I am not saying these things to put you to shame, but so that, as my dear children, you may see what is right.
For even if you had ten thousand teachers in Christ, you have not more than one father: for in Christ Jesus I have given birth to you through the good news.
So my desire is that you take me as your example.
For this cause I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and true child in the Lord; he will make clear to you my ways in Christ, even as I am teaching everywhere in every church.
Now some are full of pride, as if I was not coming to you.
But I will come to you in a short time, if it is pleasing to the Lord, and I will take note, not of the word of those who are full of pride, but of the power.
For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
What is your desire? is my coming to be with punishment, or is it to be in love and a gentle spirit?
It is said, in fact, that there is among you a sin of the flesh, such as is not seen even among the Gentiles, that one of you has his father's wife.
And in place of feeling sorrow, you are pleased with yourselves, so that he who has done this thing has not been sent away from among you.
For I myself, being present in spirit though not in body, have come to a decision about him who has done this thing;
In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you have come together with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
That this man is to be handed over to satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may have forgiveness in the day of the Lord Jesus.
This pride of yours is not good. Do you not see that a little leaven makes a change in all the mass?
Take away, then, the old leaven, so that you may be a new mass, even as you are without leaven. For Christ has been put to death as our Passover.
Let us then keep the feast, not with old leaven, and not with the leaven of evil thoughts and acts, but with the unleavened bread of true thoughts and right feelings.
In my letter I said to you that you were not to keep company with those who go after the desires of the flesh;
But I had not in mind the sinners who are outside the church, or those who have a desire for and take the property of others, or those who give worship to images; for it is not possible to keep away from such people without going out of the world completely:
But the sense of my letter was that if a brother had the name of being one who went after the desires of the flesh, or had the desire for other people's property, or was in the way of using violent language, or being the worse for drink, or took by force what was not his, you might not keep company with such a one, or take food with him.
For it is no business of mine to be judging those who are outside; but it is yours to be judging those who are among you;
As for those who are outside, God is their judge. So put away the evil man from among you.
How is it, that if any one of you has a cause at law against another, he takes it before a Gentile judge and not before the saints?
Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things?
Is it not certain that we are to be the judges of angels? how much more then of the things of this life?
If then there are questions to be judged in connection with the things of this life, why do you put them in the hands of those who have no position in the church?
I say this to put you to shame. Is there not among you one wise man who may be able to give a decision between his brothers?
But a brother who has a cause at law against another takes it before Gentile judges.
More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss?
So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.
Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,
Or is a thief, or the worse for drink, or makes use of strong language, or takes by force what is not his, will have any part in the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you; but you have been washed, you have been made holy, you have been given righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God.
I am free to do all things; but not all things are wise. I am free to do all things; but I will not let myself come under the power of any.
Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will put an end to them together. But the body is not for the desires of the flesh, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body:
And God who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead will do the same for us by his power.
Do you not see that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? how then may I take what is a part of the body of Christ and make it a part of the body of a loose woman? such a thing may not be.
Or do you not see that he who is joined to a loose woman is one body with her? for God has said, The two of them will become one flesh.
But he who is united to the Lord is one spirit.
Keep away from the desires of the flesh. Every sin which a man does is outside of the body; but he who goes after the desires of the flesh does evil to his body.
Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves;
For a payment has been made for you: let God be honoured in your body.
Now, as to the things in your letter to me: It is good for a man to have nothing to do with a woman.
But because of the desires of the flesh, let every man have his wife, and every woman her husband.
Let the husband give to the wife what is right; and let the wife do the same to the husband.
The wife has not power over her body, but the husband; and in the same way the husband has not power over his body, but the wife.
Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control.
But this I say as my opinion, and not as an order of the Lord.
It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that.
But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am.
But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire.
But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband
(Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife.
But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her.
And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband.
For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy.
But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.
For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?
Only, as the Lord has given to a man, and as is the purpose of God for him, so let him go on living. And these are my orders for all the churches.
If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change.
Circumcision is nothing, and its opposite is nothing, but only doing the orders of God is of value.
Let every man keep the position in which he has been placed by God.
If you were a servant when you became a Christian, let it not be a grief to you; but if you have a chance to become free, make use of it.
For he who was a servant when he became a Christian is the Lord's free man; and he who was free when he became a Christian is the Lord's servant.
It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men.
My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.
Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.
In my opinion then, because of the present trouble, it is good for a man to keep as he is.
If you are married to a wife, make no attempt to get free from her: if you are free from a wife, do not take a wife.
If you get married it is not a sin; and if an unmarried woman gets married it is not a sin. But those who do so will have trouble in the flesh. But I will not be hard on you.
