 THE LITTER OF JAMES Introduction in chapters 1 through 5 from the 20th Century New Testament. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by J. A. Carter, www.authenticlight.org. The 20th Century New Testament by a company of about twenty scholars. The Letter of James. Introduction in chapters 1 through 5. Introduction St. James' letter to Christians of Jewish origin, written probably at Jerusalem after 44 A.D. This letter is believed to have been written by the James who is known to the early church as James the Just. He was not an apostle, but was one of the brothers of Jesus and presided over the church at Jerusalem, in which position he came into contact with large numbers both of Jews and Christians. Acts 12 verse 17 and 15 verse 13. The letter is addressed to converts from Judaism and speaks in strong condemnation of vices which prevailed in the corrupt society of Jerusalem and into which the recent converts to Christianity were to some extent relapsing. There are indications in the letter that some, at all events, of those for whom it was intended, had been passing through days of persecution. Possibly the persecution by Herod the Grip of the First in 44 A.D., mentioned in Acts 12 verse 1, in which the apostle James was martyred. The writer of this letter met with a similar fate in 63 A.D. Chapter 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, greets the twelve tribes that are living abroad. My brothers, whatever may be the temptations that beset you from time to time, always regard them as a reason for rejoicing, knowing as you do that the testing of your faith develops endurance, and let endurance do its work perfectly, so that you may be altogether perfect and in no respect deficient. If one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask wisdom from the God who gives freely to every one without reproaches, and it will be given to him. But let him ask with confidence, never doubting. For the man who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven hither and thither at the mercy of the wind. Such a man must not expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, vacillating as he is, irresolute at every turn. Let a brother in humble circumstances be proud of his exalted position, but a rich brother of his humiliation. For the rich man will pass away like the flower of the grass. As the sun rises and the hot wind blows, the grass withers, its flower fades, and all its beauty is gone. So it is with the rich man. In the midst of his pursuits he will come to an untimely end. Blessed is the man who remains firm under temptation, but when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. But no one say when he is tempted, it is God who is tempting me. For God, who cannot be tempted to do wrong, does not himself tempt anyone. A man is in every case tempted by his own passions, allured and enticed by them. Then passion conceives and gives birth to sin, and sin on reaching maturity brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good thing given us, and every perfect gift, is from above and comes down to us from the Maker of the lights in the heavens who is himself never subject to change or to eclipse. Because he so willed, he gave us life through the message of the truth so that we should be, as it were, an earnest of still further creations. Mark this, my dear brothers. Let every one be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry, for the anger of man does not forward the righteous purpose of God. For have done with all filthiness and whatever wickedness still remains, and in a humble spirit receive that message which has been planted in your hearts and is able to save your souls. Put that message into practice, and do not merely listen to it, deceiving yourselves. For when anyone listens to it and does not practice it, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. He looks at himself, then goes on his way, and immediately forgets what he is like. But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues to do so, not listening to it and then forgetting it, but putting it into practice, that man will be blessed in what he does. When a man appears to be religious yet does not bridle his tongue, but imposes upon his own conscience, that man's religious observances are valueless. That religious observance which is pure and spotless in the eyes of God our Father is this. To visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the world. CHAPTER II My brothers, are you really trying to combine faith in Jesus Christ our glorified Lord with the worship of rank? Suppose a man should enter your synagogue with gold rings and in grand clothes, and suppose a poor man should come in also in shabby clothes, and you are deferential to the man who is wearing grand clothes, and say, there is a good seat for you here, but to the poor man you must stand, or sit down there by my footstool. Is not that to make distinctions among yourselves, and to show yourselves prejudiced judges? Listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich through their faith and to possess the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? But you, you insult the poor man. Is not it the rich who oppress you? Is not it they who drag you into law courts? Is not it they who malign that honorable name which has been bestowed upon you? Yet if you keep the royal law which runs, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thou dost thyself, you are doing right. But if you worship rank, you commit a sin and stand convicted by that same law of being offenders against it. For a man who has laid the law as a whole to heart, but has failed in one particular, is liable for breaking all its provisions. He who said, Thou shalt not commit adultery also said, Thou shalt not murder. If then you commit murder, but not adultery, you are still an offender against the law. Therefore speak and act as men who will be judged by the law of freedom, for there will be justice without mercy for him who has not acted mercifully. Mercy triumphs over justice. My brothers, what is the good of a man saying that he has faith if he does not prove it by his actions? In such faith save him? Suppose some brother or sister should be in want of clothes and of daily bread, and one of you were to say to them, Go and peace be with you, find warmth and food for yourselves, and yet you were not to give them the necessaries of life. What good would it be to them? In just the same way, faith, if not followed by actions, is by itself a lifeless thing. Someone indeed may say, You are a man of faith, and I am a man of action. Then show me your faith, I reply, apart from any actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions. It is a part of your faith, is it not, that there is one God? Good. Yet even the demons have that faith, and tremble at the thought. Now do you really want to understand, you foolish man, how it is that faith without actions leads to nothing? Look at our ancestor Abraham. Was not at the result of his actions, that he was pronounced righteous after he had offered his son Isaac on the altar. You see how in his case, faith and actions went together, that his faith was perfected as the result of his actions, and that in this way the words of scripture came true. Abraham believed God, and that was regarded by God as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see then that it is as the result of his actions, that a man is pronounced righteous and not of his faith only. Was not at the same with the prostitute, Rahab, was not at as the result of her actions, that she was pronounced righteous after she had welcomed the messengers and hastened them away by a different road. Exactly as a body is dead without a spirit. So faith is dead without actions. Chapter 3 I do not want many of you my brothers to become teachers, knowing as you do that we who teach shall be judged by a more severe standard than others. We often make mistakes, every one of us. Anyone who does not make mistakes when speaking is indeed a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body as well. When we put bits into horses' mouths to make them obey us, we control the rest of their bodies also. Again, think of ships, large as they are, and even when driven by fierce winds, they are controlled by a very small rudder and steered in whatever direction the man at the helm may determine. So it is with the tongue. Small as it is, it is a great boaster. Think how tiny a spark may set the largest forest ablaze. And the tongue is like a spark. Among the members of our body it proves itself a very world of mischief. It contaminates the whole body. It sets the wheels of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by the flames of the pit. For while all sorts of beasts and birds and of reptiles and creatures in the sea are tamable, and actually have been tamed by man, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless plague. It is charged with deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God's likeness. When the very same mouth come blessings and cursings, my brothers, it is not right that this should be so. Does a spring give forth good and bad water from the same source? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a vine bear figs? No, nor can a brackish well give good water. Who among you claims to be wise and intelligent? Let him show that his actions are the outcome of a good life lived in the humility of true wisdom. But while you harbor envy and bitterness and a spirit of rivalry in your hearts, do not boast or lie to the detriment of the that is not the wisdom which comes down from above. No, it is earthly, animal, devilish. For where envy and rivalry exist, there you will also find disorder and all kinds of base actions. But the wisdom from above is, before everything else, pure. Then peace-loving, gentle, open to conviction, rich in compassion and good deeds, and free from partiality and insincerity. And righteousness, its fruit, is sown in peace by those who work for peace. CHAPTER 4 What is the cause of the fighting and quarreling that goes on among you? Is not it to be found in the desires which are always at war within you? You crave, yet you do not obtain. You murder and rage, yet cannot gain your end. You quarrel and fight. You do not obtain, because you do not ask. You ask, yet you do not receive, because you ask for a wrong purpose, to spend what you get upon your pleasures. Unfaithful people, do not you know that to be friends with the world means to be at enmity with God. Therefore whoever chooses to be friends with the world makes himself an enemy of God. Do you suppose there is no meaning in the passage of Scripture which asks, is envy to result from the longings of the Spirit which God has implanted within you? No, the gift that God gives is for a nobler end, and that is why it is said, God is opposed to the haughty, but gives help to the humble. Therefore submit to God, but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Make your hands clean, you sinners, and your hearts pure, you vacillating men. Grieve, mourn, and lament. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your happiness to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Do not disparage one another, brothers. He who disparages his brother or passes judgment on his brother disparages the law, and passes judgment on the law. But if you pass judgment on the law, you are not obeying it, but judging it. There is only one law giver and judge. He who has the power both to save and to destroy. But who are you that pass judgment on your neighbor? Listen to me. You who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town, spend a year there and trade and make money, and yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are but a mist appearing for a little while and then disappearing. You ought rather to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But as it is, you are constantly boasting presumptuously. All such boasting is wicked. He then, who knows what is right, but fails to do it, that is sin in him. Chapter 5 Listen to me, you rich men. Weep and wail for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have wasted away, and your clothes have become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust on them shall be evidence against you and shall eat into your very flesh. It was fire, so to speak, that you stored up for yourselves in these last days. I tell you the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have been fraudulently keeping back, are crying out against you, and the outcries of your reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on earth a life of extravagance and luxury. You have indulged your fancies in a time of bloodshed. You have condemned. You have murdered the righteous one. Must not God be opposed to you? Be patient, then, brothers, till the coming of the Lord. Even the farmer has to wait for the precious fruit of the earth, watching over it patiently, till it has had the spring and summer rains. And you must be patient also, and not be discouraged, for the Lord's coming is near. Do not make complaints against one another, brothers, or judgment will be passed upon you. The judge is already standing at the door. Brothers, as an example of the patient endurance of suffering, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those who displayed such endurance blessed. You have heard, too, of Job's endurance, and have seen what the Lord's purpose was, for the Lord is full of pity and compassion. Above all things, my brothers, never take an oath, either by heaven or by earth or by anything else, with you let yes suffice for yes and no for no, so that you may escape condemnation. If any one of you is in trouble, let him pray. If any one is happy, let him sing hymns. If any one of you is ill, let him sin for the officers of the church and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer offered in faith will save the man who is sick, and the Lord will raise him from his bed, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be cured. It is the power of a good man's fervent prayer. Elijah was only a man like ourselves, but when he prayed fervently that it might not rain, no rain fell upon the land for three years and a half, and when he prayed again, the clouds brought rain and the land bore crops. My brothers, should one of you be led astray from the truth, and some one bring him back again, be sure that he who brings a sinner back from his mistaken ways will save that man's soul from death, and throw a veil over countless sins. The first letter to the Thessalonians, introduction and chapters one through five, and the second letter to the Thessalonians, introduction and chapters one through three. The first letter to the Thessalonians, introduction. St. Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, written probably during his stay at Corinth in the course of his second missionary journey, about 52 A.D. Thessalonica, now the Turkish town of Solonica, was an important city-port in Macedonia on the great highway by which trade traveled between Europe and Roman Asia. Attracted probably by its large Jewish population, and by its admirable position as a center for the diffusion of his message, the apostle Paul visited the town in the course of his second missionary journey, Acts 17, preaching in the synagogue and working at his trade as a tent-maker, 1 Thessalonians 2, 9, 2 Thessalonians 3, 8. At first he gained many converts, but after a short time his unbelieving countrymen succeeded in arousing a strong opposition against him and his companions. This was carried so far that a mob collected and attacked the house in which they were staying, and Paul and Silas barely escaped with their lives. Leaving Thessalonica they went on to Berea, and from there to Athens and Corinth. While the apostle was at Athens, news reached him that the little Christian community from which he had thus been compelled to part was itself suffering persecution. On hearing this, the keen interest which he felt in their welfare made him eager to return to them, Chapter 2, verse 18. But this, proving at the time impossible, he sent Timothy to them to obtain further information and to comfort and encourage them amidst their sufferings, Chapter 3, verse 2. Upon Timothy's return to Corinth, with good news of the faith and love shown by the Thessalonian converts, the apostle wrote this letter. CHAPTER 1 To the Thessalonian Church in union with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, from Paul, Silas and Timothy. May God bless you and give you peace. We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, recalling continually before our God and Father the efforts that have resulted from your faith, the toil prompted by your love and the patient endurance sustained by your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers whom God loves, we know that he has chosen you, because the good news that we brought came home to you, not merely as so many words, but with the power and a fullness of conviction due to the Holy Spirit. For you know the life that we lived among you for your good, and you yourselves began to follow not only our example, but the masters also. And in spite of much suffering, you welcomed the message with a joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, and so became a pattern to all who believed in Christ throughout Macedonia and Greece. For it was from you that the Lord's message resounded throughout Macedonia and Greece, and more than that, your faith in God has become known far and wide, so that there is no need for us to say another word. Indeed, in speaking about us, the people themselves tell of the reception you gave us, and how turning to God from your idols you became servants of the true and living God, and are now awaiting the return from heaven of his Son, whom he raised from the dead. Jesus, our Deliverer from the Coming Wrath. CHAPTER II Yes, brothers, you yourselves know that your reception for us was not without result. For although we had experienced suffering and ill treatment, as you know it, Philippi, we had the courage by the help of our God to tell you God's good news in spite of great opposition. Our appeal to you was not based on a delusion, nor was it made from unworthy motives or with any intention of misleading you. But having been found worthy by God to be entrusted with the good news, therefore we tell it, with a view to please not men, but God, who proves our hearts. Never at any time, as you know, did we use the language of flattery or make false professions in order to hide selfish aims. God will bear witness to that. Nor did we seek to win honor from men, whether from you or from others, although as apostles of Christ we might have burdened you with our support. But we lived among you with the simplicity of a child. We were like a woman, nursing her own children. In our strong affection for you, that seemed to us the best way of sharing with you not only God's good news, but our very lives as well. So dear had you become to us. You will not have forgotten, brothers, our labor and toil. Night and day we used to work at our trades so as not to be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you God's good news. You will bear witness, and God also, that our relations with you who believed in Christ were pure and upright and beyond reproach. Indeed, you know that like a father with his own children, we used to encourage and comfort every one of you and solemnly plead with you, so that you should make your daily lives worthy of God who is calling you into the glory of his kingdom. This too is a reason why we on our part are continually thanking God. Because in receiving the teaching that you had from us, you accepted it not as the teaching of man, but as what it really is, the teaching of God, which is even now doing its work within you who believe in Christ. For you, brothers, began to follow the example of the churches of God and Judea, which are in union with Jesus Christ. You in your turn, suffering at the hands of your fellow citizens, in the same way as those churches did at the hands of the Jews. The men who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us also. They do not try to please God, and they are enemies to all mankind, for they would prevent us from speaking to the gentiles with a view to their salvation, and thus are always filling up the measure of their iniquity. But the wrath of God has come upon them to the full. As for ourselves, brothers, our having been bereaved of you even for a short time, though in body only and not in spirit, made us all the more eager to see your faces again, and the longing to do so was strong upon us. That was why we made up our minds to go to see you, at least I, Paul did more than once, but Satan put difficulties in our way. For what hope or joy will be ours, or what crown shall we have to boast of in the presence of our Lord Jesus that is coming, if it be not you? You are our pride and our delight. CHAPTER III And so as we could bear it no longer, we made up our minds to remain behind alone at Athens, and sent Timothy, our brother and God's minister of the good news of the Christ, to strengthen you and to encourage you in your faith, so that none of you should be shaken by the troubles through which you are passing. You yourselves know that we are destined to meet with such things. For even while we were with you, we warned you beforehand that we were certain to encounter trouble. And so it proved, as you know. Therefore since I could no longer endure the uncertainty, I sent to make inquiries about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our toil might prove to have been in vain. But when Timothy recently returned to us from you with good news of your faith and love, and told us how kindly you think of us, always longing he said to see us, just as we are longing to see you. On hearing this we felt encouraged about you, brothers, in the midst of all our difficulties and troubles, by your faith. For it is new life to us to know that you are holding fast to the Lord. How can we thank God enough for all the happiness that you are giving us in the sight of our God? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and make good any deficiency in your faith. May our God and Father himself and Jesus our Lord make the way plain for us to come to you. And for you may the Lord fill you to overflowing with love for one another and for everyone, just as we are filled with love for you. And so make your heart strong and your lives pure beyond reproach in the sight of our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. CHAPTER IV Further, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to carry out more fully than ever, as indeed you are already doing, all that you have heard from us as to what your daily life must be if it is to please God, for you have not forgotten the directions that we gave you on the authority of our Lord Jesus. For this is God's purpose, that you should be pure, abstaining from all immorality, each of you recognizing the duty of taking one woman for his wife purely and honorably and not for the mere gratification of his passions like the Gentiles who know nothing of God, none of you overreaching or taking advantage of his brother in such matters. The Lord takes vengeance upon all who do such things as we have already warned you and solemnly declared. For God's call to us does not permit of an impure life, but demands purity. For he who disregards this warning, disregards not man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. As to love for the brethren, there is no need to write to you, for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another, and indeed you do act in this spirit toward all the brethren throughout Macedonia. Yet, brothers, we urge you to still further efforts, make it your ambition to live quietly and to attend to your own business and to work with your hands as we directed you, so that your conduct may win respect from those outside the church and that you may not want for anything. We do not wish you to remain in ignorance, brothers, with regard to those who have passed to their rest, that your grief may not be like that of others who have no hope. For as we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who through him have passed to their rest. This we tell you on the authority of the Lord, that those of us who are still living at the coming of the Lord will not anticipate those who have passed to their rest, for with a loud summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the trumpet call of God the Lord himself will come down from heaven, then those who died in union with Christ shall rise first, and afterwards we who are still living shall be caught up in the clouds with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall be forever with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with what I have told you. CHAPTER V But as to the times and the moments, there is no need, brothers, for any one to write to you. You yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come just as a thief comes in the night. When people are saying, all is quiet and safe, it is then that like birth pangs upon a woman with a child, ruin comes suddenly upon them, and there will be no escape. You, however, brothers, are not in darkness, that the daylight should take you by surprise as if you were thieves, for you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We have nothing to do with night or darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as others do. No, let us be watchful and self-controlled. It is at night that men sleep, and at night that drunkards get drunk. But let us, who belong to the day, control ourselves and put on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God destined us not for wrath, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we are still watching or have fallen asleep, we may live with Him. Therefore encourage one another and try to build up one another's characters as indeed you are doing. We beg you, brothers, to value those who toil among you and are your leaders in the Lord's service and give you counsel. Hold them in the very greatest esteem and affection for the sake of their work. Live at peace with one another. We entreat you also, brothers, warn the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, give a helping hand to the weak, and be patient with everyone. Take care that none of you ever pays back wrong for wrong, but always follow the kindest course with one another and with everyone. Always be joyful. Never cease to pray. Under all circumstances give thanks to God, for this is His will for you as made known in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit. Do not make light of preaching. Bring everything to the test. Bring to what is good, shun every form of evil. May God Himself, the giver of peace, make you altogether holy, and may your spirits, souls, and bodies be kept altogether faultless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you will not fail you. He will complete His work. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a sacred kiss. I assure you in the Lord's name to have this letter read to all the brethren. May the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. END OF THE FIRST LETTER TO THE THESELONIANS THE SECOND LETTER TO THE THESELONIANS INTRODUCTION St. Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, written probably during his stay at Corinth in the course of his second missionary journey about 53 A.D. It is probable that about a year intervened between the Apostles' two letters to this Macedonian church. The Thessalonians had misunderstood what he had said in the first letter as to the nearness of the time of Christ's return to the earth, a misunderstanding which led to the neglect of the ordinary duties of life, accompanied by unrestrained religious excitement. To correct this misapprehension, and to urge them to fortitude, calmness, and industry, St. Paul wrote this second letter. CHAPTER ONE To the Thessalonian church in union with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, from Paul, Silas, and Timothy, may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace. BROTHERS, it is our duty always to thank God about you, as is but right, considering the wonderful growth of your faith, and because without exception your love for one another is continually increasing. So much is this the case that we ourselves speak with pride before the churches of God, of the patience and faith which you have shown, in spite of all the persecutions and troubles that you are enduring. These persecutions will vindicate the justice of God's judgment, and will result in your being reckoned worthy of God's kingdom, for the sake of which you are now afflicted. Since God deems it just to inflict suffering upon those who are now inflicting suffering upon you, and to give relief to you who are suffering, as well as to us, at the appearing of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. Then He will inflict punishment upon those who refuse to know God, and upon those who turn a deaf ear to the good news of Jesus our Lord. These men will pay the penalty of unutterable ruin, banished from the presence of the Lord, and from the glorious manifestation of His might when He comes to be honored in His people, and to be revered in all who have learnt to believe in Him, for you also believed our testimony, as He will be on that day. With this in view, our constant prayer for you is that our God may count you worthy of the call that you have received, and by His power make perfect your delight in all goodness and the efforts that have resulted from your faith. In the loving kindness of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ will the name of Jesus, our Lord, be honored in you and you in Him. CHAPTER II As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our being gathered to meet Him, we beg you, brothers, not lightly to let your minds become unsettled, nor yet to be disturbed by any revelation, or by any message, or by any letter purporting to come from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is come. Do not let anyone deceive you, whatever he may do, for it will not come until after the great apostasy, and the appearing of that incarnation of wickedness, that lost soul, who so opposes himself to every one that is spoken of as a God, or as an object of worship, and so exalts himself above them, that he seats himself in the temple of God and displays himself as God. Do you not remember how when I was with you, I used to speak to you of all this? And you know now what the restraining influence is, which prevents his appearing before his appointed time. Wickedness indeed is already at work in secret, but only until he who at present restrains it is removed out of the way. Then will wickedness incarnate appear, but the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his lips, and annihilate him by the splendor of his coming, for at the coming of the Lord there will be great activity on the part of Satan, in the form of all kinds of deceptive miracles, signs, and marvels, as well as of wicked attempts to delude to the ruin of those who are on the path to destruction, because they have never received and loved the truth to their own salvation. That is why God places them under the influence of a delusion, to cause them to believe a lie, so that sentence may be passed on all those who refuse to believe the truth, but delight in wickedness. But brothers whom the Lord loves, it is our duty always to thank God about you, for from the first God chose you for salvation through the purifying influence of the Spirit and your belief in the truth. To this you were called by the good news which we brought you, to attain to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stand firm then, brothers, and hold fast to the truths that we taught you, whether by word or by letter. And may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us, and in his loving kindness gave us unfailing consolation and good ground for hope, console your hearts, and strengthen you, to do and to say all that is right. CHAPTER III In conclusion, brothers, pray for us. Pray that the Lord's message may spread rapidly and be received everywhere with honor as it was among you, and that we may be preserved from wrong-headed and wicked men, for it is not everyone who believes in Christ. For the Lord will not fail you. He will give you strength and guard you from evil. Yes, and the confidence that our union with the Lord enables us to place in you leads us to believe that you are doing and will do what we direct you. May the Lord bring you to the love of God and to the patience of the Christ. We urge you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to avoid any brother who is living an ill-ordered life which is not in agreement with the teaching that you have received from us. For you know well that you ought to follow our example. When we were with you our life was not ill-ordered, nor did we eat any one's bread without paying for it. Late and day, laboring and toiling, we used to work at our trades so as not to be a burden upon any of you. This was not because we had not a right to receive support, but our object was to give you a pattern for you to copy. Indeed, when we were with you what we urged upon you was, if a man does not choose to work, then he shall not eat. We hear that there are among you people who are living ill-ordered lives and who, instead of attending to their own business, are mere busy bodies. All such people we urge and entreat in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to attend quietly to their business and earn their own living. You brothers must not grow weary of doing what is right. If any one disregards what we have said in this letter, mark that man and avoid his company that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not think of him as an enemy, but caution him as you would a brother. May the Lord from whom all peace comes, himself, give you his peace at all times and in all ways. May he be with you all. I, Paul, add this greeting in my own handwriting. It is my signature to every letter. This is how I write. May the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. End of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians End of the First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians The Letter to the Galatians Introduction and Chapters 1 through 6 from the 20th Century New Testament. The 20th Century New Testament by a company of about twenty scholars The Letter to the Galatians Introduction and Chapters 1 through 6 Introduction St. Paul's Letter to the Christians in Galatia Written probably during his stay at Ephesus about 54 A.D. The Roman province of Galatia in Asia Minor included not only the district that had previously borne that name, but also various adjacent districts subsequently included, hence it is uncertain whether in the New Testament the name is used in its wider or in its narrower sense, nor is it possible to fix with certainty the date of the Apostles' visits to Galatia or of this letter to his converts there. The Christian churches in Galatia appear to have been founded by St. Paul about the year 51 A.D. while he was on his second missionary journey recorded in Acts 16 verse 6. Three years later he revisited the district in the course of his third journey, Acts 18-23. He appears to have been seriously ill on the first mentioned occasion, but his impulsive converts gave him an eager welcome and soon became devotedly attached to him, Galatians 4 verses 13-15. After he had left them, however, their enthusiasm for him and his message gradually cooled, and the present letter was written as the result of information which reached him that his converts were being led astray by teachers from Jerusalem who impugned his apostolic authority and personal character and insisted that all Christians ought to observe the Jewish law and be circumcised. St. Paul was now, for the first time, face to face with the question whether Christianity could stand alone as a new and universal religion or could exist only as a modified and extended Judaism. His reply takes the form first of a personal narrative in which he establishes the direct revelation to him of what he delights to call his gospel by the Christ himself and its independence of Judaism, and then, on a brief statement of the teaching, afterwards developed at length in his letter to the Christians at Rome, that mere obedience to law can never ensure a man's being pronounced righteous by God. For this, the apostle argues, can follow only upon faith in the Christ. The law, intended only to be provisional, has been superseded by the gospel. CHAPTER 1 To the churches in Galatia, from Paul, an apostle whose commission is not from men and is given not by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, and from all the brothers here. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace. For Christ, to rescue us from this present wicked age, gave himself for our sins in accordance with the will of our God and Father, to whom be ascribed all glory for ever and ever. Amen. I am astonished at your so soon deserting him who called you through the love of Christ for a different good news, which is really no good news at all. But then I know that there are people who are harassing you and who want to pervert the good news of the Christ. Yet even if we or if an angel from heaven were to tell you any other good news than that which we have told you, may he be accursed. We have said it before and I repeat it now. If anyone tells you a good news other than that which you received, may he be accursed. Is this, I ask, trying to conciliate men or God? Am I seeking to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I should not be a servant of Christ. I would remind you, brothers, that the good news which I told you is no mere human invention. I at least did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a revelation made by Jesus Christ. You heard, no doubt, of my conduct when I was devoted to Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God to an extent beyond belief and made havoc of it, and how in my devotion to Judaism I surpassed many of my contemporaries among my own people in my intense earnestness and upholding the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart even before my birth and who called me by his love, saw fit to reveal his son in me so that I might tell the good news of him among the Gentiles, then at once, instead of consulting any human being or even going up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, I went into Arabia and came back again to Damascus. Three years afterwards I went up to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Peter, and I stayed a fortnight with him. I did not, however, see any other apostle except James the Master's brother. As to what I am now writing to you, I call God to witness that I am speaking the truth. Afterwards I went to the districts of Syria and Silesia, but I was still unknown even by sight to the Christian churches in Judea. All that they had heard was, the man who once persecuted us is now telling the good news of the very faith of which he once made havoc, and they praised God on my account. CHAPTER II Fourteen years afterwards I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, and I took Titus also with me. It was an obedience to a revelation that I went, and I laid before the apostles the good news that I am proclaiming among the Gentiles. I did this privately before those who I thought highly of, for fear that I might possibly be taking or might have already taken a course which would prove useless. It even my companion Titus, though a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised. But on account of the false brothers who had stolen in, the men who had crept in to spy upon the liberty which we have through union with Christ Jesus in order to bring us back to slavery, why we did not for a moment yield submission to them that the truth of the good news might be yours always. Of those who I thought somewhat highly of, what they once were makes no difference to me. God does not recognize human distinctions. Those I say who I thought highly of added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news for the Gentiles just as Peter had been for the Jews. For he who gave Peter power for his mission to the Jews gave me also power to go to the Gentiles. Being the charge entrusted to me, James, Peter and John who were regarded as pillars of the church openly acknowledged Barnabas and me as fellow workers agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews. Only we were to remember the poor, the very thing I was myself anxious to do. But when Peter came to Antioch I opposed him to his face, for he stood self-condemned. Before certain persons came from James he had been in the habit of eating with the Gentile converts. But when they came he began to withdraw and hold aloof for fear of offending those who still held the circumcision. The rest of the Jewish converts were guilty of the same hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led away by it. But when I saw that they were not dealing straightforwardly with the truth of the good news, I said to Peter before them all, if you who were born a Jew adopt Gentile customs instead of Jewish, why are you trying to compel the Gentile converts to adopt Jewish customs? We, though we are Jews by birth and not outcasts of