The Living Bible (362 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Everyone is talking about the terrible thing that has happened there among you, something so evil that even the heathen don’t do it: you have a man in your church who is living in sin with his father’s wife.
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And are you still so conceited, so “spiritual”? Why aren’t you mourning in sorrow and shame and seeing to it that this man is removed from your membership?
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Although I am not there with you, I have been thinking a lot about this, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I have already decided what to do, just as though I were there. You are to call a meeting of the church—and the power of the Lord Jesus will be with you as you meet, and I will be there in spirit—
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and cast out this man from the fellowship of the church and into Satan’s hands, to punish him, in the hope that his soul will be saved when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
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What a terrible thing it is that you are boasting about your purity and yet you let this sort of thing go on. Don’t you realize that if even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected?
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Remove this evil cancer—this wicked person—from among you, so that you can stay pure. Christ, God’s Lamb, has been slain for us.
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So let us feast upon him and grow strong in the Christian life, leaving entirely behind us the cancerous old life with all its hatreds and wickedness. Let us feast instead upon the pure bread of honor and sincerity and truth.
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When I wrote to you before I said not to mix with evil people.
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But when I said that I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who live in sexual sin or are greedy cheats and thieves and idol worshipers. For you can’t live in this world without being with people like that.
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What I meant was that you are not to keep company with anyone who claims to be a brother Christian but indulges in sexual sins, or is greedy, or is a swindler, or worships idols, or is a drunkard, or abusive. Don’t even eat lunch with such a person.
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It isn’t our job to judge outsiders. But it certainly is our job to judge and deal strongly with those who are members of the church and who are sinning in these ways.
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God alone is the Judge of those on the outside. But you yourselves must deal with this man and put him out of your church.
How is it that when you have something against another Christian, you “go to law” and ask a heathen court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other Christians to decide which of you is right?
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Don’t you know that someday we Christians are going to judge and govern the world? So why can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves?
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Don’t you realize that we Christians will judge and reward the very angels in heaven? So you should be able to decide your problems down here on earth easily enough.
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Why then go to outside judges who are not even Christians?
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I am trying to make you ashamed. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these arguments?
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But, instead, one Christian sues another and accuses his Christian brother in front of unbelievers.
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To have such lawsuits at all is a real defeat for you as Christians. Why not just accept mistreatment and leave it at that? It would be far more honoring to the Lord to let yourselves be cheated.
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But, instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong, cheating others, even your own brothers.
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Don’t you know that those doing such things have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who live immoral lives, who are idol worshipers, adulterers or homosexuals—will have no share in his Kingdom. Neither will thieves or greedy people, drunkards, slanderers, or robbers.
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There was a time when some of you were just like that but now your sins are washed away, and you are set apart for God; and he has accepted you because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.
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I can do anything I want to if Christ has not said no,
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but some of these things aren’t good for me. Even if I am allowed to do them, I’ll refuse to if I think they might get such a grip on me that I can’t easily stop when I want to.
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For instance, take the matter of eating. God has given us an appetite for food and stomachs to digest it. But that doesn’t mean we should eat more than we need. Don’t think of eating as important because someday God will do away with both stomachs and food.
But sexual sin is never right: our bodies were not made for that but for the Lord, and the Lord wants to fill our bodies with himself.
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And God is going to raise our bodies from the dead by his power just as he raised up the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts and members of Christ? So should I take part of Christ and join him to a prostitute? Never!
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And don’t you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute she becomes a part of him and he becomes a part of her? For God tells us in the Scripture that in his sight the two become one person.
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But if you give yourself to the Lord, you and Christ are joined together as one person.
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That is why I say to run from sex sin. No other sin affects the body as this one does. When you sin this sin it is against your own body.
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Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you.
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For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because he owns it.
Now about those questions you asked in your last letter: my answer is that if you do not marry, it is good.
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But usually it is best to be married, each man having his own wife, and each woman having her own husband, because otherwise you might fall back into sin.
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The man should give his wife all that is her right as a married woman, and the wife should do the same for her husband:
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for a girl who marries no longer has full right to her own body, for her husband then has his rights to it, too; and in the same way the husband no longer has full right to his own body, for it belongs also to his wife.
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So do not refuse these rights to each other. The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of both husband and wife to refrain from the rights of marriage for a limited time, so that they can give themselves more completely to prayer. Afterwards, they should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt them because of their lack of self-control.
