Teachers Are Only God’s Servants

3 Brothers and sisters, when I was there, I could not talk to you the way I talk to people who are led by the Spirit. I had to talk to you like ordinary people of the world. You were like babies in Christ. ² And the teaching I gave you was like milk, not solid food. I did this because you were not ready for solid food. And even now you are not ready. ³ You are still not following the Spirit. You are jealous of each other, and you are always arguing with each other. This shows that you are still following your own selfish desires. You are acting like ordinary people of the world. ⁴ One of you says, “I follow Paul,” and someone else says, “I follow Apollos.” When you say things like that, you are acting like people of the world.

⁵ Is Apollos so important? Is Paul so important? We are only servants of God who helped you believe. Each one of us did the work God gave us to do. ⁶ I planted the seed and Apollos watered it. But God is the one who made the seed grow. ⁷ So the one who plants is not important, and the one who waters is not important. Only God is important, because he is the one who makes things grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose. And each one will be rewarded for his own work. ⁹ We are workers together for God, and you are like a farm that belongs to God.

And you are a house that belongs to God. ¹⁰ Like an expert builder I built the foundation of that house. I used the gift that God gave me to do this. Other people are building on that foundation. But everyone should be careful how they build. ¹¹ The foundation that has already been built is Jesus Christ, and no one can build any other foundation. ¹² People can build on that foundation using gold, silver, jewels, wood, grass, or straw. ¹³ But the work that each person does will be clearly seen, because the Day will make it plain. That Day will appear with fire, and the fire will test everyone’s work. ¹⁴ If the building they put on the foundation still stands, they will get their reward. ¹⁵ But if their building is burned up, they will suffer loss. They will be saved, but it will be like someone escaping from a fire.

¹⁶ You should know that you yourselves are God’s temple.^[a] God’s Spirit lives in you. ¹⁷ If you destroy God’s temple, God will destroy you, because God’s temple is holy. You yourselves are God’s temple.

¹⁸ Don’t fool yourselves. Whoever thinks they are wise in this world should become a fool. That’s the only way they can be wise. ¹⁹ I say this because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He catches those who think they are wise in their own clever traps.”^{[b] 20} The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise. He knows that their thoughts are worth nothing.”^{[c] 21} So there is not a person on earth that any of you should be boasting about. Everything is yours: ²² Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, and the future—all these are yours. ²³ And you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Apostles of Christ Jesus

4 You should think of us as servants of Christ, the ones God has trusted to do the work of making known his secret truths. ² Those who are trusted with such an important work must show that they are worthy of that trust. ³ But I don’t consider your judgment on this point to be worth anything. Even an opinion from a court of law would mean nothing. I don’t even trust my own judgment. ⁴ I don’t know of any wrong I have done, but that does not make me right. The Lord is the one who must decide if I have done well or not. ⁵ So don’t judge anyone now. The time for judging will be when the Lord comes. He will shine light on everything that is now hidden in darkness. He will make known the secret purposes of our hearts. Then the praise each person should get will come from God.

⁶ Brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself as examples for you. I did this so that you could learn from us the meaning of the words, “Follow what the Scriptures say.” Then you will not brag about one person and criticize another. ⁷ Who do you think you are? Everything you have was given to you. So, if everything you have was given to you, why do you act as if you got it all by your own power?

⁸ You think you have everything you need. You think you are rich. You think you have become kings without us. I wish you really were kings. Then we could rule together with you. ⁹ But it seems to me that God has given me and the other apostles the last place. We are like prisoners condemned to die, led in a parade for the whole world to see—not just people but angels too. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you think you are so wise in Christ. We are weak, but you think you are so strong. People give you honor, but they don’t honor us. ¹¹ Even now we still don’t have enough to eat or drink, and we don’t have enough clothes. We often get beatings. We have no homes. ¹² We work hard with our own hands to feed ourselves. When people insult us, we ask God to bless them. When people treat us badly, we accept it. ¹³ When people say bad things about us, we try to say something that will help them. But people still treat us like the world’s garbage—everyone’s trash.

