The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (180 page)

32
 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
³³
but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife,
³⁴
and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or virgin is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband.
³⁵
I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

36
 
If any one thinks
that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed,
^m2
if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin.
³⁷
But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed,
^m2
he will do well.
³⁸
So that he who marries his betrothed
^m2
does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

39
 A wife is bound to her husband
as long as he lives
. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
⁴⁰
But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I have the Spirit of God.

Food Offered to Idols

8
  
Now concerning food
offered to idols:
 
*
we know that "
all of us possess knowledge
." "Knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up.
²
If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
³
But if one loves God, one is known by him.

4
 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "
an idol has no real existence
," and that "there is no God but one."
⁵
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"—
⁶
yet for us there is
one God
, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

7
 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through being until now accustomed to
idols
, eat food as really offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
⁸
Food will not commend us to God. We are
no worse off
if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.
⁹
Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
¹⁰
For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's temple,
might he not be encouraged
, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?
¹¹
And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.
¹²
Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
¹³
Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling,
I will never eat meat
, lest I cause my brother to fall.

The Rights of an Apostle

9
  
Am I not free
?
Am I not an apostle
? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my workmanship in the Lord?
²
If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3
 This is my defense to those who would examine me.
 
*
⁴
Do we not have the right to our food and drink?
⁵
Do we not have the right to be
accompanied by a wife
,
ⁿ
 
*
as the other apostles and the brethren
 
*
of the Lord and Cephas?
⁶
Or is it only
Barnabas
and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
⁷
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

8
 Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same?
⁹
For it is written in the law of Moses, "
You shall not muzzle an ox
when it is treading out the grain." Is it for oxen that God is concerned?
¹⁰
Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop.
¹¹
If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits?
¹²
If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
¹³
Do you not know that those who are employed in the
temple service
get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?
¹⁴
In the same way,
the Lord commanded
that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

15
 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have any one deprive me of my ground for boasting.
¹⁶
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me.
Woe to me
if I do not preach the gospel!
¹⁷
For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
¹⁸
What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel.

The Responsibilities of the Apostle

19
 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.
²⁰
To the Jews
I became as a Jew
, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law—though not being myself under the law—that I might win those under the law.
²¹
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law—not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ—that I might win those outside the law.
²²
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become
all things to all men
, that I might by all means save some.
²³
I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

24
 
Do you not know that
in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
²⁵
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive
a perishable wreath
, but we an imperishable.
²⁶
Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air;
²⁷
but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Warnings from Israel's History

10
  
I want you to know
, brethren, that our fathers were all
under the cloud
, and all passed through the sea,
²
and all were
baptized into Moses
in the cloud and in the sea,
³
and all ate the same
supernatural
^o
food
⁴
and all drank the same
supernatural
^o
drink. For they drank from the supernatural
^o
Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
⁵
Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they
were overthrown
in the wilderness.

6
 Now these things are
warnings
for us, not to desire evil as they did.
⁷
Do not be idolaters
as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance."
⁸
We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
⁹
We must not
put the Lord
^p
to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents;
¹⁰
nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by
the Destroyer
.
¹¹
Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down
for our instruction
, upon whom the end of the ages has come.
¹²
Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
¹³
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful
, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

14
 Therefore, my beloved, shun the
worship of idols
.
¹⁵
I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say.
¹⁶
The
cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not a participation
^q
in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation
^q
in the body of Christ?
¹⁷
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
¹⁸
Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?
¹⁹
What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
²⁰
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they
offer to demons
and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.
 
*
²¹
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the
table of the Lord
and the table of demons.
²²
Shall we provoke the Lord
to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

All to the Glory of God

23
 "
All things are lawful
," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up.
²⁴
Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
²⁵
Eat whatever is sold in the
meat market
without raising any question on the ground of conscience.
²⁶
For "
the earth is the Lord's
, and everything in it."
²⁷
If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.
²⁸
(But if some one says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then out of consideration for the man who informed you, and for conscience' sake—
²⁹
I mean his conscience, not yours—do not eat it.) For why should my liberty be determined by another man's scruples?
³⁰
If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

31
 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
³²
Give no offense
to Jews or to Greeks or to the Church of God,
³³
just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of