Gentile origin, know that no one is pronounced righteous as the result of obedience to law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus. So we placed our faith in Christ Jesus in order that we might be pronounced righteous as the result of faith in Christ and not of obedience to law. For such obedience will not result in even one soul's being pronounced righteous. If while seeking to be pronounced righteous through union with Christ we were ourselves seen to be outcasts, would that make Christ an agent of sin? Heaven forbid. For if I rebuild the very things that I pulled down, I prove myself to have done wrong. I indeed through law became dead to law in order to live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, so it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And as for my present earthly life I am living it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not reject the love of God. If righteousness comes through law, then there was no need for Christ to die. Chapter three. Foolish Galatians, who has been fascinating you, you before whose very eyes Jesus Christ was depicted upon the cross. Here is the one thing that I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit as the result of obedience to law or of your having listened with faith? Can you be so foolish? After beginning with what is spiritual, do you now end with what is external? Do you go through so much for no purpose, if indeed it really was for no purpose? He who supplies you abundantly with his spirit and endows you with such powers, does he do this as the result of obedience to law or as the result of your having listened with faith? It is just as it was with Abraham. He had faith in God and his faith was regarded by God as righteousness. You see then that those whose lives are based on faith are the sons of Abraham and Scripture foreseeing that God would pronounce the Gentiles righteous as the result of faith foretold the good news to Abraham and the words, through thee all the Gentiles shall be blessed. And therefore those whose lives are based on faith share the blessings bestowed upon the faith of Abraham. All who rely upon obedience to law are under a curse, for Scripture says, Cursed is every one who does not abide by all that is written in the book of the law and do it. Again, it is evident that no one is pronounced righteous before God through law, for we read, Through faith the righteous man shall find life. But the law is not based on faith. No, its words are those who practice these precepts will find life through them. Christ ransomed us from the curse pronounced in the law by taking the curse on himself for us, for Scripture says, Cursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree. And this he did that the blessing given to Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through their union with Jesus Christ, that so through our faith we also might receive the promised gift of the Spirit. To take an illustration of Abraham's brothers from daily life. No one sets aside even an agreement between two men when once it has been confirmed nor does he add conditions to it. Now it was to Abraham that the promises were made and to his offspring. It was not said to his offspring as if many persons were met, but the words were to thy offspring, showing that one person was meant and that was Christ. My point is this, an agreement already confirmed by God cannot be cancelled by the law which came four hundred and thirty years later so as to cause the promise to be set aside. If our heritage is the result of law, then it has ceased to be the result of a promise, yet God conferred it on Abraham by a promise. What then, you ask, was the use of the law? It was a later addition to make men conscious of their wrongdoings and intended to last only till the coming of that offspring to whom the promise had been made, and it was delivered through angels by a mediator. Now mediation implies more than one person, but God is one only. Does that set the law in opposition to God's promises? Heaven forbid, for if a law had been given capable of bestowing life, then righteousness would have actually owed its existence to law, but the words of Scripture represent the whole world as being in bondage to sin so that the promised blessing, dependent as it is upon faith in Jesus Christ, may be given to those who have faith in him. Before the coming of faith we were kept under the guard of the law in bondage awaiting the faith that was destined to be revealed. Thus the law has proved a guide to lead us to Christ in order that we may be pronounced righteous as the result of faith. But now that faith has come we no longer need a guide, for you are all sons of God through your faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into union with Christ clothed yourselves with Christ. All distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female have vanished, for in union with Christ Jesus you are all one, and since you belong to Christ it follows that you are Abraham's offspring, and under the promise, sharers in the inheritance. My point is this, as long as the air is under age there is no difference between him and a slave, though he is the master of the whole estate. He is subject to the control of guardians and stewards during the period for which his father has power to appoint them. And so it is with us. When we were under age, as it were, we were slaves to the purile teaching of this world. But when the full time came God sent his son, born a woman's child, born subject to law, to ransom those who were subject to law so that we might take our position as sons. And it is because you are sons that God sent into your hearts the spirit of his son with the cry Abba, our father. You therefore are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir also by God's appointment. Yet formally, in your ignorance of God you became slaves to God's which were no God's. But now that you have found God, or rather have been found by him, how is it that you are turning back to that poor and feeble, purile teaching to which yet once again you are wanting to become slaves? You are scrupulous in keeping days and months and seasons and years. You make me fear that the labor which I have spent on you may have been wasted. I entreat you, brothers, to become like me as I became like you. You have never done me any wrong. You remember that it was owing to bodily infirmity that on the first occasion I told you the good news. And as for what must have tried you in my condition, it did not inspire you with scorn or disgust, but you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God, or Christ Jesus himself. What has become then of your blessings? For I can bear witness that had it been possible you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Am I to think then that I have become your enemy by telling you the truth? Certain people are seeking your favor, but with no honorable object. No, indeed, they want to isolate you so that you will have to seek their favor. It is always honorable to have your favor sought in an honorable cause, and not only when I am with you, my dear children, you for whom I am again enduring a mother's pains till a likeness of Christ shall have been formed in you. But I could wish to be with you now and speak in a different tone, for I am perplexed about you. Tell me, you who want to be still subject to law, why do you not listen to the law? Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one the child of the slave woman, and the other the child of the free woman. But the child of the slave woman was born in the course of nature, while the child of the free woman was born in fulfillment of a promise. This story may be taken as an allegory. The women stand for two covenants. One covenant given from Mount Sinai produces a race of slaves, and is represented by Hagar, the word Hagar meaning in Arabia Mount Sinai. And it ranks with the Jerusalem of today, for she and her children are in slavery. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she it is who is our mother. For Scripture says, rejoice, thou barren one who dost never bear, break into shouts thou who art never in labor, for many are the children of her who is desolate, I more than of her who has a husband. As for ourselves, brothers, we like Isaac, our children born in fulfillment of a promise. Yet at that time the child born in the course of nature persecuted the child born by the power of the Spirit. And it is the same now. But what does the passage of Scripture say? Send away the slave woman and her son, for the slave's son shall not be co-air with the son of the free woman. And so, brothers, we are not children of a slave, but of her who is free. Chapter five. It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not again be held under the yoke of slavery. Understand that I, Paul, myself, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised Christ will avail you nothing. I again declare to everyone who receives circumcision that he binds himself to obey the whole law. You have severed yourselves from Christ. You who are seeking to be pronounced righteous through law. You have fallen away from love. For we, by the help of the Spirit, are eagerly waiting for the fulfillment of our hope that we may be pronounced righteous as the result of faith. If a man is in union with Christ Jesus neither is circumcision nor the omission of it, anything, but faith working through love is everything. You were once making good progress. Who has hindered you from obeying the truth? The persuasion brought to bear on you does not come from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens all the dough. I, through my union with the Lord, am persuaded that you will learn to think with me. But the man who is disturbing your minds will have to bear his punishment whoever he may be. If I, brothers, am still proclaiming circumcision, why am I still persecuted? It seems that the cross has ceased to be an obstacle. I could even wish that the people who are unsettling you would go further still and mutilate themselves. Remember, brothers, to you the call came to give you freedom. Only do not make your freedom an opportunity for self-indulgence but serve one another in a loving spirit. Indeed, the whole law has been summed up in this one precept. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thou dost thyself. But if you are continually wounding and praying upon one another, take care that you are not destroyed by one another. This is what I have to say. Let your steps be guided by the spirit, and then you will never gratify the cravings of your earthly nature. For these cravings of our earthly nature conflict with the spirit and the spirit with our earthly nature. There are two contrary principles so that you cannot do what you wish. But if you follow the guidance of the spirit, you are not subject to law. The sins of our earthly nature are unmistakable. They are sins like these, unchastity, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, quarrels, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passions, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, feelings of envy, drunkenness, revelry, and the like. And I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who indulge in such things will have no place in the kingdom of God. But the fruit produced by the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, generosity, trustfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law, and those who belong to Jesus the Christ have already crucified their earthly nature with its passions and its cravings. Since our life is due to the spirit, let us rule our conduct also by the spirit. Do not let us grow vain and provoke or envy one another. CHAPTER 6 Brothers, even if a man should be caught committing a sin, you who are spiritually minded should, in a gentle spirit, help him recover himself, taking care lest any one of you should also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so carry out the law of the Christ. If a man imagines himself to be somebody when he is really nobody, he deceives himself. Let everyone test his own work, and then his cause for satisfaction will be in himself, and not in a comparison of himself with his neighbor, for everyone must bear his own load. He, however, who is being instructed in the message, ought always to share his blessings with the man who instructs him. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. What a man sows that he will reap. For he who sows the field of his earthly nature will from that earthly nature reap corruption, while he who sows the field of the spirit will from that spirit reap immortal life. Let us never tire of doing right, for at the proper season we shall reap our harvest if we do not grow weary. Therefore I say, as the opportunity occurs, let us treat everyone with kindness, and especially members of the household of the faith. See in what large letters I am writing, with my own hand. Those who wish to appear to advantage in regard to outward observances are the very people who are trying to compel you to be circumcised, and they do it only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Jesus, the Christ. Even these men who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast of your observance of the right. But for my part may I never boast of anything except the cross of Jesus Christ our Master, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither is circumcision nor the omission of it anything, but a new nature is everything. May all who rule their conduct by this principle find peace and mercy, they who are the Israel of God. For the future let no one trouble me, for I bear the marks of Jesus branded on my body. May the blessing of Jesus Christ our Lord rest on your souls, brothers. Amen. The 20th Century New Testament by a company of about 20 scholars. The First Letter to the Corinthians. Introduction and Chapters 1 through 6. Introduction. St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, written probably during his stay at Ephesus in the course of his third missionary journey about 54 A.D. Corinth was the capital of the Roman province of Achaea. It contained a large mixed population of Greeks, Jews, and Italian freedmen. The community, famous for its trade, its festivals, and games worldwide renowned, its wealth and its luxury, was highly cultured but grossly immoral. The Christian Church at Corinth was founded by St. Paul during the year and a half that he stayed in that city in the course of his second missionary journey. Acts chapter 18 verse 11. And this letter to his Corinthian converts was probably written at Ephesus toward the close of St. Paul's stay there on his third missionary journey, Acts chapter 19. News had been brought to the apostle of dissensions and disorders which had arisen in the church at Corinth. