. It is better for you to remain alone. That is how I myself live. 9 But if you want to have sex too strongly, then you should marry. It is better to do that than to want to have sex all the time.
10 I will say this to people who have married. (This is not my rule. It is a rule that comes from the Lord himself.) A wife must not leave her husband. 11 But if she does leave him, she must not marry another man. Or she should go back to live with her husband. In the same way, a husband must not send his wife away.
12 To all you other people, I say this. (This is what I think. The Lord has not spoken about it.) A Christian man may have a wife who does not believe in Christ. If she agrees to continue living with him, then he should not send her away. 13 Also, a Christian woman may have a husband who does not believe in Christ. If he agrees to continue living with her, then she should not leave him. 14 God accepts a husband who does not believe in Christ because of his Christian wife. And God accepts a wife who does not believe in Christ because of her Christian husband. If that was not true, the children would not belong to God. But God does accept them, because to him they are now clean.
15 But the husband or wife who does not believe in Christ may want to leave. If they want to become separate, let them do that. If that happens, the Christian man or woman is now free. God wants you to live in peace. 16 If you are a Christian wife, you might save your husband. If you are a Christian husband, you might save your wife. But you can not be sure of what will happen.
17 But each of you should continue to live in the way that God has chosen for you. Remain as you were at the time when God called you to come to him. I teach that rule to people in all the churches. 18 Some of you are Jews, so people circumcised you. That happened before you believed in Christ. So do not try to change it. Some of you are not Jews. Nobody circumcised you. So continue like that. Do not ask anyone to circumcise you. 19 It is not important whether someone has circumcised you or not. The important thing is this: Obey what God says.
20 Each of you should continue as you were when God called you to come to him. 21 You may have been a slave when God called you. That does not matter. But if you have the chance to become a free person, accept it. 22 The Lord may call a slave to come to him. Then, that slave has become free, because he belongs to the Lord. In the same way, when God calls a free person to belong to Christ, he becomes Christ's slave. 23 God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So do not let anyone else make you their slave. 24 My Christian friends, each of you should continue as you were when God first called you to come to him.[ac] Remember that you serve God.
25 You asked me a question about people who have not yet married. The Lord has not told me any special rule about this. But I will tell you what I myself think about it. The Lord has been very kind to me. You know that you can believe what I say. 26 This is what I think: There are many troubles in the world today. So it is better for everybody to continue as they are. 27 If you have a wife, do not try to send her away. If you do not have a wife, do not try to marry. 28 But if you do marry, that is not wrong. And if a young woman marries, that is not wrong. But people who marry will have many troubles during their life together. I want to save you from problems like that.
29 My Christian friends, this is what I mean: The time that remains is very short. So men who have wives should live as if they had no wife. 30 People who are sad should live as if they were not sad. People who are happy should live as if they had nothing to laugh about. People who buy things should live as if those things do not belong to them. 31 If you enjoy the things of this world, do not live as if those things are important. This world, as it is now, will soon finish.
32 I do not want you to worry about troubles. A man who has not married wants to serve the Lord. He wants to live in a way that makes the Lord happy. 33 But a man who has married thinks a lot about this world's things. He wants to live in a way that makes his wife happy. 34 As a result, he thinks in two opposite ways.
It is the same for a woman who has no husband, or a young girl who has not married. She wants to serve the Lord very well. She wants to be completely pure, both in her body and in her spirit. But a woman who has a husband has to think about this world's things. She wants to live in a way that makes her husband happy.
35 I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not making rules that you have to obey. Instead, I want you to live in a right way. I do not want you to worry about troubles. Then you will be able to serve the Lord very well.
36 Perhaps a man has agreed to marry a young woman. They may have decided to wait before they marry. But, as they grow older, the man may think differently. He may think that he needs to marry her. Then, he should do what he wants to do. It is good for them to marry. It is not wrong. 37 But another man may not change his thoughts. He may be sure that he does not need to marry his young woman. If he decides not to marry her, he is doing the right thing. 38 So the man who marries his young woman is doing a good thing. But the man who does not marry is doing a better thing.
