I say this to put you to shame. Has it come to this, that there is not a single wise man among you who could decide a dispute between members of the brotherhood,
Get back to your sober senses and avoid sin, for some of you — and I say this to your shame — some of you are insensible to God.
I do not write this to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as beloved children of mine.
Whoever of you is defective in wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men without question or reproach, and the gift will be his.
Surely nature herself teaches you that while long hair is disgraceful for a man,
We, for Christ's sake, are 'fools'; you in Christ are sensible. We are weak, you are strong; you are honoured, we are in disrepute.
Let no one deceive himself about this; whoever of you imagines he is wise with this world's wisdom must become a 'fool,' if he is really to be wise.
Now during these days Peter stood up among the brothers (there was a crowd of about a hundred and twenty persons all together).
"But, Lord," Ananias answered, "many people have told me about all the mischief this man has done to thy saints at Jerusalem!
When any of you has a grievance against his neighbour, do you dare to go to law in a sinful pagan court, instead of laying the case before the saints?
And yet, when you have mundane issues to settle, you refer them to the judgment of men who from the point of view of the church are of no account!