Study Desk

For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"),

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, won't that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?

So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?

For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.

But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast.

For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.

and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."

But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.