For the Message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.

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.

I however am very little concerned at undergoing your scrutiny, or that of other men; in fact I do not even scrutinize myself.

Though I am not conscious of having been in any way unfaithful, yet I do not for that reason stand acquitted; but He whose scrutiny I must undergo is the Lord.

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

But some of you have been puffed up through getting the idea that I am not coming to Corinth.

If therefore you have things belonging to this life which need to be decided, is it men who are absolutely nothing in the Church--is it *they* whom you make your judges?

Or do you not know that your bodies are a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you--the Spirit whom you have from God?

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

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.

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.

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.

Why, your knowledge becomes the ruin of the weak believer--your brother, for whom Christ died!

Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be denied that I have seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you yourselves my work in the Lord?

If to other men I am not an Apostle, yet at any rate I am one to you; for your very existence as a Christian Church is the seal of my Apostleship.

Am I making use of merely worldly illustrations? Does not the Law speak in the same tone?

But I, for my part, have not used, and do not use, my full rights in any of these things. Nor do I now write with that object so far as I myself am concerned, for I would rather die than have anybody make this boast of mine an empty one.

To the Jews I have become like a Jew in order to win Jews; to men under the Law as if I were under the Law--although I am not--in order to win those who are under the Law;

to men without Law as if I were without Law--although I am not without Law in relation to God but am abiding in Christ's Law--in order to win those who are without Law.

That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air,

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.

If, so far as I am concerned, I partake with a grateful heart, why am I to be found fault with in regard to a thing for which I give thanks?"

Be imitators of me, in so far as I in turn am an imitator of Christ.

for, in the first place, when you meet as a Church, there are divisions among you. This is what I am told, and I believe that there is some truth in it.

Were the foot to say, "Because I am not a hand I am not a part of the body," that would not make it any the less a part of the body.

Or were the ear to say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," that would not make it any the less a part of the body.

If I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but am destitute of Love, I have but become a loud-sounding trumpet or a clanging cymbal.

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.

For the present we see things as if in a mirror, and are puzzled; but then we shall see them face to face. For the present the knowledge I gain is imperfect; but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

If any one deems himself to be a Prophet or a man with spiritual gifts, let him recognize as the Lord's command all that I am now writing to you.

Afterwards He was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have now fallen asleep.

For I am the least of the Apostles, and am not fit to be called an Apostle--because I persecuted the Church of God.

But what I am I am by the grace of God, and His grace bestowed upon me did not prove ineffectual. But I labored more strenuously than all the rest--yet it was not I, but God's grace working with me.

Nay more, we are actually being discovered to be bearing false witness about God, because we have testified that God raised Christ to life, whom He did not raise, if in reality none of the dead are raised.

And when I am with you, whatever brethren you accredit by letter I will send to carry your kind gift to Jerusalem.

If Timothy pays you a visit, see that he is free from fear in his relations with you; for he is engaged in the Master's work just as I am.

Therefore let no one slight him, but all of you should help him forward in peace to join me; for I am waiting for him and others of the brethren.