It is for your benefit that I say this, not to put a halter on you, but to promote good order, and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

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.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she pleases so long as he is a Christian.

But she will be happier, in my judgment, if she remains as she is, and I think I have God's spirit as well as other people.

About food that has been offered to idols, it is true, as you say, that we all have some knowledge on that matter. Knowledge gives people airs; love is what builds up character.

If a man thinks he has acquired some knowledge, he does not yet know it as well as he ought to know it.

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

As to eating things, then, that have been offered to idols, we all know that no idol has any real existence, and that there is no God but one.

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.

But it is not everyone that has this knowledge; for some, through being long accustomed to idols, still eat meat that has been sacrificed to them as really offered to an idol, and their consciences, being oversensitive, are troubled.

But food is not going to affect our standing with God. We are none the worse if we do not eat it, and none the better if we do.

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:

Have we not a right to take a Christian wife about with us, like the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?

Or is it only Barnabas and I that have no right to give up working for a living?

For in the Law of Moses it reads, "You shall not muzzle an ox that is treading out the grain." Is it about the oxen that God is concerned?

Is he not clearly speaking in our interests? Of course this law was written in our interests, because the plowman ought to plow, and the thresher to thresh, in the expectation of sharing in the crop.

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

As far as preaching the good news is concerned, that is nothing for me to boast of, for I cannot help doing it. For I am ruined if I do not preach.

For if I do it of my own accord, I have my pay, but if I do it because I must, it is still a responsibility that I am charged with.

What pay then do I get? Why, that in my preaching I can offer the good news without cost, and so not take full advantage of my rights as a preacher.

Though I am free from anyone's control, I have made myself everyone's slave, so as to win over all the more.

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.

To the overscrupulous I have become overscrupulous, so as to win the overscrupulous; I have become everything to everybody, so as by all means to save some of them.

Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one wins the prize? That is the way you must run, so as to win.

So that is the way I run, unswervingly. That is the way I fight, not punching the air.

and in the cloud and the sea all, as it were, accepted baptism as followers of Moses,

Now these things happened to warn us, so that we should not long for what is evil as they did.

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

Let us not try the Lord's patience too far, as some of them did, for they were killed for it by the snakes.

You must not grumble, as some of them did, for they were destroyed for it by the destroying angel.

These things happened to them as a warning to others, but they were written down to instruct us, in whose days the ages have reached their climax.

It is no superhuman temptation that you have had. And God can be depended on, not to let you be tried beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to give you a way out of it, so that you can withstand it.

Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

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

What am I saying then? That there is any such thing as being offered to an idol, or any such thing as an idol?

Or are we trying to arouse the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?

We are free to do anything, but not everything is good for us. We are free to do anything, but not everything builds up character.

Eat anything for sale in the meat market without raising any question, as far as conscience is concerned,

If one of the heathen invites you to his house, and you wish to go, eat whatever is served, without raising any question, as far as conscience is concerned.

just as I for my part try to please everyone in all I do, not aiming at my own advantage, but at that of people generally, in order that they may be saved.

You must follow my example in this, as I am following Christ's.

I appreciate your always remembering me, and your standing by the things I passed on to you, just as you received them.

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, while a woman's head is her husband, and Christ's head is God.

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.

For if a woman will not wear a veil, let her cut off her hair too. But if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her wear a veil.

For a man ought not to wear anything on his head, for he is the image of God and reflects his glory; while woman is the reflection of man's glory.

That is why she ought to wear upon her head something to symbolize her subjection, out of respect to the angels, if to nobody else.

But in union with the Lord, woman is not independent of man nor man of woman.

For just as woman was made from man, man is born of woman, and both like everything else really come from God.

Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to offer prayer to God with nothing on her head?

Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear his hair long is degrading,

but a woman's long hair is her pride? For her hair is given her as a covering.

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

For, in the first place, when you meet as a congregation, I hear that you divide into sets, and in a measure I believe it.

So when you hold your meetings it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat,

and gave thanks for it and then broke it in pieces, saying, "This is my body which takes your place. Do this in memory of me."

He took the cup, too, after supper, in the same way, saying, "This cup is the new agreement ratified by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do so in memory of me."

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.

This is why many of you are sick and ill and a number have fallen asleep.

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that your meetings may not bring down a judgment upon you. The details I will settle when I come.

You know that when you were heathen you would stray off, as impulse directed, to idols that could not speak.

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.

Endowments vary, but the Spirit is the same,

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.

Each one is given his spiritual illumination for the common good.

These are all produced by one and the same Spirit, and apportioned to each of us just as the Spirit chooses.

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

If the foot says, "As I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body.

And if the ear says, "As I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body.

As it is, God has arranged the parts, every one of them in the body as he wished them to be.

As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

that there is no clash in the body, but its parts all alike care for one another.

And God has placed people in the church, first as apostles, second as inspired preachers, third as teachers, then wonder-workers; then come ability to cure the sick, helpfulness, administration, ecstatic speaking.

Is everyone an apostle? Is everyone an inspired preacher? Is everyone a teacher? Is everyone a wonder-worker?

Is everyone able to cure the sick? Can everyone speak ecstatically? Can everyone explain what it means?

Love is patient and kind. Love is not envious or boastful. It does not put on airs.

It is not rude. It does not insist on its rights. It does not become angry. It is not resentful.

It is not happy over injustice, it is only happy with truth.

Love will never die out. If there is inspired preaching, it will pass away. If there is ecstatic speaking, it will cease. If there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For our knowledge is imperfect and our preaching is imperfect.

But when perfection comes, what is imperfect will pass away.

For now we are looking at a dim reflection in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face. Now my knowledge is imperfect, but then I shall know as fully as God knows me.

So faith, hope, and love endure. These are the great three, and the greatest of them is love.

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.

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.

But as it is brothers, if I come back to you and speak ecstatically, what good will I do you, unless I have some revelation or special knowledge or message or teaching to give you?

Even inanimate things, like the flute or the harp, may produce sound, but if there is no difference in the notes, how can you tell what is being played?

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.

For if I pray ecstatically, it is my spirit that prays, but my mind is helping nobody.

For if you utter blessings in ecstatic speech, how is an ordinary man to say Amen to your thanksgiving? For he does not know what you are saying.

You are giving thanks well enough, but it is doing him no good.

But in public worship I would rather say five words with my understanding so as to instruct others also than ten thousand words in an ecstasy.

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.

But if they are all inspired to preach and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convinced of his sin by them all, he is called to account by them all,