Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Chapter 4

Do Not Judge before the Appointed Time. ¹ People should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Now it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. ³ It is of no importance to me if I am to be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.

⁴ I personally have nothing on my conscience, but that does not mean that I am innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will disclose the motives of all hearts. Then each one will receive the proper praise from God.

Fools for Christ. ⁶ Brethren, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what has been written.”^[a] None of you should become inflated with pride against anyone else. ⁷ Who made you so important? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you have received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?

⁸ You already have everything! You have already become rich! You have become kings without our help! How I wish that you truly reigned so that we might reign with you!^[b]

⁹ It seems to me that God has designated us apostles as the last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. ¹⁰ We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we are in disrepute.

¹¹ To this very hour, we endure hunger and thirst. We are poorly clad and beaten and homeless, ¹² and we exhaust ourselves working with our hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we suffer persecution, we endure it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we respond gently. We are regarded as the rubbish of the world, the dregs of humanity, to this very day.

¹⁴ The Authority of a Father in Christ. I am writing all this not to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ Even though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

¹⁶ I appeal to you then to be imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every Church.

¹⁸ Some of you have become arrogant, on the assumption that I am not coming to you. ¹⁹ However, I will come to you soon, if it is the Lord’s will, and then I will ascertain the actual power of these arrogant people as opposed to their words. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God^[c] is not a matter of words but of power. ²¹ What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a whip or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

Deviant Behavior^[d]

Chapter 5

Reports of Sexual Immorality. ¹ There have been widely circulated reports of sexual immorality among you, immorality of such a nature that not even pagans practice—the union of a man with his father’s wife. ² How can you be proud of yourselves? You should rather have been overcome with grief and expelled from the community anyone who acted in such a manner.

³ I for my part am with you in spirit, even though I am not physically present. I have already passed judgment on the man who did this, as if I were actually present. ⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you have all assembled together and I am with you in spirit through the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are to hand over this man to Satan to be destroyed in the flesh, so that on the day of the Lord his spirit may be saved.

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a small amount of yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ^7 [e]Throw out the old yeast so that you may become a fresh batch of unleavened dough. And truly you already are, because Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of depravity and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ In my letter, I wrote to you not to associate with people who are leading immoral lives.^{[f] 10} Obviously, I was not referring to contact with people in the world who are immoral or with those who are greedy or thieves or worshipers of false gods, since to do this you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ What I really meant to get across was that you should not associate with any brother or sister who is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard or a robber. You should not even eat with such a person.

¹² It is no concern of mine to judge those who are outside the fold.^[g] It is your responsibility to judge those who are inside. ¹³ God will pass judgment on the outsiders. Banish the evil person from your midst.

Chapter 6

Avoid Lawsuits against Each Other.^{[h] 1} If any of you has a dispute with another, how can you seek judgment before those who are unrighteous^[i] instead of before the saints? ² Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, how can you consider yourselves as incompetent to deal with smaller cases? ³ Do you not realize that we are to judge angels?^[j] Why then should we not deal with matters of this life?

⁴ Therefore, if you have such matters to resolve, how can you seek judgment from those who have no standing in the Church? ⁵ I write this to make you ashamed. Is it really possible that there is no one among you who is wise enough to mediate a dispute between brethren? ⁶ Why should a brother go to court against another brother, seeking a decision from unbelievers?

⁷ In truth, the very fact that you engage in lawsuits with one another is a misfortune for you. Why not prefer to be wronged? Why not prefer to be defrauded? ⁸ Instead, you yourself are guilty of wronging and defrauding your own brethren.

⁹ Are you not aware that wrongdoers will never inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites,^{[k] 10} thieves, extortioners, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once such as these. However, now you have been washed clean, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

¹² All Things Are Lawful for Me!^[l]“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not allow myself to be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach is meant for food,” but God will destroy them both. However, the body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ God raised up the Lord, and he will raise us up also by his power.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I then take Christ’s members and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But anyone who joins himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.^[m]

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ You have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.