Concerning the Unmarried

25 Now concerning virgins I do not have a command from the Lord, but I am giving an opinion as one shown mercy by the Lord to be trustworthy. 26 Therefore, I consider this to be good because of the impending distress, that it is good for a man to be thus. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you marry, you have not sinned, and if the virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have affliction in the flesh, and I would spare you. 29 But I say this, brothers: the time is shortened, that from now on even those who have wives should be as if they do not have wives, 30 and those who weep as if they do not weep, and those who rejoice as if they do not rejoice, and those who buy as if they do not possess, 31 and those who make use of the world as if they do not make full use of it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

32 But I want you to be free from care. The unmarried person cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. 33 But the one who is married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife, 34 and he is divided. And the unmarried woman or the virgin cares for the things of the Lord, in order that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not that I may put a restriction on you, but to promote appropriate and devoted service to the Lord without distraction.

36 But if anyone thinks he is behaving dishonorably concerning his virgin, if she is past her primee and it ought to be thus, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin. Let them marry. 37 But he who stands firm in his heart, not having necessity, but has authority concerning his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin, he will do well. 38 So then, the one who marriesf his own virgin does well, and the one who does not marry her will do better.

39 A wife is bound for as long a time as her husband lives. But if her husband ⌊dies⌋g, she is free to marry whomever she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she remains thus, according to my opinion—and I think I have the Spirit of God.

Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols

8 Now concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that “we all have knowledge.”a Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone thinks he knows anything, he has not yet known as it is necessary to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.

4 Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world” and that “there is no God except one.”b 5 For even if after all there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many gods and many lords,

6 yet to us there is one God, the Father,

from whom are all things, and we are for him,

and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom are all things, and we are through him.

7 But this knowledge is not in everyone. But some, being accustomed until now to the idol, eat this food as food sacrificed to idols, and their conscience, because it* is weak, is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us close to God. For neither if we eat do we have more, nor if we do not eat do we lack.c 9 But watch out lest somehow this right of yours becomes a cause for stumbling to the weak. 10 For if someone should see you who has knowledge reclining for a meal in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, because it* is weak, be strengthened so that he eats the food sacrificed to idols? 11 For the one who is weak—the brother for whom Christ died—is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 Now if you* sin in this way against the brothers and wound their conscience, which is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat ⌊forever⌋d, in order that I may not cause my brother to sin.