Concerning change of status

Only, let each one [seek to conduct himself and regulate his affairs so as to]
lead the life which the Lord has allotted and imparted to him
and to which God has invited and summoned him.
This is my order in all the churches.

Was anyone at the time of his summons [from God] already circumcised?
Let him not seek to remove the evidence of circumcision.
Was anyone at the time [God] called him uncircumcised?
Let him not be circumcised.

For circumcision is nothing and counts for nothing,
neither does uncircumcision,
but [what counts is] keeping the commandments of God.

Everyone should remain after God calls him in the station or condition of life in
which the summons found him.

Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that trouble you.
But if you are able to gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.

For he who as a slave was summoned in [to union with] the Lord
is a freedman of the Lord, just so he who was free
when he was called is a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).

You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for by Christ];
then do not yield yourselves up to become [in your own estimation] slaves to men
[but consider yourselves slaves to Christ].

So, brethren, in whatever station or state or condition of life each one was when he was called, there let him continue with and close to God.

Concerning married life

Now as to the matters of which you wrote me.
It is well [and by that I mean advantageous, expedient, profitable, and wholesome]
for a man not to touch a woman [to cohabit with her] but to remain unmarried.

But because of the temptation to impurity and to avoid immorality,
let each [man] have his own wife and let each [woman] have her own husband.

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights
(goodwill, kindness, and what is due her as his wife),
and likewise the wife to her husband.

For the wife does not have [exclusive] authority and control over her own body,
but the husband [has his rights]; likewise also the husband does not have
[exclusive] authority and control over his body, but the wife [has her rights].

Do not refuse and deprive and defraud each other [of your due marital rights],
except perhaps by mutual consent for a time,
so that you may devote yourselves unhindered to prayer.
But afterwards resume marital relations,
lest Satan tempt you [to sin] through your lack of restraint of sexual desire.

But I am saying this more as a matter of permission and concession,
not as a command or regulation.

I wish that all men were like I myself am [in this matter of self-control].
But each has his own special gift from God, one of this kind and one of another.

But to the unmarried people and to the widows,
I declare that it is well (good, advantageous, expedient, and wholesome)
for them to remain [single] even as I do.

But if they have not self-control (restraint of their passions),
they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame
[with passion and tortured continually with ungratified desire].

But to the married people I give charge—not I but the Lord
that the wife is not to separate from her husband.

But if she does [separate from and divorce him],
let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband.
And [I charge] the husband [also] that he should not put away or divorce his wife.

To the rest I declare—I, not the Lord [for Jesus did not discuss this]
that if any brother has a wife who does not believe [in Christ]
and she consents to live with him, he should not leave or divorce her.

And if any woman has an unbelieving husband
and he consents to live with her, she should not leave or divorce him.

For the unbelieving husband is set apart
(separated, withdrawn from heathen contamination,
and affiliated with the Christian people) by union with his consecrated (set-apart) wife,
and the unbelieving wife is set apart and separated through union with her consecrated husband.
Otherwise your children would be unclean (unblessed heathen, outside the Christian covenant), but as it is they are prepared for God [pure and clean].

But if the unbelieving partner [actually] leaves,
let him do so; in such [cases the remaining] brother or sister is not morally bound.
But God has called us to peace.

For, wife, how can you be sure of converting and saving your husband?
Husband, how can you be sure of converting and saving your wife?

Sexual immorality

Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me;
but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable
when considered with other things).
Everything is lawful for me,
but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.

Food [is intended] for the stomach and the stomach for food,
but God will finally end [the functions of] both and bring them to nothing.
The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord,
and the Lord [is intended] for the body [to save, sanctify, and raise it again].

And God both raised the Lord to life and will also raise us up by His power.

Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ (the Messiah)?
Am I therefore to take the parts of Christ and make [them] parts of a prostitute?
Never! Never!

Or do you not know and realize that when a man joins himself to a prostitute,
he becomes one body with her?
The two, it is written, shall become one flesh.

