Chronological

The Rights of an Apostle

9 I am free, am I not? I am an apostle, am I not? I have seen Jesus our Lord, haven’t I? You are the result of^[a] my work in the Lord, aren’t you? ² If I am not an apostle to other people, surely I am one to you, for you are the evidence of my apostolic authority from the Lord.

³ This is my defense to those who would examine me: ⁴ We have the right to earn our food,^[b] don’t we? ⁵ We have the right to take a believing wife with us like the other apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas,^[c] don’t we? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to keep on working for a living? ⁷ Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its grapes? Or who takes care of a flock and does not drink any of its milk? ⁸ I am not saying this on human authority, am I? The Law says the same thing, doesn’t it? ⁹ For in the Law of Moses it is written, “You must not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”^[d] God is not only concerned about oxen, is he? ¹⁰ Isn’t he really speaking for our benefit? Yes, this was written for our benefit, because the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? ¹² If others enjoy this right over you, don’t we have a stronger claim? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we tolerate everything in order not to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of the Messiah.^[e]

¹³ You know that those who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who serve at the altar get their share of its offerings, don’t you? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord has ordered that those who proclaim the gospel should make their living from the gospel.

¹⁵ But I have not used any of these rights, and I’m not writing this so that they may be applied in my case. I would rather die than let anyone deprive me of my reason for^[f] boasting. ¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for this obligation has been entrusted to me. How terrible it would be for me if I didn’t preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I preach voluntarily, I get a reward, but if I am unwilling to do it, I am still entrusted with that obligation. ¹⁸ What, then, is my reward? It is^[g] to be able to preach the gospel free of charge, and so I never resort to demanding my rights when I’m preaching^[h] the gospel.

¹⁹ Although I am free from everyone’s expectations, I have made myself a servant to all of them to win more people. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the Law I became like a man under the Law, in order to win those under the Law (although I myself am not under the Law). ²¹ To those who do not have the Law, I became like a man who does not have the Law in order to win those who do not have the Law. However, I am not free from God’s Law, but I’m subject to the Messiah’s^[i] law. ²² To the weak I became weak in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some of them. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel in order to have a share in its blessings.

²⁴ You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don’t you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious. ²⁵ Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that withers away, but we run to win a prize that^[j] never fades. ²⁶ That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I fight, not like someone shadow boxing. ²⁷ No, I keep on disciplining my body, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.

Warnings about Idolatry

10 Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the fact that all of our ancestors who left Egypt^[k] were under the cloud. They all went through the sea, ² and they all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah.^{[l] 5} But God wasn’t pleased with most of those people,^[m] and so they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶ Now their experiences serve as examples for us so that we won’t set our hearts on evil as they did. ⁷ Let’s stop being idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.”^{[n] 8} Let’s stop sinning sexually, as some of them were doing, and on a single day 23,000 fell dead. ⁹ Let’s stop putting the Lord^[o] to the test, as some of them were doing, and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ You must stop complaining, as some of them were doing, and were annihilated by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down as a warning for us in whom the culmination of the ages has been attained. ¹² Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing securely should watch out so he doesn’t fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is unusual for human beings. But God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Instead, along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴ And so, my dear friends, keep on running away from idolatry. ¹⁵ I am talking to sensible people. Apply what I am saying to yourselves. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless is our fellowship in the blood of the Messiah,^[p] isn’t it? The bread that we break is our fellowship in the body of the Messiah,^[q] isn’t it? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, because all of us eat from the same loaf.

¹⁸ Look at the Israelis from a human point of view.^[r] Those who eat the sacrifices share in what is on the altar, don’t they? ¹⁹ Am I suggesting that an offering made to idols means anything, or that an idol itself means anything? ²⁰ Hardly! What they offer, they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become partners with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot dine with the Lord and dine with demons, ²² or you’ll provoke the Lord to jealousy, won’t you? Are we stronger than he is?

All to the Glory of God

²³ Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up. ²⁴ No one should seek his own welfare, but rather his neighbor’s.

²⁵ Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question about it on the grounds of conscience, ²⁶ for “the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”^{[s] 27} If an unbeliever invites you to his house and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, raising no question on the grounds of conscience. ²⁸ However, if someone says to you, “This was offered as a sacrifice,” don’t eat it, both out of consideration for the one who told you and also for the sake of conscience. ²⁹ I mean, of course, his conscience, not yours. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰ If I eat with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of what I am thankful for?

³¹ Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. ³² Don’t become a stumbling block to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, ³³ just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don’t look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved.

Be Imitators of Me

11 Imitate me, as I do the Messiah.^{[t] 2} I praise you for remembering everything I told you^[u] and for holding to the traditions^[v] that I passed on to you.

Advice about Head Coverings

³ Now I want you to realize that the Messiah^[w] is the head of every man, and man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of the Messiah.^{[x] 4} Every man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonors his head, ⁵ and every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, which is the same as having her head shaved. ⁶ So if a woman does not cover her head, she should cut off her hair. If it is a disgrace for a woman to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her own head.

⁷ A man should not cover his head, because he exists as God’s image and glory. But the woman is man’s glory. ⁸ For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; ⁹ and man was not created for woman, but woman for man. ¹⁰ This is why a woman should have authority over her own head: because of the angels.

¹¹ In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man of woman. ¹² For as woman came from man, so man comes through woman. But everything comes from God. ¹³ Decide for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?^{[y] 14} Nature itself teaches you neither that it is disgraceful for a man to have long^[z] hair ¹⁵ nor that hair is a woman’s glory, since hair is given as a substitute for coverings. ¹⁶ But if anyone wants to argue about this, we do not have any custom like this, nor do any of God’s churches.

Concerning the Lord’s Supper^(A)

¹⁷ Now I am not praising you in giving you the following instructions. When you gather, it is not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For in the first place, I hear that when you gather as a church there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it. ¹⁹ Of course, there must be factions among you to show which of you are genuine!

²⁰ When you gather in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. ²¹ For as you eat, each of you rushes to eat his own supper, and one person goes hungry while another gets drunk. ²² You have homes in which to eat and drink, don’t you? Or do you despise God’s church and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you—how the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a loaf of bread, ²⁴ gave thanks for it, and broke it in pieces, saying, “This is my body that is^[aa] for you. Keep doing this in memory of me.” ²⁵ He did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink from it, keep doing this in memory of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup in an unworthy manner will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸ A person must examine himself and then eat the bread and drink from the cup, ²⁹ because whoever eats and drinks^[ab] without recognizing the body,^[ac] eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ That’s why so many of you are weak and sick and a considerable number are dying.^{[ad] 31} But if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. ³² Now, while we are being judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so we won’t^[ae] be condemned along with the world.

³³ Therefore, my brothers, when you gather to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather it may not bring judgment on you. And when I come I will give instructions concerning the other matters.