so that there is no spiritual gift in which you consciously come short, while you are waiting for the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ,

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.

Yes, I did baptize the family of Stephanas, too; I do not now recall that I baptized anyone else.

For since in accordance with the wisdom of God the world had never in reality, by means of its wisdom, come to know God, God chose through the nonsense of the message proclaimed, to save the people who put their faith in Him.

so that no mortal man might ever boast in the presence of God.

Now when I came to you, brothers, I did not come and tell you God's uncovered secret in rhetorical language or human philosophy,

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.

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.

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

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you could not take it. Why, you cannot take it even now,

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;

for no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid, that is, Jesus Christ Himself.

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.

Let no one deceive himself. If any one of you supposes that he is wise in this world's wisdom, as compared with the rest of you, to become really wise he must become a fool.

So let no one boast in men. For everything belongs to you --

Now in this matter of trustees the first and final requirement is that they should prove to be trustworthy.

Now, brothers, for your sakes I have applied all this to Apollos and myself, that from us as illustrations you might learn the lesson, "Never go beyond what is written," so that you might stop boasting in favor of one teacher against another.

To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home.

Now what I really meant was for you to stop associating with any so-called brother, if he is sexually immoral, a greedy grasper, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler -- with such a person you must even stop eating.

Do you not know that God's people are to judge the world? And if the world is to be judged before you, are you unfit to try such petty cases?

Do you not know that we Christians are to sit in judgment on angels, to say nothing of the ordinary cases of life?

So if you have the ordinary cases of life for settlement, do you set up as judges the very men in the church who have no standing?

To say no more, it is a mark of moral failure among you to have lawsuits at all with one another. Why not rather suffer being wronged? Why not suffer being robbed?

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not have a share in the kingdom of God? Stop being misled; people who are sexually immoral or idolaters or adulterers or sensual or guilty of unnatural sexual vice

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.

Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ Himself? Then may I take away parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? Never! Never!

Now I take up the matters about which you wrote me. It may be good thing for a man to remain unmarried;

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

For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

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.

Now this is my opinion in the light of the present distress: That it is a good thing for a man to remain as he is.

Now if a father thinks that he is not doing the proper thing regarding his single daughter, if she is past the bloom of her youth, and she ought to do so, let him do what she desires; he commits no sin. Let the daughter and her suitor marry.

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.

If a man supposes that he has already gotten some true knowledge, as yet he has not learned it as he ought to know it.

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.

Food will never bring us near to God. We are no worse if we do not eat it; we are no better if we do.

Now if in such a way you sin against your brothers and wound their overscrupulous consciences, you are actually sinning against Christ.

So then, if food can make my brother fall, I will never, no, never, eat meat again, in order to keep my brother from falling.

It cannot be that we have no right to our food and drink, can it?

It cannot be that we have no right to take a Christian wife about with us, can it, as well as the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers, and Cephas?

Or is it Barnabas and I alone who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

If others share this right with you, have we not a stronger claim? Yet, we have never used this right; no, we keep on bearing everything, to keep from hindering the progress of the good news of Christ.

Do you not know that those who do the work about the temple get their living from the temple, and those who constantly attend on the altar share its offerings?

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 preach the good news, I have no ground for boasting of it, for I cannot help doing it. Yes, indeed, I am accursed if I do not preach the good news.

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.

So that is the way I run, with no uncertainty as to winning. That is the way I box, not like one that punches the air.

Now all these things occurred as warnings to us, to keep us from hankering after what is evil, in the ways they did.

Now stop being idolaters, as some of them were, for the Scripture says, "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to dance."

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.

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

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

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.

It is not that you have no houses to eat and drink in, is it? Or, are you trying to show your contempt for the church of God and trying to humiliate those who have no houses? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? No, I cannot praise you for this.

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

You know that when you were heathen you were in the habit of going off, wherever you might be led, after idols that could not speak.

So I want to inform you that no one speaking under the power of the Spirit of God can say, "Jesus is accursed!" and no one except one under the power of the Holy Spirit can really say, "Jesus is Lord!"

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.

No, on the contrary, even those parts of the body that seem to be most delicate are indispensable,

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

If I could speak the languages of men, of angels too, and have no love, I am only a rattling pan or a clashing cymbal.

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.

Love never fails; if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if now exist ecstatic speakings, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will soon be set aside;

For what we know is incomplete and what we prophesy is incomplete.

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.

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 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?

So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I should be a foreigner to the man who speaks it, and he would be a foreigner to me.

For if I pray in ecstasy, my spirit is praying, but my mind produces no results for anyone.

how is the man who occupies the place of the illiterate to say "Amen" to your thanksgiving? For he does not know what you are saying.

But if there is no one to explain it, let him keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God alone.

Women must keep quiet in the churches, for no permission is given them to speak. On the contrary, they must take a subordinate place, just as the law says.

If anyone claims to have the prophetic spirit, or any other spiritual gift, let him recognize that what I now am writing is the Lord's command.

Now let me remind you, brothers, of the essence of the good news which I proclaimed to you, which you accepted, on which you now are standing,

Now if we preach that Christ has been raised from the dead, how is it that some of you are saying that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead?

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised,

Now those who are made of the dust are just like him who was first made of dust, and those who are heavenly are like Him who is from heaven,

O Death, where is your victory now? O Death, where is your sting?"

Now sin gives death its sting, and the law gives sin its power.

So, my dear brothers, continue to be firm, incapable of being moved, always letting the cup run over in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the service of the Lord is never thrown away.

Now about the contribution for God's people, I want you to do as I directed the churches of Galatia to do.

On the first day of every week each of you must put aside and store up something in proportion as he is prospered, so that no contributions need be made when I come back.

I do not want to see you right now in a mere stop-over visit, for later I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits me.

So no one must slight him at all. But send him on with your goodbye, that he may come back to me, for I am expecting him with the other brothers.

As for our brother Apollos, I have earnestly urged him to go to see you, but he is not at all inclined to come just now; yet he is coming when he has a good opportunity.

Now I beg you, brothers -- you know that the family of Stephanas were the first converts in Greece, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's people --