39 If a woman has married, she may not leave her husband while he still lives. But if he dies, then she is free to marry again. She may marry any man that she wants to. But he must be someone who belongs to the Lord. 40 I do think that she would be happier if she remains without a husband. That is what I think, and God's Spirit also helps me with this.
About food that people offer to idols
8 You asked me a question about food that people have offered to idols. You say, ‘We all know about these things.’ We know that is true. But when you know about something, that can make you proud. Love is better. Love helps people to become strong. 2 Some people may think that they know everything. People like that do not know as much as they ought to know. 3 But if somebody loves God, he is God's friend. God knows that person.
4 So think about food that people have offered to idols. You ask, ‘Should Christians eat that food?’ We know that no idol is really alive. We also know that there is only one God. 5 It is true that people call many things their gods. Those are things both in heaven and on earth. Those people have many gods and many lords. 6 But for us there is only one God, who is the Father. All things come from him. We live to serve him. For us, there is only one Lord, who is Jesus Christ. All things are there because of him. And we ourselves live because of him.
7 But not everyone understands properly about idols. Before they believed in Christ, some people worshipped idols for many years. So if they eat food that people have offered to an idol, they become afraid. They think that the food belongs to a real god. Their thoughts are weak. They think that they are doing something wrong. 8 But the food that we eat will not help us to please God. If we do not eat certain food, that will not make us worse. If we do eat that food, it will not make us better.
9 You are free to eat any kind of food. You understand that. But other Christians do not understand so well. So you must be careful. Do not cause them to do something that they think is wrong. 10 You may be eating food in a place where people worship idols. Then another Christian sees you there. You know that the idols are not real gods. But the other Christian may have weak thoughts about this. So, because he sees you, he may think that he can eat that food too. 11 Because you understand properly, you are hurting someone who does not understand so well. In that way, the life of your Christian friend has become completely spoiled. Remember that Christ died to save that friend. 12 If you do that kind of bad thing to hurt your Christian friends, you are hurting Christ himself. You are causing them to do something which they think is wrong. 13 I do not want to hurt any of my Christian friends. So, if the food that I eat causes them to do something wrong, I will never eat meat again.
Paul's work as an apostle
9 I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus, our Lord. You yourselves are the result of the work that I do to serve the Lord. You know that is all true. 2 Other people may not accept me as a true apostle. But you surely must accept me. As a result of my work, you now belong to the Lord. That shows that I am truly his apostle.
3 Some people do not like what I do. This is my answer to what they say against me: 4 As apostles, Barnabas and I should receive food and drink from the people that we help. 5 If we have a Christian wife, we should take her with us as we travel. The other apostles do this. So do the Lord's brothers, and also Peter. We have the same authority that they have. 6 Barnabas and I seem to be the only leaders who must work at other jobs. We should not need to do that!
7 Think about these examples: A soldier never has to pay for his own food and clothes. A farmer who plants vines will eat some of the grapes. A person who takes care of sheep or goats will drink some of the milk from those animals. You know that is what always happens.
8 I am not just telling you human ideas. God's Law teaches the same thing. 9 God's Law that he gave to Moses says this: ‘Do not tie shut the mouth of your ox while it walks on your grain.’[ad]
But God's Law does not teach this only to help bulls. 10 No, God wanted to help us too. That is why he gave this rule to Moses for his people. Any farmer who works hard to grow food should get some of the food for himself. He ploughs his fields and he prepares the seeds because he hopes to eat some of the food. 11 Our spiritual work among you is like we have planted seeds. In return, you should give to us the food and clothes that we need to live. That is like the harvest that we should receive from our work. 12 You agree to help other people who teach God's message to you. So surely we should receive even more help from you!
But Barnabas and I have not used our authority to make you help us like that. Instead, we accept all these difficult things patiently. We want the good news about Christ to go everywhere. We do not want to do anything that might stop it.
13 Think about this: The people who work in the temple get their food from that place. The priests who offer sacrifices on the altar receive part of the animals for themselves. 14 In the same way, the people who tell God's good news to others should receive what they need to live. They should receive it from the people who hear the good news from them.
