But let every one take heed how he buildeth upon it. (11)For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus the Messiah. (12)But if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, timbers, hay, stubble; (13)every man"s work shall be made manifest: for that day shall declare it, for it shall be laid open by fire; and the fire shall prove every man"s work of what sort it is.
(14)If any man"s work which he hath built abide _the trial_, he shall receive a reward. (15)If any man"s work be burnt up, he shall suffer loss: but himself shall be saved; yet so as through the fire.
(16)Know ye not that ye are the temple of G.o.d, and that the Spirit of G.o.d dwelleth in you? (17)If any man prophane the temple of G.o.d, him will G.o.d destroy; for the temple of G.o.d is holy, which temple ye are.
(18)Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinketh himself a wise man in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
(19)For the wisdom of this world is folly in the sight of G.o.d. For it is written, "He entangleth the wise in their own craftiness[90]."
(20)And again[91], "The Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise, that they are futile." (21)Wherefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your"s; (22)whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all things are your"s; (23)and ye are Christ"s; and Christ is G.o.d"s.
CHAP. IV.
LET a man so account of us, as the under servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of G.o.d. (2)Moreover it is expected of stewards, that a man be found faithful. (3)But it is my least consideration that I should be judged by you, or by human opinion: yea I decide not respecting myself. (4)For though I am not conscious to myself of any unfaithfulness, yet am I not thereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord. (5)Wherefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who also will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will manifest the counsels of men"s hearts; and then shall praise be given to each from G.o.d.
(6)But these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself, and Apollos for your sake; that in us ye might learn not to be attached, beyond what is written, lest one being for one _minister_, ye be puffed up _with prejudice_ against another. (7)For who distinguisheth thee? and what hast thou which thou hast not received?
But if thou also hast received it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
(8)Now ye are full, now ye have grown rich, ye have reigned without us: and I wish indeed that you may reign, that we also might reign together with you. (9)For I think that G.o.d hath exposed us his apostles the last as devoted unto death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. (10)We are counted fools for Christ"s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are mighty; ye are honourable persons, but we despised. (11)For even to this present hour we undergo hunger and thirst and nakedness, and are buffeted about, and have no settled abode; (12)and work hard, labouring with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; (13)being injuriously spoken of, we entreat; we are made as the ordures of the world, as the sweepings of all things unto this day.
(14)I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I admonish you. (15)For though ye may have ten thousand teachers in Christ, yet not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus through the Gospel I have begotten you. (16)Now I conjure you, be followers of me. (17)For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my son beloved and faithful in Christ, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ Jesus, as I teach every where in every church.
(18)Now some are puffed up, as though I would not really come to you.
(19)But I will come shortly unto you, if the Lord please, and will know, not the prating of them that are puffed up, but the power.
(20)For the kingdom of G.o.d is not in talk, but in power. (21)What is your wish? That I should come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
CHAP. V.
IT is generally reported that there is wh.o.r.edom among you, and such wh.o.r.edom as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father"s wife. (2)And ye are puffed up, though ought ye not rather to be grieved? that he who hath done this deed might be plucked from the midst of you. (3)For I indeed, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have already, as present, pa.s.sed judgment on him who hath so done this thing; (4)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ye being a.s.sembled together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (5)to deliver such a one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
(6)Your glorying is not good: know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole ma.s.s? (7)Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new ma.s.s, as ye are unleavened.
For our pa.s.sover hath been sacrificed for us, even Christ. (8)Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
(9)I have written unto you in an epistle that you should not a.s.sociate with fornicators. (10)Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters: for then must ye indeed go out of the world. (11)But now I have written unto you not to a.s.sociate with him, if any man, professing to be a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one not even to eat. (12)For what call have I to judge those who are without? Do not ye judge those who are within _the church_? (13)But those who are without G.o.d judgeth. Put then away that wicked man from among yourselves.
CHAP. VI.
DARE any of you, having a matter of controversy with another, sue for judgment before the unjust, and not before the saints? (2)Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to be judges in the smallest matters? (3)Know ye not that we shall judge angels, much more things pertaining to this life?
(4)If then ye have disputes about the things of this life, do you seat those on the bench who are least esteemed in the church? (5)I speak to you to shame you. Is it so, that there is not among you a wise man? Not so much as one who is able to judge between one brother and another?
