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Don’t Let Your People Live in Sin

I don’t want to believe what I am hearing—that there is sexual sin among you. And it is such a bad kind of sexual sin that even those who have never known God don’t allow it. People say that a man there has his father’s wife. And still you are proud of yourselves! You should have been filled with sadness. And the man who committed that sin should be put out of your group. I cannot be there with you in person, but I am with you in spirit. And I have already judged the man who did this. I judged him the same as I would if I were really there. Come together in the name of our Lord Jesus. I will be with you in spirit, and you will have the power of our Lord Jesus with you. Then turn this man over to Satan. His sinful self[a] has to be destroyed so that his spirit will be saved on the day when the Lord comes again.

Your proud talk is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” Take out all the old yeast, so that you will be a new batch of dough. You really are bread without yeast—Passover bread.[b] Yes, Christ our Passover Lamb[c] has already been killed. So let us eat our Passover meal, but not with the bread that has the old yeast, the yeast of sin and wrongdoing. But let us eat the bread that has no yeast. This is the bread of goodness and truth.

I wrote to you in my letter that you should not associate with people who sin sexually. 10 But I did not mean the people of this world. You would have to leave the world to get away from all the people who sin sexually, or who are greedy and cheat each other, or who worship idols. 11 I meant you must not associate with people who claim to be believers but continue to live in sin. Don’t even eat with a brother or sister who sins sexually, is greedy, worships idols, abuses others with insults, gets drunk, or cheats people.

12-13 It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the group of believers. God will judge them, but you must judge those who are part of your group. The Scriptures say, “Make the evil person leave your group.”[d]

Judging Problems Between Believers

When one of you has something against someone else in your group, why do you go to the judges in the law courts? The way they think and live is wrong. So why do you let them decide who is right? Why don’t you let God’s holy people decide who is right? Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? So if you will judge the world, then surely you can judge small arguments like this. You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge life’s ordinary problems. So if you have such matters to be judged, why do you take them to those who are not part of the church? They mean nothing to you. I say this to shame you. Surely there is someone in your group wise enough to judge a complaint between two believers. But now one believer goes to court against another, and you let people who are not believers judge their case!

The lawsuits that you have against each other show that you are already defeated. It would be better for you to let someone wrong you. It would be better to let someone cheat you. But you are the ones doing wrong and cheating. And you do this to your own brothers and sisters in Christ!

9-10 Surely you know that people who do wrong will not get to enjoy God’s kingdom. Don’t be fooled. These are the people who will not get to enjoy his kingdom: those who sin sexually, those who worship idols, those who commit adultery, men who let other men use them for sex or who have sex with other men, those who steal, those who are greedy, those who drink too much, those who abuse others with insults, and those who cheat. 11 In the past some of you were like that. But you were washed clean, you were made holy, and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Use Your Bodies for God’s Glory

12 “I am allowed to do anything,” you say. My answer to this is that not all things are good. Even if it is true that “I am allowed to do anything,” I will not let anything control me like a slave. 13 Someone else says, “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” Yes, and God will destroy them both. But the body is not for sexual sin. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 And God will raise our bodies from death with the same power he used to raise the Lord Jesus. 15 Surely you know that your bodies are parts of Christ himself. So I must never take what is part of Christ and join it to a prostitute! 16 The Scriptures say, “The two people will become one.”[e] So you should know that anyone who is joined with a prostitute becomes one with her in body. 17 But anyone who is joined with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

18 So run away from sexual sin. It involves the body in a way that no other sin does. So if you commit sexual sin, you are sinning against your own body. 19 You should know that your body is a temple[f] for the Holy Spirit that you received from God and that lives in you. You don’t own yourselves. 20 God paid a very high price to make you his. So honor God with your body.

About Marriage

Now I will discuss the things you wrote me about. You asked if it is better for a man not to have any sexual relations at all. But sexual sin is a danger, so each man should enjoy his own wife, and each woman should enjoy her own husband. The husband should give his wife what she deserves as his wife. And the wife should give her husband what he deserves as her husband. The wife does not have power over her own body. Her husband has the power over her body. And the husband does not have power over his own body. His wife has the power over his body. Don’t refuse to give your bodies to each other. But you might both agree to stay away from sex for a while so that you can give your time to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not be able to tempt you in your weakness. I say this only to give you permission to be separated for a time. It is not a rule. I wish everyone could be like me. But God has given each person a different ability. He makes some able to live one way, others to live a different way.

Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for you to stay single like me. But if you cannot control your body, then you should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.

10 Now, I have a command for those who are married. Actually, it is not from me; it is what the Lord commanded. A wife should not leave her husband. 11 But if a wife does leave, she should remain single or get back together with her husband. And a husband should not divorce his wife.

12 The advice I have for the others is from me. The Lord did not give us any teaching about this. If you have a wife who is not a believer, you should not divorce her if she will continue to live with you. 13 And if you have a husband who is not a believer, you should not divorce him if he will continue to live with you. 14 The husband who is not a believer is set apart for God through his believing wife. And the wife who is not a believer is set apart for God through her believing husband. If this were not true, your children would be unfit for God’s use. But now they are set apart for him.

15 But if the husband or wife who is not a believer decides to leave, let them leave. When this happens, the brother or sister in Christ is free. God chose you to have a life of peace. 16 Wives, maybe you will save your husband; and husbands, maybe you will save your wife. You don’t know now what will happen later.