¹⁴ I am not trying to make you feel ashamed, but I am writing this to counsel you as my own dear children. ¹⁵ You may have ten thousand teachers in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. Through the Good News I became your father in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ So I beg you to be like me. ¹⁷ That is why I am sending Timothy to you. He is my son in the Lord. I love him and trust him. He will help you remember the way I live in Christ Jesus—a way of life that I teach in every meeting of the church wherever I am.

¹⁸ Some of you are acting so proud, it seems as though you think I won’t be coming there again. ¹⁹ But I will come to you very soon, the Lord willing. Then I will see if these proud talkers have the power to do anything more than talk. ²⁰ God’s kingdom is not seen in talk but in power. ²¹ Which do you want: that I come to you with punishment, or that I come with love and gentleness?

Don’t Let Your People Live in Sin

5 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. ² 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. ³ 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. ⁴ 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. ⁵ Then turn this man over to Satan. His sinful self^[d] has to be destroyed so that his spirit will be saved on the day when the Lord comes again.

⁶ Your proud talk is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” ⁷ Take out all the old yeast, so that you will be a new batch of dough. You really are bread without yeast—Passover bread.^[e] Yes, Christ our Passover Lamb^[f] has already been killed. ⁸ 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.

⁹ 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.”^[g]

Judging Problems Between Believers

6 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? ² 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. ³ You know that in the future we will judge angels. So surely we can judge life’s ordinary problems. ⁴ 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. ⁵ I say this to shame you. Surely there is someone in your group wise enough to judge a complaint between two believers. ⁶ But now one believer goes to court against another, and you let people who are not believers judge their case!

⁷ 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. ⁸ 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.”^[h] 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^[i] 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

7 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. ² But sexual sin is a danger, so each man should enjoy his own wife, and each woman should enjoy her own husband. ³ 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. ⁴ 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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ I say this only to give you permission to be separated for a time. It is not a rule. ⁷ 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.

⁸ Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for you to stay single like me. ⁹ 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.^[j] 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.^[k] 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

8 Now I will write about meat that is sacrificed^[l] 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. ² Those who think they know something do not yet know anything as they should. ³ But whoever loves God is known by God.

⁴ 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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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.

⁷ 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. ⁸ 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.

⁹ 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.

Rights That Paul Has Not Used

9 I am a free man. I am an apostle. I have seen Jesus our Lord. You people are an example of my work in the Lord. ² Others may not accept me as an apostle, but surely you do. You are proof that I am an apostle in the Lord.

³ Some people want to judge me. So this is the answer I give them: ⁴ We have the right to eat and drink, don’t we? ⁵ We have the right to bring a believing wife with us when we travel, don’t we? The other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Peter all do this. ⁶ And are Barnabas and I the only ones who must work to earn our living? ⁷ No soldier ever serves in the army and pays his own salary. No one ever plants a vineyard without eating some of the grapes himself. No one takes care of a flock of sheep without drinking some of the milk himself.

⁸ These aren’t just my own thoughts. God’s law says the same thing. ⁹ Yes, it is written in the Law of Moses: “When a work animal is being used to separate grain, don’t keep it from eating the grain.”^[m] When God said this, was he thinking only about work animals? No. ¹⁰ He was really talking about us. Yes, that was written for us. The one who plows and the one who separates the grain should both expect to get some of the grain for their work. ¹¹ We planted spiritual seed among you, so we should be able to harvest from you some things for this life. Surely that is not asking too much. ¹² Others have this right to get things from you. So surely we have this right too. But we don’t use this right. No, we endure everything ourselves so that we will not stop anyone from obeying the Good News of Christ. ¹³ Surely you know that those who work at the Temple get their food from the Temple. And those who serve at the altar get part of what is offered at the altar. ¹⁴ It is the same with those who have the work of telling the Good News. The Lord has commanded that those who tell the Good News should get their living from this work.