But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.

Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed].
Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body,
but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit
Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God?
You are not your own,

You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own].
So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.

Lawsuits among believers

Does any of you dare,
when he has a matter of complaint against another [brother],
to go to law before unrighteous men
[men neither upright nor right with God, laying it before them]
instead of before the saints (the people of God)?

Do you not know that the saints (the believers) will [one day] judge and govern the world?
And if the world [itself] is to be judged and ruled by you,
are you unworthy and incompetent to try [such petty matters]
of the smallest courts of justice?

Do you not know also that we [Christians] are to judge the [very] angels
and pronounce opinion between right and wrong [for them]?
How much more then [as to] matters pertaining to this world and of this life only!

If then you do have such cases of everyday life to decide,
why do you appoint [as judges to lay them before] those who
[from the standpoint] of the church count for least and are without standing?

I say this to move you to shame.
Can it be that there really is not one man among you
who [in action is governed by piety and integrity and]
is wise and competent enough
to decide [the private grievances, disputes, and quarrels]
between members of the brotherhood,

But brother goes to law against brother,
and that before [Gentile judges who are] unbelievers
[without faith or trust in the Gospel of Christ]?

Why, the very fact of your having lawsuits with one another at all
is a defect (a defeat, an evidence of positive moral loss for you).
Why not rather let yourselves suffer wrong and be deprived of what is your due?
Why not rather be cheated (defrauded and robbed)?

But [instead it is you] yourselves who wrong and defraud,
and that even your own brethren [by so treating them]!

Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers
will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived (misled):
neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor those who participate in homosexuality,

Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards,
nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers,
nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.

And such some of you were [once].
But you were washed clean
(purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin),
and you were consecrated (set apart, hallowed),
and you were justified [pronounced righteous, by trusting]
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God.

Dealing with a case of incest

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you,
impurity of a sort that is condemned and does not occur even among the heathen;
for a man has [his own] father’s wife.

And you are proud and arrogant!
And you ought rather to mourn (bow in sorrow and in shame)
until the person who has done this [shameful] thing
is removed from your fellowship and your midst!

As for my attitude, though I am absent [from you] in body,
I am present in spirit, and I have already decided and passed judgment,
as if actually present,

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
on the man who has committed such a deed.
When you and my own spirit are met together with the power of our Lord Jesus,

You are to deliver this man over to Satan for physical discipline
[to destroy carnal lusts which prompted him to incest],
that [his] spirit may [yet] be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

[About the condition of your church]
your boasting is not good [indeed, it is most unseemly and entirely out of place].
Do you not know that [just] a little leaven will ferment the whole lump [of dough]?

Purge (clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough,
still uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ,
our Passover [Lamb], has been sacrificed.

Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened [bread] of purity (nobility, honor)
and sincerity and [unadulterated] truth.

I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate [closely and habitually]
with unchaste (impure) people

Not [meaning of course that you must] altogether shun
the immoral people of this world,
or the greedy graspers and cheats and thieves or idolaters,
since otherwise you would need to get out of the world and human society altogether!

But now I write to you not to associate
with anyone who bears the name of [Christian] brother
if he is known to be guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater
[whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God],
or is a person with a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering],
or is a drunkard or a swindler or a robber.
[No] you must not so much as eat with such a person.

What [business] of mine is it and what right have I to judge outsiders?
Is it not those inside [the church] upon whom you are to pass disciplinary judgment
[passing censuring sentence on them as the facts require]?

God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside.
Drive out that wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].

Paul's appeal and warning

 I do not write this to shame you,
but to warn and counsel you as my beloved children.

After all, though you should have ten thousand teachers
(guides to direct you) in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers.
For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the glad tidings (the Gospel).

So I urge and implore you, be imitators of me.

For this very cause I sent to you Timothy,
who is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord,
who will recall to your minds my methods of proceeding
and course of conduct and way of life in Christ,
such as I teach everywhere in each of the churches.

