to the church of God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated by union with Christ Jesus, and called to be God's people, in fellowship with those who anywhere call upon the name of Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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.

For I have been informed about you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are wranglings among you.

For the message of the cross is nonsense to those who are in the process of being destroyed, but it is the power of God to those who are in the process of being saved.

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,

Yet, when among mature believers we do set forth a wisdom, but a wisdom that does not belong to this world or to the leaders of this world who are passing away;

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."

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.

An unspiritual man does not accept the things that the Spirit of God teaches, for they are nonsense to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are appreciated by spiritual insight.

for you are still unspiritual. For when there are still jealousy and wrangling among you, are you not still unspiritual and living by a human standard?

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?

The planter and the waterer are one in aim, and yet each of us will get his own pay in accordance with his own work,

Are you not conscious that you are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God has His permanent home in you?

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is sacred to Him, and you are that temple.

and again, "The Lord knows that the arguings of the wise are useless."

Are you satisfied already? Have you grown rich already? Have you ascended your thrones without us to join you? Yes, I could wish that you had ascended your thrones, that we too might join you on them!

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on exhibition at the disgraced end of the procession, as they do with men who are doomed to die in the arena.

For we have become a spectacle to the universe, to angels as well as men. For Christ's sake we are held as fools, while you through union with Christ are men of wisdom. We are weak; you are strong. You are held in honor; we in dishonor.

When we are slandered by them, we try to conciliate them. To this very hour we have been made the filth of the world, the scum of the universe!

And yet, you are proud of it, instead of being sorry for it, and seeing to it that the man who has done this be removed from your membership!

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?

You must clean out the old yeast, that you may be a fresh lump, as you are to be free from the old yeast. For our Passover Lamb, Christ, has already been sacrificed.

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.

For what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not for you to judge those who are inside the church,

but for God to judge those who are outside? You must expel that wicked person from your membership.

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?

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.

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.

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!

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."

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 the unbelieving husband is consecrated by union with his wife and the unbelieving wife by union with her Christian husband, for otherwise your children would be unblessed, but in this way they are consecrated.

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.

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

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.

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.

For even if there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth -- as there are, indeed, a vast number of gods and lords --

But it is not in all of you that such knowledge is found. Some, because of their past habits with idols, even down to the present moment, still eat such food as was really sacrificed to an idol, and so their consciences, because they are overscrupulous, are contaminated.

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.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the product of my work for the Lord?

If I am not an apostle to other people, I certainly am one to you, for you yourselves, by virtue of your union with the Lord, are the proof of my apostleship.

My vindication of myself to those who are investigating me is this:

Any man who enters an athletic contest practices rigid self-control in training, only to win a wreath that withers, but we are in to win a wreath that never withers.

Because there is only one loaf, so we, though many, are only one body, for we all partake of one loaf.

Look at the Israelites in their practices. Are not those who eat the sacrifices in spiritual fellowship with the altar?

Or, are we trying to incite the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

For, in the first place, when you meet as a congregation, I hear that there are cliques among you, and I partly believe it.

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.

This is why many of you are sick and feeble, and a considerable number are falling asleep.

But since we do bring down upon us this judgment, we are being disciplined by the Lord, so that finally we may not be condemned along with the world.

There are varieties of gifts, but the Spirit is the same in all;

there are varieties of service, but the Lord to be served is the same;

there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who does all things by putting energy in us all.

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

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 you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it.

Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all are wonder-workers, are they?

Not all are people with power to cure the sick, are they? Not all are ecstatic speakers, are they? Not all can explain ecstatic speaking, can they?

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;

There are, supposedly, ever so many languages in the world, and not one is without its own meaning.

So, as you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, you must keep trying to excel for the upbuilding of the church.

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.

You are, indeed, doing right to give thanks, but your neighbor is not built up.

Hence, if the whole church has met and everybody speaks in ecstasy, and illiterate people or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are crazy?

the secrets of his heart are laid bare, he falls upon his face and worships God, declaring, "God is really among you."

Did the message of God begin with you Corinthians? Or, are you the only people it has reached?

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,

and through which you are to be saved, unless your faith at first was spurious.

After that, at one time He was seen by more than five hundred brothers, most of whom are still living, though some of them have fallen asleep.

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?

and we are found guilty of lying about God, for we have testified that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if indeed the dead are never raised.

For if the dead are never raised, Christ has not been raised;

and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is a mere delusion; you are still under the penalty of your sins.

If for this life only we Christians have set our hopes on Christ, we are the most pitiable people in the world.

For just as all men die by virtue of their descent from Adam, so all such as are in union with Christ will be made to live again.

Otherwise, what do those people mean who submit to being baptized on behalf of their dead? If the dead are never raised at all, why do they submit to being baptized on their behalf?

If from merely human motives I have fought wild beasts here in Ephesus, what profit will it be to me? If the dead are never raised at all, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead."

Sober up, as is right, and stop sinning, for some of you -- to your shame I say so -- are without any true knowledge of God.

There are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is of another.

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,