The Jewish Annotated New Testament (88 page)

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I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
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but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife,
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and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband.
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I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

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If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée,
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if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry.
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But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée,
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he will do well.
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So then, he who marries his fiancée
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does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

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A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies,
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she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.
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But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

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Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up
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Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge;
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but anyone who loves God is known by him.

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Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.”
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Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords—
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yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

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It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
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“Food will not bring us close to God.”
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We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
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But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
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For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols?
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So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.
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But when you thus sin against members of your family,
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and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
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Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling,
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I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them
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to fall.

9
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
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If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

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This is my defense to those who would examine me.
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Do we not have the right to our food and drink?
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Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife,
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as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
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Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
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Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?

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Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same?
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For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?
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Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop.
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If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits?
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If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
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Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar?
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In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

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But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting!
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If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!
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For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
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What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

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For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.
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To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law.
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To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law.
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To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
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I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

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Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.
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Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.
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So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air;
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but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

10
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
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that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
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and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
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and all ate the same spiritual food,
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and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
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Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

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Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.
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Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”
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We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
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We must not put Christ
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to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.
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And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
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These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
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So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.
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No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

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Therefore, my dear friends,
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flee from the worship of idols.
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I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
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The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
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Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
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Consider the people of Israel;
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are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?
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What do I imply then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
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No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.
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You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
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Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?