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Men’s Group - Week 42

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Week 42 — November 1 – 7, 2026

Meeting: Friday, November 6 #

Explore the history behind this week’s readings →

Memory Verse: Hebrews 12:3 #

Hebrews 12:3

  1. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Readings #

  • Day 1: 1 Corinthians 5-6
  • Day 2: 1 Corinthians 7-8
  • Day 3: 1 Corinthians 9-10
  • Day 4: 1 Corinthians 11-12
  • Day 5: 1 Corinthians 13-14

Day 1 — 1 Corinthians 5-6 #

1 Corinthians 5
  1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
  2. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
  3. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
  4. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
  5. you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
  6. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
  7. Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
  8. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
  9. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
  10. not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
  11. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
  12. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
  13. God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
1 Corinthians 6
  1. When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
  2. Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
  3. Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
  4. So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
  5. I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,
  6. but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
  7. To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
  8. But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
  9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
  10. nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
  11. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
  12. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
  13. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
  14. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
  15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
  16. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
  17. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
  18. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
  19. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
  20. for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Reflection #

Day 2 — 1 Corinthians 7-8 #

1 Corinthians 7
  1. Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
  2. But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
  3. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
  4. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
  5. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
  6. Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.
  7. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
  8. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.
  9. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
  10. To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband
  11. (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
  12. To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.
  13. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
  14. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
  15. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.
  16. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
  17. Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
  18. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.
  19. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
  20. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.
  21. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.)
  22. For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.
  23. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.
  24. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
  25. Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.
  26. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.
  27. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
  28. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.
  29. This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,
  30. and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,
  31. and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
  32. I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.
  33. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,
  34. and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, 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 anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, 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, he will do well.
  38. So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
  39. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
  40. Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 8
  1. Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.
  2. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
  3. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
  4. Therefore, 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 former association with 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. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
  10. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?
  11. And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.
  12. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
  13. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Reflection #

Day 3 — 1 Corinthians 9-10 #

1 Corinthians 9
  1. Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you 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 eat and drink?
  5. Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers 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? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
  8. Do I say these things 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 treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?
  10. Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.
  11. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
  12. If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even 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 these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone 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 still entrusted with a stewardship.
  18. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
  19. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
  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 outside the law of 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 people, that by all means I might save some.
  23. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
  24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, 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. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
  27. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 10
  1. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, 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 spiritual food,
  4. and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that 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 took place as examples for us, that we might not 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 play.”
  8. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
  9. We must not put Christ 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 an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
  12. Therefore let anyone 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 ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
  14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
  15. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
  16. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation 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 participants 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 participants 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?
  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 the fullness thereof.”
  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 someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—
  29. I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?
  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 everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Reflection #

Day 4 — 1 Corinthians 11-12 #

1 Corinthians 11
  1. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
  2. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.
  3. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
  4. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head,
  5. but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.
  6. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.
  7. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.
  8. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.
  9. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.
  10. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
  11. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman;
  12. for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.
  13. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered?
  14. Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him,
  15. but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.
  16. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
  17. But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
  18. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,
  19. for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
  20. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.
  21. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
  22. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
  23. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
  24. and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
  25. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
  26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
  27. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
  28. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
  29. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
  30. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
  31. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.
  32. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
  33. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—
  34. if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
1 Corinthians 12
  1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
  2. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.
  3. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
  4. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
  5. and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
  6. and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
  7. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
  8. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
  9. to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
  10. to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
  11. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
  12. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
  13. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
  14. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
  15. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
  16. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
  17. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
  18. But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
  19. If all were a single member, where would the body be?
  20. As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
  21. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
  22. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
  23. and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
  24. which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
  25. that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
  26. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
  27. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
  28. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
  29. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
  30. Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
  31. But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Reflection #

Day 5 — 1 Corinthians 13-14 #

1 Corinthians 13
  1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
  2. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
  3. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
  4. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
  5. or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
  6. it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
  7. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
  8. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
  9. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
  10. but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
  11. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
  12. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
  13. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 14
  1. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
  2. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
  3. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
  4. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.
  5. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.
  6. Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
  7. If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?
  8. And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?
  9. So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air.
  10. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning,
  11. but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.
  12. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
  13. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.
  14. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.
  15. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
  16. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?
  17. For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.
  18. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
  19. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
  20. Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
  21. In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”
  22. Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.
  23. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?
  24. But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,
  25. the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
  26. What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
  27. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.
  28. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.
  29. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
  30. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.
  31. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged,
  32. and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
  33. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,
  34. the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.
  35. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
  36. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?
  37. If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.
  38. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.
  39. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
  40. But all things should be done decently and in order.

Reflection #

Historical Context — 1 Corinthians 5–14 #

Written from Ephesus ~AD 55, answering two inputs at once: reports of scandals (Chloe’s people) and a letter of questions from the church (7:1 — “the matters about which you wrote”). The unifying backdrop: a young church in a status-obsessed Roman colony importing the city’s habits into its life together.

