For the Messiah did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with eloquent wisdom, so the cross of the Messiah won't be emptied of its power.

For the message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God's power to us who are being saved.

but we preach the Messiah crucified. He is a stumbling block to Jews and nonsense to gentiles,

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah is God's power and God's wisdom.

But God chose what is nonsense in the world to make the wise feel ashamed. God chose what is weak in the world to make the strong feel ashamed.

My message and my preaching were not accompanied by clever, wise words, but by a display of the Spirit's power,

so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on God's power.

However, when we are among mature people, we do speak a message of wisdom, but not the wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are passing off the scene.

But as it is written, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him."

But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.

Now, we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we can understand the things that were freely given to us by God.

We don't speak about these things with words taught us by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual things to spiritual people.

The spiritual person evaluates everything but is subject to no one else's evaluation.

Brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as mere infants in the Messiah.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept everything growing.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is significant, but God, who keeps everything growing, is the one who matters.

As an expert builder using the grace that God gave me, I laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it.

If his work is burned up, he will suffer loss. However, he himself will be saved, but it will be like going through fire.

but you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God.

For my conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who examines me.

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display in last place, like men condemned to death. We have become a spectacle for the world, for angels, and for people to stare at.

We are fools for the Messiah's sake, but you are wise in the Messiah. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.

I'm not writing this to make you feel ashamed, but to warn you as my dear children.

You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah, but not many fathers. For in the Messiah Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

But I will come to you soon if it's the Lord's will. Then I'll discover not only what these arrogant people are saying but also what power they have,

for the kingdom of God isn't just talk, but also power.

So let's keep celebrating the festival, neither with old yeast nor with yeast that is evil and wicked, but with yeast-free bread that is both sincere and true.

But now I am writing to you to stop associating with any so-called brother if he is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunk, or a robber. You must even stop eating with someone like that.

That is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and by the Spirit of our God.

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not allow anything to control me.

Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will make them both unnecessary. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

But the person who unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Keep on running away from sexual immorality. Any other sin that a person commits is outside his body, but the person who sins sexually sins against his own body.

because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.

A wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but his wife does.

But I say this as a concession, not as a command.

To married people I give this command (not really I, but the Lord): A wife must not leave her husband.

But if she does leave him, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. Likewise, a husband must not abandon his wife.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified because of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

But if the unbelieving partner leaves, let him go. In such cases the brother or sister is not under obligation. God has called you to live in peace.

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but obeying God's commandments is everything.

You were bought for a price. Stop becoming slaves of people.

But if you do get married, you have not sinned. And if a virgin gets married, she has not sinned. However, these people will experience trouble in this life, and I want to spare you from that.

But a married man is concerned about things of this world, that is, about how he can please his wife,

An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, that is, about how she can please her husband. I'm saying this for your benefit, not to put a noose around your necks, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

So then the man who marries the virgin acts appropriately, but the man who refrains from marriage does even better.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.

Now concerning food offered to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

But anyone who loves God is known by him.

But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry that when they eat food that has been offered to an idol, their conscience becomes contaminated because it is weak.

But you must see to it that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block for those who are weak.

If others enjoy this right over you, don't we have a stronger claim? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we tolerate everything in order not to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of the Messiah.

But I have not used any of these rights, and I'm not writing this so that they may be applied in my case. I would rather die than let anyone deprive me of my reason for boasting.

For if I preach voluntarily, I get a reward, but if I am unwilling to do it, I am still entrusted with that obligation.

To those who do not have the Law, I became like a man who does not have the Law in order to win those who do not have the Law. However, I am not free from God's Law, but I'm subject to the Messiah's law.

You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don't you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious.

Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that withers away, but we run to win a prize that never fades.

But God wasn't pleased with most of those people, and so they were struck down in the wilderness.

No temptation has overtaken you that is unusual for human beings. But God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Instead, along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.

Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up.

No one should seek his own welfare, but rather his neighbor's.

just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don't look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved.

A man should not cover his head, because he exists as God's image and glory. But the woman is man's glory.

For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;

and man was not created for woman, but woman for man.

For as woman came from man, so man comes through woman. But everything comes from God.

But if anyone wants to argue about this, we do not have any custom like this, nor do any of God's churches.

Now I am not praising you in giving you the following instructions. When you gather, it is not for the better but for the worse.

But if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,

and there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord.

There are varieties of results, but it is the same God who produces all the results in everyone.

But one and the same Spirit produces all these results and gives what he wants to each person.

For the body does not consist of only one part, but of many.

But now God has arranged the parts, every one of them, in the body according to his plan.

So there are many parts, but one body.

However, our attractive parts don't need this. But God has put the body together and has given special honor to the parts that lack it,

so that there might be no disharmony in the body, but that its parts should have the same concern for each other.

If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing.

Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.

But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with.

Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

For the person who speaks in a foreign language is not actually speaking to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands him, because he is talking about secrets by the Spirit.

But the person who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, encouragement, and comfort.

The person who speaks in a foreign language builds himself up, but the person who prophesies builds up the church.

Now I wish that all of you could speak in foreign languages, but especially that you could prophesy. The person who prophesies is more important than the person who speaks in a foreign language, unless he interprets it so that the church may be built up.

In the same way, lifeless instruments like the flute or harp produce sounds. But if there's no difference in the notes, how can a person tell what tune is being played?

For if I pray in a foreign language, my spirit prays but my mind is not productive.

What does this mean? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, but I will also sing psalms with my mind.

It's good for you to give thanks, but it does not build up the other person.

But in church I would rather speak five words with my mind to instruct others than 10,000 words in a foreign language.

Brothers, stop being childish in your thinking. Be like infants with respect to evil, but think like adults.

In the Law it is written, "By means of foreign languages and through the mouths of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," declares the Lord.

Foreign languages, then, are meant to be a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is meant, not for unbelievers, but for believers.

But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted and examined by everything that's happening.

for God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women must keep silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak out, but must place themselves in submission, as the oral law also says.

But if anyone ignores this, he should be ignored.