to the church of God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated by union with Christ Jesus, and called as God's people, like all those anywhere who call on the name of Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours;

God can be depended on, and it was he who called you to this fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ has been divided up! But was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

For to those who are on the way to destruction, the story of the cross is nonsense, but to us who are to be saved, it means all the power of God.

For since in God's providence the world with all its wisdom did not come to know God, God chose, through the folly of the gospel message, to save those who had faith in him.

but we proclaim a Christ who was crucified??n idea that is revolting to Jews and absurd to the heathen,

but to those whom God has called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is God's power and God's wisdom.

But you are his children, through your union with Christ Jesus, whom God has made our wisdom??ur uprightness and consecration and redemption,

so that, as the Scripture says, "Let him who would boast, boast of the Lord!"

Yet there is a wisdom that we impart when we are with people who have a mature faith, but it is not what this world calls wisdom, nor what the authorities of this world, doomed as they are to pass away, would call so.

But, as the Scripture says, there are things "Which no eye ever saw and no ear ever heard, And never occurred to the human mind, Which God has provided for those who love him."

For who has ever known the Lord's thoughts, so that he can instruct him? But we share the thoughts of Christ.

What is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Just servants through whom you came to have faith, as the Lord gave each of us opportunity.

I did the planting, Apollos the watering, but it was God who made the plants grow.

So neither the planter nor the waterer counts for anything, but only God who makes the plants grow.

If a man's work is burned up, he must stand the loss, though he himself will be saved, but as one who has passed through the fire.

For this world's wisdom is foolishness to God. For the Scripture says, "He who catches the wise with their own cunning,"

For while my conscience does not trouble me at all, that does not prove that I am innocent. It is the Lord who must examine me.

For who sees anything special in you? And what have you got that you have not been given? But if it has been given you, why do you boast as though it had not been?

This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is a dear child of mine, in the service of the Lord, and one on whom you can depend, and he will help you to keep in mind my methods in the service of Christ Jesus, which I follow everywhere in every church.

And can you put on airs, instead of being overwhelmed with grief at having to expel from your number the man who has done this?

For my part, though I have been absent from you in person, I have been present with you in spirit, and as thus present I have already passed judgment upon the man who has done this,

What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who is supposed to be a Christian brother, and yet is immoral or greedy or idolatrous or abusive or drunken or grasping??ith such a person you must not even eat.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not your part to judge those who are inside the church,

and God's, to judge those who are outside? You must drive the wrongdoer out from among you.

If then you have ordinary matters to be settled, will you submit them for judgment to men who are nothing in the church?

I ask it to shame you. Has it come to this, that there is not a single wise man among you who could settle a disagreement between one brother and another,

But it is you who wrong and rob others, and your own brothers at that!

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not have any share in God's kingdom? Do not let anyone mislead you. People who are immoral or idolaters or adulterers or sensual or given to unnatural vice

Or do you not know that a man who has to do with a prostitute makes one body with her? For "The two," says the Scripture, "shall become physically one."

To all who are unmarried and to widows, I would say this: It is an excellent thing if they can remain single as I am.

To other people I would say, though not as Christ's command, if a Christian has a wife who is not a believer, and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her,

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

For the husband who is not a believer is consecrated through union with his wife, and the woman who is not a believer is consecrated through union with her Christian husband, for otherwise your children would be unblessed, but, as it is, they are consecrated.

But if the one who is not a believer wishes to separate, let the separation take place. In such cases the brother or sister is not a slave; God has called you to live in peace.

For a slave who has been called to union with the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, just as a free man who has been called is a slave of Christ.

About unmarried women I have no command of the Lord to give you, but I will give you my opinion as that of one on whom through the Lord's mercy you can depend.

But if you do marry, there is no sin in that. And if a girl marries, it is no sin. But those who marry will have worldly trouble, which I would like to spare you.

But this I do say, brothers. The appointed time has grown very short. From this time on those who have wives should live as though they had none,

and those who mourn as though they did not mourn, and those who are glad as though they were not glad, and those who buy anything as though they did not own it,

and those who mix in the world, as though they were not absorbed in it. For the present shape of the world is passing away.

An unmarried woman or a girl is concerned about the Lord's work, so as to be consecrated in body and spirit, but the woman who marries is concerned with worldly affairs, and how she can please her husband.

But if a man thinks he is not acting properly toward the girl to whom he is engaged, if his passions are too strong, and that is what ought to be done, let him do as he pleases; it is no sin; let them be married.