(6)But brother goes to law with brother, and this before the unbelievers. (7)Now verily therefore there is altogether a fault among you, because ye have law-suits one with another. Why do ye not rather submit to the wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? (8)But ye do wrong and defraud, and that the brethren.
(9)Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of G.o.d? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, (10)nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of G.o.d. (11)Yet such were some of you: but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our G.o.d.
(12)All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful for me, but I will not put myself under the power of any. (13)Meats are for the belly, and the belly for meats; but G.o.d will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for wh.o.r.edom, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (14)And G.o.d hath both raised up the Lord, and will raise us up by his own power.
(15)Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Taking then the members of Christ, shall I make them members of an harlot? G.o.d forbid.
(16)Do you not know that he that is joined to an harlot is one body with her? For they two, saith he, shall be "one flesh[92]." (17)But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
(18)Flee wh.o.r.edom. Every other sin which a man may commit is without the body; but he who committeth wh.o.r.edom sinneth against his own body.
(19)Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have from G.o.d, and ye are not your own?
(20)For ye have been bought with a price: glorify then G.o.d in your body, and in your spirit, which are G.o.d"s.
CHAP. VII.
NOW with regard to those things concerning which ye have written unto me, it were good for a man not to touch a woman. (2)But because of the wh.o.r.edoms, let every man have his own wife, and every wife her own husband.
(3)Let the husband render to the wife due benevolence, and in like manner also the wife to the husband. (4)The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: in like manner also the husband has not power over his own body, but the wife. (5)Defraud not one another, except it may be by consent occasionally, that ye may have more leisure for fasting and prayer; and come together again, lest Satan tempt you through your incontinence. (6)But in this I speak my opinion only, not authoritatively. (7)For I would that all men were even as myself: but every man hath his peculiar gift from G.o.d, one of this sort, and another of that. (8)I say then to the unmarried and the widows, that it is becoming them if they abide as I am. (9)But if they have not the gift of continence, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. (10)But to the married not I command, but the Lord, That the wife be not separated from the husband: (11)and even if she should be separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
(12)But to the others I speak, not the Lord, If any brother hath a wife unbelieving, yet she chuseth to dwell with him, let him not put her away. (13)And the wife which hath a husband not a believer, and he chuses to dwell with her, let her not put him away. (14)For the husband that believeth not is sanctified by the wife, and the wife who believeth not is sanctified by the husband: else indeed your children were unclean, but now are they holy. (15)But if the unbelieving person depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in these cases, but G.o.d hath called us unto peace.
(16)For how knowest thou, O wife, but thou shalt save thy husband? and how knowest thou, O husband, but thou shalt save thy wife?
(17)Nevertheless as G.o.d has bestowed the gift on every man as the Lord hath called every man, so let him walk, and so I give command in all the churches.
(18)Is any man called being circ.u.mcised? let him not affect uncirc.u.mcision. Is any man called in uncirc.u.mcision? let him not be circ.u.mcised. (19)Circ.u.mcision is nothing, and uncirc.u.mcision is nothing, but the observance of the commandments of G.o.d.
(20)Let every one abide in the calling in which he is called. (21)Art thou called being a slave? let it give thee no concern; but if thou canst also obtain thy freedom, rather make use of it. (22)For he that is called in the Lord, being a slave, is the Lord"s freed man: in like manner also, he that is called, being a free man, is the servant of Christ. (23)Have you been redeemed with a price? become not the slaves of men. (24)Let every one, brethren, in the vocation wherein he is called, therein abide with G.o.d.
(25)Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord; but I offer my opinion, as having obtained mercy from the Lord to be faithful. (26)I think then that this is becoming, considering our present straits, that it is proper for a man to be thus. (27)Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife?
seek not a wife. (28)But if thou shouldst marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned; though such will have tribulation in the flesh; but I spare you.
(29)Now this I say, brethren, that the time is short. The conclusion is, that even they who have wives, should be as though they had not; (30)and they who weep as though they wept not; and they who rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and they that purchase as though they possessed not; (31)and they who use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world pa.s.seth away. (32)But I would have you to be free from anxiety. He who is unmarried is anxious for the things of the Lord, how he shall please the Lord: (33)but he who is married is anxious about the things of the world, how he shall please his wife.
