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Acts 7

Amplified Bible, 2015 (AMP)

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¹ In this case, moreover, it is required [as essential and demanded] of stewards that one be found faithful and trustworthy.

² But [as for me personally] it matters very little to me that I may be judged by you or any human court [on this point]; in fact, I do not even judge myself.

³ I am aware of nothing against myself and I feel blameless, but I am not by this acquitted [before God]. It is the Lord who judges me.

⁴ So do not go on passing judgment before the appointed time, but wait until the Lord comes, for He will both bring to light the [secret] things that are hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.

⁵ Now I have applied these things [that is, the analogies about factions] to myself and Apollos for your benefit, believers, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written [in Scripture], so that none of you will become arrogant and boast in favor of one [minister or teacher] against the other.

⁶ For who regards you as superior or what sets you apart as special? What do you have that you did not receive [from another]? And if in fact you received it [from God or someone else], why do you boast as if you had not received it [but had gained it by yourself]?

⁷ [You behave as if] you are already filled [with spiritual wisdom and in need of nothing more]. Already you have become rich [in spiritual gifts]! You [in your conceit] have ascended your thrones and become kings without us; and how I wish [that it were true and] that you did reign as kings, so that we might reign with you.

⁸ For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles at the end of the line, like men sentenced to death [and paraded as prisoners in a procession], because we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world's amphitheater], both to angels and to men.

⁹ We are [regarded as] fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are highly esteemed, but we are dishonored.

¹⁰ To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are continually poorly dressed, and we are roughly treated, and wander homeless.

¹¹ We work [for our living], working hard with our own hands. When we are reviled and verbally abused, we bless. When we are persecuted, we take it patiently and endure.

¹² When we are slandered, we try to be conciliatory and answer softly. We have become like the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

¹³ I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn and advise you as my beloved children.

¹⁴ For even if you were to have ten thousand teachers [to guide you] in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers [who led you to Christ and assumed responsibility for you], for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the good news [of salvation].

¹⁵ So I urge you, be imitators of me [just as a child imitates his father].

¹⁶ For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my way of life in Christ [my conduct and my precepts for godly living], just as I teach everywhere in every church.

¹⁷ Now some of you have become arrogant and pretentious, as though I were not coming to see you.

¹⁸ But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not just the talk of these arrogant people, but [evaluate] their [spiritual] power [whether they live up to their own claims].

¹⁹ For the kingdom of God is not based on talk but on power.

²⁰ Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod [of discipline and correction], or with love and a gentle spirit?

²¹ It is actually reported [everywhere] that there is sexual immorality among you, a kind of immorality that is condemned even among the [unbelieving] Gentiles: that someone[1] has [an intimate relationship with] his father's wife.

²² And you are proud and arrogant! You should have mourned in shame so that the man who has done this [disgraceful] thing would be removed from your fellowship!

²³ For I, though absent [from you] in body but present in spirit, have already passed judgment on him who has committed this [act], as if I were present.

²⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

²⁵ you are to[2] hand over this man to Satan for the destruction of his body, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

²⁶ Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate].[3] Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]?

²⁷ [4] Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, just as you are, still unleavened. For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.

²⁸ Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and [untainted] truth.

²⁹ I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate with [sexually] immoral people—

³⁰ not meaning the immoral people of this world, or the greedy ones and swindlers, or idolaters, for then you would have to get out of the world and human society altogether!

³¹ But actually, I have written to you not to associate with any so-called [Christian] brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater [devoted to anything that takes the place of God], or is a reviler [who insults or slanders or otherwise verbally abuses others], or is a drunkard or a swindler—you must not so much as[5] eat with such a person.

³² For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]?

³³ God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside [the faith]. Remove the wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].

³⁴ Does any one of you, when he has a[1] complaint (civil dispute) with another [believer], dare to go to law before unrighteous men (non-believers) instead of [placing the issue] before the saints (God's people)?

³⁵ [2] Do you not know that the saints (God's people) will [one day] judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent[3] to try trivial (insignificant, petty) cases?

³⁶ Do you not know that we [believers] will judge angels? How much more then [as to] matters of this life?

