Now I beg you all, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be harmonious in what you say and not to have factions among you, but to be perfectly harmonious in your minds and judgments.

I am thankful that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius,

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the good news -- but not by means of wisdom and rhetoric, so that the cross of Christ may not be emptied of its power.

For the message of the cross is nonsense to those who are in the process of being destroyed, but it is the power of God to those who are in the process of being saved.

but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks alike, the Christ who is God's power and God's wisdom.

for I determined, while among you, to be unconscious of everything but Jesus Christ and Him as crucified.

and my language and the message I preached were not adorned with pleasing words of worldly wisdom, but they were attended with proof and power given by the Spirit,

so that your faith might not be in men's wisdom, but in God's power.

Yet, when among mature believers we do set forth a wisdom, but a wisdom that does not belong to this world or to the leaders of this world who are passing away;

rather, we are setting forth a wisdom that came from God, once a covered secret but now uncovered, which God marked off as His plan for bringing us to glory.

But, as the Scripture says, they are: "Things which eye has never seen and ear has never heard, and never have occurred to human hearts, which God prepared for those who love Him."

For what man can understand his own inner thoughts except by his own spirit within him? Just so no one but the Spirit of God can understand the thoughts of God.

Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may get an insight into the blessings God has graciously given us.

These truths we are setting forth, not in words that man's wisdom teaches but in words that the Spirit teaches, in this way fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths.

But the spiritual man appreciates everything, and yet he himself is not really appreciated by anybody.

For who has ever known the Lord's thoughts, so that he can instruct Him? But we now possess Christ's thoughts.

So I myself, brothers, could not deal with you as spiritual persons, but as creatures of human clay, as merely baby Christians.

I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but it was God who kept the plants growing.

So neither the planter nor the waterer counts for much, but God is everything in keeping the plants growing.

As a skilled architect, in accordance with God's unmerited favor given to me, I laid a foundation, and now another is building upon it. But every builder must be careful how he builds upon it;

If the structure which one builds is burned up, he will get no pay; and yet he himself will be saved, but just as one who goes through a fire.

So you must stop forming any premature judgments, but wait until the Lord shall come again, for He will bring to light the secrets hidden in the dark and will make known the motives of men's hearts, and the proper praise will be awarded each of us.

For who makes you superior? And what do you have that you did not get from someone? But if you got it from someone, why do you boast as though you had not?

I do not write this to make you blush with shame but to give you counsel as my dear children.

But some of you have become conceited over the thought that I am not coming to see you.

But I am coming, and coming soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out, not only what those conceited fellows say but what they can do,

for the kingdom of God does not consist in talking but in doing.

So let us keep our feast, not with old yeast nor with the yeast of vice and wickedness, but with the bread of purity and truth without the yeast.

but for God to judge those who are outside? You must expel that wicked person from your membership.

but one brother has to go to law with another, and that before unbelieving judges?

And these are just the characters some of you used to be. But now you have washed yourselves clean, you have been consecrated, you are now in right standing with God, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is good for me. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not become a slave to anything.

Foods are intended for the stomach, and the stomach for foods, but God will finally put a stop to both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality but for the service of the Lord, and the Lord is for the body to serve.

But the man who is in union with the Lord is spiritually one with Him.

Keep on running from sexual immorality! Any other sin that a man commits is one outside his body, but the man who commits the sexual sin is sinning against his own body.

but because of so much sexual immorality every man should have a wife of his own, and every woman a husband of her own.

But I say this by way of concession, not by way of command.

But if they do not practice self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burning in the fire of passion.

To the people already married I give this instruction -- no, not I but the Lord -- that a wife is not to leave her husband.

But if she does leave him, she must remain single, or better, be reconciled to her husband. I instruct the husband too not to divorce his wife.

and a woman who has a husband that is not a believer, but he consents to live with her, must not divorce her husband.

For the unbelieving husband is consecrated by union with his wife and the unbelieving wife by union with her Christian husband, for otherwise your children would be unblessed, but in this way they are consecrated.

But if the unbelieving consort actually leaves, let the separation stand. In such cases the Christian husband or wife is not morally bound; God has called us to live in peace.

Being circumcised or not being circumcised has no value, but keeping God's commands is important.

About unmarried women I have no command from the Lord, but I will give you my opinion as of one who is trustworthy, since I have had mercy shown me by the Lord.

But if you do get married, you have not sinned in doing so. And if a girl gets married, she has not sinned in doing so. But those who do will have trouble in their earthly life, and I am trying to spare you this.

An unmarried woman or a girl is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so as to be consecrated in body and spirit, but a married woman is concerned about the affairs of the world, and how she can please her husband.

It is for your welfare that I am saying this, not to put restraint on you, but to foster good order and to help you to an undivided devotion to the Lord.

But the father who stands firm in his purpose, without having any necessity for doing so, and he has made the decision in his own heart to keep her single, will do what is right.