15 But I have not used my authority as an apostle to demand these things from you. And I am not writing this letter to demand that you help me now. No! It would be better for me to die than to change the way that I live. I can be proud of that and nobody should stop me. 16 I tell God's good news to people. But I have no reason to be proud because of that. It is something that I have to do. If I did not tell the good news, it would bring me great trouble.
17 If I were doing this work because I chose to do it, I would receive my pay. But I myself did not choose to do it. God has given me this work, so I have to do it. 18 So what kind of pay do I receive? It is this: I do not take any money from people when I tell them God's good news. I do not use all the authority that I could use when I tell God's good news to people.
19 Yes, I am a free man. I am not anybody's slave. But I choose to serve everybody like a slave. I do that so that I can help many more people to believe in Christ. 20 When I was among Jews, I lived like they do, because I wanted to bring Jews to Christ. The Law that God gave to Moses no longer has authority over me. But I chose to obey that Law when I was among Jewish people who obey it. I did that so that I could help them to believe in Christ. 21 With Gentile people, who do not have Moses' Law, I lived like they do. I continued to respect God's Law. Yes, I obey Christ's law. But I lived like a Gentile, so that I could help Gentiles to believe in Christ. 22 With weak people, I became like someone who is weak too. I did that so that I could bring weak people to believe in Christ. Whoever I am living among, I live like they do. I want to do everything that I can to save some of them.
23 I want to help people to accept God's good news. That is why I do all these things. I want to share in the good things that the good news gives to believers.
24 Think about how people run in a race. All the runners run, but only one of them receives the prize. You must run like that, to win the race. 25 People who run in races prepare their bodies well. They make themselves work very hard. They do this so that they will win a prize that will quickly become spoiled. But we work hard to receive a prize that will never become spoiled.
26 Because of that, I do not run with no purpose. I do not fight like someone who only hits the air. 27 I make my body do what I want it to do. I make it like my slave. I have told God's message to other people. I do not want to lose the prize myself. So I try very much to obey the rules of the race.
Idols
10 My Christian friends, remember what happened to our Israelite ancestors. Moses led them out of Egypt long ago. While they followed Moses, they all walked under the same cloud. All of them walked across the Red Sea.[ae] 2 It is like God baptized all of them in the cloud and in the sea. In that way, they became people who followed Moses. 3 All our ancestors ate the same spiritual food.[af] 4 All of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank water from the spiritual rock that went with them. Christ was that rock.[ag] 5 They all received the same help from God, but most of them did not please God. God caused most of them to die in the wilderness.[ah]
6 We must learn from those things that happened to our ancestors. We must not want to do very bad things, like they did. 7 Do not worship idols, as some of them did. The Bible says: ‘The people sat down to eat and to drink. After that, they got up from their meal and they danced.’[ai]
8 Nor must we ever have sex in wrong ways. Some of our ancestors did that, and 23,000 of them died in one day as a result.[aj]
9 Nor must we do bad things to see whether the Lord will punish us. Some of our ancestors did that, and God sent snakes to destroy them.[ak]
10 Do not complain against God. Some of our ancestors spoke like that, and God sent an angel of death to kill them.[al]
11 All these things happened to our ancestors so that we would learn from them. They are written in the Bible to teach us important lessons. We are people who live at a time when all things will become complete.
12 If you think that you are standing strongly, be careful! Do not fall down! 13 You may often want to do wrong things. The things that are difficult for you are difficult for other people too. Remember that God is always there to help you. He will not let any bad thing be too difficult for you. He will help you to stand against it. When you want to do something wrong, God will make you strong in your spirit. He will show you a way out, so that you do not do anything wrong.
14 So, my friends, keep away from idols. Do not worship them. 15 You are people who think carefully about things. So think about what I am saying to you. 16 When we eat the Lord's Supper together, we remember that Christ died on our behalf. We thank God for the wine that we drink from the cup. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his blood. We also break the bread and we eat it together. In that way, we remember that we all belong to Christ because of his body that died on the cross. 17 We are many people, but all of us eat part of the same loaf of bread. That shows that we are one group of people. We belong together because Christ died on our behalf.