But a man who has definitely made up his mind, under no constraint of passion but with full self-control, and who has decided in his own mind to keep her as she is, will be doing what is right.

So the man who marries her does what is right, and the man who refrains from doing so does even better.

For supposing there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth??nd indeed there are plenty of such gods and lords??6 yet for us there is just one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and for whom we live, and just one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything was made and through whom we live.

For if somebody sees you, who are intelligent about this matter, attending a dinner in an idol's temple, will not he, with his sensitive conscience, be led to eat meat that is offered to idols?

For this overscrupulous brother, for whom Christ died, is ruined by what you call your knowledge.

My answer to those who want to investigate me is this:

What soldier ever pays his expenses out of his own pay? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of the grapes? Who tends a flock and does not get any of the milk?

If it was we who sowed the spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?

Do you not know that those who do the work about the Temple get their living from the Temple, and those who attend to the altar divide the sacrifices with the altar?

In just that way the Lord directed that those who preach the good news should get their living from it.

To the Jews I have become like a Jew, to win Jews over; to men under the Law I have become like a man under the Law, though I am not myself under the Law, so as to win over those who are under the Law.

To those who have no law I have become like a man without any law??hough I am not without the law of God, but under the law of Christ??o as to win over those who are without any law.

Any man who enters an athletic contest goes into strict training, to win a wreath that will soon wither, but the one we compete for will never wither.

Let us not practice immorality, like some of them, twenty-three thousand of whom fell dead in one day,

So the man who thinks he can stand must be on his guard against a fall.

Think of the Israelites' practices. Do not those who eat what is sacrificed have divine fellowship at the sacrificial altar?

But if someone says to you, "This meat has been offered in sacrifice," let it alone, on account of the man who told you and his conscientious scruples;

Any man who offers prayer or explains the will of God with anything on his head disgraces his head,

and any woman who offers prayer or explains the will of God bareheaded disgraces her head, for it is just as though she had her head shaved.

Doubtless there must be parties among you, if those who are right are to be recognized among you.

Have you no houses to eat and drink in? Or do you mean to show your contempt for the church of God, and to humiliate those who have none? What can I say to you? Can I approve of you? Not in this matter certainly.

Hence anyone who eats the bread or drinks from the Lord's cup in a way that is unworthy of it will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the Lord.

For anyone who eats and drinks, eats and drinks a judgment upon himself if he does not recognize the body.

Therefore, I must tell you that no one who is speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God ever says, "Curse Jesus!" and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord!" without being under the influence of the holy Spirit.

and forms of service vary, but it is the same Lord who is served,

and activities vary, but God who produces them all in us all is the same.

For anyone who speaks ecstatically is speaking not to men but to God, for no one can understand him, though he is uttering secret truths.

Anyone who speaks ecstatically does himself good, but the inspired preacher does a congregation good.

I want you all to speak ecstatically, but I especially want you to be inspired to preach. The man who is inspired to preach is more useful than the one who speaks ecstatically??nless he can explain what he says so that it may do the church some good.

If the bugle does not sound a clear call, who will prepare for battle?

So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall seem to the man who is speaking to be a foreigner, and he will seem to me to be one too.

Therefore, the man who can speak ecstatically should pray for the power to explain what he says.

So this ecstatic speaking is meant as a sign not to those who believe but to unbelievers, but inspired preaching is a sign not to unbelievers but to those who believe.

And let two or three who are inspired to preach speak, while the rest weigh what is said;

and if anything is revealed to another who is seated, the one who is speaking must stop.

After that he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have fallen asleep.

Yes, and those who have fallen asleep in trust in Christ have perished.

But the truth is, Christ was raised from the dead, the first to be raised of those who have fallen asleep.

But each in his own turn; Christ first, and then at Christ's coming those who belong to him.

for everything is to be reduced to subjection and put under Christ's feet. But when it says that everything is subject to him, he is evidently excepted who reduced it all to subjection to him.

And when everything is reduced to subjection to him, then the Son himself will also become subject to him who has reduced everything to subjection to him, so that God may be everything to everyone.

Those who are of the earth are like him who was of the earth, and those who are of heaven are like him who is from heaven,

Now I urge you, brothers??ou know that the family of Stephanas was the first to be converted in Greece, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's people??16 I want you to enlist under such leaders, and under anyone who joins with you and works hard.

A curse upon anyone who has no love for the Lord. Lord, come quickly!