1 Corinthians 5-7

I Corinthians 5

¹It is said, in fact, that there is among you a sin of the flesh, such as is not seen even among the Gentiles, that one of you has his father's wife.

²And in place of feeling sorrow, you are pleased with yourselves, so that he who has done this thing has not been sent away from among you.

³For I myself, being present in spirit though not in body, have come to a decision about him who has done this thing;

⁴In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you have come together with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵That this man is to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may have forgiveness in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶This pride of yours is not good. Do you not see that a little leaven makes a change in all the mass?

⁷Take away, then, the old leaven, so that you may be a new mass, even as you are without leaven. For Christ has been put to death as our Passover.

⁸Let us then keep the feast, not with old leaven, and not with the leaven of evil thoughts and acts, but with the unleavened bread of true thoughts and right feelings.

⁹In my letter I said to you that you were not to keep company with those who go after the desires of the flesh;

¹⁰But I had not in mind the sinners who are outside the church, or those who have a desire for and take the property of others, or those who give worship to images; for it is not possible to keep away from such people without going out of the world completely:

¹¹But the sense of my letter was that if a brother had the name of being one who went after the desires of the flesh, or had the desire for other people's property, or was in the way of using violent language, or being the worse for drink, or took by force what was not his, you might not keep company with such a one, or take food with him.

¹²For it is no business of mine to be judging those who are outside; but it is yours to be judging those who are among you;

¹³As for those who are outside, God is their judge. So put away the evil man from among you.

I Corinthians 6

¹How is it, that if any one of you has a cause at law against another, he takes it before a Gentile judge and not before the saints?

²Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things?

³Is it not certain that we are to be the judges of angels? how much more then of the things of this life?

⁴If then there are questions to be judged in connection with the things of this life, why do you put them in the hands of those who have no position in the church?

⁵I say this to put you to shame. Is there not among you one wise man who may be able to give a decision between his brothers?

⁶But a brother who has a cause at law against another takes it before Gentile judges.

⁷More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss?

⁸So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.

⁹Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,

¹⁰Or is a thief, or the worse for drink, or makes use of strong language, or takes by force what is not his, will have any part in the kingdom of God.

¹¹And such were some of you; but you have been washed, you have been made holy, you have been given righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

¹²I am free to do all things; but not all things are wise. I am free to do all things; but I will not let myself come under the power of any.

¹³Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will put an end to them together. But the body is not for the desires of the flesh, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body:

¹⁴And God who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead will do the same for us by his power.

¹⁵Do you not see that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? how then may I take what is a part of the body of Christ and make it a part of the body of a loose woman? such a thing may not be.

¹⁶Or do you not see that he who is joined to a loose woman is one body with her? for God has said, The two of them will become one flesh.

¹⁷But he who is united to the Lord is one spirit.

¹⁸Keep away from the desires of the flesh. Every sin which a man does is outside of the body; but he who goes after the desires of the flesh does evil to his body.

¹⁹Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the Holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves;

²⁰For a payment has been made for you: let God be honoured in your body.

I Corinthians 7

¹Now, as to the things in your letter to me: It is good for a man to have nothing to do with a woman.

²But because of the desires of the flesh, let every man have his wife, and every woman her husband.

³Let the husband give to the wife what is right; and let the wife do the same to the husband.

⁴The wife has not power over her body, but the husband; and in the same way the husband has not power over his body, but the wife.

⁵Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control.

⁶But this I say as my opinion, and not as an order of the Lord.

⁷It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that.

⁸But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am.

⁹But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire.

¹⁰But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband

¹¹(Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife.

¹²But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her.

¹³And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband.

¹⁴For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy.

¹⁵But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.

¹⁶For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?

¹⁷Only, as the Lord has given to a man, and as is the purpose of God for him, so let him go on living. And these are my orders for all the churches.

¹⁸If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change.

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing, and its opposite is nothing, but only doing the orders of God is of value.

²⁰Let every man keep the position in which he has been placed by God.

²¹If you were a servant when you became a Christian, let it not be a grief to you; but if you have a chance to become free, make use of it.

²²For he who was a servant when he became a Christian is the Lord's free man; and he who was free when he became a Christian is the Lord's servant.

²³It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men.

²⁴My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.

²⁵Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.

²⁶In my opinion then, because of the present trouble, it is good for a man to keep as he is.

²⁷If you are married to a wife, make no attempt to get free from her: if you are free from a wife, do not take a wife.

²⁸If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.

²⁹But I say this, my brothers, the time is short; and from now it will be wise for those who have wives to be as if they had them not;

³⁰And for those who are in sorrow, to give no signs of it; and for those who are glad, to give no signs of joy; and for those who are getting property, to be as if they had nothing;

³¹And for those who make use of the world, not to be using it fully; for this world's way of life will quickly come to an end.

³²But it is my desire for you to be free from cares. The unmarried man gives his mind to the things of the Lord, how he may give pleasure to the Lord:

³³But the married man gives his attention to the things of this world, how he may give pleasure to his wife.

³⁴And the wife is not the same as the virgin. The virgin gives her mind to the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit: but the married woman takes thought for the things of the world, how she may give pleasure to her husband.

³⁵Now I say this for your profit; not to make things hard for you, but because of what is right, and so that you may be able to give all your attention to the things of the Lord.

³⁶But if, in any man's opinion, he is not doing what is right for his virgin, if she is past her best years, and there is need for it, let him do what seems right to him; it is no sin; let them be married.

³⁷But the man who is strong in mind and purpose, who is not forced but has control over his desires, does well if he comes to the decision to keep her a virgin.

³⁸So then, he who gets married to his virgin does well, and he who keeps her unmarried does better.

³⁹It is right for a wife to be with her husband as long as he is living; but when her husband is dead, she is free to be married to another; but only to a Christian.

⁴⁰But it will be better for her to keep as she is, in my opinion: and it seems to me that I have the Spirit of God.