18 Think about Israel's people. They eat part of the animals that the priests offer on the altar as a sacrifice. This shows that they share together in the sacrifice. 19 So think about food that people offer to idols as a sacrifice. I am not saying that the idols are real gods. The food that people offer to them is not special food. 20 But the people who offer food to idols are worshipping demons. They are not worshipping God when they do that. I do not want you to share in what they do to worship demons. 21 If you drink anything from the cup of demons, you can not then drink wine from the Lord's cup. If you share a meal with demons, you can not also share in the Lord's meal.
22 If we do things like that, we will cause the Lord to be angry. We should worship only him. You know that we are not stronger than he is!
23 Some of you may say, ‘We are free to do anything that we want to do!’ But not everything is good for you to do. You may say, ‘We are free to do anything!’ But not everything helps you to be strong as a believer. 24 Do not think about the things that will help you. Instead, each of you should think about what will help other people.
25 You can eat any meat that people sell in the market. Do not ask questions about the meat. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. 26 The Bible says this: ‘The earth, and everything in it, belongs to the Lord.’[am]
27 People who do not believe in Christ may ask you to eat a meal with them. Agree to go to his home, if you want to. Then you should eat whatever food they give to you. Do not ask questions about the food. Do not cause your thoughts to have trouble. 28 But someone there may say to you, ‘They offered this food to an idol.’ If someone tells you that, do not eat the food. It might cause trouble to the thoughts of the person who told you. 29 It may not cause your own thoughts to have trouble. But the other person may not be sure if it is right to eat that kind of food.
Perhaps you will say, ‘Why should another person's thoughts decide what is right for me? I am free to do what I want. 30 I thank God for my food before I eat it. If I do that, nobody should say that it is wrong for me to eat it.’
31 Whatever you are doing, show that God is great. When you eat anything, or you drink anything, do it all in a way that praises God. 32 Do not cause problems for other people. Whether they are Jews or Gentiles, or people who belong to God's church, live in a way that does not cause problems for them. 33 Copy my example. Whatever I do, I try to make other people happy. I do not try to do what will help me. Instead, I want to help other people. I live in that way so that God will save many people.
11 Copy my example, in the same way that I copy Christ's example.
Christian meetings
2 I praise you, because you remember me and everything that I taught you. You continue to obey the message that I gave to you. 3 This is something that I want you to know: Christ has authority over every man, as his head. Also, the head of a woman is her husband. And the head of Christ is God.
4 So, when you meet together to worship God, remember this. When a man prays to God, or he speaks a message from God, he should not cover his head. If he does that, he does not respect the one who is his head. 5 But when a woman prays or she speaks a message from God, she should cover her head. If she does not cover her head, she does not respect the one who is her head. It would be as bad as if she cut off all her hair. 6 If a woman refuses to cover her head, she should cut off her hair. But, if a woman has no hair, or she has very short hair, she becomes very ashamed. So it is better that she should cover her head in your meetings.
7 Men show what God is like and they show how great God is. So a man should not cover his head in your meetings. But a woman shows how great men are. 8 When God made people, he did not use part of the woman to make a man. God made the man first. Then he made the woman from part of the man.[an] 9 Neither did God make the man to help the woman. No, God made the woman to help the man. 10 That is why a woman should cover her head. It shows that she has authority on her head. That makes the angels happy.
11 But remember this: we all belong to the Lord. Men and women need to help one another. They can not remain separate. 12 It is true that God used part of the man to make the first woman. But it is also true that women give birth to men. Remember that all things come from God himself.
13 Think about this: If a woman prays to God but she has not covered her head, is that proper? 14 If a man has long hair, that should make him ashamed. That is clear. 15 But if a woman has long hair, she can be proud of it. God gave beautiful hair to women to cover their heads. 16 Some people may want to argue about this. But I have told you what we do. And all of God's people in the different churches do the same thing.
The Lord's Supper
17 Now I must teach you about something else about your meetings. I will not praise you, because more bad things than good things happen when you meet together. 18 First, I hear that there are separate groups when you meet together as God's people.[ao] I believe that some of what I have heard about you is true. 19 Perhaps there must be separate groups among you. Then everyone can see clearly which group God accepts as right!