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 11. And about the same time he received a letter from that church asking guidance from him in several important matters. First Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1. These were the circumstances under which he wrote the present letter of rebuke and advice. Chapter 1 To the church of God in Corinth, to those who have been consecrated by union with Christ Jesus and called to become his people, and also to all wherever they may be who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their master and ours. From Paul, who has been called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and from Sastanes our brother. May God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace. I always thank God about you for the blessing bestowed upon you in Christ Jesus. For through union with him you were enriched in every way, in your power to preach and in your knowledge of the truth, and so became yourselves a confirmation of my testimony to the Christ. And thus there is no gift in which you are deficient while waiting for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, and God himself will strengthen you to the end, so that at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ you may be found blameless. God will not fail you, and it is he who called you into communion with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. But I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree in what you profess, and not to allow divisions to exist among you, but to be united, of one mind and of one opinion. For I have been informed, my brothers, by the members of Chloe's household, that party feeling exists among you. I mean this, that every one of you says either I follow Paul, or I Apollo's, or I Kephas, or I Christ. You have rent the Christ in pieces. Was it Paul who was crucified for you, or were you baptized into the faith of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you, except Christmas and Gaius, so that no one can say that they were baptized into my faith. I baptized also the household of Stefanus. I do not know that I baptized anyone else. My mission from Christ was not to baptize, but to tell the good news. Not, however, in the language of philosophy, lest the cross of the Christ should be robbed of its meaning. The message of the cross is indeed mere folly to those who are in the path to ruin, but to us who are in the path of salvation it is the very power of God. For scripture says, I will bring the philosophy of the philosophers to not, and the shrewdness of the shrewd I will make of no account. Where is the philosopher? Where the teacher of the law? Where the disputant of today? Has not God shown the world's philosophy to be folly? For since the world in God's wisdom did not by its philosophy learn to know God, God saw fit by the folly of our proclamation to save those who believe in Christ. While Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greek study philosophy, we are proclaiming Christ crucified to the Jews in obstacle, to the Gentiles mere folly, but to those who have received the call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's folly is wiser than men, and God's weakness is stronger than men. Look at the facts of your call, brothers. There are not many among you who are wise, as men reckon wisdom. Not many who are influential, not many who are high-born. But God chose what the world counts foolish, to put its wise men to shame. And God chose what the world counts weak, to put its strong things to shame. And God chose what the world counts poor and insignificant, things that to it are unreal, to bring its realities to nothing, so that in his presence no human being should boast. But you, by your union with Christ Jesus, belong to God. And Christ, by God's will, became not only our wisdom, but also our righteousness, holiness, and deliverance, so that in the words of Scripture, let him who boasts, make his boast of the Lord. Chapter 2 For my own part, brothers, when I came to you, it was with no display of eloquence or philosophy that I came to tell you the hidden purpose of God. For I had determined that while with you I would know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Indeed, when I came among you, I was weak and full of fears and in great anxiety. My message and my proclamation were not delivered in the persuasive language of philosophy, but were accompanied by the manifestation of spiritual power, so that your faith should be based not on the philosophy of man, but on the power of God. Yet there is a philosophy that we teach to those whose faith is matured. But it is not the philosophy of today, nor that of the leaders of today, men whose downfall is at hand. No, it is a divine philosophy that we teach, one concerned with the hidden purpose of God, that long hidden philosophy which God before time began destined for our glory. This philosophy is not known to any of the leaders of today. For had they known it, they would not have crucified our glorified Lord. It is what Scripture speaks of as, What I never saw, nor ear ever heard, what never entered the mind of man, even all that God has prepared for those who love him. Yet to us God revealed it through his Spirit. For the Spirit fathoms all things, even the inmost depths of God's being. For what man is there who knows what a man is, except the man's own Spirit within him? So also no one comprehends what God is, except the Spirit of God. And as for us, it is not the Spirit of the world that we have received, but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may realize the blessings given to us by him. And we speak of these gifts not in language taught by human philosophy, but in language taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things in spiritual words. The merely intellectual man rejects the teaching of the Spirit of God. To him it is mere folly. He cannot grasp it, because it is to be understood only by spiritual insight. But the man with spiritual insight is able to understand everything, although he himself is understood by no one. For who has so comprehended the mind of the Lord as to be able to instruct him? We, however, have the very mind of Christ. But I, brothers, could not speak to you as men with spiritual insight, but only as worldly-minded, mere infants in the faith of Christ. I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you were not then able to take it. No, and even now you are not able. You are still worldly. While there exist among you jealousy and party feeling, is it not true that you are worldly and are acting merely as other men do? When one says I follow Paul and another I follow Apollos, are not you like other men? What I ask is Apollos, or what is Paul? Servants through whom you were led to accept the faith. And that only as the Lord helped each of you. I planted and Apollos watered, but it was God who caused the growth. Therefore neither the man who plants nor the man who waters is of any account, but only God who causes the growth. In this the man who plants and the man who waters are one, yet each will receive his own reward in proportion to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's harvest field, God's building. In fulfillment of the charge which God had entrusted to me, I laid the foundation like a skillful master-builder, but another man is now building upon it. Let everyone take care how he builds, for no man can lay any other foundation than the one already laid, Jesus Christ. Whatever is used by those who build upon this foundation, whether gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, the quality of each man's work will become known, for the day will make it plain. Because that day is to be ushered in with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of every man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon that foundation still remains, he will gain a reward. If any man's work is burnt up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will escape, but only as one who has passed through fire. Do not you know that you are God's temple, and that God's spirit has his home in you. If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is sacred, and so also are you. Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you imagines that as regards this world he is a wise man, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For in God's sight this world's wisdom is folly. Scripture tells of one who catches the wise in their own craftiness. And it says again, the Lord sees how fruitless are the deliberations of the wise. Therefore let no one boast about men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Kephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future. All things are yours. But you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Chapter 4. Let men look upon us as Christ's servants, and as stewards of the hidden truths of God. Now, what we look for in stewards is that they should be trustworthy. But it weighs very little with me that I am judged by you or by any human tribunal. No, I do not even judge myself. For though I am conscious of nothing against myself that does not prove me innocent. It is the Lord who is my judge. Therefore do not pass judgment before the time, but wait till the Lord comes. He will throw light upon what is now dark and obscure, and will reveal the motives in men's minds, and then everyone will receive due praise from God. All this, brothers, I have for your sakes applied to Apollos and myself, so that from our example you may learn to observe the precept, keep to what is written, that none of you may speak boastfully of one teacher to the disparagement of another. For who makes any one of you superior to others, and what have you that was not given to you? But if you received it as a gift, why do you boast as if you had not? Are you all so soon satisfied? Are you so soon rich? Have you begun to reign without us? Would indeed that you had, so that we also might reign with you? For as it seems to me, God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all, as men doomed to death. We are made a spectacle to the universe, both to angels and to men. We, for Christ's sake, are fools, but you, by your union with Christ, are men of discernment. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are despised. To this very hour we go hungry, thirsty, and naked. We are beaten. We are homeless. We work hard, toiling with our own hands. We meet abuse with blessings. We meet persecution with endurance. We meet slander with gentle appeals. We have been treated as the scum of the earth, the vilest of the vile to this very hour. It is with no wish to shame you that I am writing like this, but to warn you as my own dear children. Though you may have thousands of instructors in the faith of Christ, yet you have not many fathers. It was I who through union with Christ Jesus became your father by means of the good news. Therefore I entreat you, follow my example. This is my reason for sending Timothy to you. He is my own dear faithful child in the Master's service, and he will remind you of my methods of teaching the faith of Christ Jesus, methods which I follow everywhere in every church. Some, I hear, are puffed up with pride, thinking that I am not coming to you. But come to you I will, and that soon, if it please the Lord, and then I shall find out not what words these men use who are so puffed up, but what power they possess. For the kingdom of God is based not on words, but on power. What do you wish? Am I to come to you with a rod, or in a loving and gentle spirit? Chapter 5 There is a widespread report respecting a case of immorality among you, and that too of a kind that does not occur even among the Gentiles. A man, I hear, is living with his father's wife. Instead of grieving over it and taking steps for the expulsion of the man who has done this thing, is it possible that you are still puffed up? For I myself, though absent in body, have been present with you in spirit, and in the name of our Lord Jesus I have already passed judgment, just as if I had been present upon the man who has acted in this way. I have decided, having been present in spirit at your meetings, when the power of the Lord Jesus was with us, to deliver such a man as this over to Satan, that what is sensual in him may be destroyed so that his spirit may be saved at the day of the Lord. Your boasting is unseemly. Do not you know that even a little leaven leavens all the dough? Get rid entirely of the old leaven so that you may be like new dough, free from leaven, as in truth you are. For our Passover lamb is already sacrificed, Christ himself. Therefore let us keep our festival not with the leaven of former days, nor with the leaven of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I told you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, not of course