Month: February 2020

Greeting

1 Paul,called as an apostleof Christ Jesus by God’s will,and Sosthenes our brother:

2 To God’s church at Corinth,to those who are sanctifiedin Christ Jesus and calledas saints, with all those in every place who call on the nameof Jesus Christ our Lord — both their Lord and ours.

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Fatherand the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

4 I always thankmy God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus,

5 that by Him you were enrichedin everything — in all speech and all knowledge.

6 In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you,

7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly waitfor the revelationof our Lord Jesus Christ.

8 He will also strengthen you to the end,so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful;you were called by Himinto fellowship with His Son,Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions at Corinth

10 Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.

11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there is rivalryamong you.

12 What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,”or “I’m with Cephas,”or “I’m with Christ.”

13 Is Christ divided?Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?

14 I thank Godthat I baptized none of you except Crispusand Gaius,

15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.

16 I did, in fact, baptize the householdof Stephanas;beyond that, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else.

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize — not with clever words, so that the crossof Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.

19 For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.

20 Where is the philosopher?Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age?Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?

21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.

22 For the Jews ask for signsand the Greeks seek wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified,a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

24 Yet to those who are called,both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,

25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Boasting Only in the Lord

26 Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective,not many powerful,not many of noble birth.

27 Instead, God has chosenwhat is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world— what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,

29 so that no onecan boast in His presence.

30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us — our righteousness,sanctification,and redemption,

31 in order that, as it is written:The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/1-af36f0a6845a5caba5de6234fb931a0a.mp3?version_id=72—

Paul’s Proclamation

1 When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimonyof God to you, I did not come with brillianceof speechor wisdom.

2 For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

3 I came to you in weakness,in fear,and in much trembling.

4 My speechand my proclamation were not with persuasivewords of wisdombut with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit,

5 so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.

Spiritual Wisdom

6 However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature,but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulersof this age, who are coming to nothing.

7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestinedbefore the ages for our glory.

8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 But as it is written:

What eye did not see and ear did not hear,

and what never entered the human mind —

God prepared this for those who love Him.

10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything,even the depths of God.

11 For who among men knows the thoughtsof a man except the spiritof the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knowsthe thoughtsof God except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.

13 We also speak these things, not in wordstaught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

14 But the unbelieverdoes not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluatedspiritually.

15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluateeverything, yet he himself cannot be evaluatedby anyone.

16 For

who has known the Lord’s mind,

that he may instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/2-323ba2bf91d975f9912d8abe02cace3c.mp3?version_id=72—

The Problem of Immaturity

1 Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.

2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready,

3 because you are still fleshly. For since there is envyand strifeamong you, are you not fleshly and living like unbelievers?

4 For whenever someone says, “I’m with Paul,” and another, “I’m with Apollos,”are you not unspiritual people?

The Role of God’s Servants

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.

6 I planted,Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

8 Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are God’s coworkers.You are God’s field, God’s building.

10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it.

11 For no one can lay any other foundationthan what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.

12 If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver,costly stones,wood, hay, or straw,

13 each one’s work will become obvious, for the daywill disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire;the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.

14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.

15 If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved;yet it will be like an escape through fire.

16 Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuaryand that the Spirit of God lives in you?

17 If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him;for God’s sanctuary is holy,and that is what you are.

The Folly of Human Wisdom

18 No one should deceivehimself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age,he must become foolishso that he can become wise.

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishnesswith God, since it is written:He catches the wise in their craftiness;

20 and again, The Lord knows that the reasoningsof the wise are meaningless.

21 So no one should boast in human leaders, for everything is yours—

22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephasor the world or lifeor deathor things present or things to come— everything is yours,

23 and you belong to Christ,and Christ belongs to God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/3-7c66e5c088e5c72c5934b6f9318e95cb.mp3?version_id=72—

The Faithful Manager

1 A person should consider us in this way: as servantsof Christ and managersof God’s mysteries.

2 In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one of them be found faithful.

3 It is of littleimportance to me that I should be evaluatedby you or by any human court.In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself.

4 For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justifiedby this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord.

5 Therefore don’t judgeanything prematurely, before the Lord comes,who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

The Apostles’ Example of Humility

6 Now, brothers,I have applied these things to myself and Apollosfor your benefit, so that you may learn from us the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.”The purpose is that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over another.

7 For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?

8 You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us — and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!

9 For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.

10 We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ!We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!

11 Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless;

12 we labor, workingwith our own hands.When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

13 when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the world’s garbage, like the dirt everyone scrapes off their sandals.

Paul’s Fatherly Care

14 I’m not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.

15 For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can’t have many fathers. For I became your fatherin Christ Jesus through the gospel.

16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me.

17 This is why I have sentTimothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithfulson in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

18 Now some are inflated with pride, as though I were not coming to you.

19 But I will come to you soon,if the Lord wills, and I will know not the talk but the power of those who are inflated with pride.

20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

21 What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod,or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/4-23dbe55777d81c1d07f8017c4bfcef83.mp3?version_id=72—

Immoral Church Members

1 It is widely reported that there is sexual immoralityamong you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even toleratedamong the Gentiles— a man is living with his father’s wife.

2 And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with griefso that he who has committed this act might be removed from your congregation.

3 For though I am absent in body but present in spirit,I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present.

4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus,

5 turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeastpermeates the whole batch of dough?

7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passoverhas been sacrificed.