20 When you meet together, the meal that you eat is not really the Lord's Supper. 21 When you are ready to eat, each of you eats your own meal. You do not wait for anyone else. As a result, one of you may be hungry, while another person becomes drunk. 22 If you want to eat like that, you have your own homes where you can eat and drink! Instead, you insult the people of God's church. You make people who have nothing feel ashamed. I cannot praise you for what you do. Whatever I might say to you about this, I certainly cannot praise you.
23 This is the message that I received from the Lord. I then told it to you.
This is what happened on the night that Jesus' enemies took hold of him. The Lord Jesus picked up some bread to eat with his disciples. 24 He thanked God for the bread and then he broke it into pieces. He said: ‘This is my body that I give to save you. Eat this bread, so that you remember me.’
25 After they had eaten supper, Jesus took a cup of wine. He spoke to his disciples again. He said, ‘This cup shows my blood that will pour out when I die. God now makes a new agreement to save people because of my death. Whenever you drink from the cup in this way, do it to remember me.’
26 Every time that you eat bread and you drink from the cup like this, you are showing something. You are showing people what the Lord's death means. You should continue to do this until he returns.
27 Since that is true, you must be careful. Eat the bread and drink from the cup in a way that is right. Anyone who does not do that will be guilty. They are showing that they do not respect the Lord's body and his blood that he offered as a sacrifice. 28 So everyone must think carefully about how they eat the bread and they drink from the cup. 29 They must understand how important the Lord's body is. If anyone does not recognize this, God will punish them. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick. Some of you have even died because of this. 31 But if we think carefully about ourselves, then God will not need to punish us.
32 But the Lord does need to punish us sometimes. When he does that, he is teaching us not to do wrong things. Then we will not be guilty, like other people who do not know God.
33 So, my Christian friends, be patient when you meet together to eat the Lord's Supper. Do not start to eat before everyone is ready. 34 If you are hungry, you should eat at home before you come. Then, when you meet together, God will not have any reason to punish you.
I will talk about the other things when I come to visit you.
Gifts from God's Spirit
12 My Christian friends, I want you to understand clearly about spiritual gifts. 2 You know how you lived before you came to know God. You let idols lead you in many wrong ways. And those idols cannot even speak! 3 This is what I want you to understand now. God's Spirit will never lead anyone to say, ‘God has cursed Jesus.’ And it is only God's Spirit that will lead someone to say, ‘Jesus is Lord.’
4 The Holy Spirit helps us with different kinds of gifts. But it is the same Spirit who gives them. 5 We serve the Lord in different ways, but all of us serve the same Lord. 6 We do different kinds of work. But it is the same God who helps us all to work in different ways.
7 God helps each of us with a gift from his Spirit. He does that so that we can help others.
8 The Spirit helps some people to speak wise messages. Other people can speak messages that help people to know what is true. It is the same Spirit that helps them to do that. 9 The same Spirit causes other people to trust God strongly. He gives to other people gifts to make sick people well. 10 The same Spirit gives other people power to do miracles. Other people can speak messages from God. Some people can recognize whether spirits are good or bad. Some people can speak in different kinds of languages. And other people can explain what those languages mean. 11 There is only one Holy Spirit. The same Spirit helps people to do all these different things. He decides which gifts he will give to each person.
One body with many parts
12 Each person has only one body, but that body has many parts. All those different parts make only one body. It is like that with Christ too. 13 When they baptized us, we all became parts of one body. It was the one Spirit who brought us together. It made no difference whether we were Jews or Gentiles. It made no difference whether we were slaves or free people. God poured his one Spirit into all of us.
14 A person's body does not have only one part. It has many parts. 15 If the foot could speak, it might say, ‘I am not a hand, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It is still a part of the body. 16 If the ear could speak, it might say, ‘I am not an eye, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It still belongs to the body. 17 If the whole body was an eye, the body would not hear anything. If the whole body was an ear, it would not recognize different smells. 18 But God has decided where each different part of our body should be.
19 If our body was all the same part, it would not be a proper body. 20 But as it is, a body has many parts. It is still only one whole body. 21 For that reason, the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you.’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’ 22 No. Even the parts of a body that seem to be weaker are very necessary. 23 Think about the parts of our body that are not very special. We dress them carefully! And we take special care of those parts that we do not want people to see. 24 But we do not need to do this with the beautiful parts of our body.
