Do Not Sue the Brethren

6 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the asaints? 2 Do you not know that bthe saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall cjudge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you have 1judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. dWhy do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. eNeither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor 2homosexuals, nor 3sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were fsome of you. gBut you were washed, but you were 4sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Glorify God in Body and Spirit

12 hAll things are lawful for me, but all things are not 5helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of 6any. 13 iFoods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for jsexual immorality but kfor the Lord, land the Lord for the body. 14 And mGod both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up nby His power.

15 Do you not know that oyour bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For p“the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 qBut he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

18 rFlee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins sagainst his own body. 19 Or tdo you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, uand you are not your own? 20 For vyou were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body 7and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Principles of Marriage

7 Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me:

aIt is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3 bLet the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 cDo not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that dSatan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But I say this as a concession, enot as a commandment. 7 For fI wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: gIt is good for them if they remain even as I am; 9 but hif they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Keep Your Marriage Vows

10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the iLord: jA wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13 And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise kyour children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us lto peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will msave your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Live as You are Called

17 But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And nso I 1ordain in all the churches. 18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? oLet him not be circumcised. 19 pCircumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but qkeeping the commandments of God is what matters. 20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. 22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is rthe Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is sChrist’s slave. 23 tYou were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, let each one remain with uGod in that state in which he was called.

To the Unmarried and Widows

25 Now concerning virgins: vI have no commandment from the Lord; yet I give judgment as one wwhom the Lord in His mercy has made xtrustworthy. 26 I suppose therefore that this is good because of the present distress—ythat it is good for a man to remain as he is: 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.

29 But zthis I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, 31 and those who use this world as not amisusing it. For bthe form of this world is passing away.

32 But I want you to be without 2care. cHe who is unmarried 3cares for the things of the Lord—how he may please the Lord. 33 But he who is married cares about the things of the world—how he may please his wife. 34 There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman dcares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. 35 And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

36 But if any man thinks he is behaving improperly toward his 4virgin, if she is past the flower of youth, and thus it must be, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin; let them marry. 37 Nevertheless he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so determined in his heart that he will keep his 5virgin, does well. 38 eSo then he who gives 6her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.

39 fA wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, gonly in the Lord. 40 But she is happier if she remains as she is, haccording to my judgment—and iI think I also have the Spirit of God.

Be Sensitive to Conscience

8 Now aconcerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have bknowledge. cKnowledge 1puffs up, but love 2edifies. 2 And dif anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that ean idol is nothing in the world, fand that there is no other God but one. 5 For even if there are gso-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), 6 yet hfor us there is one God, the Father, iof whom are all things, and we for Him; and jone Lord Jesus Christ, kthrough whom are all things, and lthrough whom we live.

7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, mwith consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is ndefiled. 8 But ofood does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.

9 But pbeware lest somehow this liberty of yours become qa 3stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not rthe conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And sbecause of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12 But twhen you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, uif food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

A Pattern of Self-Denial

9 Am aI not an apostle? Am I not free? bHave I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? cAre you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are dthe 1seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 eDo we have no 2right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along 3a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, fthe brothers of the Lord, and gCephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I hwho have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who ever igoes to