Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Servants of Christ

4 This is the way any person is to regard us: as ^(A)servants of Christ and ^(B)stewards of ^(C)the mysteries of God. ² In this case, moreover, it is required ^[a]of stewards that one be found trustworthy. ³ But to me it is an insignificant matter that I would be examined by you, or by any human ^[b]court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. ⁴ For I ^(D)am not aware of anything against myself; however I am not ^(E)vindicated by this, but the one who examines me is the Lord. ⁵ Therefore ^(F)do not go on ^[c]passing judgment before ^[d]the time, but wait ^(G)until the Lord comes, who will both ^(H)bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then ^(I)praise will come to each person from God.

⁶ Now these things, brothers and sisters, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos on your account, so that in us you may learn not to exceed ^(J)what is written, so that no one of you will ^(K)become ^[e]arrogant ^(L)in behalf of one against the other. ⁷ For who considers you as superior? ^(M)What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸ You are ^(N)already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you! ⁹ For I think, God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all as men ^(O)condemned to death, because we ^(P)have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind. ¹⁰ We are ^(Q)fools on account of Christ, but ^(R)you are prudent in Christ! ^(S)We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are without honor! ¹¹ Up to this present hour we are both ^(T)hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless; ¹² and we labor, ^(U)working with our own hands; when we are ^(V)verbally abused, we bless; when we are ^(W)persecuted, we endure it; ¹³ when we are slandered, we ^[f]reply as friends; we have ^(X)become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

¹⁴ I do not write these things to ^(Y)shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved ^(Z)children. ¹⁵ For if you were to have countless ^(AA)tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in ^(AB)Christ Jesus I ^(AC)became your father through the ^(AD)gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I urge you, be ^(AE)imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I ^(AF)have sent to you ^(AG)Timothy, who is my ^(AH)beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, ^(AI)just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some have become ^[g](AJ)arrogant, as though I were not ^(AK)coming to you. ¹⁹ But I ^(AL)will come to you soon, ^(AM)if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the ^[h]words of those who are ^(AN)arrogant, but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God is ^(AO)not in ^[i]words, but in power. ²¹ What do you desire? ^(AP)That I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

Sexual Immorality Rebuked

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, namely, that someone has ^(AQ)his father’s wife. ^2 [j]You ^(AR)have become ^[k]arrogant and ^[l]have not ^(AS)mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^(AT)removed from your midst.

³ For I, on my part, though ^(AU)absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. ^4 (AV)In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ^[m]I with you in spirit, ^(AW)with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ I have decided ^[n]to ^(AX)turn such a person over to ^(AY)Satan for the destruction of his ^[o]body, so that his spirit may be saved on ^(AZ)the day of the ^[p]Lord.

^6 (BA)Your boasting is not good. ^(BB)Do you not know that ^(BC)a little ^[q]leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? ⁷ Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our ^(BD)Passover also has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, ^(BE)not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(BF)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(BG)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹ But ^[r]actually, I ^[s]wrote to you not to associate ^[t]with any so-called ^(BH)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(BI)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹² For what business of mine is it to judge ^(BJ)outsiders? ^(BK)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God ^[u]judges. ^(BL)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

Lawsuits Discouraged

6 Does any one of you, when he has a ^[v]case against ^[w]his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and ^(BM)not before the ^[x]saints? ² Or ^(BN)do you not know that ^(BO)the ^[y]saints will judge ^(BP)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest ^[z]law courts? ^3 (BQ)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴ So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, ^[aa]do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? ^5 (BR)I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you anyone wise who will be able to decide between his ^(BS)brothers and sisters, ⁶ but brother goes to law with brother, and that before ^(BT)unbelievers?

⁷ Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^(BU)Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ On the contrary, you yourselves do wrong and defraud. And this to your ^(BV)brothers and sisters!

⁹ Or ^(BW)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(BX)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(BY)Do not be deceived; ^(BZ)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[ab]homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(CA)inherit the kingdom of God. ^11 (CB)Such were some of you; but you were ^(CC)washed, but you were ^(CD)sanctified, but you were ^(CE)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[ac]in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

^12 (CF)All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ^13 (CG)Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, however God will ^(CH)do away with both ^[ad]of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(CI)for the Lord, and ^(CJ)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only ^(CK)raised the Lord, but ^(CL)will also raise us up through His power. ^15 (CM)Do you not know that ^(CN)your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? ^[ae](CO)Far from it! ¹⁶ Or ^(CP)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(CQ)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(CR)one spirit with Him. ^18 (CS)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[af]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(CT)do you not know that ^(CU)your body is a ^[ag]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[ah]God, and that ^(CV)you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(CW)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(CX)your body.