But in my opinion she will be happier, if she remains as she is, and I think too that I have God's Spirit.

Now about the foods that have been sacrificed to idols: We know that every one of us has some knowledge of the matter. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

But if a man loves God, God is known by him.

So, as to eating things that have been sacrificed to idols, we are sure that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but One.

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and the goal of our living, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything was made and through whom we live.

But it is not in all of you that such knowledge is found. Some, because of their past habits with idols, even down to the present moment, still eat such food as was really sacrificed to an idol, and so their consciences, because they are overscrupulous, are contaminated.

But you must see to it that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block to overscrupulous people.

But I myself have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this just to make it so in my case, for I had rather die than do that. No one shall rob me of this ground of boasting.

For if I do it of my own accord, I get my pay; but if I am unwilling to do it, I still am entrusted with trusteeship.

to men who have no written law, like one without any law, though I am not without God's law but specially under Christ's law, to win the men who have no written law.

Do you not know that in a race the runners all run, but only one can get the prize? You must run in such a way that you can get the prize.

Any man who enters an athletic contest practices rigid self-control in training, only to win a wreath that withers, but we are in to win a wreath that never withers.

But I keep on beating and bruising my body and making it my slave, so that I, after I have summoned others to the race, may not myself become unfit to run.

No temptation has taken hold of you but what is common to human nature. And God is to be trusted not to let you be tempted beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to make a way out of it, so that you can bear up under it.

Everything is permissible for people, but not everything is good for them. Everything is permissible for people, but not everything builds up their personality.

No one should always be looking after his own welfare, but also that of his neighbor.

But if someone says to you, "This meat has been offered as a heathen sacrifice," make it your rule not to eat it, for the sake of the man who warned you and for conscience' sake;

just as I myself am in the habit of pleasing everybody in everything, not aiming at my own welfare but at that of as many people as possible, in order that they may be saved.

But I want you to realize the fact that Christ is the Head of every man, that the husband is the head of the wife, and that God is the Head of Christ.

For a man ought not to wear anything on his head, because he is the image and reflected glory of God, but woman is man's reflected glory.

For man did not originate from woman, but woman did from man,

and man was not created for woman's sake, but woman was for man's sake.

But from the Lord's point of view woman is not independent of man nor man of woman.

but that it is a woman's glory to do so? For her hair is given her for a covering.

But if anyone is inclined to be contentious about it, I for my part prescribe no other practice than this, and neither do the churches of God.

But as I am giving you these instructions I cannot approve of your meetings, because they do not turn out for the better but for the worse.

But if we properly saw ourselves, we would not bring down upon us this judgment.

But since we do bring down upon us this judgment, we are being disciplined by the Lord, so that finally we may not be condemned along with the world.

There are varieties of gifts, but the Spirit is the same in all;

there are varieties of service, but the Lord to be served is the same;

there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who does all things by putting energy in us all.

But the one and same Spirit accomplishes all these achievements, and apportions power to each of us as He chooses.

For just as the human body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, many as they are, constitute but one body, so it is with Christ.

For the body does not consist of one part but of many.

But as it now is, God has placed the parts, every one of them, in the body just as He wanted them to be.

But as it now is, there are many parts, but one body.

so that there is no disharmony in the body, but all the parts have a common care for one another.

But you must earnestly continue to cultivate your higher spiritual gifts. And yet I will show you a way that is better by far:

If I should have the gift of prophecy, And know all secret truths, and knowledge in its every form, and have such perfect faith that I could move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing.

If I should dole out everything I have for charity, and give my body up to torture in mere boasting pride, but have no love, I get from it no good at all.

Is never glad when wrong is done, but always glad when truth prevails;

But when perfection comes, what is imperfect will be set aside.

For now we see a dim reflection in a looking-glass. But then we shall see face to face; Now what I know is imperfect, but then I shall know perfectly, as God knows me.

And so these three, faith, hope, and love endure, but the greatest of them is love.

Keep on pursuing love, but still keep cultivating your spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophesying.

For whoever speaks in ecstasy is speaking not to men but to God, for no one understands him, and yet by the Spirit he is speaking secret truths.

But whoever prophesies is speaking to men for their upbuilding. encouragement, and comfort.

Whoever speaks in ecstasy builds up himself alone, but whoever prophesies builds up the congregation too.

I would like for all of you to speak in ecstasy, but I would rather that you prophesy. The man who speaks with real prophetic insight renders greater service than the man who speaks in ecstasy, unless the latter explains it, so the congregation may receive an uplift.

But as it now is, brothers, if I do come back to you speaking in ecstasy, what good shall I do you, unless my speech contains a revelation or new knowledge or a prophetic message or some teaching?

Even inanimate things, like the flute or the harp, may give out sounds, but if there is no difference in the notes, how can the tune that is played on the flute or the harp be told?