Some of you have become conceited and arrogant and pretentious,
counting on my not coming to you.

But I will come to you [and] shortly, if the Lord is willing,
and then I will perceive and understand not what the talk of these puffed up
and arrogant spirits amount to, but their force
(the moral power and excellence of soul they really possess).

For the kingdom of God consists of and is based on not talk
but power (moral power and excellence of soul).

Now which do you prefer?
Shall I come to you with a rod of correction,
or with love and in a spirit of gentleness?

The nature of true apostleship

So then, let us [apostles] be looked upon as ministering servants of Christ
and stewards (trustees) of the mysteries (the secret purposes) of God.

Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man
should be found faithful [proving himself worthy of trust].

But [as for me personally] it matters very little to me
that I should be put on trial by you [on this point],
and that you or any other human tribunal should investigate
and question and cross-question me.
I do not even put myself on trial and judge myself.

I am not conscious of anything against myself, and I feel blameless;
but I am not vindicated and acquitted before God on that account.
It is the Lord [Himself] Who examines and judges me.

So do not make any hasty or premature judgments
before the time when the Lord comes [again],
for He will both bring to light the secret things that are [now hidden] in darkness
and disclose and expose the [secret] aims (motives and purposes) of hearts.
Then every man will receive his [due] commendation from God.

Now I have applied all this [about parties and factions] to myself
and Apollos for your sakes, brethren, so that from what I have said of us [as illustrations],
you may learn [to think of men in accordance with Scripture and]
not to go beyond that which is written, that none of you may be puffed up
and inflated with pride and boast in favor of one [minister and teacher] against another.

For who separates you from the others [as a faction leader]?
[Who makes you superior and sets you apart from another,
giving you the preeminence?]
What have you that was not given to you?
If then you received it [from someone],
why do you boast as if you had not received [but had gained it by your own efforts]?

[You behave as if] you are already filled and think you have enough
[you are full and content, feeling no need of anything more]!
Already you have become rich [in spiritual gifts and graces]!
[Without any counsel or instruction from us, in your conceit],
you have ascended your thrones and come into your kingdom without including us!
And would that it were true and that you did reign,
so that we might be sharing the kingdom with you!

For it seems to me that God has made an exhibit of us apostles,
exposing us to view last [of all, like men in a triumphal procession who are]
sentenced to death [and displayed at the end of the line].
For we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world’s amphitheater]
with both men and angels [as spectators].

We are [looked upon as] fools on account of Christ and for His sake,
but you are [supposedly] so amazingly wise and prudent in Christ!
We are weak, but you are [so very] strong!
You are highly esteemed, but we are in disrepute and contempt!

To this hour we have gone both hungry and thirsty;
we [habitually] wear but one undergarment [and shiver in the cold];
we are roughly knocked about and wander around homeless.

And we still toil unto weariness [for our living], working hard with our own hands.
When men revile us [wound us with an accursed sting], we bless them.
When we are persecuted, we take it patiently and endure it.

When we are slandered and defamed, we [try to] answer softly and bring comfort.
We have been made and are now the rubbish and filth of the world
[the offscouring of all things, the scum of the earth].

The church and its leaders

However, brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men],
but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates],
as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [unable to talk yet!]

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough
[to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],

For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh
[under the control of ordinary impulses].
For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling
and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh,
behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?

For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos,
are you not [proving yourselves] ordinary (unchanged) men?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministering servants [not heads of parties]
through whom you believed, even as the Lord appointed to each his task:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow
and [He] gave the increase.

So neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters,
but [only] God Who makes it grow and become greater.

He who plants and he who waters are equal
(one in aim, of the same importance and esteem),
yet each shall receive his own reward (wages), according to his own labor.

For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God;
you are God’s garden and vineyard and field under cultivation,
[you are] God’s building.