³⁷ So if you have lawsuits dealing with matters of this life, are you appointing those as judges [to hear disputes] who are of no account in the church?

³⁸ I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is not one wise man among you who [is governed by integrity and] will be able and competent to decide [private disputes] between his fellow believers,

³⁹ but instead, brother goes to law against brother, and that before [judges who are] unbelievers?

⁴⁰ Why, the very fact that you have lawsuits with one another is already a defeat. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁴¹ On the contrary, it is you who wrong and defraud, and you do this even to your brothers and sisters.

⁴² Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived;[4] neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [by perversion], nor[5] those who participate in homosexuality,

⁴³ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers [whose words are used as weapons to abuse, insult, humiliate, intimidate, or slander], nor swindlers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.

⁴⁴ And such were some of you [before you believed]. But you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God [the source of the believer's new life and changed behavior].

⁴⁵ Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything [and brought under its power, allowing it to control me].

⁴⁶ Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will do away with both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body [to save, sanctify, and raise it again because of the sacrifice of the cross].

⁴⁷ And God has not only raised the Lord [to life], but will also raise us up by His power.

⁴⁸ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Am I therefore to take the members of Christ and make them part of a[6] prostitute? Certainly not!

⁴⁹ Do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "The two shall be one flesh."

⁵⁰ But the one who is united and joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

⁵¹ Run away from sexual immorality [in any form, whether thought or behavior, whether visual or written]. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the one who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

⁵² Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]?

⁵³ You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.

⁵⁴ Now as to the matters of which you wrote: It is good (beneficial, advantageous) for a man not to touch a woman [outside marriage].

⁵⁵ But because of [the temptation to participate in] sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

⁵⁶ The husband must fulfill his [marital] duty to his wife [with good will and kindness], and likewise the wife to her husband.

⁵⁷ The wife does not have [exclusive] authority over her own body, but the husband shares with her; and likewise the husband does not have [exclusive] authority over his body, but the wife shares with him.

⁵⁸ Do not deprive each other [of marital rights], except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves [unhindered] to prayer, but come together again so that Satan will not tempt you [to sin] because of your lack of self-control.

⁵⁹ But I am saying this as a concession, not as a command.

⁶⁰ I wish that all the people were as I am; but each person has his own gift from God, one of this kind and one of that.