God has put all these parts together in one body. Some parts seem to be not very special. But God has shown that those parts are very valuable. 25 He has done that to bring all the parts together as one body. All the parts work together to help each other. 26 Then if one part of the body hurts, every other part also hurts. If people praise one part, every part of the body is also happy.
27 All of you together are Christ's body. And each of you is a part of that body. 28 Like the parts of a body, God has put people in different places in his church. First, there are apostles. Second, there are people who speak messages from God. Third, there are teachers. After that, there are people who do miracles. There are people who have gifts to make sick people well. There are people who help others in special ways. There are people who can lead others. And there are people who can speak different kinds of languages.
29 Not everyone in the church is an apostle. Not everyone speaks messages from God. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can do miracles. 30 Not everyone has the gifts to make sick people well. Not everyone can speak in different kinds of languages. Nor can everyone explain what messages in those languages mean. You know that. 31 But it is good if you really want the more valuable gifts from God.
Now I will show you a way that is better than anything else.
Love is most important
13 I may be able to speak many different languages that people or angels speak. But that is worth nothing if I do not love other people. I would only be making a loud noise, like someone who hits a piece of metal. 2 I may be able to speak messages from God. I may understand all God's secret things, and know all the facts. I may have great faith so that I trust God enough to move mountains. But I am nothing if I do not love others. 3 I may give all my things to help poor people. I may let other people take my body to burn it.[ap] But that would not help me if I do not love others.
4 If I love people, I will be patient. I will be kind. I will not be jealous of other people. I will not be proud and say that I am great. 5 If I love people, I will be polite. I will not just want to please myself. I will not quickly become angry. If someone does a wrong thing against me, I will not keep it in my thoughts. 6 If I love people, I will not be happy when bad things happen. Instead, I will be happy when things happen that are right and true. 7 If I love people, I will always accept their problems. I will always believe them. I will always hope for what is best. I will always be patient in troubles.
8 Love will always continue. The gift to speak messages from God will not always be necessary. The gift to speak in different languages will stop one day. The gift to know special things will not always be necessary. 9 At this time, we know only a part of everything. We can only speak a part of God's whole message. 10 But a time will come when everything becomes complete. When God does that, we will not need the small parts that we have now.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child. My thoughts were a child's thoughts. I understood things in a way that a child understands. But now that I have become a man, I have stopped being like a child. 12 At this time, we see things as if we were looking at them in a mirror. What we see now is not clear. But the time will come when we do not need a mirror. We will see everything clearly. Now we know only a part of what is true. But then we will know everything completely. We will understand completely, just as God understands us completely.
13 At this time there are three things that continue. We continue to trust God. We continue to hope for his good things. We continue to love other people. But the most important of these things is love.
Messages from God
14 So you must always want to love other people. Also, want very much to receive spiritual gifts from God. More than anything else, want to speak messages from God. 2 If someone speaks in a different language, he is speaking only to God. The people who hear him do not understand his message. God's Spirit is causing him to speak about secret things. It does not help people. 3 But if someone speaks a clear message from God, he helps the people who hear him. He helps them to become stronger as believers. He helps them to be happy and strong in their troubles. 4 Anyone who speaks in a different language only helps himself. But a person who speaks a message from God helps the believers in the church to become strong.
5 I would like all of you to speak in different kinds of languages. But even more, I want you to speak God's message clearly to people. Anyone who can speak a message from God is important in the church. He is more important than someone who speaks in different kinds of languages. That person only helps the church if someone can explain what he says. Only in that way will his message help the church to become stronger.
6 My Christian friends, if I come to visit you, then I want to help you. But if I speak to you in languages that you do not understand, that will not help you at all. I would need to explain to you what God has shown to me. I would need to help you to understand something. I would need to speak a clear message from God, or teach you something. Only that would help you. 7 Think about how people make music with flutes or harps. Those things are not alive. We have to use them to make clear sounds. If we do not use them properly, then nobody can recognize the music. 8 Soldiers will not prepare to fight unless they hear a clear sound from the trumpet.