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I’m not saying you
must
marry, but you certainly
may
if you wish.
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I wish everyone could get along without marrying, just as I do. But we are not all the same. God gives some the gift of a husband or wife, and others he gives the gift of being able to stay happily unmarried.
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So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—better to stay unmarried if you can, just as I am.
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But if you can’t control yourselves, go ahead and marry. It is better to marry than to burn with lust.
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Now, for those who are married I have a command, not just a suggestion. And it is not a command from me, for this is what the Lord himself has said: A wife must not leave her husband.
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But if she is separated from him, let her remain single or else go back to him. And the husband must not divorce his wife.
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Here I want to add some suggestions of my own. These are not direct commands from the Lord, but they seem right to me: If a Christian has a wife who is not a Christian, but she wants to stay with him anyway, he must not leave her or divorce her.
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And if a Christian woman has a husband who isn’t a Christian, and he wants her to stay with him, she must not leave him.
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For perhaps the husband who isn’t a Christian may become a Christian with the help of his Christian wife. And the wife who isn’t a Christian may become a Christian with the help of her Christian husband. Otherwise, if the family separates, the children might never come to know the Lord; whereas a united family may, in God’s plan, result in the children’s salvation.
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But if the husband or wife who isn’t a Christian is eager to leave, it is permitted. In such cases the Christian husband or wife should not insist that the other stay, for God wants his children to live in peace and harmony.
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For, after all, there is no assurance to you wives that your husbands will be converted if they stay; and the same may be said to you husbands concerning your wives.
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But be sure in deciding these matters that you are living as God intended, marrying or not marrying in accordance with God’s direction and help, and accepting whatever situation God has put you into. This is my rule for all the churches.
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For instance, a man who already has gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision before he became a Christian shouldn’t worry about it; and if he hasn’t been circumcised, he shouldn’t do it now.
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For it doesn’t make any difference at all whether a Christian has gone through this ceremony or not. But it makes a lot of difference whether he is pleasing God and keeping God’s commandments. That is the important thing.
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Usually a person should keep on with the work he was doing when God called him.
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Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but of course, if you get a chance to be free, take it.
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If the Lord calls you, and you are a slave, remember that Christ has set you free from the awful power of sin; and if he has called you and you are free, remember that you are now a slave of Christ.
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You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him—be free now from all these earthly prides and fears.
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So, dear brothers, whatever situation a person is in when he becomes a Christian, let him stay there, for now the Lord is there to help him.
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Now I will try to answer your other question. What about girls who are not yet married? Should they be permitted to do so? In answer to this question, I have no special command for them from the Lord. But the Lord in his kindness has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will be glad to tell you what I think.
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Here is the problem: We Christians are facing great dangers to our lives at present. In times like these I think it is best for a person to remain unmarried.
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Of course, if you already are married, don’t separate because of this. But if you aren’t, don’t rush into it at this time.
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But if you men decide to go ahead anyway and get married now, it is all right; and if a girl gets married in times like these, it is no sin. However, marriage will bring extra problems that I wish you didn’t have to face right now.
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The important thing to remember is that our remaining time is very short, and so are our opportunities for doing the Lord’s work.
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For that reason those who have wives should stay as free as possible for the Lord;
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happiness or sadness or wealth should not keep anyone from doing God’s work.
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Those in frequent contact with the exciting things the world offers should make good use of their opportunities without stopping to enjoy them; for the world in its present form will soon be gone.
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In all you do, I want you to be free from worry. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him.
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But a married man can’t do that so well; he has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife.
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His interests are divided. It is the same with a girl who marries. She faces the same problem. A girl who is not married is anxious to please the Lord in all she is and does.
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But a married woman must consider other things such as housekeeping and the likes and dislikes of her husband.
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I am saying this to help you, not to try to keep you from marrying. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few other things as possible to distract your attention from him.
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But if anyone feels he ought to marry because he has trouble controlling his passions, it is all right; it is not a sin; let him marry.
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But if a man has the willpower not to marry and decides that he doesn’t need to and won’t, he has made a wise decision.
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So the person who marries does well, and the person who doesn’t marry does even better.
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The wife is part of her husband as long as he lives; if her husband dies, then she may marry again, but only if she marries a Christian.
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But in my opinion she will be happier if she doesn’t marry again; and I think I am giving you counsel from God’s Spirit when I say this.