But I say this, my brothers, the time is short; and from now it will be wise for those who have wives to be as if they had them not;
And for those who are in sorrow, to give no signs of it; and for those who are glad, to give no signs of joy; and for those who are getting property, to be as if they had nothing;
And for those who make use of the world, not to be using it fully; for this world's way of life will quickly come to an end.
But it is my desire for you to be free from cares. The unmarried man gives his mind to the things of the Lord, how he may give pleasure to the Lord:
But the married man gives his attention to the things of this world, how he may give pleasure to his wife.
And the wife is not the same as the virgin. The virgin gives her mind to the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit: but the married woman takes thought for the things of the world, how she may give pleasure to her husband.
Now I say this for your profit; not to make things hard for you, but because of what is right, and so that you may be able to give all your attention to the things of the Lord.
But if, in any man's opinion, he is not doing what is right for his virgin, if she is past her best years, and there is need for it, let him do what seems right to him; it is no sin; let them be married.
But the man who is strong in mind and purpose, who is not forced but has control over his desires, does well if he comes to the decision to keep her a virgin.
So then, he who gets married to his virgin does well, and he who keeps her unmarried does better.
It is right for a wife to be with her husband as long as he is living; but when her husband is dead, she is free to be married to another; but only to a Christian.
But it will be better for her to keep as she is, in my opinion: and it seems to me that I have the spirit of God.
Now about things offered to images: we all seem to ourselves to have knowledge. knowledge gives pride, but love gives true strength.
If anyone seems to himself to have knowledge, so far he has not the right sort of knowledge about anything;
But if anyone has love for God, God has knowledge of him.
So, then, as to the question of taking food offered to images, we are certain that an image is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.
For though there are those who have the name of gods, in heaven or on earth, as there are a number of gods and a number of lords,
There is for us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we are for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we have our being through him.
Still, all men have not that knowledge: but some, being used till now to the image, are conscious that they are taking food which has been offered to the image; and because they are not strong in the faith, their minds are troubled.
But God's approval of us is not based on the food we take: if we do not take it we are no worse for it; and if we take it we are no better.
But take care that this power of yours does not give cause for trouble to the feeble.
For if a man sees you, who have knowledge, taking food as a guest in the house of an image, will it not give him, if he is feeble, the idea that he may take food offered to images?
And so, through your knowledge, you are the cause of destruction to your brother, for whom Christ underwent death.
And in this way, doing evil to the brothers, and causing trouble to those whose faith is feeble, you are sinning against Christ.
For this reason, if food is a cause of trouble to my brother, I will give up taking meat for ever, so that I may not be a cause of trouble to my brother.
Am I not free? am I not an Apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are you not my work in the Lord?
If to others I am not an Apostle, at least I am one to you: for the fact that you are Christians is the sign that I am an Apostle.
My answer to those who are judging me is this.
Have we no right to take food and drink?
Have we no right to take about with us a Christian wife, like the rest of the Apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
Or I only and Barnabas, have we no right to take a rest from work?
Who ever goes to war without looking to someone to be responsible for his payment? who puts in vines and does not take the fruit of them? or who takes care of sheep without drinking of their milk?
Am I talking as a man? does not the law say the same?
For it says in the law of Moses, It is not right to keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. Is it for the oxen that God is giving orders?
Or has he us in mind? Yes, it was said for us; because it is right for the ploughman to do his ploughing in hope, and for him who is crushing the grain to do his work hoping for a part in the fruits of it.
If we have been planting the things of the spirit for you, does it seem a great thing for you to give us a part in your things of this world?
If others have a part in this right over you, have we not even more? But we did not make use of our right, so that we might put nothing in the way of the good news of Christ.
Do you not see that the servants of the holy things get their living from the Temple, and the servants of the altar have their part in the food which is offered on the altar?
Even so did the Lord give orders that the preachers of the good news might get their living from the good news.
But I have not made use of any of these things: and I am not writing this in the hope that it may be so for me: for it would be better for me to undergo death, than for any man to make this pride of mine of no effect.
For if I am a preacher of the good news, I have no cause for pride in this; because I am forced to do so, for a curse is on me if I do not.
But if I do it gladly, I have a reward; and if not, I am under orders to do it.
What then is my reward? This, that when I am giving the good news, I may give it without payment, not making use of my rights as a preacher of the good news.
For though I was free from all men, I made myself a servant to all, so that more might have salvation.
And to the Jews I was as a Jew, so that I might give the good news to them; to those under the law I was the same, not as being myself under the law, but so that I might give the good news to those under the law.
To those without the law I was as one without the law, not as being without law to God, but as under law to Christ, so that I might give the good news to those without the law.
To the feeble, I was as one who is feeble, so that they might have salvation: I have been all things to all men, so that some at least might have salvation.
And I do all things for the cause of the good news, so that I may have a part in it.
