Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

4 Let a man so reckon us as officers of Christ, and stewards of the secrets of God,

² and as to the rest, it is required in the stewards that one may be found faithful,

³ and to me it is for a very little thing that by you I may be judged, or by man's day, but not even myself do I judge,

⁴ for of nothing to myself have I been conscious, but not in this have I been declared right -- and he who is discerning me is the Lord:

⁵ so, then, nothing before the time judge ye, till the Lord may come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of the darkness, and will manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then the praise shall come to each from God.

⁶ And these things, brethren, I did transfer to myself and to Apollos because of you, that in us ye may learn not to think above that which hath been written, that ye may not be puffed up one for one against the other,

⁷ for who doth make thee to differ? and what hast thou, that thou didst not receive? and if thou didst also receive, why dost thou glory as not having received?

⁸ Already ye are having been filled, already ye were rich, apart from us ye did reign, and I would also ye did reign, that we also with you may reign together,

⁹ for I think that God did set forth us the apostles last -- as appointed to death, because a spectacle we became to the world, and messengers, and men;

¹⁰ we [are] fools because of Christ, and ye wise in Christ; we [are] ailing, and ye strong; ye glorious, and we dishonoured;

¹¹ unto the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and wander about,

¹² and labour, working with [our] own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer;

¹³ being spoken evil of, we entreat; as filth of the world we did become -- of all things an offscouring -- till now.

¹⁴ Not [as] putting you to shame do I write these things, but as my beloved children I do admonish,

¹⁵ for if a myriad of child-conductors ye may have in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I -- I did beget you;

¹⁶ I call upon you, therefore, become ye followers of me;

¹⁷ because of this I sent to you Timotheus, who is my child, beloved and faithful in the Lord, who shall remind you of my ways in Christ, according as everywhere in every assembly I teach.

¹⁸ And as if I were not coming unto you certain were puffed up;

¹⁹ but I will come quickly unto you, if the Lord may will, and I will know not the word of those puffed up, but the power;

²⁰ for not in word is the reign of God, but in power?

²¹ what do ye wish? with a rod shall I come unto you, or in love, with a spirit also of meekness?

5 Whoredom is actually heard of among you, and such whoredom as is not even named among the nations -- as that one hath the wife of the father! --

² and ye are having been puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he may be removed out of the midst of you who did this work,

³ for I indeed, as being absent as to the body, and present as to the spirit, have already judged, as being present, him who so wrought this thing:

⁴ in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ -- ye being gathered together, also my spirit -- with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁵ to deliver up such a one to the Adversary for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ Not good [is] your glorying; have ye not known that a little leaven the whole lump doth leaven?

⁷ cleanse out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened, for also our passover for us was sacrificed -- Christ,

⁸ so that we may keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with unleavened food of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I did write to you in the epistle, not to keep company with whoremongers --

¹⁰ and not certainly with the whoremongers of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, seeing ye ought then to go forth out of the world --

¹¹ and now, I did write to you not to keep company with [him], if any one, being named a brother, may be a whoremonger, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner -- with such a one not even to eat together;

¹² for what have I also those without to judge? those within do ye not judge?

¹³ and those without God doth judge; and put ye away the evil from among yourselves.

6 Dare any one of you, having a matter with the other, go to be judged before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

² have ye not known that the saints shall judge the world? and if by you the world is judged, are ye unworthy of the smaller judgments?

³ have ye not known that we shall judge messengers? why not then the things of life?

⁴ of the things of life, indeed, then, if ye may have judgment, those despised in the assembly -- these cause ye to sit;

⁵ unto your shame I speak: so there is not among you one wise man, not even one, who shall be able to discern in the midst of his brethren!

⁶ but brother with brother doth go to be judged, and this before unbelievers!

⁷ Already, indeed, then, there is altogether a fault among you, that ye have judgments with one another; wherefore do ye not rather suffer injustice? wherefore be ye not rather defrauded?

⁸ but ye -- ye do injustice, and ye defraud, and these -- brethren!

⁹ have ye not known that the unrighteous the reign of God shall not inherit? be not led astray; neither whoremongers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites,

¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, the reign of God shall inherit.

¹¹ And certain of you were these! but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were declared righteous, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

¹² All things are lawful to me, but all things are not profitable; all things are lawful to me, but I -- I will not be under authority by any;

¹³ the meats [are] for the belly, and the belly for the meats. And God both this and these shall make useless; and the body [is] not for whoredom, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body;

¹⁴ and God both the Lord did raise, and us will raise up through His power.

¹⁵ Have ye not known that your bodies are members of Christ? having taken, then, the members of the Christ, shall I make [them] members of an harlot? let it be not!

¹⁶ have ye not known that he who is joined to the harlot is one body? `for they shall be -- saith He -- the two for one flesh.'

¹⁷ And he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit;

¹⁸ flee the whoredom; every sin -- whatever a man may commit -- is without the body, and he who is committing whoredom, against his own body doth sin.

¹⁹ Have ye not known that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own,

²⁰ for ye were bought with a price; glorify, then, God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.