According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me,
like a skillful architect and master builder I laid [the] foundation,
and now another [man] is building upon it.
But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it,

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid,
which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

But if anyone builds upon the Foundation,
whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is);
for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it,
because it will be revealed with fire,
and the fire will test and critically appraise the character
and worth of the work each person has done.

If the work which any person has built on this Foundation
[any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test],
he will get his reward.

But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test],
he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward],
though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.

Do you not discern and understand that you [the whole church at Corinth]
are God’s temple (His sanctuary),
and that God’s Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you
[to be at home in you, collectively as a church and also individually]?

If anyone does hurt to God’s temple or corrupts it [with false doctrines] or destroys it,
God will do hurt to him and bring him to the corruption of death and destroy him.
For the temple of God is holy (sacred to Him)
and that [temple] you [the believing church and its individual believers] are.

Let no person deceive himself.
If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age,
let him become a fool [let him discard his worldly discernment
and recognize himself as dull, stupid, and foolish,
without true learning and scholarship], that he may become [really] wise.

For this world’s wisdom is foolishness (absurdity and stupidity) with God,
for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their [own] craftiness;

And again, The Lord knows the thoughts and reasonings of the [humanly] wise and recognizes how futile they are.

So let no one exult proudly concerning men
[boasting of having this or that man as a leader], for all things are yours,

Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter), or the universe or life or death,
or the immediate and threatening present or the [subsequent and uncertain] future
all are yours,

And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Christ crucified is God's power and wisdom

Yet when we are among the full-grown
(spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding),
we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden);
but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age
or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age,
who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away.

But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden
[from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God
[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification
[to lift us into the glory of His presence].

None of the rulers of this age or world perceived
and recognized and understood this, for if they had,
they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says,
What eye has not seen and ear has not heard
and has not entered into the heart of man,
[all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready)
for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence,
promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].

Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit,
for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything,
even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God
[the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny].

For what person perceives (knows and understands)
what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit within him?
Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend)
the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world,
but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God,
[given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts
[of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.

And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom
but taught by the [Holy] Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths
with spiritual language [to those who possess the Holy Spirit].

But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit
into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God,
for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him;
and he is incapable of knowing them
[of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them]
because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.

But the spiritual man tries all things
[he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things],
yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one
[he can read the meaning of everything,
but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].

For who has known or understood the mind
(the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him
and give Him knowledge?
But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah)
and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.

Christ crucified is God's power and wisdom

For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity
and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition,
but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.

For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy
the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers
and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning;
I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing.

Where is the wise man (the philosopher)?
Where is the scribe (the scholar)?
Where is the investigator (the logician, the debater) of this present time and age?
Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world’s wisdom?

For when the world with all its earthly wisdom
failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy,
God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching
[salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him],
to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him).

For while Jews [demandingly] ask for signs and miracles
and Greeks pursue philosophy and wisdom,

We preach Christ (the Messiah) crucified,
[preaching which] to the Jews is a scandal
and an offensive stumbling block [that springs a snare or trap],
and to the Gentiles it is absurd and utterly unphilosophical nonsense.

But to those who are called, whether Jew or Greek (Gentile),
Christ [is] the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.

[This is] because the foolish thing [that has its source in] God is wiser than men,
and the weak thing [that springs] from God is stronger than men.

For [simply] consider your own call, brethren;
not many [of you were considered to be] wise according to human estimates and standards,
not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth.

[No] for God selected (deliberately chose)
what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame,
and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame.

And God also selected (deliberately chose)
what in the world is lowborn and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt,
even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are,

So that no mortal man should [have pretense for glorying and] boast
in the presence of God.

But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus,
Whom God made our Wisdom from God,
[revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden,
manifesting itself as] our Righteousness
[thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God],
and our Consecration [making us pure and holy],
and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin].

So then, as it is written, Let him who boasts and proudly rejoices and glories,
boast and proudly rejoice and glory in the Lord.