Do you not see that in a running competition all take part, but only one gets the reward? So let your minds be fixed on the reward.
And every man who takes part in the sports has self-control in all things. Now they do it to get a crown which is of this world, but we for an eternal crown.
So then I am running, not uncertainly; so I am fighting, not as one who gives blows in the air:
But I give blows to my body, and keep it under control, for fear that, after having given the good news to others, I myself might not have God's approval.
For it is my desire, my brothers, that you may keep in mind how all our fathers were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea;
And they all had baptism from Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And they all took the same holy food;
And the same holy drink: for they all took of the water from the holy rock which came after them: and the rock was Christ.
But with most of them God was not pleased: for they came to their end in the waste land.
Now these things were for an example to us, so that our hearts might not go after evil things, as they did.
Then do not go after false gods, as some of them did; as it is said in the holy Writings, After resting and feasting, the people got up to take their pleasure.
Again, let us not give way to the desires of the flesh, as some of them did, of whom twenty-three thousand came to their end in one day.
And let us not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and came to their death by snakes.
And do not say evil things against the Lord, as some of them did, and destruction overtook them.
Now these things were done as an example; and were put down in writing for our teaching, on whom the last days have come.
So let him who seems to himself to be safe go in fear of a fall.
You have been put to no test but such as is common to man: and God is true, who will not let any test come on you which you are not able to undergo; but he will make with the test a way out of it, so that you may be able to go through it.
For this cause, my dear brothers, give no worship to false gods.
What I am saying is for wise men, do you be the judges of it.
The cup of blessing which we take, does it not give us a part in the blood of Christ? and is not the broken bread a taking part in the body of Christ?
Because we, being a number of persons, are one bread, we are one body: for we all take part in the one bread.
See Israel after the flesh: do not those who take as food the offerings of the altar take a part in the altar?
Do I say, then, that what is offered to images is anything, or that the image is anything?
What I say is that the things offered by the gentiles are offered to evil spirits and not to God; and it is not my desire for you to have any part with evil spirits.
It is not possible for you, at the same time, to take the cup of the Lord and the cup of evil spirits; you may not take part in the table of the Lord and the table of evil spirits.
Or may we be the cause of envy to the Lord? are we stronger than he?
We are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do. We are free to do all things, but not all things are for the common good.
Let a man give attention not only to what is good for himself, but equally to his neighbour's good.
Most of the teaching of Jesus are recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Complete Sayings of Jesus presents every word spoken by Jesus in one place and provides an index to assist in finding specific ocassions, places and/or events. It is a must read aid for serious Bible study.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they direct us to imitate his life and character. The Imitation of Christ is guide to following the example of Jesus Christ. Let it be our most earnest study to dwell upon the life and example of Jesus.
The Apocrypha books are 14 books that were included between the old and new testaments in the original King James Version of the bible and many others. Church leaders agreed that these books were valuable for instruction in life and manners, but did not all agree that they should be considered cannon.
The Childrens Bible provides bible lessons from the Old and New testaments. There are 216 stories written in plain english. The stories are easy to read and understand but they are not just for childern. It is a pleasure to read and enjoy these important stories.
Let us love one another, for love comes from God and every one who loves is a child of God and knows God. He who loves not man does not know God, for God is love. God showed his love for us, for he sent his only Son into the world that through him we might have life. Love the stranger.
In Mark 12:30 Jesus said;
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.
And the second Mark 12:31 [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The Gospel of The Birth of Mary was attributed to St. Matthew and was received as genuine and authentic by early Christians. It is to be found in the works of Jerome, a Father of the Church in the 4th century and is translated from his collection.
The Book of Enoch is ascribed to the great-grandfather of Noah and is included in the cannon of some churches. It describes the fall of the angels (watchers), visions of heaven and hell and the birth of Noah. Quotes from the book of Enoch are found in the New Testament.
The First Book of Adam and Eve. Books 1 begins immediately after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. We learn about the fall but also of the promise to save Adam and his decendents. The story depicts mans struggle against evil, the devil and sin.
The Second Book of Adam and Eve. Discusses Adam's sorrow and death. The history of the patriarchs who lived before the Flood until the birth of Noah; the children of Seth on Mount Hermon and Cain's death. It ends with the testament and translation of Enoch.
The Infancy of Jesus Christ (Infancy Gospel of Thomas) relates the life of Jesus from the ages of five to twelve. It is believed that the document was transcribed from oral traditions some time prior to the second century. The ancient writing is possibly Gnostic and many early church leaders considered it heretical.
Daily Bible study is essential. The Bible Verse of the Day provides a collection of enlightening and inspiration bible verses. Improve your knowledge and understanding of the Bible and your life by studying the words of the holy scripture. Explore the King James Bible (kjv) and discover new insights.
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