Study Desk

I say this only to give you permission to be separated for a time. It is not a rule.

Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for you to stay single like me.

Now, I have a command for those who are married. Actually, it is not from me; it is what the Lord commanded. A wife should not leave her husband.

The advice I have for the others is from me. The Lord did not give us any teaching about this. If you have a wife who is not a believer, you should not divorce her if she will continue to live with you.

The husband who is not a believer is set apart for God through his believing wife. And the wife who is not a believer is set apart for God through her believing husband. If this were not true, your children would be unfit for God's use. But now they are set apart for him.

God paid a high price for you, so don't be slaves to anyone else.

This is a time of trouble. So I think it is good for you to stay the way you are.

But if you decide to marry, that is not a sin. And it is not a sin for a girl who has never married to get married. But those who marry will have trouble in this life, and I want you to be free from this trouble.

A man might think that he is not doing the right thing with his fiancée. She might be almost past the best age to marry. So he might feel that he should marry her. He should do what he wants. It is no sin for them to get married.

But another man might be more sure in his mind. There may be no need for marriage, so he is free to do what he wants. If he has decided in his own heart not to marry his fiancée, he is doing the right thing.

For us there is only one God, and he is our Father. All things came from him, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things were made through him, and we also have life through him.

So this weak brother or sister—someone Christ died for—is lost because of your better understanding.

He was really talking about us. Yes, that was written for us. The one who plows and the one who separates the grain should both expect to get some of the grain for their work.

We planted spiritual seed among you, so we should be able to harvest from you some things for this life. Surely that is not asking too much.

But I have not used any of these rights, and I am not trying to get anything from you. That is not my purpose for writing this. I would rather die than to have someone take away what for me is a great source of pride.

So what do I get for doing it? My reward is that when I tell people the Good News I can offer it to them for free and not use the rights that come with doing this work.

And these things that happened are examples for us. These examples should stop us from wanting evil things like those people did.

The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written to be warnings for us. We live in the time that all those past histories were pointing to.

You are intelligent people. Judge for yourselves the truth of what I say now.

The cup of blessing that we give thanks for is a sharing in the blood sacrifice of Christ, isn't it? And the bread that we break is a sharing in the body of Christ, isn't it?