¹⁵ But I have not used any of these rights, and I am not trying to get anything from you. That is not my purpose for writing this. I would rather die than to have someone take away what for me is a great source of pride. ¹⁶ It’s not my work of telling the Good News that gives me any reason to boast. That is my duty—something I must do. If I don’t tell people the Good News, I am in real trouble. ¹⁷ If I did it because it was my own choice, I would deserve to be paid. But I have no choice. I must tell the Good News. So I am only doing the duty that was given to me. ¹⁸ So what do I get for doing it? My reward is that when I tell people the Good News I can offer it to them for free and not use the rights that come with doing this work.

¹⁹ I am free. I belong to no other person, but I make myself a slave to everyone. I do this to help save as many people as I can. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew so that I could help save Jews. I myself am not ruled by the law, but to those who are ruled by the law I became like someone who is ruled by the law. I did this to help save those who are ruled by the law. ²¹ To those who are without the law I became like someone who is without the law. I did this to help save those who are without the law. (But really, I am not without God’s law—I am ruled by the law of Christ.) ²² To those who are weak, I became weak so that I could help save them. I have become all things to all people. I did this so that I could save people in any way possible. ²³ I do all this to make the Good News known. I do it so that I can share in the blessings of the Good News.

²⁴ You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one runner gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win! ²⁵ All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn’t last. But our prize is one that will last forever. ²⁶ So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air. ²⁷ It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won’t miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it.

Warning From History

10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who were with Moses. They were all under the cloud,^[n] and they all walked through the sea. ² They were all baptized^[o] into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that was with them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ But God was not pleased with most of those people, so they were killed in the desert.

⁶ And these things that happened are examples for us. These examples should stop us from wanting evil things like those people did. ⁷ Don’t worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to have a wild party.”^{[p] 8} We should not commit sexual sins as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died because of their sin. ⁹ We should not test Christ^[q] as some of them did. Because of that, they were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And don’t complain as some of them did. Because they complained, they were killed by the angel that destroys.

¹¹ The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written to be warnings for us. We live in the time that all those past histories were pointing to. ¹² So anyone who thinks they are standing strong should be careful that they don’t fall. ¹³ The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it.

¹⁴ So, my dear friends, stay away from worshiping idols. ¹⁵ You are intelligent people. Judge for yourselves the truth of what I say now. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing^[r] that we give thanks for is a sharing in the blood sacrifice of Christ, isn’t it? And the bread that we break is a sharing in the body of Christ, isn’t it? ¹⁷ There is one loaf of bread, so we who are many are one body, because we all share in that one loaf.

¹⁸ And think about what the people of Israel do. When they eat the sacrifices,^[s] they are united by sharing what was offered on the altar. ¹⁹ So, am I saying that sacrifices to idols are the same as those Jewish sacrifices? No, because an idol is nothing, and the things offered to idols are worth nothing. ²⁰ But I am saying that when food is sacrificed to idols, it is an offering to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to share anything with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and then go drink a cup that honors demons. You cannot share a meal at the Lord’s table and then go share a meal that honors demons. ²² Doing that would make the Lord jealous.^[t] Do you really want to do that? Do you think we are stronger than he is?

Use Your Freedom for God’s Glory

²³ “All things are allowed,” you say. But not all things are good. “All things are allowed.” But some things don’t help anyone. ²⁴ Try to do what is good for others, not just what is good for yourselves.

²⁵ Eat any meat that is sold in the meat market. Don’t ask questions about it to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. ²⁶ You can eat it, “because the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”^[u]

²⁷ Someone who is not a believer might invite you to eat with them. If you want to go, then eat anything that is put before you. Don’t ask questions to see if it is something you think is wrong to eat. ²⁸ But if someone tells you, “That food was offered to idols,” then don’t eat it. That’s because some people think it is wrong, and it might cause a problem for the person who told you that. ²⁹ I don’t mean that you think it is wrong. But the other person might think it is wrong. That’s the only reason not to eat it. My own freedom should not be judged by what another person thinks. ³⁰ I eat the meal with thankfulness. So I don’t want to be criticized because of something I thank God for.