(34)A wife and a virgin hath different pursuits: the unmarried woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the things of the world, how she shall please her husband. (35)Now I say this for your own advantage, and not that I should lay a snare in your way, but as what is seemly, and that you may wait on the Lord without distraction.
(36)But if a person supposes it would be unseemly for a virgin of his if she should pa.s.s the flower of her age _in celibacy_, and that duty directs it should be so, let him do as he is inclined, he doth not sin: let such marry. (37)But he that is stedfast in his heart, not having any necessity, but retaineth power over his own inclination, and hath determined this in his heart that he will preserve his own virgin state, doeth well. (38)Wherefore though he who giveth in marriage doeth well, yet he who avoids a matrimonial connection, doeth better.
(39)The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth: but if her husband be dead, she is free to be married to whomsoever she will, but only in the Lord. (40)But she is more blessed if she abide as she is, in my opinion: and I think I have the spirit of G.o.d.
CHAP. VIII.
NOW concerning the things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth. (2)But if any man conceit that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. (3)But if any man love G.o.d, the same is known of him.
(4)Now concerning eating things sacrificed unto idols: we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other G.o.d but one.
(5)For though there are G.o.ds so called, whether celestial or terrestrial, (as _of this sort_ there are G.o.ds many, and lords many;) (6)but to us there is one G.o.d, the Father; of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (7)Howbeit there is not in all men this knowledge; but some having conscientious respect for the idol to this moment, eat the meat as sacrificed to the idol; and their conscience being weak, is defiled.
(8)But meat commendeth us not to G.o.d: for neither if we eat are we the better, or if we eat not are we the worse. (9)But take heed that this power of yours become not an occasion of stumbling to the weak. (10)For if any man see thee that hast knowledge, sitting in an idol"s temple, shall not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? (11)And the weak brother will be destroyed by thy knowledge, for whom Christ died. (12)But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
(13)Wherefore if meat give occasion of offence to my brother, I will in no wise eat meat for ever, that I give no cause of offence to my brother.
CHAP. IX.
AM I not an apostle? am I not a free man? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? (2)If I am not an apostle unto others, doubtless I am to you: for ye are the seal of my apostolic mission in the Lord. (3)My apology to those who interrogate me is this, (4)Have we not power to eat and drink? (5)Have we not power to carry about with us a sister wife, as do also the other apostles, even the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? (6)or I alone and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear labour? (7)Who goeth at any time to war at his own expences? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit of it?
or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
(8)Speak I these things _rationally_ as a man, or doth not the law speak the same things? (9)for in the law of Moses it is written, "Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treadeth out the corn[93]."
Doth G.o.d take care for oxen? (10)or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes doubtless it was written; because he who ploweth ought to plow in hope, and he who soweth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (11)If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we should reap your corporal things? (12)if others partake of this power over you, ought not we much more? But we have not used this power, and we suffer all things, that we might not put any obstruction in the way of the gospel of Christ.
(13)Know ye not that they who are employed about the holy things, are fed from the temple? and they who serve at the altar, partake with the altar? (14)So also the Lord hath commanded to those who preach the gospel, that they should live by the gospel. (15)But I have used nothing of these things, nor have I written indeed these things, that it should be so done respecting me; for it would become me to die rather than that any man should make my glorying void. (16)For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me, yea verily woe is to me if I preach not the gospel. (17)For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with the dispensation _of it_. (18)What then is my reward?
That when I preach the gospel, I may put the gospel of Christ to no expence, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
(19)For though I be free from all men, I have made myself the servant of all, that I might gain the more. (20)And I became to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to those under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; (21)to those who are without law, as without law (not as being without law to G.o.d, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain those who were without law.
(22)I became to the weak as weak, that I might gain the weak; I became all things to all men, that by every means I might save some. (23)And this I do for the gospel"s sake, that I may be a partaker of it with you.
(24)Know ye not that they who run on the course, all run indeed, yet but one obtaineth the price? So run, that ye may obtain. (25)And every one who contendeth _in the games_ is temperate in all things: they indeed therefore do it that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. (26)I therefore so run not as uncertainly; so do I exercise with my fists, not as striking the air: (27)but I beat down my body, and bring it into subjection, that I may not by any means, after having preached to others, myself become reprobate.