Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God--and our brother Sosthenes:

To the Church of God in Corinth, men and women consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-- their Lord as well as ours.

so that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

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.

God is ever true to His promises, and it was by Him that you were, one and all, called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.

For so it stands written, "I will exhibit the nothingness of the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought."

while we proclaim a Christ who has been crucified--to the Jews a stumbling-block, to Gentiles foolishness,

But you--and it is all God's doing--are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance;

But--to use the words of Scripture--we speak of things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, and which have never entered the heart of man: all that God has in readiness for them that love Him.

For who has penetrated the mind of the Lord, and will instruct Him? But *we* have the mind of Christ.

I planted and Apollos watered; but it was God who was, all the time, giving the increase.

So that neither the planter nor the waterer is of any importance. God who gives the increase is all in all.

Now in aim and purpose the planter and the waterer are one; and yet each will receive his own special reward, answering to his own special work.

the true character of each individual's work will become manifest. For the day of Christ will disclose it, because that day is soon to come upon us clothed in fire, and as for the quality of every one's work-- the fire is the thing which will test it.

If any one's work--the building which he has erected--stands the test, he will be rewarded.

If any one's work is burnt up, he will suffer the loss of it; yet he will himself be rescued, but only, as it were, by passing through the fire.

If any one is marring the Sanctuary of God, him will God mar; for the Sanctuary of God is holy, which you all are.

Therefore form no premature judgements, but wait until the Lord returns. He will both bring to light the secrets of darkness and will openly disclose the motives that have been in people's hearts; and then the praise which each man deserves will come to him from God.

Every one of you already has all that heart can desire; already you have grown rich; without waiting for us, you have ascended your thrones! Yes indeed, would to God that you had ascended your thrones, that we also might reign with you!

God, it seems to me, has exhibited us Apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; for we have come to be a spectacle to all creation--alike to angels and to men.

I am not writing all this to shame you, but I am offering you advice as my dearly-loved children.

For even if you were to have ten thousand spiritual instructors--for all that you could not have several fathers. It is I who in Christ Jesus became your father through the Good News.

For this reason I have sent Timothy to you. Spiritually he is my dearly-loved and faithful child. He will remind you of my habits as a Christian teacher--the manner in which I teach everywhere in every Church.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are all assembled and my spirit is with you, together with the power of our Lord Jesus,

It is no good thing--this which you make the ground of your boasting. Do you not know that a little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough?

while you leave to God's judgement those who are outside? Remove the wicked man from among you.

Do you not know that God's people will sit in judgement upon the world? And if you are the court before which the world is to be judged, are you unfit to deal with these petty matters?

Do you not know that unrighteous men will not inherit God's Kingdom? Cherish no delusion here. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor any who are guilty of unnatural crime,

nor theives, nor avaricious people, nor any who are addicted to hard drinking, to abusive language or to greed of gain, will inherit God's Kingdom.

And all this describes what some of you were. But now you have had every stain washed off: now you have been set apart as holy: now you have been pronounced free from guilt; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.

Everything is allowable to me, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable to me, but to nothing will I become a slave.

Food of all kinds is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is meant for food, and God will cause both of them to perish. Yet the body does not exist for the purpose of fornication, but for the Master's service, and the Master exists for the body;

and as God by His power raised the Master to life, so He will also raise us up.

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

But I tell the unmarried, and women who are widows, that it is well for them to remain as I am.

If, however, they cannot maintain self-control, by all means let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of passion.

For what assurance have you, O woman, as to whether you will save your husband? Or what assurance have you, O man, as to whether you will save your wife?

This is what I command in all the Churches. Was any one already circumcised when called? Let him not have recourse to the surgeons. Was any one uncircumcised when called? Let him remain uncircumcised.

You have all been redeemed at infinite cost: do not become slaves to men.

I think then that, taking into consideration the distress which is now upon us, it is well for a man to remain as he is.

Yet if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a maiden marries, she has not sinned. Such people, however, will have outward trouble. But I am for sparing you.

But if a father stands firm in his resolve, being free from all external constraint and having a legal right to act as he pleases, and in his own mind has come to the decision to keep his daughter unmarried, he will do well.

So that he who gives his daughter in marriage does well, and yet he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

A woman is bound to her husband during the whole period that he lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to marry whom she will, provided that he is a Christian.

Now as to things which have been sacrificed to idols. This is a subject which we already understand--because we all have knowledge of it. Knowledge, however, tends to make people conceited; it is love that builds us up.

yet *we* have but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and for whose service we exist, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom we and all things exist.

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.

Therefore if what I eat causes my brother to fall, never again to the end of my days will I touch any kind of animal food, for fear I should cause my brother to fall.

For in the Law of Moses it is written, "Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."

