Study Desk

for the gospel dispensation does not consist in talk, but in power.

as for me, though I am absent in person, yet being present by my authority, with regard to him that has committed this fact, I am come to the same resolution, as if I was present,

purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new mass, since you should be without leaven. for Christ our paschal lamb has been sacrificed for us.

I did not mean the vicious Gentiles, the misers, the raparees, or with idolaters; for then you must have gone out of the world.

for what have I to do to judge those who are without the church; but are not you to judge those that are within?

Are all things lawful for me? however, all things are not expedient: are all things lawful for me? however, I will not be a slave to any.

"meat is design'd for the belly, and the belly for meat:" true, yet God has design'd both for destruction. now the body is not design'd for licentiousness, but for the glory of the Lord; since the Lord died for the glorification of the body:

for as God hath raised up the Lord, so will he likewise raise us up to partake of his own power.

it cannot be. why, don't you perceive, that where there is such an attachment, they are but as one person? for the scripture says , "they two shall be as one."

for you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Now as to the question you writ to me about; "whether it is best for a man not to marry?"

I answer, with regard to the licentious, it is best for a man, to have his wife; and for a woman to have her husband.

don't desert one another, unless you mutually consent to retire for a time, to the solemnity of prayer; and then come together again, lest satan make an attempt upon your continency.

but as for the rest, I speak it by way of counsel, and not of command.

for I wish that all men were as I myself am: but every man hath his proper gift from God, some one way, and some another.

As to the unmarried and widows, I say, it is best for them to continue so, as I do.

but if they have not the gift, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to be in pain.

for the unbelieving husband is christianiz'd by the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is christianiz'd by the believing husband: else were your children heathens: whereas they are christians.

but if the infidel will separate, let him go: a brother or a sister is not inslaved in such cases. but God has called us to peace; for how do you know,

for the slave that turns christian, is the Lord's freedman: likewise, the freeman that becomes a convert is Christ's servant.