meaning men of the world who are immoral or who are covetous and grasping or who worship idols, for then you should have to leave the world altogether. But as things are, I say that you are not to associate with anyone who, although a brother in name, is immoral or covetous or an idolater or abusive or a drunkard or grasping, no not even to sit at table with such a person. What have I to do with judging those outside the church? Is it not for you to judge those who are within the church, while God judges those who are outside? Put away the wicked man from among you. Can it be that when one of you has a dispute with one another, he dares to have his case tried before the heathen, instead of before Christ's people? Do not you know that Christ's people will try the world? And if the world is to be tried by you, are you unfit to try the most trivial cases? Do not you know that we are to try angels? To say nothing of the affairs of this life? Why then, if you have cases relating to the affairs of this life, do you set to try them, men who carry no weight with the church? To your shame, I ask it. Can it be that there is not one man among you wise enough to decide between two of his brothers? Must brother go to law with brother and that too before unbelievers? To begin with, it is undoubtedly a loss to you to have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated? Instead of this, you wrong and cheat others yourselves. Yes, even your brothers. Do not you know that wrongdoers will have no share in God's kingdom? Do not be deceived. No one who is immoral or an idolater or an adulterer or licentious or a sodomite or a thief or a covetous or a drunkard or abusive or grasping will have any share in God's kingdom. Such some of you used to be, but you washed yourselves clean. You became Christ's people. You were pronounced righteous through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the spirit of our God. Everything is allowable for me. Yes, but everything is not profitable. Everything is allowable for me. Yes, but for my part I will not let myself be enslaved by anything. Food exists for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will put an end to both the one and the other. The body however exists not for immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And as God has raised the Lord, so he will raise up us also by the exercise of his power. Do not you know that your bodies are Christ's members? Am I then to take the members that belong to the Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? Heaven forbid. Or do not you know that a man who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body, for the two it is said will become one, while a man who is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Shun all immorality. Every other sin that men commit is something outside the body, but an immoral man sins against his own body. Again, do not you know that your body is a shrine of the Holy Spirit that is within you, the spirit which you have from God? Moreover, you are not your own masters, you were bought, and the price was paid. Therefore honor God in your bodies. End of introduction and chapters one through six. The first letter to the Corinthians, chapter seven through eleven from the twentieth century New Testament. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by J. A. Carter. www.authenticlight.org. The twentieth century New Testament by a company of about twenty scholars. The first letter to the Corinthians, chapter seven through eleven. CHAPTER SEVEN With reference to the subjects about which you wrote to me, it would be well for a man to remain single, but owing to the prevalence of immorality I advise every man to have his own wife and every woman her husband. A husband should give his wife her due and a wife her husband. It is not the wife but the husband who exercises power over her body, and so too it is not the husband but the wife who exercises power over his body. Do not deprive each other of what is due, unless it is only for a time and by mutual consent, so that your minds may be free for prayer till you again live as man and wife, lest Satan should take advantage of your want of self-control and tempt you. I say this however as a concession, not as a command. I should wish everyone to be just what I am myself, but everyone has his own gift from God, one in one way and one in another. My advice then to those who are not married and to widows is this. It would be well for them to remain as I am myself, but if they cannot control themselves, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to be consumed with passion. To those who are married, my direction is, yet it is not mine but the master's, that a woman is not to leave her husband, if she has done so let her remain as she is or else be reconciled to her husband, and also that a man is not to divorce his wife. To all others I say, I, not the master, if a brother is married to a woman who is an unbeliever but willing to live with him, he should not divorce her, and a woman who is married to a man who is an unbeliever but willing to live with her should not divorce her husband. For through his wife the husband who is an unbeliever has become associated with Christ's people, and the wife who is an unbeliever has become associated with Christ's people through our brother whom she has married. Otherwise your children would be defiled, but as it is they belong to Christ's people. However, if the unbeliever wishes to be separated, let him be so. Under such circumstances neither the brother nor the sister is bound. God has called you to live in peace. How can you tell, wife, whether you may not save your husband, and how can you tell, husband, whether you may not save your wife? In any case, a man should continue to live in the condition which the Lord has allotted to him, and in which he was when God called him. This is the rule that I lay down in every church. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? Then he should not efface his circumcision. Has a man been called when uncircumcised? Then he should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and one of it is nothing, but to keep the commands of God is everything. Let every one remain in that condition of life in which he was when the call came to him. Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that trouble you. No, even if you are able to gain your freedom, still do your best. For the man who was a slave when he was called to the master's service is the master's freedman. So too the man who was free when called is Christ's slave. You were bought, and the price was paid. Do not let yourselves become slaves to men. Brothers let every one remain in the condition in which he was when he was called, in close communion with God. With regard to unmarried women, I have no command from the master to give you, but I tell you my opinion, and it is that of a man whom the master and his mercy has made worthy to be trusted. I think, then, that in view of the time of suffering that has now come upon us, what I have already said is best, that a man should remain as he is. Are you married to a wife? Then do not seek to be separated. Are you separated from a wife? Then do not seek for a wife. Still, if you should marry, that is not wrong. Nor if a young woman marries, is that wrong. But those who marry will have much trouble to bear, and my wish is to spare you. What I mean, brothers, is this. The time is short. Meanwhile, let those who have wives live as though they had none. Those who are weeping as if not weeping. Those who are rejoicing as if not rejoicing. Those who buy as if not possessing. And those who use the good things of the world as using them sparingly. For this world, as we see it, is passing away. I want you to be free from anxiety. The unmarried man is anxious about the master's cause, desiring to please him. While the married man is anxious about worldly matters, desiring to please his wife. And so his interests are divided. Again, the unmarried woman, whether she is old or young, is anxious about the master's cause, striving to be pure both in body and in spirit. While the married woman is anxious about worldly matters, desiring to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not with any intention of putting a halter around your necks, but in order to secure for the master seemingly and constant devotion, free from all distraction. If however a father thinks that he is not acting fairly by his unmarried daughter when she is past her youth and if under these circumstances her marriage ought to take place, let him act as he thinks right. He is doing nothing wrong. Let the marriage take place. On the other hand, a father who has definitely made up his mind and is under no compulsion, but is free to carry out his own wishes and who has come to the decision in his own mind to keep his unmarried daughter at home will be doing right. In short, the one who consents to his daughter's marriage is doing right, and yet the other will be doing better. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband should pass to his rest, the widow is free to marry anyone she wishes, provided he is a believer. Yet she will be happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion, for I think that I also have the spirit of God. CHAPTER 8 With reference to food that has been offered in sacrifice to idols, we are aware that all of us have knowledge. Knowledge breeds conceit while love builds up character. If a man thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet reached that knowledge which he ought to have reached. On the other hand, if a man loves God, he is known by God. With reference then to eating food that has been offered to idols, we are aware that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one. Even supposing that there are so-called gods either in heaven or on earth, and there are many such gods and lords, yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things come, and for him we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come, and through him we live. Still, it is not everyone that has this knowledge. Some people, because of their association with idols, continued down to the present time, eat the food as food offered to an idol, and their consciences, while still weak, are dulled. What we eat, however, will not bring us nearer to God. We lose nothing by not eating this food, and we gain nothing by eating it. But take care that this right of yours does not become in any way a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone should see you who possess this knowledge feasting in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is a weak man, become so hardened that he too will eat food offered to idols. And so, through this knowledge of yours, the weak man is ruined, your brother, for whose sake Christ died. In this way, by sinning against your brothers and injuring their consciences while still weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother fall, rather than make my brother fall, I will never eat meat again. CHAPTER IX Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen our Lord Jesus? Are not you yourselves my work achieved in union with the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others yet at least I am to you, for you are the seal that stamps me as an apostle in union with the Lord. The defense that I make to my critics is this. Have not we a right to food and drink? Have not we a right to take a wife with us if she is a Christian as the other apostles and the masters, brothers, and kifas all do? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to give up working for our bread? Does anyone ever serve as a soldier at his own expense? Does anyone plant a vineyard and not eat its produce? Or does anyone look after a herd and not drink the milk? Am I, in all this speaking only from the human standpoint, does not the law also say the same? For in the law of Moses it is said, thou shalt not muzzle a bullock while it is treading out the grain. Is it the bullocks that God is thinking of? Or is it not said entirely for our sakes? Surely it was written for our sakes, for the plowmen ought not to plow nor the thrash to thrash without expecting a share of the grain. Since we then sowed spiritual seed for you, is it too much that we should reap from you and earthly harvest? If others share in this right over you, do not we even more? Still, we did not avail ourselves of this right. No, we endure anything rather than impede the progress of the good news of the Christ. Do not you know that those who do the work of the temple live on what comes from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share the offerings with the altar? So, too, the master has appointed that those who tell the good news should get their living from the good news. I, however, have not availed myself of any of these rights. I am not saying this to secure such an arrangement for myself. Indeed, I would far rather die. Nobody shall make my boast a vain one. If I tell the good news I have nothing to boast of, for I can but do so. Woe is me if I do not tell it. If I do this work willingly, I have a reward. But if unwillingly, I have been charged to perform a duty. What is my reward then? To present the good news free of all cost, and so make but a sparing use of the rights which it gives me. Although I was entirely free, yet to win as many converts as possible I made myself every one's slave. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews. To those who are subject to law I became like a man subject to law, though I was not myself subject to law. To win those who are subject to law. To those who have no law I became like a man who has no law. Not that I am free from God's law. No, I am under Christ's law. To win those who have no law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so at all costs, to save some. And I do everything for the sake of the good news, that with them I may share in its blessings. Do not you know that on a race course, though all run, yet only one wins the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Every athlete exercises self restraint in everything. They indeed for a crown that fades. We for one that is unfading. I therefore run with no uncertain aim. I box, not like a man hitting the air. No, I bruise my body and make it my slave, lest I who have called others to the contest should myself be rejected. CHAPTER X I want you to bear in mind, brothers, that all our ancestors were beneath the cloud and all passed through the sea, that in the cloud and in the sea they all underwent baptism as followers of Moses, and that they all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural water, for they used to drink from a supernatural rock which followed them, and that rock was the Christ. Yet with most of them God was displeased, for they were struck down in the desert. These things happened as warnings to us, to teach us not to long for evil things as our forefathers longed. Do not become idolaters as some of them became. Scripture says the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to dance. Nor let us act immorally, as some of them acted with the result that twenty-three thousand of them fell dead in a single day. Nor let us try the patience of the Lord too far, as some of them tried it, with the result that they were one after another destroyed by the snakes. And do not murmur as some of them murmured and so were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them by way of warning, and were recorded to serve as a caution to us in whose days the clothes of the ages has come. Therefore let the man who thinks that he stands take care that he does not fall. No temptation has come upon you that is not common to all mankind. God will not fail you, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but when he sends the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, so that you may have strength to endure. Therefore, my dear friends, shun the worship of idols. I speak to you as men of discernment. Form your own judgment about what I am saying. In the cup of blessing which we bless is not there a sharing in the blood of the Christ, and in the bread which we break is not there a sharing in the body of the Christ. The bread is one, and we though many are one body, for we all partake of that one bread. Look at the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices share with the altar? What do I mean, you ask? That an offering made to an idol or the idol itself is anything? No. What I say is that the sacrifices offered by the Gentiles are being offered to demons and to a being who is no God, and I do not want you to share with demons. You cannot drink both the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons. Or are we to rouse the jealousy of the Lord? Are we stronger than He? Everything is allowable, yes, but everything is not profitable. Everything is allowable, yes, but everything does not build of character. A man must not study his own interests but the interests of others. Eat anything that is sold in the market without making inquiries to satisfy your scruples, for the earth with all that is in it belongs to the Lord. If an unbeliever invites you to his house and you consent to go, eat anything that is put before you without making inquiries to satisfy your scruples, but if anyone should say to you this has been offered in sacrifice to an idol, then for the sake of the speaker and his scruples do not eat it. I do not say your scruples, but his. For why should the freedom that I claim be condemned by the scruples of another? If for my part I take the food thankfully, why should I be abused for eating that for which I give thanks? Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything to the honor of God. Do not cause offense either to Jews or Greeks or to the Church of God. For I also try to please everybody in everything, not seeking my own advantage, but that of men in general that they may be saved. Imitate me, as I myself imitate Christ. CHAPTER XI. I praise you indeed, because you never forget me, and are keeping my injunctions in mind exactly as I laid them upon you. But I am anxious that you should understand that the Christ is the head of every man, that man is the head of woman, and that God is the head of the Christ. Any man who keeps his head covered when praying or preaching in public dishonors him who is his head, while any woman who prays or preaches in public bear headed dishonors him who is her head. For that is to make herself like one of the shameless women who shave their heads. Indeed, if a woman does not keep her head covered she may as well cut her hair short. But since to cut her hair short or shave it off marks her as one of the shameless women, let her keep her head covered. A man ought not to have his head covered, for he has been from the beginning the likeness of God and the reflection of his glory, but the woman is the reflection of man's glory. For it was not man who was taken from woman, but woman who was taken from man. Besides, man was not created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man, and therefore a woman ought to wear on her head a symbol of her subjection because of the presence of the angels. Still, when in union with the Lord, woman is not independent of man or man of woman. For just as woman came from man, so man comes by means of woman, and all things come from God. Judge for yourselves. Is it fitting that a woman should pray to God in public with her head uncovered? Does not nature herself teach us that while for a man to wear his hair long is degrading to him, a woman's long hair is her glory? Her hair has been given her to serve as a covering. If, however, anyone still thinks it right to contest the point, well, we have no such custom, nor have the churches of God. In giving directions on the next subject, I cannot praise you, because your meetings do more harm than good. To begin with, I hear that when you meet as a church, divisions exist among you, and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there must be actual parties among you, for so only will the men of real worth become known. When you meet together, as I understand, it is not possible to eat the Lord's supper. For as you eat, each of you tries to secure his own supper first, with the result that one has too little to eat and another has too much to drink. Have you no houses in which you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show your contempt for the church of God and to humiliate the poor? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I cannot praise you. For I myself received from the Lord the account which I have in turn given to you. How the Lord Jesus, on the very night of his betrayal, took some bread, and after saying the thanksgiving, broke it, and said, This is my own body, given on your behalf. Do this in memory of me. And in the same way with the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant made by my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in memory of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the Lord's cup in an irreverent spirit will have to answer for an offense against the Lord's body and blood. Let each man look into his own heart, and only then eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For the man who eats and drinks brings a judgment upon himself by his eating and drinking, when he does not discern the body. That is why so many among you are weak and ill, and why some are sleeping. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. Yet in being judged by the Lord we are undergoing discipline so that we may not have judgment passed upon us with the rest of the world. Therefore, my brothers, when you meet together to eat the supper, wait for one another. If a man is hungry, let him eat at home so that your meetings may not bring a judgment upon you. The other details I will settle when I come. END OF CHAPTER 7 THROUGH 11 THE FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS CHAPTERS 12 THROUGH 16 FROM THE TWENTYTH CENTURY NEW TESTIMATE THIS IS A LIBRAVOX RECORDING. ALL LIBRAVOX RECORDINGS ARE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO VOLUNTEER, PLEASE VISIT LIBRAVOX.ORG RECORDING BY J. A. CARTER www.authenticlight.org THE TWENTYTH CENTURY NEW TESTIMATE BY A COMPANY OF ABOUT TWENTY SCHOLARS THE FIRST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS CHAPTERS 12 THROUGH 16 CHAPTER 12 IN THE NEXT PLACE, BROTHERS, I DO NOT WANT YOU TO BE IGNORANT ABOUT SPIRITUAL GIFTS. YOU KNOW THAT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN YOU WERE GENTILES, GOING A STRAY AFTER IDOLS THAT COULD NOT SPEAK, JUST AS YOU HAPPEN TO BE LED. THEREFORE I TELL YOU PLANELY, THAT NO ONE WHO SPEAKS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD SAYS, JESUS IS ACCURSED, AND THAT NO ONE CAN SAY JESUS IS LORD, EXCEPT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. GIFTS DIFFER, BUT THE SPIRIT IS THE SAME. WAYS OF SERVING DIFFER, YET THE MASTER IS THE SAME. RESULTS DIFFER, YET THE GOD WHO BRINGS ABOUT EVERY RESULT IS IN EVERY CASE THE SAME. TO EACH MAN THERE IS GIVEN SPIRITUAL ILLUMINATION FOR THE GENERAL GOOD. TO ONE IS GIVEN THE POWER TO SPEAK WITH WISDOM THROUGH THE SPIRIT. TO ANOTHER THE POWER TO SPEAK WITH KNOWLEDGE DUE TO THE SAME SPIRIT. TO ANOTHER FAITH BY THE SAME SPIRIT. TO ANOTHER POWER TO CURE DISEASES BY THE ONE SPIRIT. TO ANOTHER SUPERNATURAL POWERS. TO ANOTHER THE GIFT OF PREACHING. TO ANOTHER THE GIFT OF DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN TRUE AND FALSE INSPIRATION. TO ANOTHER VARIETIES OF THE GIFT OF TONGUES. TO ANOTHER THE POWER TO INTERPRET TONGUES. All these result from one and the same spirit who distributes his gifts to each individually as he wills. For just as the human body is one whole and yet has many parts and all its parts, many though they are, form but one body, so it is with the Christ. For it was by one spirit that we were all baptized to form one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen, and were all imbued with one spirit. The human body, I repeat, consists not of one part but of many. If the foot says, Since I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it does not on that account cease to belong to the body, or if the ear says, Since I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it does not on that account cease to belong to the body. If all the body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If it were all hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed each individual part just where he thought fit in the body. If, however, they all made up only one part, where would the body be? But in fact, although it has many parts, there is only one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need you, nor again the head to the feet, I do not need you. No, those parts of the body that seem naturally the weaker are indispensable, and those parts which we deem less honourable we surround with special honour, and our ungraceful parts receive a special grace which our graceful parts do not require. Yes, God has so constructed the body by giving a special honour to the part that lacks it, as to secure that there should be no disunion in the body, but that the parts should show the same care for one another. If one part suffers, all the others suffer with it, and if one part has honour done it, all the others share its joy. Together you are the body of Christ and individually its parts. In the church God has appointed first apostles, secondly preachers, thirdly teachers, then he has given supernatural powers, then power to cure diseases, aptness for helping others, capacity to govern, varieties of the gift of tongues. Can everyone be an apostle? Can everyone be a preacher? Can everyone be a teacher? Can everyone have supernatural powers? Can everyone have power to cure diseases? Can everyone speak in tongues? Can everyone interpret them? Strive for the greater gifts, yet I can still show you away beyond all comparison the best. CHAPTER XIII. Though I speak in the tongues of men or even of angels, yet have not love, I have become mere echoing brass or a clanging cymbal. Even though I have the gift of preaching and fathom all hidden truths and all the depths of knowledge, even though I have such faith as might move mountains, yet have not love, I am nothing. Even though I dole my substance to the poor, even though I sacrifice my body that I may boast, yet have not love, it avails me nothing. Love is longsuffering and kind. Love is never envious, never boastful, never conceited, never behaves unbecomingly. Love is never self-seeking, never provoked, never reckons up her wrongs. Love never rejoices at evil, but rejoices in the triumph of truth. Love bears with all things, ever trustful, ever hopeful, ever patient. Love never fails, but whether it be the gift of preaching, it will be done with. Whether it be the gift of tongues, it will cease. Whether it be knowledge, it too will be done with. For our knowledge is incomplete, and our preaching is incomplete. But when the perfect has come, that which is incomplete will be done with. When I was a child, I talked as a child. I felt as a child. I reasoned as a child. Now that I am a man, I have done with childish ways. As yet we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. As yet my knowledge is incomplete, but then I shall know in full as I have been fully known. Meanwhile, faith, hope, and love endure. These three. But the greatest of these is love. CHAPTER 14 Seek this love earnestly, and strive for spiritual gifts above all for the gift of preaching. He who, when speaking uses the gift of tongues, is speaking not to men, but to God, for no one understands him. Yet in spirit he