Is God simply thinking about the oxen? Or is it really in our interest that He speaks? Of course, it was written in our interest, because it is His will that when a plough-man ploughs, and a thresher threshes, it should be in the hope of sharing that which comes as the result.

If other teachers possess that right over you, do not we possess it much more? Yet we have not availed ourselves of the right, but we patiently endure all things rather than hinder in the least degree the progress of the Good News of the Christ.

Do you not know that those who perform the sacred rites have their food from the sacred place, and that those who serve at the altar all alike share with the altar?

And if I preach willingly, I receive my wages; but if against my will, a stewardship has nevertheless been entrusted to me.

What are my wages then? The very fact that the Good News which I preach will cost my hearers nothing, so that I cannot be charged with abuse of my privileges as a Christian preacher.

Though free from all human control, I have made myself the slave of all in the hope of winning as many converts as possible.

To the weak I have become weak, so as to gain the weak. To all men I have become all things, in the hope that in every one of these ways I may save some.

Do you not know that in the foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You must run like him, in order to win with certainty.

But every competitor in an athletic contest practices abstemiousness in all directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish.

For I would have you remember, brethren, how our forefathers were all of them sheltered by the cloud, and all got safely through the Red Sea.

All were baptized in the cloud and in the sea to be followers of Moses.

All ate the same spiritual food,

and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they long drank the water that flowed from the spiritual rock that went with them--and that rock was the Christ.

But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the Desert.

All this kept happening to them with a figurative meaning; but it was put on record by way of admonition to us upon whom the ends of the Ages have come.

No temptation has you in its power but such as is common to human nature; and God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. But, when the temptation comes, He will also provide the way of escape; so that you may be able to bear it.

Therefore, my dear friends, avoid all connection with the worship of idols.

Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; we, all of us, share in that one loaf.

for the earth is the Lord's, and all that it contains.

That is the way that I also seek in everything the approval of all men, not aiming at my own profit, but at that of the many, in the hope that they may be saved.

If a woman will not wear a veil, let her also cut off her hair. But since it is a dishonor to a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her wear a veil.

For a man ought not to have a veil on his head, since he is the image and glory of God; while woman is the glory of man.

But while giving you these instructions, there is one thing I cannot praise--your meeting together, with bad rather than good results.

for it is his own supper of which each of you is in a hurry to partake, and one eats like a hungry man, while another has already drunk to excess.

If any one is hungry, let him eat at home; so that your coming together may not lead to judgement. The other matters I will deal with whenever I come.

diversities in work, and yet one and the same God--He who in each person brings about the whole result.

To one the utterance of wisdom has been granted through the Spirit; to another the utterance of knowledge in accordance with the will of the same Spirit;

But these results are all brought about by one and the same Spirit, who bestows His gifts upon each of us in accordance with His own will.

For just as the human body is one and yet has many parts, and all its parts, many as they are, constitute but one body, so it is with the Church of Christ.

For, in fact, in one Spirit all of us--whether we are Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free men--were baptized to form but one body; and we were all nourished by that one Spirit.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the nostrils be?

If they were all one part, where would the body be?

and those which we deem less honorable we clothe with more abundant honor; and so our ungraceful parts come to have a more abundant grace, while our graceful parts have everything they need.

that there might be no disunion in the body, but that all the members might entertain the same anxious care for one another's welfare.

Are all Apostles? Are all Prophets? Are all teachers?

Have all miraculous powers? Have all ability to cure diseases? Do all speak in 'tongues'? Do all interpret?

But always seek to excel in the greater gifts. And now I will point out to you a way of life which transcends all others.

If I possess the gift of prophecy and am versed in all mysteries and all knowledge, and have such absolute faith that I can remove mountains, but am destitute of Love, I am nothing.

And if I distribute all my possessions to the poor, and give up my body to be burned, but am destitute of Love, it profits me nothing.

Love never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if there are languages, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be brought to an end.

but when the perfect state of things is come, all that is imperfect will be brought to an end.

I should be right glad were you all to speak in 'tongues,' but yet more glad were you all to prophesy. And, in fact, the man who prophesies is superior to him who speaks in 'tongues,' except when the latter can interpret in order that the Church may get a blessing.

If the bugle--to take another example--gives an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?

And so with you; if with the living voice you fail to utter intelligible words, how will people know what you are saying? You will be talking to the winds.

There are, we will suppose, a great number of languages in the world, and no creature is without a language.

How then does the matter stand? I will pray in spirit, and I will pray with my understanding also. I will praise God in spirit, and I will praise Him with my understanding also.

I speak in a tongue, thank God, more than all of you;

In the Law it stands written, "'By men of unknown tongues and by the lips of an unknown nation will I speak to this People, but even then they will not listen to Me', says the Lord."

Accordingly if the whole Church has assembled and all are speaking in 'tongues,' and there come in ungifted men, or unbelievers, will they not say that you are all mad?