Tag Archives: Blessings vs. Curses

Greetings from Paul

1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

I am writing to God’s church in Corinth and to all of his holy people throughout Greece.^[a]

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

God Offers Comfort to All

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. ⁵ For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. ⁶ Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. ⁷ We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.

⁸ We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters,^[b] about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. ⁹ In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. ¹¹ And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.

Paul’s Change of Plans

¹² We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness^[c] and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you. ¹³ Our letters have been straightforward, and there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can’t understand. I hope someday you will fully understand us, ¹⁴ even if you don’t understand us now. Then on the day when the Lord Jesus^[d] returns, you will be proud of us in the same way we are proud of you.

¹⁵ Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing by visiting you twice— ¹⁶ first on my way to Macedonia and again when I returned from Macedonia.^[e] Then you could send me on my way to Judea.

¹⁷ You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”? ¹⁸ As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas,^[f] Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. ²⁰ For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

²¹ It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, ²² and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.

²³ Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn’t return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke. ²⁴ But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm.

The Collection for Jerusalem

16 Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. ² On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once. ³ When I come, I will write letters of recommendation for the messengers you choose to deliver your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴ And if it seems appropriate for me to go along, they can travel with me.

Paul’s Final Instructions

⁵ I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia,^[a] for I am planning to travel through Macedonia. ⁶ Perhaps I will stay awhile with you, possibly all winter, and then you can send me on my way to my next destination. ⁷ This time I don’t want to make just a short visit and then go right on. I want to come and stay awhile, if the Lord will let me. ⁸ In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost. ⁹ There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.

¹⁰ When Timothy comes, don’t intimidate him. He is doing the Lord’s work, just as I am. ¹¹ Don’t let anyone treat him with contempt. Send him on his way with your blessing when he returns to me. I expect him to come with the other believers.^[b]

¹² Now about our brother Apollos—I urged him to visit you with the other believers, but he was not willing to go right now. He will see you later when he has the opportunity.

¹³ Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.^[c] Be strong. ¹⁴ And do everything with love.

¹⁵ You know that Stephanas and his household were the first of the harvest of believers in Greece,^[d] and they are spending their lives in service to God’s people. I urge you, dear brothers and sisters,^[e] 16 to submit to them and others like them who serve with such devotion. ¹⁷ I am very glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have come here. They have been providing the help you weren’t here to give me. ¹⁸ They have been a wonderful encouragement to me, as they have been to you. You must show your appreciation to all who serve so well.

Paul’s Final Greetings

¹⁹ The churches here in the province of Asia^[f] send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla^[g] and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings. ²⁰ All the brothers and sisters here send greetings to you. Greet each other with a sacred kiss.

²¹ HERE IS MY GREETING IN MY OWN HANDWRITING—PAUL.

²² If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come!^[h]

²³ May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

²⁴ My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.^[i]

Love Is the Greatest

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;^[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

⁸ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages^[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹ Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰ But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.^[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Spiritual Gifts

12 Now, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. ² You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. ³ So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. ⁶ God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

⁷ A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. ⁸ To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice^[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.^[c] 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. ¹⁰ He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages,^[d] while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. ¹¹ It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

One Body with Many Parts

¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³ Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,^[e] some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.^[f]

¹⁴ Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹ The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

²² In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. ²³ And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, ²⁴ while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. ²⁵ This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. ²⁸ Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

²⁹ Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? ³⁰ Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! ³¹ So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

11 ¹ And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

Instructions for Public Worship

² I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. ³ But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.^[a] 4 A man dishonors his head^[b] if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. ⁵ But a woman dishonors her head^[c] if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. ⁶ Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering.^[d]

⁷ A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. ⁸ For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. ⁹ And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. ¹⁰ For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority.^[e]

¹¹ But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. ¹² For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.

¹³ Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? ¹⁴ Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? ¹⁵ And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. ¹⁶ But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches.

Order at the Lord’s Supper

¹⁷ But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. ¹⁸ First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹ But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!

²⁰ When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper. ²¹ For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. ²² What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!

²³ For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread ²⁴ and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.^[f] Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” ²⁶ For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

²⁷ So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against^[g] the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. ²⁹ For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ,^[h] you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.

³¹ But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. ³² Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

³³ So, my dear brothers and sisters,^[i] when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. ³⁴ If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.