Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

13 ^xNow when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say ^yJohn the Baptist, others say ^zElijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, ^a“You are ^bthe Christ, ^cthe Son of ^dthe living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, ^e“Blessed are you, ^fSimon Bar-Jonah! For ^gflesh and blood has not revealed this to you, ^hbut my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, ⁱyou are Peter, and ^jon this rock¹ I will build my church, and ^kthe gates of ^lhell² shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you ^mthe keys of the kingdom of heaven, and ⁿwhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed³ in heaven.”

If Your Brother Sins Against You

15 ^m“If your brother sins against you, ⁿgo and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have ^ogained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established ^pby the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, ^qtell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^rlet him be to you as ^sa Gentile and ^sa tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, ^twhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed¹ in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you ^uagree on earth about anything they ask, ^vit will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are ^wgathered in my name, ^xthere am I among them.”

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church

1 It is actually reported that there is ^wsexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, ^xfor a man has his father’s wife. 2 And ^yyou are arrogant! Ought you ^znot rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

3 For though ^aabsent 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 ^bin the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are ^cto deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so ^dthat his spirit may be saved ^ein the day of the Lord.¹

6 ^fYour boasting is not good. Do you not know that ^ga 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, ^hnot with the old leaven, ⁱthe leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote to you in my letter ^jnot to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 ^knot at all meaning ^lthe sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, ^msince then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone ⁿwho 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 ^ooutsiders? ^pIs it not those inside the church² whom you are to judge? 13 God judges³ those outside. ^q“Purge the evil person from among you.”

6 For such a one, ^bthis punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so ^cyou should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.