As for myself, brethren, when I came to you,
I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony and evidence
or mystery and secret of God [concerning what He has done through Christ for the salvation of men] in lofty words of eloquence or human philosophy and wisdom;

For I resolved to know nothing
(to be acquainted with nothing, to make a display of the knowledge of nothing,
and to be conscious of nothing) among you except Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and Him crucified.

And I was in (passed into a state of) weakness and fear (dread) and great trembling [after I had come] among you.

And my language and my message were not set forth in persuasive
(enticing and plausible) words of wisdom,
but they were in demonstration of the [Holy] Spirit
and power [a proof by the Spirit and power of God,
operating on me and stirring in the minds of my hearers the most holy emotions and thus persuading them],

So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy),
but in the power of God.

A church divided over leader

But I urge and entreat you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of you be in perfect harmony and full agreement in what you say,
and that there be no dissensions or factions or divisions among you,
but that you be perfectly united in your common understanding
and in your opinions and judgments.

For it has been made clear to me, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household,
that there are contentions and wrangling and factions among you.

What I mean is this, that each one of you [either] says,
I belong to Paul, or I belong to Apollos, or I belong to Cephas (Peter),
or I belong to Christ.

Is Christ (the Messiah) divided into parts?
Was Paul crucified on behalf of you?
Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?

I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,

Lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name.

[Yes] I did baptize the household of Stephanas also.
More than these, I do not remember that I baptized anyone.

For Christ (the Messiah) sent me out not to baptize
but [to evangelize by] preaching the glad tidings (the Gospel),
and that not with verbal eloquence,
lest the cross of Christ should be deprived of force and emptied of its power
and rendered vain (fruitless, void of value, and of no effect).

Thanksgiving

I thank my God at all times for you because of the grace
(the favor and spiritual blessing) of God
which was bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,

[So] that in Him in every respect you were enriched,
in full power and readiness of speech [to speak of your faith]
and complete knowledge and illumination [to give you full insight into its meaning].

In this way [our] witnessing concerning Christ (the Messiah) was so confirmed
and established and made sure in you

That you are not [consciously] falling behind
or lacking in any special spiritual endowment or Christian grace
[the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace
operating in your souls by the Holy Spirit],
while you wait and watch [constantly living in hope]
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and [His] being made visible to all.

And He will establish you to the end
[keep you steadfast, give you strength, and guarantee your vindication;
He will be your warrant against all accusation or indictment so that you will be]
guiltless and irreproachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise,
and He can be depended on);
by Him you were called into companionship
and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

On denying the incarnation

Beloved, do not put faith in every spirit,
but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God;
for many false prophets have gone forth into the world.

By this you may know (perceive and recognize) the Spirit of God:
every spirit which acknowledges and confesses [the fact]
that Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [actually] has become man
and has come in the flesh is of God [has God for its source];

And every spirit which does not acknowledge
and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
[but would annul, destroy, sever, disunite Him]
is not of God [does not proceed from Him].
This [nonconfession] is the [spirit] of the antichrist,
[of] which you heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.

Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him]
and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist],
because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.

They proceed from the world and are of the world;
therefore it is out of the world [its whole economy morally considered] that they speak,
and the world listens (pays attention) to them.

We are [children] of God.
Whoever is learning to know God
[progressively to perceive, recognize, and understand God
by observation and experience, and to get an ever-clearer knowledge of Him]
listens to us; and he who is not of God does not listen or pay attention to us.
By this we know (recognize) the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.

More on love and hatred

For this is the message (the announcement) which you have heard from the first,
that we should love one another,

[And] not be like Cain who [took his nature and got his motivation]
from the evil one and slew his brother.
And why did he slay him?
Because his deeds (activities, works) were wicked and malicious
and his brother’s were righteous (virtuous).

Do not be surprised and wonder, brethren,
that the world detests and pursues you with hatred.

We know that we have passed over out of death into Life
by the fact that we love the brethren (our fellow Christians).
He who does not love abides (remains, is held and kept continually)
in [spiritual] death.

