From: Paul, called to be an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and from our brother Sosthenes.

From Paul, who has been called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, And from Sosthenes, our Brother.

Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

As the testimony of Jesus Christ was made firm in you:

who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.

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

so as to keep anyone from saying that you were baptized in my name.

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

My mission from Christ was not to baptize, but to tell the Good News; not, however, in the language of philosophy, lest the cross of the Christ should be robbed of its meaning.

[This is] because the foolishness of God [is not foolishness at all and] is wiser than men [far beyond human comprehension], and the weakness of God is stronger than men [far beyond the limits of human effort].

Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.

to prevent any mortal man from boasting in the presence of God.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:

And I did not use persuasive words of [human] wisdom in my message and preaching, but they were [accompanied by] a demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power [from God]. [Note: This "demonstration" could have included the evidence of miraculous spiritual gifts which Paul utilized while there in Corinth. See 14:18].

but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom once hidden [from man, but now revealed to us by God, that wisdom] which God predestined before the ages to our glory [to lift us into the glory of His presence].

But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.

These disclosures we impart, not in the set phrases of human philosophy, but in words the Spirit teaches, giving spiritual truth a spiritual form.

But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

For we are, God's, fellow-workmen: ye are, God's, farm, God's building.

In virtue of my commission from God, I laid the foundation of the house like an expert master-builder. It remains for another to build on this foundation. Whoever he is, let him be careful how he builds.

But if anyone's work is burned up [i.e., does not survive the judgment], he will experience loss [i.e., of his converts], but he himself will [still] be saved, like a person escaping from the fire [i.e., of a burning building, which consumes his efforts].

Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.

Now I have applied these things [that is, the analogies about factions] to myself and Apollos for your benefit, believers, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written [in Scripture], so that none of you will become arrogant and boast in favor of one [minister or teacher] against the other.

For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

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,

to this very day we suffer both hunger, thirst, and penury: we are buffeted from place to place, as vagabonds:

We wear ourselves out from working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless. When persecuted, we endure.

For though you have ten thousand teachers in the Christian life, you certainly could not have many fathers. For it was I myself who became your father through your union with Christ Jesus, which resulted from my telling you the good news.

I will come to you before long, if the Lord wills, and then I will find out from these puffed up creatures not what their talk but what their power amounts to.

we have it from all quarters, that incest is practis'd among you, and such as is not among the Gentiles, that of a man's having his father's wife.

And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

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.

to turn such a person over to Satan for his body to be destroyed [Note: This probably refers to his removal from their fellowship. See verse 2], in order for his spirit to be saved in the day of the Lord [i.e., the judgment day]. [Note: This implies that his removal from their fellowship will have produced a genuine repentance before that time].

Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be dough of a new kind; for in fact you *are* free from corruption. For our Passover Lamb has already been offered in sacrifice--even Christ.

Therefore let us keep our festival not with old yeast nor with the yeast of what is evil and mischievous, but with bread free from yeast--the bread of transparent sincerity and of truth.

not that in this world you are to keep wholly aloof from such as they, any more than from people who are avaricious and greedy of gain, or from worshippers of idols. For that would mean that you would be compelled to go out of the world altogether.

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

So if you have lawsuits dealing with matters of this life, are you appointing those as judges [to hear disputes] who are of no account in the church?

So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.

And such were some of you [before you believed]. But you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God [the source of the believer’s new life and changed behavior].

And God has both raised up the Lord, and will raise us up from among the dead by his power.

Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ's body? Am I then to take away from Christ parts of his body, and make them parts of a prostitute's? Never!

Run away from sexual immorality [in any form, whether thought or behavior, whether visual or written]. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the one who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own;

I now deal with the subjects mentioned in your letter. It is well for a man to abstain altogether from marriage.

Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control.

But I say this from concession not from commandment.

Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. Howbeit each man hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that.

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

(but even if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband) and that the husband should not leave his wife.

But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her.

And a woman who has an unbelieving husband--if he consents to live with her, let her not separate from him.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified [that is, he receives the blessings granted] through his [Christian] wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be [ceremonially] unclean, but as it is they are holy.

Yet if the unbelieving mate separates [from his spouse], let him go. The brother or sister is not obligated [to continue the marriage] under such circumstances. For God has called you [believers] to live in peace.

Was anyone at the time of his calling [from God already] circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called while uncircumcised? He is not to be circumcised.

have you been redeemed from slavery? then, don't turn slaves.

