PAUL, a called apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Sostlienes my brother,

to the church of God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, as well as to all who, wherever they may be, invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord no less than ours:

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

Thus my testimony as to the Christ has been confirmed in your experience,

Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And I call upon you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the same thing ye may all say, and there may not be divisions among you, and ye may be perfected in the same mind, and in the same judgment,

For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” or “I’m with Cephas,” or “I’m with Christ.”

I give praise to God that not one of you had baptism from me, but Crispus and Gaius;

lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name.

And I gave baptism to the house of Stephanas; but I am not certain that any others had baptism from me.

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

for this divine doctrine, as foolish and weak as men may think it, far surpasses all their wisdom, and baffles all their power.

For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble:

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may put to shame the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world, that he may put to shame the strong things;

and the ignoble things of the world, and the despised, has God chosen, and things that are not, that he may annul the things that are;

that no flesh may glory before Him;

in order that it may be as Scripture says, "He who boasts--let his boast be in the Lord."

And as for myself, brethren, when I came to you, it was not with surpassing power of eloquence or earthly wisdom that I came, announcing to you that which God had commanded me to bear witness to.

For my part, I came among you in weakness and with a great deal of fear and trembling,

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

that your faith may not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

But we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God:

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

And the teaching I gave you, my brothers, was such as I was able to give, not to those who have the Spirit, but to those who are still in the flesh, even to children in Christ.

for when one may say, 'I, indeed, am of Paul;' and another, 'I -- of Apollos;' are ye not fleshly?

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

But on the base a man may put gold, silver, stones of great price, wood, dry grass, cut stems;

but in every case the nature of his work will come out; the Day will show what it is, for the Day breaks in fire, and the fire will test the work of each, no matter what that work may be.

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

and as to the rest, it is required in the stewards that one may be found faithful,

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

so, then, nothing before the time judge ye, till the Lord may come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of the darkness, and will manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then the praise shall come to each from God.

Now these things, brethren, I have transferred, in their application, to myself and Apollos, for your sakes, that ye may learn in us the lesson of not letting your thoughts go above what is written, that ye may not be puffed up one for such a one against another.

Why, who gives you your superiority, my brother? Or what have you that you did not receive? And if you really did receive it, why boast as if this were not so?

Already ye are having been filled, already ye were rich, apart from us ye did reign, and I would also ye did reign, that we also with you may reign together,

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles at the end of the line, like men sentenced to death [and paraded as prisoners in a procession], because we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world’s amphitheater], both to angels and to men.

I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

for if a myriad of child-conductors ye may have in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus, through the good news, I -- I did beget you;

Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

Now some of you have become arrogant and pretentious, as though I were not coming to see you.

but I will come quickly unto you, if the Lord may will, and I will know not the word of those puffed up, but the power;

What is your desire? is my coming to be with punishment, or is it to be in love and a gentle spirit?

It has actually been reported [to me] that there is a case of sexual immorality among you that is unheard of, even among the [unconverted] Gentiles. One of you is having sex with his stepmother.

and ye are having been puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he may be removed out of the midst of you who did this work,

For I, though absent [from you] in body but present in spirit, have already passed judgment on him who has committed this [act], as if I were present.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your boasting not good. Know ye not that a little leaven may leaven the whole mixture?

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

so that we may keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with unleavened food of sincerity and truth.

I wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with fornicators;

and now, I did write to you not to keep company with him, if any one, being named a brother, may be a whoremonger, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner -- with such a one not even to eat together;

For what [is it] to me to judge those outside? Should you not judge those inside?

Know ye not how that we shall judge the angels? How much more may we judge things that pertain to the life?

of the things of life, indeed, then, if ye may have judgment, those despised in the assembly -- these cause ye to sit;

I say this to put you to shame. Is there not among you one wise man who may be able to give a decision between his brothers?

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Therefore, shall I take away the members of Christ [and] make [them] members of a prostitute? May it never be!

Flee fornication. Every sin which a man may practise is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.

Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

But this I say as my opinion, and not as an order of the Lord.

I wish that all people were just like me. But each has his own gift from God, one person in this way and another in that way.

And I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they may remain even as I am;

But to those already married my instructions are--yet not mine, but the Lord's--that a wife is not to leave her husband;

but and if she may separate, let her remain unmarried, or to the husband let her be reconciled, and let not a husband send away a wife.

But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.

For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?

Only, let each one live the life which the Lord has assigned him, and to which God has called him [for each person is unique and is accountable for his choices and conduct, let him walk in this way]. This is the rule I make in all the churches.

Are you called being a servant? care not for it: but if you may be made free, use it rather.

My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.

Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

In my opinion then, because of the present trouble, it is good for a man to keep as he is.

But and if thou mayest marry, thou didst not sin; and if the virgin may marry, she did not sin; and such shall have tribulation in the flesh: and I spare you.

But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none;

But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.

There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

and if any one doth think it to be unseemly to his virgin, if she may be beyond the bloom of age, and it ought so to be, what he willeth let him do; he doth not sin -- let him marry.

so that he who marries, does well; but he who lives single, may have less trouble.

A wife hath been bound by law as long time as her husband may live, and if her husband may sleep, she is free to be married to whom she will -- only in the Lord;

But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.

I now want to reply to the matter of idolatrous sacrifices [which you wrote to me about]. We know that we all possess knowledge. [Note: This may be a statement posed to Paul by the Corinthians, who seemed quite preoccupied with "knowledge"]. Knowledge [only] makes people arrogant, while love builds them up [spiritually].

For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,

But victuals do not commend us to God, for neither if we may eat are we in advance; nor if we may not eat, are we behind;

but see, lest this privilege of yours may become a stumbling-block to the infirm,

for if any one may see thee that hast knowledge in an idol's temple reclining at meat -- shall not his conscience -- he being infirm -- be emboldened to eat the things sacrificed to idols,

so that your notions may endanger the life of thy weak brother, for whom Christ died.

Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

if to others I am not an apostle -- yet doubtless to you I am; for the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord.

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,

Have I no right to take a believing wife with me on my journey, as the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter do?

If others partake of this right over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.