8 Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evilbut with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Church Discipline

9 I wrote to you in a letter not to associatewith sexually immoral people.

10 I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedyand swindlersor idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.

11 But now I am writingyou not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believerwho is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkardor a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

12 For what business is it of mine to judgeoutsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside?

13 But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/5-ab8be498c174d6a9cf505bd57e27c065.mp3?version_id=72—

Lawsuits among Believers

1 If any of you has a legal dispute against another, do you dare go to courtbefore the unrighteous,and not before the saints?

2 Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest cases?

3 Don’t you know that we will judge angels — not to mention ordinary matters?

4 So if you have cases pertaining to this life, do you select thosewho have no standingin the church to judge?

5 I say this to your shame!Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between his brothers?

6 Instead, believergoes to court against believer, and that before unbelievers!

7 Therefore, to have legal disputes against one another is already a moral failure for you.Why not rather put up with injustice?Why not rather be cheated?

8 Instead, you act unjustly and cheat — and you do this to believers!

9 Don’t you know that the unrighteouswill not inherit God’s kingdom?Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters,adulterers,or anyone practicing homosexuality,

10 no thieves,greedypeople, drunkards, verbally abusive people,or swindlerswill inherit God’s kingdom.

11 And some of you used to be like this.But you were washed, you were sanctified,you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Glorifying God in Body and Spirit

12 “Everything is permissiblefor me,”but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything.

13 “Foodfor the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will do away with both of them.The body is not for sexual immoralitybut for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

14 God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

15 Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body?So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!

16 Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.

17 But anyone joinedto the Lord is one spiritwith Him.

18 Runfrom sexual immorality! “Every sin a person can commit is outside the body.”On the contrary, the person who is sexually immoralsins against his own body.

19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuaryof the Holy Spiritwho is in you,whom you have from God? You are not your own,

20 for you were boughtat a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/6-8c5b8991ef9b3ce40e12fb706e96d12a.mp3?version_id=72—

Principles of Marriage

1 Now in response to the matters you wroteabout: “It is good for a man not to have relations witha woman.”

2 But because sexual immorality is so common,each man should have his own wife,and each woman should have her own husband.

3 A husband should fulfill his marital responsibilityto his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.

4 A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does.

5 Do not depriveone another sexually — except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves toprayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6 I say the followingas a concession, not as a command.

7 I wish that all people were just like me. But each has his own giftfrom God, one person in this way and another in that way.

A Word to the Unmarried

8 I say to the unmarried and to widows:It is good for them if they remain as I am.

9 But if they do not have self-control,they should marry, for it is better to marrythan to burn with desire.

About Married People

10 I command the married— not I, but the Lord — a wife is not to leaveher husband.

11 But if she does leave, she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband — and a husband is not to leave his wife.

12 But I (not the Lord)say to the rest: If any brotherhas an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not leave her.

13 Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not leave her husband.

14 For the unbelieving husband is set apart for Godby the wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart for God by the husband.Otherwise your children would be corrupt, but now they are set apart for God.

15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called youto live in peace.

16 For you, wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Or you, husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?

Various Situations of Life

17 However, each one must live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God calledhim.This is what I command in all the churches.

18 Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.

19 Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter, but keeping God’s commands does.

20 Each person should remain in the life situationin which he was called.

21 Were you called while a slave? It should not be a concern to you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity.

22 For he who is called by the Lord as a slaveis the Lord’s freedman.Likewise he who is called as a free manis Christ’s slave.

23 You were boughtat a price; do not become slaves of men.

24 Brothers, each person should remain with God in whatever situation he was called.

About the Unmarried and Widows

25 About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercyis trustworthy.

26 Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine 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 However, if you do get married,you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life,and I am trying to spare you.

29 And I say this, brothers: The time is limited,so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none,

30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoiceas though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,

31 and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.

32 I want you to be without concerns. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord — how he may pleasethe Lord.

33 But a married man is concerned about the things of the world — how he may please his wife —

34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord,so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world — how she may please her husband.

35 Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but because of what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

36 But if any man thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin,if she is past marriageable age,and so it must be, he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married.

37 But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will) and has decided in his heart to keep his own virgin, will do well.

38 So then he who marrieshis virgin does well, but he who does not marrywill do better.

39 A wife is boundas long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants — only in the Lord.

40 But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/7-9c9643b6707854e8b633d57e6fa1df2a.mp3?version_id=72—

Food Offered to Idols

1 About food offered to idols:We know that “we all have knowledge.”Knowledge inflates with pride,but lovebuilds up.

2 If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

3 But if anyone loves God,he is knownby Him.

4 About eating food offered to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

5 For even if there are so-called gods,whether in heaven or on earth — as there are many “gods” and many “lords” —

6 yet for us there is one God, the Father.

All things are from Him,

and we exist for Him.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ.

All things are through Him,

and we exist through Him.

7 However, not everyone has this knowledge. In fact, some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food offered to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

8 Food will not make us acceptable to God. We are not inferior if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

9 But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling blockto the weak.

10 For if someone sees you, the one who has this knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols?

11 Then the weak person, the brother for whom Christ died,is ruinedby your knowledge.

12 Now when you sin like this against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.

13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to fall, I will never again eat meat,so that I won’t cause my brother to fall.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/17/32k/1CO/8-c2341f8cb14b05d9d69c9bcd1c43b6c0.mp3?version_id=72—