21 22 23 24 25 Thou wast called a slave? Never mind. (At the same time, if thou art able to get free, avail thyself of it rather than not.) For the slave called in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord; Therein let him remain with God. In regard to maidens I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who is trustworthy owing to the mercy he has obtained 26 from the Lord. I think then that, considering the present trouble, this is an excellent plan: namely, for a man to be just as he is. 27 28 Art thou bound to a wife? Seek not release. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. Still, even if thou shalt marry, there is no sin in that; (At the same time such persons shall be distressed in the flesh, and I 29 would spare you that.) What I mean is this, brothers : 30 31 The time is shortened. : Let those then who have wives be as though they had none, The joyful as though they rejoiced not, The buyers as though they grasped not their possessions, for the fashion of this world is passing. 32 I would have you free from anxiety. 33 34 The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, The married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, The unmarried woman is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, The married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, 35 I say this for your own advantage. It is not that I may restrict your liberty, but to promote propriety and undistracted attendance upon the 36 Lord. But if anyone considers that he is not treating his unmarried daughter properly, then, should she be past her bloom and should it require to be thus, let him do what he pleases, there is no sin in it-let her 37 be married. But the man of firm purpose who has made up his mind, who instead of being under any compulsion possesses power to carry out his own wish, and has determined in his own heart to keep his daughter unmarried, he shall do well. 38 So then he who gives his unmarried daughter in marriage does well; He who refuses to give her shall do better. 39 A wife is bound during the lifetime of her husband; but if he be fallen asleep, she is free to be married to anyone whom she pleases— 40 only, in the Lord. She is happier, however, if she remains as she that is my opinion, and I think that I also possess the Spirit of 81 2 is; God. In regard to food offered to idols, we are aware that "we all have knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. Whoever imagines that he knows something, 4 —In regard to eating food offered to idols, then, we are quite aware that "an idol in the world is a mere nothing," and that "there is no God but one.” 5 For though there be so-called gods, in heaven or on earth,—as gods there 6 are in plenty and lords in plenty !--yet for us there is one God, who is the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, (and we exist through him). 7 Yet knowledge is not in all men. Some, hitherto accustomed to an idol, eat the food as food offered to an idol; and as their conscience is 8 weak, it is defiled. Now, food will not present us to God. If we do not eat, we are not inferior: And if we do eat, we are not superior. 9 But take care lest haply this right of yours prove a stumbling-block 10 to the weak. For if anyone should see thee, a man with knowledge, reclining at meat in an idol's temple, will not his conscience (as he is a 11 weak man) be emboldened to eat food offered to idols? Then certainly he who is weak perishes through thy knowledge, the brother for whose 12 sake Christ died. In sinning thus against the brothers, and wounding 13 their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Wherefore, if food be å hindrance to my brother, eat flesh I never will, never !—that I may not be a hindrance to my brother. 91 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our 2 Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I am no apostle, yet to you at least I am, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the 3, 4 Lord. My defence to my inquisitors is this. Have we no right to eat and 5 drink? Have we no right to take about a sister as a wife, like the rest 6 of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Kephas? What! Do we alone, I and Barnabas, lack the right to abstain from working at a trade? Who ever serves in war at his own expense? 7 Who plants a vineyard without eating of its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock without drinking of the milk of the flock? 8 Is this to speak from a merely human standpoint? 9 scripture say the very same? Why, it is written in the law of Moses : Thou shalt not muzzle an ox when he is treading out corn. Is God's concern for the oxen? 10 11 Or does he say it altogether for our sakes? For the ploughman needs to plough in hope, And the thresher to thresh in the hope of partaking. If we sowed you spiritual good, Is it a great matter if we reap your material good? 12 If others partake in this right over you, why not we still more? But, you say, we did not avail ourselves of this right. No, we bear anything so as to avoid putting any obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who perform sacred rites have their portion along with the altar? 14 So too the Lord's instructions are that those who proclaim the gospel should "live by the gospel." 15 But I have not availed myself of these provisions at all, nor am I writing thus that it may come to this in my case. Better for me to die v 16 than that anyone should render my exultation void? For if I preach the gospel I have nothing to exult about; necessity is laid on me. Woe 17 to me if I preach not the gospel! For if I act thus from my own choice, I have a reward; but if it is not from my choice, then I am intrusted 18 with a stewardship. What then is my reward? This, that in preaching the gospel I make the gospel free of charge, so as not to entirely avail myself of my right in the gospel. 19 Why, free as I was from all, I made myself slave to all, To win over the greater number. 20 20 124 22 To the Jews I made myself like a Jew, To win over Jews: To those under the law like one under the law I who was not under the law myself— To win over those under the law : To those outside the law like one outside the law I who was not outside the law to God, but under law to Christ To win over those outside the law : To the weak I made myself weak, To win over the weak. To all men I have made myself all things, To save some in any and in every way. 23 I do all for the sake of the gospel, 24 That I also may have my share in it. [Do you not know that while the runners on a race-course all run, only 25 one receives the prize? So run that you may attain it. Every athlete practises complete self-control. They do it, however, to receive a perish26 ing wreath, while we do it for an imperishable. For my part, then, I 27 run with no unsteady aim; I plant no blows upon the air. Nay, I bruise my body and master it, lest haply after having preached to others I should myself become a reprobate.] 