1 Corinthians 12:2

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,

to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:

not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.

But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

Don’t turn away to go after vain things which can’t profit or deliver, for they are vain.

Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.

“Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.

Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit.

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says Yahweh.

“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’

Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.

in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience.

We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see.

Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.

“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses.

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

He spoke a parable to them. “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit?

Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.

Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,

Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit,

that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;

For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,

not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God,

For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.

For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.

These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

He who acts unjustly, let him act unjustly still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him do righteousness still. He who is holy, let him be holy still.”

Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.

Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.

“Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed.

Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary.

They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move.

But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

“In that day there will be a spring opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;

Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:

Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” (in the flesh, made by hands),

Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,

punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,

whose mouths must be stopped: men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake.

who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

For everyone who lives on milk is not experienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby.

Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

They said to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.”

“I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false.

They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, and nobody answered. They leaped about the altar which was made.

They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

For some of these are people who creep into houses and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,

while you sleep among the camp fires, the wings of a dove sheathed with silver, her feathers with shining gold.

They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat.

They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see.

They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble.

Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

You see and hear that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands.

and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.

But I ask, didn’t Israel know? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation. I will make you angry with a nation void of understanding.”

And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.

that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,