is speaking of hidden truths. But he who preaches is speaking to his fellow men words that will build up faith and give them comfort and encouragement. He who, when speaking uses the gift of tongues, builds up his own faith, while he who preaches builds up the faith of the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but much more I wish that you should preach. A preacher is of more account than he who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets his words, so that the faith of the church may be built up. This being so, brothers, what good shall I do you if I come to you and speak in tongues, unless my words convey some revelation or knowledge or take the form of preaching or teaching? Even with inanimate things, such as a flute or a harp, though they produce sounds, yet unless the notes are quite distinct, how can the tune played on the flute or the harp be recognized? If the bugle sounds a doubtful call, who will prepare for battle? So with you, unless in using the gift of tongues you utter intelligible words, how can what you say be understood? You will be speaking to the winds. There is, for instance, a certain number of different languages in the world, and not one of them fails to convey meaning. If, however, I do not happen to know the language, I shall be a foreigner to those who speak it, and they shall be foreigners to me. And so with you, since you are striving for spiritual gifts, be eager to excel in such as will build up the faith of the church. Therefore let him who, when speaking, uses the gift of tongues pray for ability to interpret them. If when praying I use the gift of tongues my spirit indeed prays, but my mind is a blank, what then is my conclusion? Simply this, I will pray with my spirit, but with my mind as well, I will sing with my spirit, but with my mind as well. If you bless God with your spirit only, how can the man in the congregation who is without your gift say amen to your Thanksgiving? He does not know what you are saying. Your Thanksgiving may be excellent, but the other is not helped by it. Thank God I use the gift of tongues more than any of you, but at a meeting of the church I should rather speak five words with my mind, and so teach others than ten thousand words when using the gift of tongues. Brothers, do not show yourselves children in understanding. In wickedness be infants, but in understanding show yourselves men. It is said in the law, in strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord. Therefore the gift of the tongues is intended as a sign not for those who believe in Christ, but for those who do not, while the gift of preaching is intended as a sign not for those who do not believe in Christ, but for those who do. So when the whole church meets, if all present use the gift of tongues and some men who are without that gift or who are unbelievers come in, will not they say that you are mad? While if all those present use the gift of preaching and an unbeliever or a man without the gift comes in, he is convinced of his sinfulness by them all. He is called to account by them all. The secrets of his heart are revealed, and then throwing himself on his face he will worship God and declare, God is indeed among you. What do I suggest then, brothers? Whenever you meet for worship, each of you comes either with a hymn or a lesson or a revelation or the gift of tongues or the interpretation of them. Let everything be directed to the building up of faith. If any of you use the gift of tongues, not more than two or at the most three should do so, each speaking in his turn, and some one should interpret them. If there is no one able to interpret what is said, they should remain silent at the meeting of the church and speak to themselves and to God. Of preachers, two or three should speak, and the rest should weigh well what is said. But if some revelation is made to another person as he sits there, the first speaker should stop, for you can all preach in turn so that all may learn some lesson and all receive encouragement. The spirit that moves the preachers is within the preacher's control, for God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. This custom prevails in all the churches of Christ's people. At the meetings of the church, married women should remain silent, for they are not allowed to speak in public. They should take a subordinate place as the law itself directs. If they want information on any point, they should ask their husbands about it at home, for it is unbecoming for a married woman to speak at a meeting of the church. What? Did God's message to the world originate with you, or did it find its way to none but you? If anyone thinks he has the gift of preaching or any other spiritual gift, let him recognize that what I am now saying to you is a command from the Lord. Anyone who ignores it may be ignored. Therefore, my brothers, strive for the gift of preaching and yet do not forbid speaking in tongues. Let everything be done in a proper and orderly manner. Chapter 15 Next, brothers, I would remind you of the good news which I told you and which you received, the good news on which you have taken your stand, and by means of which you are being saved. I would remind you of the very words that I used in telling it to you, since you are still holding fast to it and since it was not in vain that you became believers in Christ. For at the very beginning of my teaching I gave you the account which I had myself received, that Christ died for our sins as the scriptures had foretold, that he was buried, that on the third day he was raised as the scriptures had foretold, and that he appeared to Kephas and then to the twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of our brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have gone to their rest. After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all he appeared even to me, who am, as it were, the abortion. For I am the meanest of the apostles. I who am unworthy of the name of apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But it is through the love of God that I am what I am, and the love that he showed me has not been wasted. No, I have toiled harder than any of them, and yet it was not I but the love of God working with me. Whether then it was I or whether it was they, this we proclaim, and this you believed. Now, if it is proclaimed of Christ, that he has been raised from the dead, how is it that some of you say that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead? But if there is no such thing as a resurrection from the dead, then even Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without meaning, and our faith is without meaning also. Yes, and we are being proved to have borne false testimony about God. For we testified of God that he raised the Christ, whom he did not raise, if indeed the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then even Christ himself has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is folly. Your sins are on you still. Yes, and they who have passed to their rest in union with Christ perished. If all that we have done has been to place our hope in Christ for this life, then we of all men are the most to be pitied. But in truth Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are at rest. For since through a man there is death, so too through a man there is a resurrection of the dead. For as through union with Adam all men die, so through union with Christ all will be made to live, but each in his proper order. Christ the first fruits, afterwards that is coming those who belong to the Christ. Then will come the end, when he surrenders the kingdom to his God and Father, having overthrown all other rule and all other authority and power. For he must reign until God has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be overthrown is death. For God has placed all things under Christ's feet. But when it is said that all things have been placed under Christ, it is plain that God is accepted who placed everything under him. And when everything has been placed under him the Son will place himself under God, who placed everything under him, that God may be all in all. Again, what good will they be doing who are baptized on behalf of the dead? If it is true that the dead do not rise, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why, too, do we risk our lives every hour? Daily I face death. I swear it, brothers, by the pride in you that I feel through my union with Christ Jesus our Lord. If, with only human hopes, I had fought in the arena at Ephesus, what should I have gained by it? If the dead do not rise, then let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Do not be deceived. Good character is marred by evil company. Awake to a righteous life and cease to sin. There are some who have no true knowledge of God. I speak in this way to shame you. Someone, however, may ask, how do the dead rise? And in what body will they come? You foolish man. The seed you yourself sow does not come to life unless it dies. And when you sow, you sow not the body that will be but a mere grain, perhaps a wheat or something else. God gives it the body that he pleases. To each seed it's special body. All forms of life are not the same. There is one for men, another for beasts, another for birds, and another for fishes. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the beauty of the heavenly bodies is not the beauty of the earthly. There is a beauty of the sun and a beauty of the moon and a beauty of the stars. For even star differs from star in beauty. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. Sown a mortal body. It rises immortal. Sown disfigured. It rises beautiful. Sown weak. It rises strong. Sown a human body. It rises a spiritual body. As surely as there is a human body, there is also a spiritual body. This is what is meant by the words, Adam the first man became a human being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. That which comes first is not the spiritual but the human. Afterwards comes the spiritual. The first man was from the dust of the earth. The second man from heaven. Those who are of the dust are like him who came from the dust, and those who are of heaven are like him who came from heaven. And as we have born the likeness of him who came from the dust, so let us bear the likeness of him who came from heaven. This I say, brothers, flesh and blood can have no share in the kingdom of God, nor can the perishable share the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you God's hidden purpose. We shall not all have passed to our rest, but we shall all be transformed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet call. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will rise immortal and we also shall be transformed. For this perishable body of ours must put on an imperishable form, and this dying body a deathless form. For when this dying body has put on its deathless form, then indeed will the words of scripture come true. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is thy victory? Where, O death, is thy sting? It is sin that gives death its sting, and it is the law that gives sin its power, but thanks me to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm, unshaken, always diligent in the Lord's work, for you know that in union with him your toil is not in vain. CHAPTER 16 With reference to the collection for Christ's people, I want you to follow the instructions that I gave to the churches in Galatia. On the first day of every week each of you should put by what he can afford so that no collections need be made after I have come. On my arrival I will send any persons whom you may authorize by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem, and if it appears to be worthwhile for me to go also, they shall go with me. I will come to you as soon as I have been through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia, and I shall probably make some stay with you, or perhaps remain for the winter, so that you may yourself send me on my way wherever I may be going. I do not propose to pay you a visit in passing now, for I hope to stay with you for some time, if the Lord permits. I intend, however, staying at Ephesus till the festival at the close of the harvest, for a great opening for active work has presented itself, and there are many opponents. If Timothy comes, take care that he has no cause for feeling anxious while he is with you. He is doing the master's work no less than I am. No one, therefore, should slight him. See him safely on his way to me, for I am expecting him with some of our brothers. As for our brother Apollos, I have often urged him to go to you with the others. He has, however, been very unwilling to do so as yet, but he will go as soon as he finds a good opportunity. Be watchful. Stand firm in your faith. Show yourselves men. Be strong. Let everything you do be done in a loving spirit. I have another request to make of you, brothers. You remember Stefanus and his household, that they were the first fruits gathered in from Greece and set themselves to serve Christ's people. I want you on your part to show deference to such men as these, as well as to every fellow laborer and earnest worker. I am glad Stefanus and Fortunatus and Achaicus have come, for they have made up for your absence. They have cheered my heart and your hearts also. Recognize the worth of such men as these. The churches in Roman Asia send you their greetings. Aquila and Prisca and the church that meets at their house send you many Christian greetings. All our brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a sacred kiss. I, Paul, add this greeting in my own handwriting. A curse to be anyone who has no love for the Lord. The Lord is coming. May the blessing of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you who are in union with Christ Jesus.