Anyone who hates (abominates, detests) his brother [in Christ]
is [at heart] a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding (persevering) within him.

By this we come to know (progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand)
the [essential] love: that He laid down His [own] life for us;
and we ought to lay [our] lives down for [those who are our] brothers [in Him].

But if anyone has this world’s goods (resources for sustaining life)
and sees his brother and fellow believer in need,
yet closes his heart of compassion against him,
how can the love of God live and remain in him?

Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech
but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity).

By this we shall come to know (perceive, recognize, and understand)
that we are of the Truth, and can reassure (quiet, conciliate, and pacify) our hearts in His presence,

Whenever our hearts in [tormenting] self-accusation
make us feel guilty and condemn us. [For we are in God’s hands.]
For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts),
and He knows (perceives and understands) everything [nothing is hidden from Him].

And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts)
do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us],
we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God,

And we receive from Him whatever we ask,
because we [watchfully] obey His orders
[observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us]
and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him.

And this is His order (His command, His injunction):
that we should believe in (put our faith and trust in and adhere to and rely on)
the name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah),
and that we should love one another, just as He has commanded us.

All who keep His commandments
[who obey His orders and follow His plan, live and continue to live, to stay and]
abide in Him, and He in them.
[They let Christ be a home to them and they are the home of Christ.]
And by this we know and understand and have the proof
that He [really] lives and makes His home in us:
by the [Holy] Spirit Whom He has given us.

Love is indispensable

If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels,
but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion
such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us),
I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose),
and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge,
and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains,
but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).

Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food,
and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory,
but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.

Love endures long and is patient and kind;
love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy,
is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride);
it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly.
Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way,
for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful;
it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness,
but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes,
is ever ready to believe the best of every person,
its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances,
and it endures everything [without weakening].

Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].
As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose),
it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease;
as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect),
and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).

But when the complete and perfect (total) comes,
the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away
(become antiquated, void, and superseded).

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;
now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.

For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection
[of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes]
we shall see in reality and face to face!
Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly,
even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known
and understood [by God].

And so faith, hope, love abide
[faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things;
hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation;
love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us],
these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13

On not loving the world

Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world.
If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world
the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification]
and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind]
and the pride of life
[assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]
these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

And the world passes away and disappears,
and with it the forbidden cravings
(the passionate desires, the lust) of it;
but he who does the will of God
and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.

Love and hatred for fellow believers

Kalau kita taat kepada perintah-perintah Allah,
itu tandanya bahwa kita mengenal Allah.

Orang yang berkata, "Saya mengenal Allah,"
tetapi tidak taat kepada perintah-perintah-Nya, orang itu pendusta,
dan Allah tidak berada di dalam hatinya.

Tetapi orang yang taat kepada perkataan Allah,
orang itu mengasihi Allah dengan sempurna.
Itulah tandanya bahwa kita hidup bersatu dengan Allah.
Barangsiapa berkata bahwa ia hidup bersatu dengan Allah,
ia harus hidup mengikuti jejak Kristus.
Saudara-saudara yang tercinta!
Yang saya tulis ini bukanlah suatu perintah yang baru.
Ini perintah lama yang sudah disampaikan kepadamu
sejak kalian mulai percaya kepada Kristus;
yaitu berita dari Allah yang sudah kalian dengar sebelumnya.

Meskipun begitu, perintah yang saya tulis ini baru juga;
karena kebenarannya dapat dilihat pada diri Kristus dan pada diri kalian.
Sebab kegelapan semakin lenyap dan terang yang benar sudah mulai bersinar.

Orang yang berkata bahwa ia berada di dalam terang
tetapi orang itu masih membenci saudaranya,
orang itu masih berada dalam kegelapan sampai sekarang.
Orang yang mengasihi saudaranya,
hidup dalam terang sehingga tidak ada sesuatu pun padanya
yang akan menyebabkan orang lain jatuh dalam dosa.