#	AMP
1	In this case, moreover, it is required [as essential and demanded] of stewards that one be found faithful and trustworthy.
2	But [as for me personally] it matters very little to me that I may be judged by you or any human court [on this point]; in fact, I do not even judge myself.
3	I am aware of nothing against myself and I feel blameless, but I am not by this acquitted [before God]. It is the Lord who judges me.
4	So do not go on passing judgment before the appointed time, but wait until the Lord comes, for He will both bring to light the [secret] things that are hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.
5	Now I have applied these things [that is, the analogies about factions] to myself and Apollos for your benefit, believers, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written [in Scripture], so that none of you will become arrogant and boast in favor of one [minister or teacher] against the other.
6	For who regards you as superior or what sets you apart as special? What do you have that you did not receive [from another]? And if in fact you received it [from God or someone else], why do you boast as if you had not received it [but had gained it by yourself]?
7	[You behave as if] you are already filled [with spiritual wisdom and in need of nothing more]. Already you have become rich [in spiritual gifts]! You [in your conceit] have ascended your thrones and become kings without us; and how I wish [that it were true and] that you did reign as kings, so that we might reign with you.
8	For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles at the end of the line, like men sentenced to death [and paraded as prisoners in a procession], because we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world's amphitheater], both to angels and to men.
9	We are [regarded as] fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are highly esteemed, but we are dishonored.
10	To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are continually poorly dressed, and we are roughly treated, and wander homeless.
11	We work [for our living], working hard with our own hands. When we are reviled and verbally abused, we bless. When we are persecuted, we take it patiently and endure.
12	When we are slandered, we try to be conciliatory and answer softly. We have become like the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
13	I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn and advise you as my beloved children.
14	For even if you were to have ten thousand teachers [to guide you] in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers [who led you to Christ and assumed responsibility for you], for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the good news [of salvation].
15	So I urge you, be imitators of me [just as a child imitates his father].
16	For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my way of life in Christ [my conduct and my precepts for godly living], just as I teach everywhere in every church.
17	Now some of you have become arrogant and pretentious, as though I were not coming to see you.
18	But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not just the talk of these arrogant people, but [evaluate] their [spiritual] power [whether they live up to their own claims].
19	For the kingdom of God is not based on talk but on power.
20	Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod [of discipline and correction], or with love and a gentle spirit?
21	It is actually reported [everywhere] that there is sexual immorality among you, a kind of immorality that is condemned even among the [unbelieving] Gentiles: that someone[1] has [an intimate relationship with] his father's wife.
22	And you are proud and arrogant! You should have mourned in shame so that the man who has done this [disgraceful] thing would be removed from your fellowship!
23	For I, though absent [from you] in body but present in spirit, have already passed judgment on him who has committed this [act], as if I were present.
24	In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
25	you are to[2] hand over this man to Satan for the destruction of his body, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
26	Your boasting [over the supposed spirituality of your church] is not good [indeed, it is vulgar and inappropriate].[3] Do you not know that [just] a little leaven ferments the whole batch [of dough, just as a little sin corrupts a person or an entire church]?
27	[4] Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, just as you are, still unleavened. For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.
28	Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and [untainted] truth.
29	I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate with [sexually] immoral people—
30	not meaning the immoral people of this world, or the greedy ones and swindlers, or idolaters, for then you would have to get out of the world and human society altogether!
31	But actually, I have written to you not to associate with any so-called [Christian] brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater [devoted to anything that takes the place of God], or is a reviler [who insults or slanders or otherwise verbally abuses others], or is a drunkard or a swindler—you must not so much as[5] eat with such a person.
32	For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]?
33	God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside [the faith]. Remove the wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].
34	Does any one of you, when he has a[1] complaint (civil dispute) with another [believer], dare to go to law before unrighteous men (non-believers) instead of [placing the issue] before the saints (God's people)?
35	[2] Do you not know that the saints (God's people) will [one day] judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent[3] to try trivial (insignificant, petty) cases?
36	Do you not know that we [believers] will judge angels? How much more then [as to] matters of this life?
37	So if you have lawsuits dealing with matters of this life, are you appointing those as judges [to hear disputes] who are of no account in the church?
38	I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is not one wise man among you who [is governed by integrity and] will be able and competent to decide [private disputes] between his fellow believers,
39	but instead, brother goes to law against brother, and that before [judges who are] unbelievers?
40	Why, the very fact that you have lawsuits with one another is already a defeat. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
41	On the contrary, it is you who wrong and defraud, and you do this even to your brothers and sisters.
42	Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived;[4] neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [by perversion], nor[5] those who participate in homosexuality,
43	nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers [whose words are used as weapons to abuse, insult, humiliate, intimidate, or slander], nor swindlers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.
44	And such were some of you [before you believed]. But you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God [the source of the believer's new life and changed behavior].
45	Everything is permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything [and brought under its power, allowing it to control me].
46	Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will do away with both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body [to save, sanctify, and raise it again because of the sacrifice of the cross].
47	And God has not only raised the Lord [to life], but will also raise us up by His power.
48	Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Am I therefore to take the members of Christ and make them part of a[6] prostitute? Certainly not!
49	Do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "The two shall be one flesh."
50	But the one who is united and joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
51	Run away from sexual immorality [in any form, whether thought or behavior, whether visual or written]. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the one who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
52	Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]?
53	You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.
54	Now as to the matters of which you wrote: It is good (beneficial, advantageous) for a man not to touch a woman [outside marriage].
55	But because of [the temptation to participate in] sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
56	The husband must fulfill his [marital] duty to his wife [with good will and kindness], and likewise the wife to her husband.
57	The wife does not have [exclusive] authority over her own body, but the husband shares with her; and likewise the husband does not have [exclusive] authority over his body, but the wife shares with him.
58	Do not deprive each other [of marital rights], except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves [unhindered] to prayer, but come together again so that Satan will not tempt you [to sin] because of your lack of self-control.
59	But I am saying this as a concession, not as a command.
60	I wish that all the people were as I am; but each person has his own gift from God, one of this kind and one of that.

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