Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Apostles of Christ

4 This is what people should think about us: We are servants of Christ. We are the ones God has trusted with his secret truths. ² A person who is trusted with something must show that he is worthy of that trust. ³ I do not care if I am judged by you or if I am judged by any human court. I do not even judge myself. ⁴ I know of no wrong that I have done. But this does not make me innocent. The Lord is the One who judges me. ⁵ So do not judge before the right time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light things that are now hidden in darkness. He will make known the secret purposes of people’s hearts. Then God will give everyone the praise he should get.

⁶ Brothers, I have used Apollos and myself as examples. I did this so that you could learn from us the meaning of the words, “Follow only what is written in the Scriptures.” Then you will not be proud of one man and hate another. ⁷ Who says that you are better than others? Everything you have was given to you. And if this is so, why do you brag as if you got these things by your own power?

⁸ You think you have everything you need. You think you are rich. You think you have become kings without us. I wish you really were kings! Then we could be kings together with you. ⁹ But it seems to me that God has given me and the other apostles the last place. We are like men sentenced to die. We are like a show for the whole world to see—angels and people. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ’s sake. But you think you are very wise in Christ. We are weak, but you think you are strong. You receive honor, but we are hated. ¹¹ Even now we still do not have enough to eat or drink or enough clothes. We are often beaten. We have no homes. ¹² We work hard with our own hands for our food. People curse us, but we bless them. They hurt us, and we accept it. ¹³ They say evil things against us, but we say only kind things to them. Even today, we are treated as though we are the garbage of the world—the dirt of the earth.

¹⁴ I am not trying to make you feel ashamed. I am writing this to give you a warning as if you were my own dear children. ¹⁵ For though you may have 10,000 teachers in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Through the Good News I became your father in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ So I beg you, please be like me. ¹⁷ That is why I am sending Timothy to you. He is my son in the Lord. I love Timothy, and he is faithful. He will help you remember the way I live in Christ Jesus. This way of life is what I teach in all the churches everywhere.

¹⁸ Some of you have become proud, thinking that I will not come to you again. ¹⁹ But I will come very soon if the Lord wants me to. Then I will see what those who are proud can do, not what they say. ²⁰ I want to see this because the kingdom of God is not talk but power. ²¹ Which do you want: that I come to you with punishment, or that I come with love and gentleness?

Wickedness in the Church

5 Now, it is actually being said that there is sexual sin among you. And it is of such a bad kind that it does not happen even among those who do not know God. A man there is living sinfully with his stepmother. ² And still you are proud of yourselves! You should have been filled with sadness. And the man who did that sin should be put out of your group. ³ My body is not there with you, but I am with you in spirit. And I have already judged the man who did that sin. I judged him just as I would if I were really there. ⁴ Meet together as the people of our Lord Jesus. I will be with you in spirit, and you will have the power of our Lord Jesus with you. ⁵ Then give this man to Satan, so that his sinful self^[a] will be destroyed. And then his spirit can be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁶ Your bragging is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” ⁷ Take out all the old yeast so that you will be a new batch of dough. And you really are new dough without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, was killed to cleanse us. ⁸ So let us continue our feast, but not with the bread that has the old yeast. That old yeast is the yeast of sin and wickedness. But let us eat the bread that has no yeast. This is the bread of goodness and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter that you should not associate with those who take part in sexual sin. ¹⁰ But I did not mean that you should not associate with the sinful people of this world. People of the world do take part in sexual sin, or they are selfish and they cheat each other, or they worship idols. But to get away from them you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ I am writing to tell you that the person you must not associate with is this: anyone who calls himself a brother in Christ but who takes part in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or lies about others, or gets drunk, or cheats people. Do not even eat with someone like that.

^12-13 It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the church. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are part of the church. The Scripture says, “You must get rid of the evil person among you.”^[b]

Judging Problems Among Christians

6 When one of you has something against a brother in Christ, why do you go to the judges in the law courts? Those people are not right with God. So why do you let them decide who is right? You should be ashamed! Why do you not let God’s people decide who is right? ² Surely you know that God’s people will judge the world. So if you are to judge the world, then surely you are able to judge small things as well. ³ You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge things in this life. ⁴ So if you have disagreements that must be judged, why do you take them to those who are not part of the church? They mean nothing to the church. ⁵ I say this to shame you. Surely there is someone among you wise enough to judge a complaint between two brothers in Christ. ⁶ But now one brother goes to court against another brother. And you let men who are not believers judge their case!

⁷ The lawsuits that you have against each other show that you are already defeated. It would be better for you to let someone wrong you! It would be better for you to let someone cheat you! ⁸ But you yourselves do wrong and cheat! And you do this to your own brothers in Christ!

^9-10 Surely you know that the people who do wrong will not receive God’s kingdom. Do not be fooled. These people will not receive God’s kingdom: those who are sexually immoral, or worship idols, or take part in adultery, or men who have physical relations with other men, or steal, or are selfish, or get drunk, or lie about others, or cheat. ¹¹ In the past, some of you were like that. But you were washed clean. You were made holy. And you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Use Your Bodies for God’s Glory

¹² “I am allowed to do all things.” But not all things are good for me to do. “I am allowed to do all things.” But I must not do those things that will make me their slave. ¹³ “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” Yes. But God will destroy them both. The body is not for sexual immorality. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ By God’s power God raised the Lord Jesus from death. And God will also raise us from death. ¹⁵ Surely you know that your bodies are parts of Christ himself. So I must never take parts of Christ and join them to a prostitute! ¹⁶ It is written in the Scriptures, “The two people will become one body.”^[c] So you should know that a man who joins himself with a prostitute becomes one with her in body. ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself with the Lord is one with the Lord in spirit.

¹⁸ So run away from sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person does is outside the body. But those who are sexually immoral sin against their own bodies. ¹⁹ You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in you. You have received the Holy Spirit from God. You do not own yourselves. ²⁰ You were bought by God for a price. So honor God with your bodies.