Day 1 · 1 Cor 5–6 — discipline and lawsuits

  • The incest case (5:1): a man sleeping with “his father’s wife” — his stepmother. Leviticus 20:11 condemns it; Roman law banned it too — Cicero cites such a case as nearly unheard-of. “Not even tolerated among pagans” is literal.
  • Why the church tolerated it is debated: the man may have been a wealthy patron too powerful to confront, or the “everything is permissible” party (6:12) wore tolerance as a badge — hence “you are arrogant” (5:2).
  • “Hand this man over to Satan” (5:5): expulsion from the sphere of the Spirit back into the world — aimed at restoration (“that his spirit may be saved”), not destruction.
  • Passover metaphor (5:7): Christ as the Passover lamb → clean out the leaven; drawn from the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
  • Lawsuits (6:1-8): Corinth was famously litigious, and Roman courts tilted toward patrons and the well-connected — so Christians suing each other meant the rich crushing the poor in a pagan arena. “Why not rather suffer wrong?” is the countercultural shock.
  • 6:9-11’s vice list ends in grace: “such were some of you” — the church really was made of ex-pagans from Corinth’s docks and markets.

Day 2 · 1 Cor 7–8 — marriage and idol food

  • 7:1 quotes the Corinthians’ own letter: “it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman” — an ascetic slogan born as an overcorrection to Corinth’s license. Paul corrects it: celibacy is a gift, not a rule; spouses owe each other “conjugal rights” — mutuality that was radical for the era.
  • “The present crisis” (7:26): unexplained — possibilities include famine (grain shortages hit Corinth in this period), social upheaval, or simply the pressure of the approaching end.
  • Idol food (ch 8): nearly all meat in the city passed through temples — the Corinthian meat market (macellum) is excavated, and cult dining halls had invitation inscriptions. To eat was often to join a pagan banquet, not just buy dinner.
  • “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1) — the “strong” were right that idols are nothing (8:4) and still wrong: ch 10 will show the meal itself creates fellowship with demons.
  • The “weak” conscience: recent converts for whom idol meat still meant the god.

Day 3 · 1 Cor 9–10 — renounced rights and Israel’s warnings

  • Why Paul refused Corinthian money (ch 9): in patronage culture, taking a rich man’s support made you his client — owing him loyalty and deference. Paul took support from Macedonia instead and worked, so no Corinthian could claim to be his patron.
  • Traveling sophists and philosophers charged fees; a free gospel was Paul’s credential — he’d “rather die” than let pay blur it (9:15).
  • The athletic metaphor (9:24-27) is local: the Isthmian Games — second only to the Olympics — were held at Corinth’s doorstep every two years, for a wreath of pine or celery. “An imperishable” wreath contrasts with compost.
  • “Our fathers” (10:1): Gentile readers folded into Israel’s story — the church inherits the Exodus as its own family history.
  • The cup/table of demons (10:21): ancient meals created koinonia — real fellowship with the deity hosted. That’s why you can’t split attendance between the Lord’s table and an idol’s.

Day 4 · 1 Cor 11–12 — gathering and gifts

  • Head coverings (11:2-16): contested at every level — whether Paul means veils or hairstyles, and what signaled what. Broadly: respectable married women covered their heads in public worship; an uncovered wife could read as libertine. Paul argues from creation order, church custom, and “nature” — and women still prophesy, just covered (11:5).
  • Lord’s Supper abuses (11:17-34): the church met in a wealthy patron’s house (Gaius — Rom 16:23). Villas seated ~9-12 in the dining room and overflowed into the atrium; the rich arrived early with their own food and got drunk while laborers and slaves came late to nothing — “one is hungry and another is drunk.” The meal was re-enacting the city’s class map.
  • “Discerning the body” (11:29): the gathered people, not just the bread — which is why the judgment (11:30) is communal.
  • Ch 12’s body imagery answers status competition directly: the Spirit distributes gifts “as he wills,” so no gift — including tongues — makes a Christian more important.

Day 5 · 1 Cor 13–14 — love and order

  • Ch 13 isn’t a wedding text in context — it’s the hinge of the gift-chapters: spectacular gifts without love are noise. “Noisy gong, clanging cymbal” may echo the bronze resonators Greek theaters used for acoustics.
  • Tongues in context: ecstatic utterance was familiar pagan fare — Delphi’s oracle, Dionysiac frenzy — and the Corinthians prized it as the showpiece gift. Paul inverts the ranking: prophecy builds the church because it’s understood (14:1-5).
  • “Tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers” (14:22, citing Isaiah 28): a warning sign — unintelligible speech confirms hard hearts rather than attracting them.
  • Orderly worship (14:26-40) looks more like a weighing of prophets than a liturgy — two or three speakers, others discern, everything “decently and in order.”
  • “Women should keep silent” (14:34): a notorious crux, hard to square with 11:5 where women prophesy aloud — proposals range from a marginal gloss to a specific disruption (wives interrogating speakers mid-meeting). It’s about a kind of speech in a moment, not a blanket rule — though honest readers disagree about how far that goes.

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Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.