1 Corinthians 9; 1 Corinthians 10; 1 Corinthians 11

1 Corinthians 9

1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord? Aren't you my work in the Lord?

2 If I'm not an apostle to others, at least I am to you! You are the seal that shows I'm an apostle.

3 This is my defense against those who criticize me.

4 Don't we have the right to eat and drink?

5 Don't we have the right to travel with a wife who believes like the rest of the apostles, the Lord's brothers, and Cephas?

6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who don't have the right to not work for our living?

7 Who joins the army and pays their own way? Who plants a vineyard and doesn't eat its fruit? Who shepherds a flock and doesn't drink its milk?

8 I'm not saying these things just based on common sense, am I? Doesn't the Law itself say these things?

9 In Moses' Law it's written: You will not muzzle the ox when it is threshing. Is God worried about oxen,

10 or did he say this entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake because the one who plows and the one who threshes should each do so with the hope of sharing the produce.

11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it so much to ask to harvest some material things from you?

12 If others have these rights over you, don't we deserve them all the more? However, we haven't made use of this right, but we put up with everything so we don't put any obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

13 Don't you know that those who serve in the temple get to eat food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share part of what is sacrificed on the altar?

14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel.

15 But I haven't taken advantage of this. And I'm not writing this so that it will be done for me. It's better for me to die than to lose my right to brag about this!

16 If I preach the gospel, I have no reason to brag, since I'm obligated to do it. I'm in trouble if I don't preach the gospel.

17 If I do this voluntarily, I get rewarded for it. But if I'm forced to do it, then I've been charged with a responsibility.

18 What reward do I get? That when I preach, I offer the good news free of charge. That's why I don't use the rights to which I'm entitled through the gospel.

19 Although I'm free from all people, I make myself a slave to all people, to recruit more of them.

20 I act like a Jew to the Jews, so I can recruit Jews. I act like I'm under the Law to those under the Law, so I can recruit those who are under the Law (though I myself am not under the Law).

21 I act like I'm outside the Law to those who are outside the Law, so I can recruit those outside the Law (though I'm not outside the law of God but rather under the law of Christ).

22 I act weak to the weak, so I can recruit the weak. I have become all things to all people, so I could save some by all possible means.

23 All the things I do are for the sake of the gospel, so I can be a partner with it.

24 Don't you know that all the runners in the stadium run, but only one gets the prize? So run to win.

25 Everyone who competes practices self-discipline in everything. The runners do this to get a crown of leaves that shrivel up and die, but we do it to receive a crown that never dies.

26 So now this is how I run—not without a clear goal in sight. I fight like a boxer in the ring, not like someone who is shadowboxing.

27 Rather, I'm landing punches on my own body and subduing it like a slave. I do this to be sure that I myself won't be disqualified after preaching to others.

1 Corinthians 10

1 Brothers and sisters, I want you to be sure of the fact that our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all went through the sea.

2 All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

3 All ate the same spiritual food,

4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

5 However, God was unhappy with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

6 These things were examples for us, so we won't crave evil things like they did.

7 Don't worship false gods like some of them did, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and they got up to play.

8 Let's not practice sexual immorality, like some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in one day.

9 Let's not test Christ, like some of them did, and were killed by the snakes.

10 Let's not grumble, like some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

11 These things happened to them as an example and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of time has come.

12 So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall.

13 No temptation has seized you that isn't common for people. But God is faithful. He won't allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it.

14 So then, my dear friends, run away from the worship of false gods!

15 I'm talking to you like you are sensible people. Think about what I'm saying.

16 Isn't the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Isn't the loaf of bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

17 Since there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, because we all share the one loaf of bread.

18 Look at the people of Israel. Don't those who eat the sacrifices share from the altar?

19 What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to a false god is anything, or that a false god is anything?

20 No, but this kind of sacrifice is sacrificed to demons and not to God. I don't want you to be sharing in demons.

21 You can't drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you can't participate in the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

22 Or should we make the Lord jealous? We aren't stronger than he is, are we?

23 Everything is permitted, but everything isn't beneficial. Everything is permitted, but everything doesn't build others up.

24 No one should look out for their own advantage, but they should look out for each other.

25 Eat everything that is sold in the marketplace, without asking questions about it because of your conscience.

26 The earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord.

27 If an unbeliever invites you to eat with them and you want to go, eat whatever is served, without asking questions because of your conscience.

28 But if someone says to you, "This meat was sacrificed in a temple," then don't eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.

29 Now when I say "conscience" I don't mean yours but the other person's. Why should my freedom be judged by someone else's conscience?

30 If I participate with gratitude, why should I be blamed for food I thank God for?

31 So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you should do it all for God's glory.

32 Don't offend either Jews or Greeks, or God's church.

33 This is the same thing that I do. I please everyone in everything I do. I don't look out for my own advantage, but I look out for many people so that they can be saved.

1 Corinthians 11

1 Follow my example, just like I follow Christ's.

2 I praise you because you remember all my instructions, and you hold on to the traditions exactly as I handed them on to you.

3 Now I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered shames his head.

5 Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head. It is the same thing as having her head shaved.

6 If a woman doesn't cover her head, then she should have her hair cut off. If it is disgraceful for a woman to have short hair or to be shaved, then she should keep her head covered.

7 A man shouldn't have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is man's glory.

8 Man didn't have his origin from woman, but woman from man;

9 and man wasn't created for the sake of the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man.

10 Because of this a woman should have authority over her head, because of the angels.

11 However, woman isn't independent from man, and man isn't independent from woman in the Lord.

12 As woman came from man so also man comes from woman. But everything comes from God.

13 Judge for yourselves: Is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

14 Doesn't nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him;

15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? This is because her long hair is given to her for a covering.

16 But if someone wants to argue about this, we don't have such a custom, nor do God's churches.

17 Now I don't praise you as I give the following instruction because when you meet together, it does more harm than good.

18 First of all, when you meet together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it.

19 It's necessary that there are groups among you, to make it clear who is genuine.

20 So when you get together in one place, it isn't to eat the Lord's meal.

21 Each of you goes ahead and eats a private meal. One person goes hungry while another is drunk.

22 Don't you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on God's churches and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Will I praise you? No, I don't praise you in this.

23 I received a tradition from the Lord, which I also handed on to you: on the night on which he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread.

24 After giving thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this to remember me."

25 He did the same thing with the cup, after they had eaten, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do this to remember me."

26 Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you broadcast the death of the Lord until he comes.

27 This is why those who eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord inappropriately will be guilty of the Lord's body and blood.

28 Each individual should test himself or herself, and eat from the bread and drink from the cup in that way.

29 Those who eat and drink without correctly understanding the body are eating and drinking their own judgment.

30 Because of this, many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died.

31 But if we had judged ourselves, we wouldn't be judged.

32 However, we are disciplined by the Lord when we are judged so that we won't be judged and condemned along with the whole world.

33 For these reasons, my brothers and sisters, when you get together to eat, wait for each other.

34 If some of you are hungry, they should eat at home so that getting together doesn't lead to judgment. I will give directions about the other things when I come.