9 It is the same for you. You must use your tongue to speak clearly. If not, nobody will understand what you are saying. You will only be speaking words into the air. 10 There are many different kinds of languages in this world. They all mean something to the people who speak them. 11 Perhaps somebody may speak to me in a language that I do not understand. Then we are like foreign people to each other. 12 So think about what is best for you. You really want the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Most of all, you should want the gifts that will help the whole church to become stronger.
13 So, if you speak a message in a different language, you should pray to God about it. Pray that you may be able to explain to people what the message means. 14 If I pray in a different language, only my spirit is praying. But I do not use my mind while I pray like that. 15 This is what I should do: I will not only pray with my spirit. I will also pray with my mind. I will sing to praise God with my spirit. And I will also do that with my mind. 16 If you are praising God only with your spirit, not everyone will understand. Believers who have not learned these things will not know what you are saying. They cannot agree and say ‘Amen’. 17 You may really be able to thank God very well in your spirit. But your words do not help those other believers to become strong.
18 I thank God that I speak in different kinds of languages more than all of you. 19 But when the church meets together, I want to help other believers and teach them. So I would rather say five words that people understand than thousands of words in a different language.
20 My Christian friends, do not continue to think like children think. Instead, think properly like men and women should think. The only way you should be like babies is to keep away from evil things. 21 This is written in the Bible:
‘I will send strangers to speak to my people.
They will speak my message to them in strange languages.
But even when I do this, my people will not listen to me.’
That is what the Lord God has said.[aq]
22 So the gift to speak in different languages is like a sign. It shows God's power to people who do not believe in him. It is not a sign to help believers. But the gift to speak clear messages from God shows his power to believers. It is not a sign for those people who do not believe.
23 Think about what happens when the whole church meets together. Perhaps some people come in who do not believe in God. Or perhaps they have not learned much about God. If all of you are speaking in strange languages, those visitors would not understand. They would say that you are all crazy! 24 But if all of you are speaking clear messages from God, a visitor will understand you. He may not believe in God. He may not have learned much about God. But he will hear God's message. He will understand that he has done wrong things. He will know that God will judge him. He will learn this from what all of you are saying. 25 The visitor's secret thoughts will become clear. As a result, he will bend down to the ground and he will worship God. He will say, ‘God is really here among you!’
Church meetings
26 My Christian friends, this is what you should do when you meet together. Some of you may have a song to praise God. Some of you may have a lesson to teach about God. Other people may have a special thing that God has shown to them. Some people may have a message in a special language. Other people may explain what the message means. Do all these things to help the church become stronger.
27 If some people speak in special languages, it should only be two or three people. They should speak one person at a time. Then someone must explain what each person said. 28 But perhaps there is nobody among you who can explain like that. Then, anyone who wanted to speak in a special language must be quiet in your meeting. When they are on their own, they should speak to God.
29 When you meet together, two or three people should speak a message from God. Then the other people there should think carefully about each message. 30 Someone who is sitting in your meeting may receive a special message from God. Then, the person who is already speaking should stop. 31 In that way, each person can speak a message from God, one person at a time. Then everyone will learn something that helps them. 32 All of you who speak messages from God have authority over your own spirits. 33 When we meet together as God's people, he wants there to be peace among us. He does not want to bring trouble.
This is what happens in all the churches where God's people meet together. 34 The women should be quiet during the meetings. They should not speak. They should remember that they are under authority. That is also what God's Law teaches. 35 If a woman wants to ask about something, she should ask her husband at home. Women should be ashamed if they speak in the church.[ar] 36 Remember that God's message did not start from you in Corinth! You are not the only people who have heard it, either.
37 Someone may think that he has the gift to speak messages from God. Or he may think that he has received other spiritual gifts. Anyone who thinks like that should agree with what I have written to you. He should recognize that it is what the Lord himself is telling his people to do. 38 If anyone refuses to accept this, you should not accept that person.
39 My Christian friends, this is what I am saying to you: It is good when you want to speak clear messages from God. And if anyone has the gift to speak in a special language, do not stop them. 40 But you must do everything in a proper way that helps people.
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