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Moving Toward Each Other in the Middle of a Divisive World

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Stories of Strength Through Pain in the Bible

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="1CO.7">
 <div class="label">7</div><div class="s1">Concerning Married Life</div><div class="p">1Now for the matters you wrote about: &#8220;It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.&#8221; 2But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.</div><div class="p">8Now to the unmarried#7:8 Or widowers and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.</div><div class="p">10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.</div><div class="p">12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.</div><div class="p">15But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?</div><div class="s1">Concerning Change of Status</div><div class="p">17Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God&#8217;s commands is what counts. 20Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.</div><div class="p">21Were you a slave when you were called? Don&#8217;t let it trouble you&#8212;although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord&#8217;s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ&#8217;s slave. 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.</div><div class="s1">Concerning the Unmarried</div><div class="p">25Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord&#8217;s mercy is trustworthy. 26Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. 28But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.</div><div class="p">29What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.</div><div class="p">32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord&#8217;s affairs&#8212;how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world&#8212;how he can please his wife&#8212; 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord&#8217;s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world&#8212;how she can please her husband. 35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.</div><div class="p">36If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong#7:36 Or if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin&#8212;this man also does the right thing. 38So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.#7:36-38 Or 36 If anyone thinks he is not treating his daughter properly, and if she is getting along in years (or if her passions are too strong), and he feels she ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. He should let her get married. 37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind to keep the virgin unmarried&#8212;this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who gives his virgin in marriage does right, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.</div><div class="p">39A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is&#8212;and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="1CO.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="p">1If I speak in the tongues#13:1 Or languages of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,#13:3 Some manuscripts body to the flames but do not have love, I gain nothing.</div><div class="p">4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.</div><div class="p">8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.</div><div class="p">13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="EPH.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="nb">1Follow God&#8217;s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.</div><div class="p">3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God&#8217;s holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person&#8212;such a person is an idolater&#8212;has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.#5:5 Or kingdom of the Messiah and God 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God&#8217;s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them.</div><div class="p">8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible&#8212;and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14This is why it is said:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Wake up, sleeper,</div><div class="q2">rise from the dead,</div><div class="q2">and Christ will shine on you.&#8221;</div><div class="p">15Be very careful, then, how you live&#8212;not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord&#8217;s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Instructions for Christian Households</div><div class="p">21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.</div><div class="p">22Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.</div><div class="p">25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing#5:26 Or having cleansed her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church&#8212; 30for we are members of his body. 31&#8220;For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.&#8221;#5:31 Gen. 2:24 32This is a profound mystery&#8212;but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1PE">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="1PE.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="p">1Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God&#8217;s sight. 5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.</div><div class="p">7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.</div><div class="s1">Suffering for Doing Good</div><div class="p">8Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10For,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Whoever would love life</div><div class="q2">and see good days</div><div class="q1">must keep their tongue from evil</div><div class="q2">and their lips from deceitful speech.</div><div class="q1">11They must turn from evil and do good;</div><div class="q2">they must seek peace and pursue it.</div><div class="q1">12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous</div><div class="q2">and his ears are attentive to their prayer,</div><div class="q1">but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.&#8221;#3:12 Psalm 34:12-16</div><div class="p">13Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. &#8220;Do not fear their threats#3:14 Or fear what they fear; do not be frightened.&#8221;#3:14 Isaiah 8:12 15But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17For it is better, if it is God&#8217;s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19After being made alive,#3:18,19 Or but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits&#8212; 20to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also&#8212;not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.#3:21 Or but an appeal to God for a clear conscience It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at God&#8217;s right hand&#8212;with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.</div>
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