Live as God Called You

17 But each one of you should continue to live the way the Lord God has given you to live—the way you were when God chose you. I tell people in all the churches to follow this rule. 18 If a man was already circumcised when he was chosen, he should not change his circumcision. If a man was without circumcision when he was chosen, he should not be circumcised. 19 It is not important if anyone is circumcised or not. What is important is obeying God’s commands. 20 Each one of you should stay the way you were when God chose you. 21 If you were a slave when God chose you, don’t let that bother you. But if you can be free, then do it. 22 If you were a slave when the Lord chose you, you are now free in the Lord. You belong to the Lord. In the same way, if you were free when you were chosen, you are now Christ’s slave. 23 God paid a high price for you, so don’t be slaves to anyone else. 24 Brothers and sisters, in your new life with God, each one of you should continue the way you were when God chose you.

Questions About Getting Married

25 Now I write about people who are not married.[g] I have no command from the Lord about this, but I give my opinion. And I can be trusted, because the Lord has given me mercy. 26 This is a time of trouble. So I think it is good for you to stay the way you are. 27 If you have a wife, don’t try to get free from her. If you are not married, don’t try to find a wife. 28 But if you decide to marry, that is not a sin. And it is not a sin for a girl who has never married to get married. But those who marry will have trouble in this life, and I want you to be free from this trouble.

29 Brothers and sisters, this is what I mean: We don’t have much time left. So starting now, those who have wives should be the same as those who don’t. 30 It should not be important whether you are sad or whether you are happy. If you buy something, it should not matter to you that you own it. 31 You should use the things of the world without letting them become important to you. This is how you should live, because this world, the way it is now, will soon be gone.

32 I want you to be free from worry. A man who is not married is busy with the Lord’s work. He is trying to please the Lord. 33 But a man who is married is busy with things of the world. He is trying to please his wife. 34 He must think about two things—pleasing his wife and pleasing the Lord. A woman who is not married or a girl who has never married is busy with the Lord’s work. She wants to give herself fully—body and spirit—to the Lord. But a married woman is busy with things of the world. She is trying to please her husband. 35 I am saying this to help you. I am not trying to limit you, but I want you to live in the right way. And I want you to give yourselves fully to the Lord without giving your time to other things.

36 A man might think that he is not doing the right thing with his fiancée. She might be almost past the best age to marry.[h] So he might feel that he should marry her. He should do what he wants. It is no sin for them to get married. 37 But another man might be more sure in his mind. There may be no need for marriage, so he is free to do what he wants. If he has decided in his own heart not to marry his fiancée, he is doing the right thing. 38 So the man who marries his fiancée does right, and the man who does not marry does better.

39 A woman should stay with her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, the woman is free to marry any man she wants, but he should belong to the Lord. 40 The woman is happier if she does not marry again. This is my opinion, and I believe that I have God’s Spirit.

About Food Offered to Idols

Now I will write about meat that is sacrificed[i] to idols. It is certainly true that “we all have knowledge,” as you say. But this knowledge only fills people with pride. It is love that helps the church grow stronger. Those who think they know something do not yet know anything as they should. But whoever loves God is known by God.

So this is what I say about eating meat: We know that an idol is really nothing in the world, and we know that there is only one God. It’s really not important if there are things called gods in heaven or on earth—and there are many of these “gods” and “lords” out there. For us there is only one God, and he is our Father. All things came from him, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things were made through him, and we also have life through him.

But not all people know this. Some have had the habit of worshiping idols. So now when they eat meat, they still feel as if it belongs to an idol. They are not sure that it is right to eat this meat. So when they eat it, they feel guilty. But food will not bring us closer to God. Refusing to eat does not make us less pleasing to God, and eating does not make us closer to him.

But be careful with your freedom. Your freedom to eat anything may make those who have doubts about what they can eat fall into sin. 10 You understand that it’s all right to eat anything, so you can eat even in an idol’s temple. But someone who has doubts might see you eating there, and this might encourage them to eat meat sacrificed to idols too. But they really think it is wrong. 11 So this weak brother or sister—someone Christ died for—is lost because of your better understanding. 12 When you sin against your brothers and sisters in Christ in this way and you hurt them by causing them to do things they feel are wrong, you are also sinning against Christ. 13 So if the food I eat makes another believer fall into sin, I will never eat meat again. I will stop eating meat, so that I will not make my brother or sister sin.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 5:5 sinful self Or “body.” Literally, “flesh.”
  2. 1 Corinthians 5:7 Passover bread The special bread without yeast that the Jews ate at their Passover meal. Paul means that believers are free from sin, just as the Passover bread was free from yeast.
  3. 1 Corinthians 5:7 Passover Lamb Jesus was a sacrifice for his people, like a lamb killed for the Jewish Passover Feast.
  4. 1 Corinthians 5:12 Quote from Deut. 22:21, 24.
  5. 1 Corinthians 6:16 Quote from Gen. 2:24.
  6. 1 Corinthians 6:19 temple God’s house—the place where God’s people worship him. Here, it means that believers are the spiritual temple where God lives.
  7. 1 Corinthians 7:25 people who are not married Literally, “virgins.”
  8. 1 Corinthians 7:36 She … to marry Or “He may have trouble controlling his desires.”
  9. 1 Corinthians 8:1 sacrificed Killed and offered as a gift to show worship. Also in verse 10.

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