Tetapi orang yang membenci saudaranya, berada dalam kegelapan.
Ia berjalan dalam kegelapan, dan tidak tahu ke mana ia pergi,
sebab kegelapan itu membuat dia tidak bisa melihat.

Perumpamaan tentang perjamuan kawin

Yesus berbicara lagi kepada orang banyak dengan memakai perumpamaan,
kata-Nya, "Apabila Allah memerintah, keadaannya seperti perumpamaan ini:
Seorang raja mengadakan pesta kawin untuk putranya.
Raja itu menyuruh pelayan-pelayannya pergi
menjemput orang-orang yang diundang ke pesta itu.
Tetapi para undangan itu tidak mau datang.

Kemudian raja itu mengutus lagi pelayan-pelayannya yang lain.
Katanya kepada mereka:
'Beritahukan kepada para undangan itu:
Hidangan pesta sudah siap.
Sapi, dan anak-anak sapi saya yang terbaik sudah disembelih.
Semuanya sudah siap. Silakan datang ke pesta kawin!'

Tetapi tamu-tamu yang diundang itu tidak menghiraukannya.
Mereka pergi ke pekerjaannya masing-masing
yang seorang ke ladangnya, yang lainnya ke perusahaannya;
dan yang lainnya pula menangkap pelayan-pelayan raja itu,
lalu memukul dan membunuh mereka.

Waktu raja itu mendengar hal itu, ia marah sekali.
Ia mengirim tentaranya untuk membunuh pembunuh-pembunuh itu,
dan membakar kota mereka.
Sesudah itu ia memanggil pelayan-pelayannya, lalu berkata,
'Pesta kawin sudah siap, tetapi para undangan tidak layak.
Pergilah sekarang ke jalan-jalan raya,
dan undanglah sebanyak mungkin orang ke pesta kawin ini.'

Maka pelayan-pelayan itu pun pergilah.
Mereka pergi ke jalan-jalan raya
lalu mengumpulkan semua orang yang mereka jumpai di sana,
yang baik maupun yang jahat.
Maka penuhlah ruangan pesta kawin itu dengan tamu-tamu.

Kemudian raja itu masuk untuk melihat-lihat para tamu.
Ia melihat ada seorang di pesta itu yang tidak memakai pakaian pesta.
Lalu ia bertanya kepada orang itu,
'Kawan, bagaimanakah engkau bisa masuk ke sini
tanpa memakai pakaian pesta?'
Orang itu tidak dapat mengatakan apa-apa.

Lalu raja itu berkata kepada pelayan-pelayannya,
'Ikat kaki dan tangan orang ini,
dan buang dia ke luar ke tempat yang gelap.
Di sana akan ada tangis dan derita.'"
Lalu Yesus mengakhiri perumpamaan itu begini,
"Banyak yang dipanggil, tetapi sedikit saja yang terpilih."

Safe

Hard to find a way to get through, it's a tragedy
Pulling at me like the stars do, you're like gravity
Even if the wind blows
It makes it hard to believe

How you gonna love, how you gonna feel?
How you gonna live your life like the dream you have is real?

If you lost your way, I will keep you safe
We'll open up all the world inside, see it come alive tonight
I will keep you safe

Doesn't even matter to you to see what I can see
I'm crawling on the floor to reach you, I'm a wreck you see
When you're far from home now
Makes it hard to believe

So how you gonna love, how you gonna feel?
How you gonna live your life like the dream you have is real?
If you lost your way, I will keep you safe
We'll open up all your world inside 'til you come alive tonight

I will keep you safe
We all fall down
We all feel down
'Cause rainy days and summer highs

The more we pray the more we feel alive
How you gonna love, how you gonna feel?
How you gonna live your life like the dream you have is real?
How you gonna love, how you gonna feel?
How you gonna live your life like the dream you have is real?

If you lost your way, I will keep you safe
We'll open up all your world inside so you come alive tonight
I will keep you safe