³¹ So if you eat, or if you drink, or if you do anything, do it for the glory of God. ³² Never do anything that might make other people do wrong—Jews, non-Jews, or anyone in God’s church. ³³ I do the same thing. I try to please everyone in every way. I am not trying to do what is good for me. I am trying to do what is good for the most people so that they can be saved.

11 Follow my example, just as I follow the example of Christ.

Being Under Authority

² I praise you because you remember me in all things. You follow closely the teachings I gave you. ³ But I want you to understand this: The head of every man is Christ. And the head of a woman is the man.^[v] And the head of Christ is God.

⁴ Every man who prophesies or prays with his head covered brings shame to his head. ⁵ But every woman who prays or prophesies should have her head covered. If her head is not covered, she brings shame to her head. Then she is the same as a woman who has her head shaved. ⁶ If a woman does not cover her head, it is the same as cutting off all her hair. But it is shameful for a woman to cut off her hair or to shave her head. So she should cover her head.

⁷ But a man should not cover his head, because he is made like God and is God’s glory. But woman is man’s glory. ⁸ Man did not come from woman. Woman came from man. ⁹ And man was not made for woman. Woman was made for man. ¹⁰ So that is why a woman should have her head covered with something that shows she is under authority.^[w] Also, she should do this because of the angels.

¹¹ But in the Lord the woman needs the man, and the man needs the woman. ¹² This is true because woman came from man, but also man is born from woman. Really, everything comes from God.

¹³ Decide this for yourselves: Is it right for a woman to pray to God without something on her head? ¹⁴ Even nature itself teaches you that wearing long hair is shameful for a man. ¹⁵ But wearing long hair is a woman’s honor. Long hair is given to the woman to cover her head. ¹⁶ Some people may still want to argue about this. But we and the churches of God don’t accept what those people are doing.

The Lord’s Supper

¹⁷ In the things I tell you now I don’t praise you. Your meetings hurt you more than they help you. ¹⁸ First, I hear that when you meet together as a church you are divided. And this is not hard to believe ¹⁹ because of your idea that you must have separate groups to show who the real believers are!

²⁰ When you all come together, it is not really the Lord’s Supper^[x] you are eating. ²¹ I say this because when you eat, each one eats without waiting for the others. Some people don’t get enough to eat or drink, while others have too much.^{[y] 22} You can eat and drink in your own homes. It seems that you think God’s church is not important. You embarrass those who are poor. What can I say? Should I praise you? No, I cannot praise you for this.

²³ The teaching I gave you is the same that I received from the Lord: On the night when the Lord Jesus was handed over to be killed, he took bread ²⁴ and gave thanks for it. Then he divided the bread and said, “This is my body; it is for you. Eat this to remember me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after they ate, Jesus took the cup of wine. He said, “This cup represents the new agreement from God, which begins with my blood sacrifice. When you drink this, do it to remember me.” ²⁶ This means that every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are telling others about the Lord’s death until he comes again.

²⁷ So if you eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a way that does not fit its meaning, you are sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Before you eat the bread and drink the cup, you should examine your own attitude. ²⁹ If you eat and drink without paying attention to those who are the Lord’s body, your eating and drinking will cause you to be judged guilty. ³⁰ That is why many in your group are sick and weak, and many have died. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves in the right way, then God would not judge us. ³² But when the Lord judges us, he punishes us to show us the right way. He does this so that we will not be condemned with the world.

³³ So, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If some are too hungry to wait, they should eat at home. Do this so that your meeting together will not bring God’s judgment on you. I will tell you what to do about the other things when I come.