Study Desk

To the unmarried and widows I say that it is best for them to remain as I am.

But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face difficult circumstances, and I am trying to spare you such problems.

I am saying this for your benefit, not to place a limitation on you, but so that without distraction you may give notable and constant service to the Lord.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are the confirming sign of my apostleship in the Lord.

Am I saying these things only on the basis of common sense, or does the law not say this as well?

But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing these things so that something will be done for me. In fact, it would be better for me to die than—no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting!

For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I am compelled to do this. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward. But if I do it unwillingly, I am entrusted with a responsibility.

For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people.

To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) to gain those under the law.

To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God's law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law.

I am speaking to thoughtful people. Consider what I say.

Am I saying that idols or food sacrificed to them amount to anything?

If I partake with thankfulness, why am I blamed for the food that I give thanks for?

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

If the foot says, "Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body," it does not lose its membership in the body because of that.

And if the ear says, "Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body," it does not lose its membership in the body because of that.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.