Study Desk

Now you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again.

Christ cannot be divided into different groups. It wasn't Paul who died on the cross for you, was it? Were you baptized in Paul's name?

The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and the Greeks want wisdom.

But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a problem for Jews, and to other people it is nonsense.

It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin.

But we speak God's secret wisdom that has been hidden from everyone until now. God planned this wisdom for our glory. He planned it before the world began.

But as the Scriptures say, "No one has ever seen, no one has ever heard, no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

And the teaching I gave you was like milk, not solid food. I did this because you were not ready for solid food. And even now you are not ready.

The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose. And each one will be rewarded for his own work.

We are workers together for God, and you are like a farm that belongs to God. And you are a house that belongs to God.

So don't judge anyone now. The time for judging will be when the Lord comes. He will shine light on everything that is now hidden in darkness. He will make known the secret purposes of our hearts. Then the praise each person should get will come from God.

Brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself as examples for you. I did this so that you could learn from us the meaning of the words, "Follow what the Scriptures say." Then you will not brag about one person and criticize another.

But it seems to me that God has given me and the other apostles the last place. We are like prisoners condemned to die, led in a parade for the whole world to see—not just people but angels too.

We are fools for Christ, but you think you are so wise in Christ. We are weak, but you think you are so strong. People give you honor, but they don't honor us.

The lawsuits that you have against each other show that you are already defeated. It would be better for you to let someone wrong you. It would be better to let someone cheat you.

Surely you know that people who do wrong will not get to enjoy God's kingdom. Don't be fooled. These are the people who will not get to enjoy his kingdom: those who sin sexually, those who worship idols, those who commit adultery, men who let other men use them for sex or who have sex with other men, those who steal, those who are greedy, those who drink too much, those who abuse others with insults, and those who cheat.

Someone else says, "Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food." Yes, and God will destroy them both. But the body is not for sexual sin. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit that you received from God and that lives in you. You don't own yourselves.

Now I will discuss the things you wrote me about. You asked if it is better for a man not to have any sexual relations at all.

Don't refuse to give your bodies to each other. But you might both agree to stay away from sex for a while so that you can give your time to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not be able to tempt you in your weakness.