are lawful for me; yet I will not be brought under the power of any thing. 13. Meats are for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God will destroy both it and them (in the grave); but the body is not for whoredom; but for the (service of the) Lord, and the Lord for the body, (to rule it, and glorify it.) 14. And God hath both raised up the Lord Jesus, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ, (as his Spirit actuates you)? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid! 16. Know ye not that he who is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17. But he that is joined to the Lord (by faith) shall be as one spirit. 18. Flee whoredom. (It is entirely brutish.) Other sins which a man commits, are without the body; but he that commits whoredom, sinneth against his own body. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which ye receive of God, to reside in you; and that ye are not your own? 20. For ye are bought with a price, (1 Pet. i. 18.) Therefore glorify God with your body, and with your spirits, which are God's. CHAP. VII. MARRIAGE AN ANTIDOTE. [Now, concerning the things whereof ye wrote to me; it is good for a man not to touch a woman, (or marry in times of persecution.) 2. Yet, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and every woman her own husband. 3. Let the husband render the wife due benevolence; and the wife also to the husband. 4. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband; nor likewise the husband of his own body, but the wife. 5. Withdraw not from each other (by abstinence), unless it be by consent for a time, to devote yourselves to fasting and prayer, and to come together again as usual, lest Satan tempt you to go astray on account of your incontinency. 6. But I speak this by way of permission, not by way of command. 7. For I would that all men were even as I am: but every man hath his proper gift of God, each in his own manner. 8. Now I say, therefore, to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them to abide even as I am. 9. But if they have not continence, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn (in desires of it.) 10. And to the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord; that the wife depart not from her husband; 11. If she depart, let her not be married to another, but rather be reconciled to her husband; and let not the husband put away his wife (but for adultery). 12. But to the rest I speak, not the Lord; If any brother hath an unbelieving wife, and if she choose to dwell with him, let him not put her away. 13. Also the woman who hath an unbelieving husband, if he choose to dwell with her, let her not leave him. 14. For the unbelieving husband is so sanctified to the wife, and the unbelieving wife is so sanctified to the husband, that the children are not unclean, (as those of pagans) but holy (as citizens of the church). 15. But if the unbelieving party will depart, let such depart, a brother or a sister is not in bondage, or confined in such cases, but God hath called us to peace. 16. For how knowest thou, O wife, but thou mayest save thy husband, (by converting him)? or how knowest thou, O husband, but thou mayest save thy wife, (by thine example and instruction?) 17. But as God hath distributed to each (his lot), even as the Lord hath called him, let him so walk; and this I command in all the churches. 18. Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised (by renouncing it): is any man called being uncircumcised, let him not become circumcised. 19. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping the commands of God. 20. Let each abide in the same calling wherein he was called. 21. Art thou called being a servant? care not about it; but if thou canst be made free, use it rather. 22. For he that is called by 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, (1 Pet. i. 18.); do not become the slaves of men. 24. Brethren, in whatever condition a man was called, therein let him abide in the fear of God. 25. Now, concerning single persons, I have no command of the Lord; yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. 26. I apprehend it, therefore, to be best, in the present exigency, for a single man to continue as he is. 27. Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. 28. But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry she hath not sinned; however, such shall have affliction in the flesh (by persecution), but I spare you. 29. But I say, brethren, the time is short: it remains, that both they who have wives be as those that have none; 30. And they that weep, as those that weep not; and they that rejoice, as those that rejoice not; and they that purchase, as those that possess not, (because they must soon leave it). 31. And they that use this world, as those that use it not to excess; for the fashion of this world passeth away. 32. But I would have you without anxiety. He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord: 33. But he that is married careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife. 34. There is a 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 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 profit, and not to lay a snare upon you, but out of regard to what is comely in one's profession before the Lord, without violent constraint. 36. But if any apprehend he acts an unbecoming part to his virgin daughter, if she pass the flower of her age in a single state, and he think it ought to have been so, let him do what he will in this respect, he sinneth not: (if a proper partner occur) let them marry. 37. Yet he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath determined in his heart to 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 the law to her husband as long as he liveth; but if he be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only a believer in the Lord. 40. But she is happier in my judgment, if she abide so; and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.] CHAP. VIII. . TO ABSTAIN FROM FORBIDDEN MEATS. Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. 2. But if any man think he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know it. 3. But if any man love God, he is taught by him. 4. Therefore, concerning the eating of things offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol has no virtue or power in the world, and that there is but one God. 5. For tho' there be what are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be many false gods and false lords; 6. Yet to us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things derived, and we for him (to his glory); and one Lord, even Jesus Christ, by whom are all things created, and we by him are saved. 7. But all men have not this knowledge (that an idol hath no power or virtue), for some even until now, with consciousness of veneration for the idol, eat things as sacrificed to it; so their conscience being too weak to withstand the temptation of going to an idol's temple to partake of a feast, is defiled, 8. But meats in themselves commend us not to God; for neither are we the better if we eat, nor the worse if we eat not. 10. 9. But beware lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if any see thee who hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not his conscience who is weak be encouraged to eat (with veneration), things offered to idols; 11. And thro' thy knowledge and liberty, shall the weak brother, for whom Christ died, be liable to perish? 12. But by so sinning against the brethren, to wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. 13. Therefore, if my meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while I live, lest I make him offend. CHAP. IX. MINISTERS TO LIVE BY THE GOSPEL. Am I not an apostle? am I not free (to receive VOL. III. 3 D 33 |