Lawsuits among Believers

¹If any of you has a grievance against another, how dare he go to law before the unrighteous instead of before the saints!

²Do you not know that the saints 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!

⁴So if you need to settle everyday matters, do you appoint as judges those of no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame. Is there really no one among you wise enough to arbitrate between his brothers?

⁶Instead, one brother goes to law against another, and this in front of unbelievers!

⁷The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

⁸Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, even against your own brothers!

Members of Christ

⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, 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.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

¹³“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended 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? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!

¹⁶Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

¹⁷But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 glorify God with your body.

Living to Please God

¹Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more.

²For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;

⁴each of you must know how to control his own bodyin holiness and honor,

⁵not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God;

⁶and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard,because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.

⁷For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

⁸Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.

⁹Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

¹⁰And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more

¹¹and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.

¹²Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.

The Return of the Lord

¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death,so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.

¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.

¹⁵By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.

¹⁶For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.

¹⁷After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Timothy’s Visit

¹So when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens.

²We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for Godin the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

³so that none of you would be shaken by these trials. For you know that we are destined for this.

⁴Indeed, when we were with you, we kept warning you that we would suffer persecution; and as you know, it has come to pass.

⁵For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter had somehow tempted you and that our labor might have been in vain.

Timothy’s Encouraging Report

⁶But just now, Timothy has returned from his visit with the good news about your faith, your love, and the fond memories you have preserved, longing to see us just as we long to see you.

⁷For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we have been reassured about you, because of your faith.

⁸For now we can go on living, as long as you are standing firm in the Lord.

⁹How can we adequately thank God for you in return for our great joy over you in His presence?

¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.

¹¹Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.

¹²And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows,

¹³so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.

The Benefits of Wisdom

¹My son, if you accept my wordsand hide my commandments within you,

²if you incline your ear to wisdomand direct your heart to understanding,

³if you truly call out to insightand lift your voice to understanding,

⁴if you seek it like silverand search it out like hidden treasure,

⁵then you will discern the fear of the LORDand discover the knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD gives wisdom;from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,

⁸to guard the paths of justiceand protect the way of His saints.

⁹Then you will discern righteousnessand justice and equity—every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart,and knowledge will delight your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you,and understanding will guard you,

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil,from the man who speaks perversity,

¹³from those who leave the straight pathsto walk in the ways of darkness,

¹⁴from those who enjoy doing eviland rejoice in the twistedness of evil,

¹⁵whose paths are crookedand whose ways are devious.

¹⁶It will rescue you from the forbidden woman,from the strangerwith seductive words

¹⁷who abandons the partner of her youthand forgets the covenant of her God.

¹⁸For her house sinks down to death,and her tracks to the departed spirits.

¹⁹None who go to her returnor negotiate the paths of life.

²⁰So you will follow in the ways of the good,and keep to the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will inhabit the land,and the blameless will remain in it;

²²but the wicked will be cut off from the land,and the unfaithful will be uprooted.