Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Faithful Servants of the Messiah

4 Think of us as servants of the Messiah^[a] and as servant managers entrusted with God’s secrets. ² Now it is required of servant managers that each one should prove to be trustworthy.^{[b] 3} It is a very small thing to me that I should be examined by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. ⁴ For my conscience is clear,^[c] but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who examines me. ⁵ Therefore, stop judging prematurely, before the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness and reveal the motives of our hearts. Then each person will receive his praise from God.

Fools for the Messiah’s Sake

⁶ Brothers, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what the Scriptures say.^[d] Then you will stop boasting about one person at the expense of another.

⁷ For who makes you superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it? ⁸ You already have all you want! You have already become rich! You have become kings without us! I wish you really were kings so that we could be kings with you! ⁹ For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display in last place, like men condemned to death. We have become a spectacle for the world, for angels, and for people to stare at. ¹⁰ We are fools for the Messiah’s^[e] sake, but you are wise in the Messiah.^[f] We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. ¹¹ We are hungry, thirsty, dressed in rags, brutally treated, and homeless, right up to the present. ¹² We wear ourselves out from working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. ¹³ When slandered, we answer with kind words. Even now we have become the filth of the world, the scum of the universe.

Fatherly Advice

¹⁴ I’m not writing this to make you feel ashamed, but to warn you as my dear children. ¹⁵ You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah,^[g] but not many fathers. For in the Messiah^[h] Jesus I became your father through the gospel. ¹⁶ So I urge you to imitate me. ¹⁷ That’s why I sent Timothy to you. He is my dear and dependable son in the Lord and will help you remember how I live for the Messiah^[i] Jesus as I teach everywhere in every church.

¹⁸ Some of you have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to evaluate^[j] you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon if it’s the Lord’s will. Then I’ll discover not only what these arrogant people are saying but also what power they have, ²⁰ for the kingdom of God isn’t just talk, but also power. ²¹ Which do you prefer? Should I come to you with a stick, or with love and a gentle spirit?

Disciplining for Sexual Immorality

5 It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, and of a kind that is not found even among the gentiles. A man is actually living with his father’s wife! ² And you are being arrogant instead of being filled with grief and seeing to it that the man who did this is removed from among you. ³ Even though I am away from you physically, I am with you in spirit. I have already passed judgment on the man who did this, as though I were present with you. ⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are gathered together (and I am there in spirit), and the power of our Lord Jesus is there, too, ⁵ turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of his body,^[k] so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.^[l]

⁶ Your boasting is not good. You know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough, don’t you? ⁷ Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah,^[m] our Passover, has been sacrificed. ⁸ So let’s keep celebrating the festival, neither with old yeast nor with yeast that is evil and wicked, but with yeast-free bread that is both sincere and true.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter to stop associating with people who are sexually immoral— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, greedy, robbers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you to stop associating with any so-called brother if he is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunk, or a robber. You must even stop eating with someone like that. ¹² After all, is it my business to judge outsiders? You are to judge those who are in the community, aren’t you? ¹³ God will judge outsiders. “Expel that wicked man.”^[n]

Morality in Legal Matters

6 When one of you has a complaint against another, does he dare to take the matter before those who are unrighteous and not before the saints? ² You know that the saints will rule the world, don’t you? And if the world is going to be ruled by you, can’t you handle insignificant cases? ³ You know that we will rule angels, not to mention things in this life, don’t you? ⁴ So if you have cases dealing with this life, why do you appoint as judges people who have no standing in the church? ⁵ I say this to make you feel ashamed. Has it come to this, that there is not one person among you who is wise enough to settle disagreements between brothers?^{[o] 6} Instead, one brother goes to court against another brother, and before unbelieving judges,^[p] at that! ⁷ The very fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves is already a defeat for you. Why not rather just accept the wrong? Why not rather be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves practice doing wrong and cheating others, and brothers at that!

⁹ You know that wicked people will not inherit the kingdom of God, don’t you? Stop deceiving yourselves! Sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, ¹⁰ thieves, greedy people, drunks, slanderers, and robbers will not inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ That is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah^[q] and by the Spirit of our God.

Morality in Sexual Matters

¹² Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not allow anything to control me. ¹³ Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will make them both unnecessary. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ God raised the Lord, and by his power he will also raise us.

¹⁵ You know that your bodies belong to the Messiah,^[r] don’t you? Should I take what belongs to the Messiah^[s] and unite them with a prostitute? Certainly not! ¹⁶ You know that the person who unites himself with a prostitute becomes one body with her, don’t you? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”^{[t] 17} But the person who unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

¹⁸ Keep on running away from sexual immorality. Any other^[u] sin that a person commits is outside his body, but the person who sins sexually sins against his own body. ¹⁹ You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don’t you? You do not belong to yourselves, ²⁰ because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.