And concerning the virgins, a command of the Lord I have not; and I give judgment as having obtained kindness from the Lord to be faithful:

Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

But if you do get married, you have not sinned. And if a virgin gets married, she has not sinned. However, these people will experience trouble in this life, and I want to spare you from that.

But I say this, believers: the time has been shortened, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they did not;

and those who use the world [taking advantage of its opportunities], as though they did not make full use of it. For the outward form of this world [its present social and material nature] is passing away.

But I would have you to be free from cares. He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is concerned about the matters of the Lord, how to be holy and set apart both in body and in spirit; but a married woman is concerned about worldly things, how she may please her husband.

I say this for your own benefit, not with any intention of putting a halter round your necks, but in order to secure for the Master seemly and constant devotion, free from all distraction.

But he who stands firm in his heart, having no need, but has authority over his own will, and has judged this in his heart to keep his own virginity, he does well.

So then the man who marries the virgin acts appropriately, but the man who refrains from marriage does even better.

(So-called gods there may be, in heaven or on earth ??as indeed there are plenty of them, both gods and 'lords' ??6 but for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all comes, and for whom we exist; one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom all exists, and by whom we exist.)

yet to us [there is] one God, the Father, from whom [are] all [things], and we [are] for him, and [there is] one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom [are] all [things], and we [are] through him.

But all believers do not recognize these facts. Some, from force of habit in relation to the idol, even now eat idol sacrifices as such, and their consciences, being but weak, are polluted.

It is true that a particular kind of food will not bring us into God's presence; we are neither inferior to others if we abstain from it, nor superior to them if we eat it.

But pay attention [to this], so that somehow this liberty of yours [i.e., to eat whatever you want to] does not become an occasion over which weak people could fall [away from God].

Therefore, if food that I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, in order to keep my brother from stumbling.

Am I not free [unrestrained and exempt from any obligation]? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our [risen] Lord [in person]? Are you not [the result and proof of] my work in the Lord?

If I am not an apostle to other people, surely I am one to you, for you are the evidence of my apostolic authority from the Lord.

Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to stop doing manual labor [in order to support our ministry]?

Who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Who shepherds a flock and does not drink from the milk of the flock?

Am I saying this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the law also say the same thing?

For it says in the law of Moses, It is not right to keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. Is it for the oxen that God is giving orders?

If we have sown [the good seed of] spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving? But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

Do you not know that those who officiate in the sacred services of the temple eat from the temple [offerings of meat and bread] and those who regularly attend the altar have their share from the [offerings brought to the] altar?

In the [same] way also the Lord ordered those who proclaim the gospel to live from the gospel.

But I have used none of these things. Neither wrote I these things that it should be so done unto me. For it were better for me to die than any man should take this rejoicing from me.

For if I preached because [I personally decided] I wanted to, I could claim a reward. But if I did not preach from a personal decision to do so, then it would be because I was entrusted with the task [by God].

Then what is my reward? that preaching the gospel, I may render the gospel free from charge, in order that I may not use my right in the gospel.

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

To those who do not have the Law, I became like a man who does not have the Law in order to win those who do not have the Law. However, I am not free from God's Law, but I'm subject to the Messiah's law.

Every man that proveth masteries abstaineth from all things. And they do it to obtain a corruptible crown: but we to obtain an uncorruptible crown.

But I work out and get my body in shape [i.e., spiritually], so that after preaching to other people, I myself do not become disqualified [i.e., for winning the prize from God. See verse 24].

And they all had baptism from Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

and all [of them] drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

Now this took place as a warning for us, to keep us from craving for evil as they craved.

Therefore let the one who thinks he stands firm [immune to temptation, being overconfident and self-righteous], take care that he does not fall [into sin and condemnation].

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

I speak to you as man of discernment; form your own judgment about what I am saying.

Because [there is] one bread, [we] who [are] many are one body, for [we] all share from the one bread.

Look at the Israelis from a human point of view. Those who eat the sacrifices share in what is on the altar, don't they?

But if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice;" abstain from eating it--out of respect for him who warned you, and, as before, for conscience' sake.

that is, for the sake of the other person's conscience, not your own. For why should my freedom [to eat what I want] be judged [as wrong] by another person's conscience? [Note: The questions in this and the following verse may mean, "it is not worth eating questionable things, if doing so would bring criticism from a weak brother"].