1
Now, to deal with the matters you wrote about. A man does well not to marry.
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But because there is so much immorality, every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband.
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A man should fulfill his duty as a husband, and a woman should fulfill her duty as a wife, and each should satisfy the other's needs.
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A wife is not the master of her own body, but her husband is; in the same way a husband is not the master of his own body, but his wife is.
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Do not deny yourselves to each other, unless you first agree to do so for a while in order to spend your time in prayer; but then resume normal marital relations. In this way you will be kept from giving in to Satan's temptation because of your lack of self-control.
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I tell you this not as an order, but simply as a permission.
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Actually I would prefer that all of you were as I am; but each one has a special gift from God, one person this gift, another one that gift.
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Now, to the unmarried and to the widows I say that it would be better for you to continue to live alone as I do.
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But if you cannot restrain your desires, go ahead and marry---it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
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For married people I have a command which is not my own but the Lord's: a wife must not leave her husband;
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but if she does, she must remain single or else be reconciled to her husband; and a husband must not divorce his wife.
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To the others I say (I, myself, not the Lord): if a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she agrees to go on living with him, he must not divorce her.
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And if a Christian woman is married to a man who is an unbeliever and he agrees to go on living with her, she must not divorce him.
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For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made acceptable to God by being united to her Christian husband. If this were not so, their children would be like pagan children; but as it is, they are acceptable to God.
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However, if the one who is not a believer wishes to leave the Christian partner, let it be so. In such cases the Christian partner, whether husband or wife, is free to act. God has called you to live in peace.
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How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?
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Each of you should go on living according to the Lord's gift to you, and as you were when God called you. This is the rule I teach in all the churches.
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If a circumcised man has accepted God's call, he should not try to remove the marks of circumcision; if an uncircumcised man has accepted God's call, he should not get circumcised.
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For whether or not a man is circumcised means nothing; what matters is to obey God's commandments.
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Each of you should remain as you were when you accepted God's call.
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Were you a slave when God called you? Well, never mind; but if you have a chance to become free, use it.
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For a slave who has been called by the Lord is the Lord's free person; in the same way a free person who has been called by Christ is his slave.
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God bought you for a price; so do not become slaves of people.
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My friends, each of you should remain in fellowship with God in the same condition that you were when you were called.
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Now, concerning what you wrote about unmarried people: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is worthy of trust.
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Considering the present distress, I think it is better for a man to stay as he is.
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Do you have a wife? Then don't try to get rid of her. Are you unmarried? Then don't look for a wife.
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But if you do marry, you haven't committed a sin; and if an unmarried woman marries, she hasn't committed a sin. But I would rather spare you the everyday troubles that married people will have.
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What I mean, my friends, is this: there is not much time left, and from now on married people should live as though they were not married;
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those who weep, as though they were not sad; those who laugh, as though they were not happy; those who buy, as though they did not own what they bought;
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those who deal in material goods, as though they were not fully occupied with them. For this world, as it is now, will not last much longer.
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I would like you to be free from worry. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord's work, because he is trying to please the Lord.
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But a married man concerns himself with worldly matters, because he wants to please his wife;
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and so he is pulled in two directions. An unmarried woman or a virgin concerns herself with the Lord's work, because she wants to be dedicated both in body and spirit; but a married woman concerns herself with worldly matters, because she wants to please her husband.
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I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not trying to put restrictions on you. Instead, I want you to do what is right and proper, and to give yourselves completely to the Lord's service without any reservation.
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In the case of an engaged couple who have decided not to marry: if the man feels that he is not acting properly toward the young woman and if his passions are too strong and he feels that they ought to marry, then they should get married, as he wants to. There is no sin in this.
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But if a man, without being forced to do so, has firmly made up his mind not to marry, and if he has his will under complete control and has already decided in his own mind what to do---then he does well not to marry the young woman.
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So the man who marries does well, but the one who doesn't marry does even better.
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A married woman is not free as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, then she is free to be married to any man she wishes, but only if he is a Christian.
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She will be happier, however, if she stays as she is. That is my opinion, and I think that I too have God's Spirit.
1
Now, concerning what you wrote about food offered to idols. It is true, of course, that "all of us have knowledge," as they say. Such knowledge, however, puffs a person up with pride; but love builds up.
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Those who think they know something really don't know as they ought to know.
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But the person who loves God is known by him.
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So then, about eating the food offered to idols: we know that an idol stands for something that does not really exist; we know that there is only the one God.
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Even if there are so-called "gods," whether in heaven or on earth, and even though there are many of these "gods" and "lords,"
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yet there is for us only one God, the Father, who is the Creator of all things and for whom we live; and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live.
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But not everyone knows this truth. Some people have been so used to idols that to this day when they eat such food they still think of it as food that belongs to an idol; their conscience is weak, and they feel they are defiled by the food.
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Food, however, will not improve our relation with God; we shall not lose anything if we do not eat, nor shall we gain anything if we do eat.
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Be careful, however, not to let your freedom of action make those who are weak in the faith fall into sin.
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Suppose a person whose conscience is weak in this matter sees you, who have so-called "knowledge," eating in the temple of an idol; will not this encourage him to eat food offered to idols?
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And so this weak person, your brother for whom Christ died, will perish because of your "knowledge"!
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And in this way you will be sinning against Christ by sinning against other Christians and wounding their weak conscience.
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So then, if food makes a believer sin, I will never eat meat again, so as not to make a believer fall into sin.
1
Am I not a free man? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord? And aren't you the result of my work for the Lord?
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Even if others do not accept me as an apostle, surely you do! Because of your life in union with the Lord you yourselves are proof of the fact that I am an apostle.
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When people criticize me, this is how I defend myself:
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Don't I have the right to be given food and drink for my work?
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Don't I have the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my trips?
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Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have to work for our living?
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What soldiers ever have to pay their own expenses in the army? What farmers do not eat the grapes from their own vineyard? What shepherds do not use the milk from their own sheep?
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I don't have to limit myself to these everyday examples, because the Law says the same thing.
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We read in the Law of Moses, "Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh grain." Now, is God concerned about oxen?
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Didn't he really mean us when he said that? Of course that was written for us. Anyone who plows and anyone who reaps should do their work in the hope of getting a share of the crop.
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We have sown spiritual seed among you. Is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?
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If others have the right to expect this from you, don't we have an even greater right? But we haven't made use of this right. Instead, we have endured everything in order not to put any obstacle in the way of the Good News about Christ.
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Surely you know that the men who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who offer the sacrifices on the altar get a share of the sacrifices.
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In the same way, the Lord has ordered that those who preach the gospel should get their living from it.
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But I haven't made use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this now in order to claim such rights for myself. I would rather die first! Nobody is going to turn my rightful boast into empty words!
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I have no right to boast just because I preach the gospel. After all, I am under orders to do so. And how terrible it would be for me if I did not preach the gospel!
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If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid; but I do it as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted me with this task.
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What pay do I get, then? It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel.
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I am a free man, nobody's slave; but I make myself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as possible.
20
While working with the Jews, I live like a Jew in order to win them; and even though I myself am not subject to the Law of Moses, I live as though I were when working with those who are, in order to win them.
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In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don't obey God's law; I am really under Christ's law.
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Among the weak in faith I become weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I become all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible.
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All this I do for the gospel's sake, in order to share in its blessings.
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Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize.
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Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever.
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That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches.
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I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.