10 1 2 34 For I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that Our fathers all lived under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all got baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (For they drank of a spiritual Rock which followed them— But in most of them God took no delight, for they were laid low in the wilderness. 5 6 Now these things took place as warnings for us, 7 Nor be idolaters like some of them; 8 9 That we should not lust after evil, even as they lusted. As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to sport. Nor let us commit fornication even as some of them did, 10 11 Nor murmur in the way that some of them murmured, Now these things happened to them typically, But they were written to admonish us upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So then let him who considers he is standing firm take care lest he 13 fall. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man; and God is faithful, he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but along with the temptation he will provide the escape, that you may have strength to bear it. 14, 15 16 17 Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I am speaking as I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, Is that not participating in the blood of Christ? Is that not participating in the body of Christ? We the many are one body, For we all partake of the one bread. 18 Look at Israel after the flesh. Do not those who eat the sacrifices par19 ticipate in the altar? What do I mean? that food offered to idols 20 is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but that what people 1 sacrifice, they sacrifice to daemons and not to God; and I would not have you participate in daemons. 776 21 23 24 You cannot drink the Lord's cup and also the daemons' cup : You cannot partake of the Lord's table, and also of the daemons' table. What! dare we stir up the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? "All things are lawful": Yes, but not all things are profitable. "All things are lawful” : Yes, but all things do not build up. Let no one seek his own interest, but that of his neighbour. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat-market, without making any in26 quiries on the score of conscience; the earth and its contents belong to the 27 Lord. If an unbeliever invites you to a feast and you consent to go, eat whatever is put before you without making any inquiries on the score of 28 conscience. But if anyone says to you, "This has been sacrificial meat," do not eat it, out of regard to him who informed you, and on the score of 29 conscience-his conscience, I mean, not thine. For why should my 30 freedom come to be judged by another man's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I to be maligned over a thing for which I 31 give thanks? Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you 32 do, do all with a view to God's honour. Give no offence either to Jews 33 or to Greeks or to the Community of God; even as I also please all men in all matters, seeking not my own advantage, but the advantage of the 11 1 majority, namely, their salvation. Become imitators of me, as I also am 2 3 of Christ. Now I praise you for remembering me in everything, and for holding fast the traditions even as I handed them on to you. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, 4 and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head veiled, dishonours his head. 1 Omitting [[rà &v.]] 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled, dis6 honours her head: she is no better than a shaven woman. If a woman is not veiled, then let her be shorn too; but if it is disgraceful for a woman 7 to be shorn or shaven, then let her be veiled. For while man does not need to have his head veiled, since he represents the image and supremacy 8 of God, woman again represents the supremacy of man. Man is not 9 formed from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created 10 for woman, but woman for man. For this reason woman needs to wear a sign of his authority upon her head, namely, on account of the angels. 11 (At any rate, in the Lord, woman does not exist apart from man, any more 12 than man apart from woman; for as woman is taken from man, so man 13 also exists through woman, while all things are from God.) Judge for your14 selves: is it becoming for a woman to pray to God, unveiled? Does not even nature herself teach you that for man to have long hair is a dis15 honour; while on the other hand for a woman to have long hair is an 16 honour, since her head of hair is given her as a cloak. If anyone presumes to be contentious, let him know that we have no such custom, nor have the Communities of God. 17 But in giving you this charge I cannot praise you, seeing that you 18 assemble not for better but for worse. First of all, when you assemble in the congregation, I hear that divisions exist among you. And I partly 19 believe it; for there must even be parties among you, if those who are of 20 genuine character among you are to be known. When you assemble, 21 then, it is impossible for you to eat the Lord's supper. As you eat, each one hastily seizes his own supper; and so, while one is hungry, another 22 is drunk. What! have you not houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Community of God and put the poor to shame? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? I cannot praise you in this. 23 For I received from the Lord that which also I handed on to you, that 24 "the Lord Jesus in the night on which he was betrayed took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, saying, 'This is my body which is for you: do this in 25 memory of me.' In the same way the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood: do this, as often as you drink it, in 26 memory of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the 27 cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty 28 of sin against the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man test 29 himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not 30 distinguish the body. For this reason many among you are weak and 31 sick, and a number are asleep. Now if we judged ourselves aright, we 32 should not be judged. Yet, when we are judged by the Lord, we are 33 chastened, that we may not be condemned along with the world. So 34 then, my brothers, when you assemble to eat, wait for one another: if any one is hungry, let him eat at home-that you may not assemble to incur judgment. As for the rest, I will issue instructions whenever I come. 121 In regard to the spiritual gifts, brothers, I would not have you 2 ignorant. You know that at one time1 you were heathens urged on by 3 impulse and led away to the dumb idols; wherefore I tell you, No man who speaks in the Spirit of God says "Jesus is accursed": 1 Reading Tori. |