Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

13 ^zNow 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 ^aJohn the Baptist, others say ^bElijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the ^cprophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, ^d“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, ^ebut my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and ^fon this ^grock¹ I will ^hbuild my church, and the ⁱgates of hell² shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the ^jkeys of the kingdom of heaven, and ^kwhatever 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, go and tell him his fault, ⁿbetween 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, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^qlet him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, ^rwhatever 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, ^sif two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, ^tthere am I among them.”

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church

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

3 For though ^zabsent 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 ^aassembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to ^bdeliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.¹

6 ^cYour boasting is not good. Do you not know that ^da 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, ^eour Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore ^fcelebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, ^gthe 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 ^hof this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to ⁱgo 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 ^jsexual 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? ^kIs it not those inside the church² whom you are to judge? 13 God judges³ those outside. ^l“Purge the evil person from among you.”

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