The Gospel of Mark (Part Six)

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The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

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 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Paul, Silas#1:1 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas and Timothy,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">Grace and peace to you.</div><div class="s1">Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians&#8217; Faith</div><div class="p"> 2We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="p"> 4For we know, brothers and sisters#1:4 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in 2:1, 9, 14, 17; 3:7; 4:1, 10, 13; 5:1, 4, 12, 14, 25, 27. loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8The Lord&#8217;s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia&#8212;your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead&#8212;Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.</div>
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 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Ministry in Thessalonica</div><div class="p"> 1You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed&#8212;God is our witness. 6We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7Instead, we were like young children#2:7 Some manuscripts were gentle among you.</div><div class="p">Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.</div><div class="p"> 13And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. 14For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God&#8217;s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.#2:16 Or them fully</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Longing to See the Thessalonians</div><div class="p"> 17But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18For we wanted to come to you&#8212;certainly I, Paul, did, again and again&#8212;but Satan blocked our way. 19For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20Indeed, you are our glory and joy.</div>
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 <div class="label">3</div><div class="p"> 1So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God&#8217;s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. 4In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.</div><div class="s1">Timothy&#8217;s Encouraging Report</div><div class="p"> 6But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 9How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.</div><div class="p"> 11Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.</div>
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 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Living to Please God</div><div class="p"> 1As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 3It is God&#8217;s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control your own body#4:4 Or learn to live with your own wife; or learn to acquire a wife in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.#4:6 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God&#8217;s family. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 9Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10And in fact, you do love all of God&#8217;s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.</div><div class="s1">Believers Who Have Died</div><div class="p"> 13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord&#8217;s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.</div>
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 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">The Day of the Lord</div><div class="p"> 1Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, &#8220;Peace and safety,&#8221; destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.</div><div class="p"> 4But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.</div><div class="s1">Final Instructions</div><div class="p"> 12Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.</div><div class="p"> 16Rejoice always, 17pray continually, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God&#8217;s will for you in Christ Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22reject every kind of evil.</div><div class="p"> 23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 25Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26Greet all God&#8217;s people with a holy kiss. 27I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.</div><div class="p"> 28The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.</div>
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 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Paul, Silas#1:1 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas and Timothy,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Thanksgiving and Prayer</div><div class="p"> 3We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,#1:3 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in 2:1, 13, 15; 3:1, 6, 13. and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4Therefore, among God&#8217;s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.</div><div class="p"> 5All this is evidence that God&#8217;s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.</div><div class="p"> 11With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.#1:12 Or God and Lord, Jesus Christ</div>
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 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">The Man of Lawlessness</div><div class="p"> 1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us&#8212;whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter&#8212;asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don&#8217;t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness#2:3 Some manuscripts sin is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God&#8217;s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.</div><div class="p"> 5Don&#8217;t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.</div><div class="s1">Stand Firm</div><div class="p"> 13But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits#2:13 Some manuscripts because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="p"> 15So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings#2:15 Or traditions we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.</div><div class="p"> 16May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.</div>
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 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">Request for Prayer</div><div class="p"> 1As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. 3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 4We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5May the Lord direct your hearts into God&#8217;s love and Christ&#8217;s perseverance.</div><div class="s1">Warning Against Idleness</div><div class="p"> 6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching#3:6 Or tradition you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone&#8217;s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: &#8220;The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.</div><div class="p"> 14Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. 15Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.</div><div class="s1">Final Greetings</div><div class="p"> 16Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.</div><div class="p"> 17I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.</div><div class="p"> 18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.</div>
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New International Version

