Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

I always give thanks unto my God, on your account, for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus; that ye are enriched by Him with every gift,

That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

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,

and to the very end He will guarantee that you are vindicated at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful by whom you are called into the society of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

in order that no one may say that you are baptized in my name.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Sage, rabbi, skeptic of this present age??here are they all? Has not God made foolish the philosophy of the world?

While Jews are demanding spectacular signs and Greeks are searching for philosophy,

we are preaching the Christ who was crucified -- a message that is a trap-stick to the Jews and nonsense to the Greeks,

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men: And the weakness of God is stronger than are men.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made by God unto us wisdom,

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

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.

But, as the Scripture says, they are: "Things which eye has never seen and ear has never heard, and never have occurred to human hearts, which God prepared for those who love Him."

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

These truths we are setting forth, not in words that man's wisdom teaches but in words that the Spirit teaches, in this way fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

but they are all expos'd to the judgment of the spiritual, whilst he himself is not subject to the judgment of any man.

for how can he, that does not know the mind of the Lord, instruct another? but as for us, we are acquainted with the mind of the Lord.

And the teaching I gave you, my brothers, was such as I was able to give, not to those who have the Spirit, but to those who are still in the flesh, even to children in Christ.

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

For when one says, "I belong to Paul's party," and another, "I belong to Apollos' party," are you not acting as mere human creatures?

What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? They are but servants who gave you the good news as God gave it to them.

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

In discharge of the task which God graciously entrusted to me, I--like a competent master-builder--have laid a foundation, and others are building upon it. But let every one be careful how and what he builds.

If the work of anyone lasts [i.e., if his converts are judged faithful], he will receive a reward [i.e., his converts will constitute part of his reward].

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

Let us be judged as servants of Christ, and as those who are responsible for the secret things of God.

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, which will lighten things that are hid in darkness: and open the counsels of the hearts. And then shall every man have praise of God.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

For who makes you a differ, brother? Or what have you that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why are you boasting as if you had not received it?

Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;

and we labour working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless: when persecuted, we bear it: when defamed, we intreat.

Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

This I don't write to give you any confusion, but by way of remonstrance, to you who are my dear children.

For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.

Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

you are to hand over this man to Satan for the destruction of his body, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your ground for boasting about such a case is not good. Are you not aware that a little yeast will change the whole lump of dough?

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

I wrote to you in my letter to stop associating with people who are sexually immoral

not that you are to stop all dealings with sexually immoral people of this world, any more than with its greedy graspers, or its idolaters, for then you would have to get clear out of the world.

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 to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

When one of you has a complaint against another, does he dare to take the matter before those who are unrighteous and not before the saints?

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

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

If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

but instead, brother goes to law against brother, and that before [judges who are] unbelievers?

Already, indeed, it is an utter defeat for you, that ye are having, law-suits, one with another. Wherefore are ye not rather taking wrong? Wherefore are ye not rather suffering yourselves to be defrauded?

Nay! but, ye, are doing wrong, and defrauding, - and that your brethren.

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

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 such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Foods are intended for the stomach, and the stomach for foods, but God will finally put a stop to both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality but for the service of the Lord, and the Lord is for the body to serve.

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

Or, are you not aware that a man who has to do with a prostitute makes his body one with hers? For God says, "The two shall be physically one."

Flee fornication. All sins that a man doth, are without the body. But he that is a fornicator, sinneth against his own body.

Or, are you not conscious that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you, whom you have as a gift from God? Furthermore, you are not your own,

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

I now want to reply to the matters you people wrote me about. It is [a] good [idea] for a man not to get married. [Note: The words "to get married" here are "to touch" in the Greek and probably refer to sexual relations within marriage. This advice, not a prohibition, is further explained in verses 26-35].

I say to those who are unmarried, especially to widows: It is good for them to remain like me.

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

But those that are married, not I command, but the Lord, that the wife be not separated from her husband;

But I, not the Lord, say this to the rest of you [Note: Paul now addresses the matter of mixed marriages, a circumstance Jesus never taught about]: If any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she agrees to continue living with him [Note: In these verses Paul addresses a situation where one marriage partner is converted after they are married], he should not divorce her.

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

Only, everybody must continue to live in the station which the Lord assigned to him, in that in which God called him. These are my orders in all the churches.

Were you called [while] a slave? Do not let it be a concern to you. But if indeed you are able to become free, rather make use of [it].

Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

But, concerning them who are virgin, injunction of the Lord, have I none; yet, a judgment, do I give, as one who hath obtained mercy from the Lord to be, faithful:

Because of the impending crisis I think it best for you to remain as you are.

Are you married? Stop trying to get a divorce. Are you unmarried? Stop looking for a wife.

Of course, if you are actually married, there is no sin in that; and if a maid marries, there is no sin in that. (At the same time those who marry will have outward trouble ??and I would spare you that.)

But I say this, brothers; there is not much time left [i.e., before the crisis arrives in full fury. See verse 26]. From now on those men who are married should live as though they were single.

and those that mourn as though they did not mourn, and those who are glad as though they were not glad, and those who buy as though they did not own a thing,

and those who are enjoying the world as though they were not entirely absorbed in it. For the outward order of this world is passing away.

But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.