Of the incestuous person. I. Cor. Offenders to be shunned. 18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? the flesh,a that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. pistle not to company with for9 I wrote unto you in an enicators : 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs the world. go out of 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man, that is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without, do not ye judge them that are within ? a To deliver such an one unto Satan, &c. Some suppose this means only excommunication from the visible church of Christ; others are of opinion, it may denote some particular punishment, which the apostles were empowered to inflict. of going to law. Chap. vi. 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. CHAP. VI. 1 Of going to law with the brethren. 15 Our bodies are Christ's members. DARE any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints ? 2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters. 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? how much more things that pertain to this life? 4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge, who are least esteemed in the church. 5 I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge be tween his brethren ? 6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another; why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? 8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. 9 Know ye not that the un Of avoiding disputes. righteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornieation, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 44 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What! know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two (saith he) shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Exe ry sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God? and ye are not your own, 20 For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. CHAP. VII.* 1 He treateth of marriage, 4 shewing it to be a remedy against fornication. NOW, concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me; It is good for a man not to touch a woman.a 2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every manb have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence; and likewise also the wife unto the husband. a It is good for a person in this state of persecution, not to marry. b Let every man, &c. i. e. let neither man nor wife put away or forsake the other, as some falsely ima gine it a duty. continency. 4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. 5 Defraud ye not one the other, c except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. 6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment. 7 For I would that all men were even as myself; but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. 81 say, therefore, to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them that they abide even as I. 9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn. 10 And unto the married I e Defraud ye not one another, &c. Paul here, speaking to the man and wife, says, defraud or forsake ye not one another, except it be by mutual consent for a certain time, when you may wish more particularly to attend to the duties of devotion. To understand this chapter, it is necessary to know, that the Jews considered matrimony a sacred duty, and that the Grecian philosophers taught, that if a man would be happy, he should not marry. The brethren at Corinth, therefore, wrote to St. Paul, desiring him to inform them whether, in their present state of persecution, they might not without sin, abstain from marriage altogether; and whether such as were already married, might not dissolve their marriage vows on account of the trials, to which they were exposed. Although their letter to the apostle is now lost, its contents are suggested by this chapter, which he wrote in answer, and which contains his advice and direction. command, yet not I but the Lord; Let not the wife depart from her husband; 11 But, and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband; and let not the husband put away his wife. 12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord; lf any brother hath a wife that believeth not,d and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. 13 And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. 15 (But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases; but God hath called us to peace.) 16 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save e thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? 17 But as God hath distrib d If any brother, &c. It was thought by some, that if either of the married party were a Christian and the other not, it was the duty of the Christian to put away the other; but Paul taught otherwise. e Save or convert thy husband. of virginity. uted to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk; and so ordain I in all churches. 18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised; is any called in uncircumcision? let him not become circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. 20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. 21 Art thou called, being a servant ? care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. 22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's free man; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. 24 Brethren, let every man wherein he is called therein abide with God. 25 Now, concerning virgins, f I have no commandment of the Lord; yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. 26 I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present dis f Concerning virgins. The original word, here translated virgins, denotes persons of either sex, who have never been married. tress ;g I say, that it is good for a man so to be.h 27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 28 But, and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned; nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh i but spare you.j 29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remain eth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none; 30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; 31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it ;k for the fashion of this world passeth away. 32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: 33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. of marriages. 34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she that is. married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. 36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin,m if she pass the flower of her agen and need so require,o let him do what he will,p he sinneth not; let them marry. 37 Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart, that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. 38 So then, he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. 39 The wife is bound by m If any man think, he has improperly withheld his virgin daughter from marriage. n If she pass, &c. If she be of suitable age, and unmarried. • And need so require, and wishes to marry. p Let him do what he will, let him, if he will, grant her request; in so doing he does not sin; let such virgin daughters marry. |