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 <div class="p">5When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. 6But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, &#8220;Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.</div><div class="p"> 9One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: &#8220;Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.&#8221; 11So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.</div><div class="p"> 12While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. 13&#8220;This man,&#8221; they charged, &#8220;is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, &#8220;If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law&#8212;settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.&#8221; 16So he drove them off. 17Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.</div><div class="s1">Priscilla, Aquila and Apollos</div><div class="p"> 18Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. 19They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21But as he left, he promised, &#8220;I will come back if it is God&#8217;s will.&#8221; Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.</div><div class="p"> 23After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.</div><div class="p"> 24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor#18:25 Or with fervor in the Spirit and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.</div><div class="p"> 27When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.</div>
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 <div class="p">1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, &#8220;Did you receive the Holy Spirit when#19:2 Or after you believed?&#8221;</div><div class="p">They answered, &#8220;No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3So Paul asked, &#8220;Then what baptism did you receive?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;John&#8217;s baptism,&#8221; they replied.</div><div class="p"> 4Paul said, &#8220;John&#8217;s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.&#8221; 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues#19:6 Or other languages and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.</div><div class="p"> 8Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 11God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.</div><div class="p"> 13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, &#8220;In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.&#8221; 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15One day the evil spirit answered them, &#8220;Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?&#8221; 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.</div><div class="p"> 17When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.#19:19 A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day&#8217;s wages. 20In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.</div><div class="p"> </div>
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 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p"> 1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 2To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ&#8212;their Lord and ours:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p"> 3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Thanksgiving</div><div class="p"> 4I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way&#8212;with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge&#8212; 6God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.</div><div class="s1">A Church Divided Over Leaders</div><div class="p"> 10I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,#1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in verses 11 and 26; and in 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 6:8; 7:24, 29; 10:1; 11:33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26, 39; 15:1, 6, 50, 58; 16:15, 20. in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe&#8217;s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, &#8220;I follow Paul&#8221;; another, &#8220;I follow Apollos&#8221;; another, &#8220;I follow Cephas#1:12 That is, Peter&#8221;; still another, &#8220;I follow Christ.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don&#8217;t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel&#8212;not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.</div><div class="s1">Christ Crucified Is God&#8217;s Power and Wisdom</div><div class="p"> 18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;</div><div class="q2">the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.&#8221;#1:19 Isaiah 29:14</div><div class="p"> 20Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.</div><div class="p"> 26Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things&#8212;and the things that are not&#8212;to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God&#8212;that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: &#8220;Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.&#8221;#1:31 Jer. 9:24</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="1CO.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="p"> 1And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.#2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God&#8217;s mystery 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit&#8217;s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God&#8217;s power.</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit</div><div class="p"> 6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we declare God&#8217;s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;What no eye has seen,</div><div class="q2">what no ear has heard,</div><div class="q1">and what no human mind has conceived&#8221;#2:9 Isaiah 64:4&#8212;</div><div class="q2">the things God has prepared for those who love him&#8212;</div><div class="m"> 10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.</div><div class="p">The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who knows a person&#8217;s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.#2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual 14The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16for,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Who has known the mind of the Lord</div><div class="q2">so as to instruct him?&#8221;#2:16 Isaiah 40:13</div><div class="m">But we have the mind of Christ.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="1CO.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">The Church and Its Leaders</div><div class="p"> 1Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly&#8212;mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4For when one says, &#8220;I follow Paul,&#8221; and another, &#8220;I follow Apollos,&#8221; are you not mere human beings?</div><div class="p"> 5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe&#8212;as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9For we are co-workers in God&#8217;s service; you are God&#8217;s field, God&#8217;s building.</div><div class="p"> 10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person&#8217;s work. 14If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved&#8212;even though only as one escaping through the flames.</div><div class="p"> 16Don&#8217;t you know that you yourselves are God&#8217;s temple and that God&#8217;s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17If anyone destroys God&#8217;s temple, God will destroy that person; for God&#8217;s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.</div><div class="p"> 18Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become &#8220;fools&#8221; so that you may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God&#8217;s sight. As it is written: &#8220;He catches the wise in their craftiness&#8221;#3:19 Job 5:13; 20and again, &#8220;The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.&#8221;#3:20 Psalm 94:11 21So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas#3:22 That is, Peter or the world or life or death or the present or the future&#8212;all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="1CO.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">The Nature of True Apostleship</div><div class="p"> 1This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.</div><div class="p"> 6Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, &#8220;Do not go beyond what is written.&#8221; Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 7For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?</div><div class="p"> 8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign&#8212;and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world&#8212;right up to this moment.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Appeal and Warning</div><div class="p"> 14I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.</div><div class="p"> 18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="1CO.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">Dealing With a Case of Incest</div><div class="p"> 1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father&#8217;s wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn&#8217;t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,#5:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.#5:5 Or of his body so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 6Your boasting is not good. Don&#8217;t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch&#8212;as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.</div><div class="p"> 9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people&#8212; 10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister#5:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in 8:11, 13. but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.</div><div class="p"> 12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. &#8220;Expel the wicked person from among you.&#8221;#5:13 Deut. 13:5; 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21,24; 24:7</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="1CO.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Lawsuits Among Believers</div><div class="p"> 1If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord&#8217;s people? 2Or do you not know that the Lord&#8217;s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? 5I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6But instead, one brother takes another to court&#8212;and this in front of unbelievers!</div><div class="p"> 7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters. 9Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men#6:9 The words men who have sex with men translate two Greek words that refer to the passive and active participants in homosexual acts. 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.</div><div class="s1">Sexual Immorality</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;I have the right to do anything,&#8221; you say&#8212;but not everything is beneficial. &#8220;I have the right to do anything&#8221;&#8212;but I will not be mastered by anything. 13You say, &#8220;Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.&#8221; The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, &#8220;The two will become one flesh.&#8221;#6:16 Gen. 2:24 17But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.#6:17 Or in the Spirit</div><div class="p"> 18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.</div>
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