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1 CORINTHIANS
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
As your apostle, I greet you Corinthian believers, and I desire that God bless you.
I thank God for you and for all the spiritual abilities that he has given you.
Stop dividing into groups in your congregations on the basis of which Christian leader you favor.
The message about Christ dying on the cross is the means of saving us who believe it.
Some people think that the message about Christ is foolish, but to us whom God has chosen, it shows God’s power.
God chose mostly despised, not important, people to belong to Christ; so you should boast only about him.
God showed that my message was true by the powerful things that he did, not because I spoke in a way that would make people think highly of me.
Unbelievers do not consider that my message is wise, because I speak what God’s Spirit reveals to me.
I was unable to teach you difficult concepts, because you were controlled by your self-directed nature, as evidenced by your quarreling about which leader you should be loyal to.
I preached the gospel to you first, and Apollos followed, but we are both serving God equally.
Each one who teaches believers must examine whatheis teaching thembecauseGodwill reward him only if his teaching is valuable and long-lasting.
God will destroy anyone who destroys the unity of a congregation.
Stop being proud of one Christian leader or another, because we are all just working for your benefit.
Stop evaluating your leaders’ value; do not be proud of one and despise another.
It is disgusting that you are so proud of your spiritual gifts and that you despise us apostles.
Imitate the way in which I serve Christ.
I hope you will change your thinking, so I do not have to punish you when I come there.
You should expel the man in your congregation who has acted so immorally.
Make sure that no one in your congregation is acting immorally or maliciously or wickedly.
Expel wicked people from your congregation.
It is disgusting that you prosecute fellow believers and let judges who are not believers decide your cases.
God has freed you from your former sinful behavior, so remember that he will exclude from his kingdom those who engage in all kinds of sinful behavior.
Because the Lord wants us to use our bodies in ways that please him, we must avoid all sexually immoral acts.
Married people should not deprive their spouses of sexual relations, except under special conditions.
It is all right to get married, but it is wrong to get divorced. However, you should not force an unbelieving spouse to keep living with you.
In general, each person should remain in the status that he had before he became a believer.
It is not sinful to get married, but married people will have a lot of problems.
We believers should not devote our time to the affairs of this life.
It is better to remain unmarried because married people are more concerned about pleasing their spouses than about how to please the Lord.
It is better for a man to decide that his daughter should remain unmarried than that she should get married, but either decision is all right.
Women whose husbands have died are free to get remarried, but only to believers. However, they will probably be happier if they do not marry again.
We should not be proud about knowing the truth about idols.
There are many idols that people think are gods, but there is only one true God.
Do not eat meat offered to idols if that would encourage other believers to eat that food contrary to their conscience.
As your apostle I am free to do anything that God allows me to do.
Barnabas and I have the same right to receive financial support that the other apostles have.
God’s servants have always had the right to receive financial help from others, but we have not insisted on that right because we want to preach the gospel without charge.
I have adopted the code of conduct of whatever group I have been among, in order to bring more people to Christ.
Our Jewish ancestors all experienced God’s power, but almost all of them died in the desert because they sinned against him.
What happened to our Jewish ancestors was a warning of what will happen to us if we give in to temptation.
God will punish us if we participate in demon worship by eating food sacrificed to demons when we eat the Lord’s Supper.
It is all right to eat food offered to idols, but we should not do so if it would offend those who think that it is wrong.
Women should wear a hair covering while praying or prophesying in a service, but men should not do so.
When you gather to eat the Lord’s Supper, you act selfishly. I cannot praise you for that.
The Lord gave us instructions about the significance of the Lord’s Supper.
God punishes those who eat the Lord’s Supper in a way that does not express the unity of his people.
It is only God’s Spirit who enables people to say that Jesus is Lord.
God’s Spirit gives believers special abilities as he desires.
A congregation needs all the abilities that God’s Spirit gives to its members, but you should especially desire the ones that help others the most.
We should use the abilities that God’s Spirit has given us in ways that show that we love others.
Speaking messages that come directly from God will help believers much more than speaking messages in unknown languages.
Believers should all be prepared to participate in an orderly way during worship services.
I was not worthy to become an apostle, but the Lord Jesus committed to me the message about his death and resurrection.
Christ has truly come back to life, and he will some day raise all believers.
In heaven we will have glorious indestructible bodies.
You should set aside funds each week for the offering to be sent to believers in Jerusalem.
I plan to spend some time with you. Treat Timothy respectfully when he arrives. Apollos plans to visit you later.
I give you my final instructions, greetings from others, and my final blessings.

© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.