Paul, by the will of God called as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and our brother Sosthenes,

to the church of God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated by union with Christ Jesus, and called as God's people, like all those anywhere who call on the name of Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours;

God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

I am always thanking God about you, for the blessing God has given you through Christ Jesus.

God can be depended on, and it was he who called you to this fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the good news??ut not with fine language, or the cross of Christ might seem an empty thing.

For to those who are on the way to destruction, the story of the cross is nonsense, but to us who are to be saved, it means all the power of God.

Where now is your philosopher? Your scribe? Your reasoner of today? Has not God made a fool of the world's wisdom?

For since in God's providence the world with all its wisdom did not come to know God, God chose, through the folly of the gospel message, to save those who had faith in him.

but to those whom God has called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is God's power and God's wisdom.

For God's folly is beyond the wisdom of men, and God's weakness is beyond their strength.

For consider, brothers, what happened when God called you. Not many of you were what men call wise, not many of you were influential, not many were of high birth.

But it was what the world calls foolish that God chose to put the wise to shame with, and it was what the world calls weak that God chose to shame its strength with,

and it was what the world calls low and insignificant and unreal that God chose to nullify its realities,

But you are his children, through your union with Christ Jesus, whom God has made our wisdom??ur uprightness and consecration and redemption,

So when I came to you, brothers, I did not come and tell you the secret purpose of God in superior, philosophical language,

so that your faith might rest, not on human philosophy, but on the power of God.

But it is a mysterious divine wisdom that we impart, hitherto kept secret, and destined by God before the world began for our glory.

But, as the Scripture says, there are things "Which no eye ever saw and no ear ever heard, And never occurred to the human mind, Which God has provided for those who love him."

For God revealed them to us through his Spirit, for the Spirit fathoms everything, even the depths of God himself.

For what human being can understand a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? Just so no one understands the thoughts of God but the spirit of God.

But the Spirit we have received is not that of the world, but the Spirit that comes from God, which we have to make us realize the blessings God has given us.

A material man will not accept what the Spirit of God offers. It seems mere folly to him, and he cannot understand it, because it takes spiritual insight to see its true value.

I did the planting, Apollos the watering, but it was God who made the plants grow.

So neither the planter nor the waterer counts for anything, but only God who makes the plants grow.

For we are fellow-laborers for God, and you are God's farm, God's building.

Like an expert builder, I laid a foundation, as God commissioned me to do, and now someone else is building upon it. But let everyone be careful how he does so.

Do you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit makes its home in you?

If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is sacred, and that is what you are.

For this world's wisdom is foolishness to God. For the Scripture says, "He who catches the wise with their own cunning,"

But you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

The right way for a man to think of us is as Christ's servants, and managers authorized to distribute the secret truths of God.

Do not form any premature judgments, therefore, but wait until the Lord comes back. For he will light up the darkness that now hides things and show what the motives in people's minds are, and then everyone will get from God the praise he deserves.

For who sees anything special in you? And what have you got that you have not been given? But if it has been given you, why do you boast as though it had not been?

For it seems to me, God has exhibited us apostles at the very end of the procession, like the men condemned to die in the arena. For we have become a spectacle to the whole universe, angels as well as men.

For no matter how many guides you may have in the Christian life, you will not have many fathers; for in this matter of union with Christ, I became your father, through preaching the good news to you.

For the reign of God is not a matter of words but of power.

and God's, to judge those who are outside? You must drive the wrongdoer out from among you.

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not have any share in God's kingdom? Do not let anyone mislead you. People who are immoral or idolaters or adulterers or sensual or given to unnatural vice

or thieves or greedy??runkards, abusive people, robbers??ill not have any share in God's kingdom.

Some of you used to be like that; but you have washed it all away, you have been consecrated, you have become upright, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.

I may do anything I please, but not everything I may do is good for me. I may do anything I please; but I am not going to let anything master me.

It is true, food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for the food, but God will put an end to both of them. But the body is not meant for immorality, but for the service of the Lord, and the Lord is for the body to serve.

And as God raised the Lord to life, he will raise us also by his power.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit that is within you, which you have received from God? Besides, you are not your own;

you have been bought and paid for. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.

I should like to have everyone be just as I am myself; but each one has his own special gift from God, one of one kind, and one of another.

But if the one who is not a believer wishes to separate, let the separation take place. In such cases the brother or sister is not a slave; God has called you to live in peace.

Only, everyone must continue in the station which the Lord has appointed for him, and in which he was when God's call came to him. This is the rule I make in all the churches.

Being circumcised or being uncircumcised does not make any difference; all that matters is keeping God's commands.

Brothers, everyone must remain in fellowship with God in the station in which he was called.

This, then, is my opinion in view of the present distress??hat it is a good thing for a man to remain just as he is.

It is for your benefit that I say this, not to put a halter on you, but to promote good order, and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

But she will be happier, in my judgment, if she remains as she is, and I think I have God's spirit as well as other people.

But if a man loves God, God is known by him.

As to eating things, then, that have been offered to idols, we all know that no idol has any real existence, and that there is no God but one.

For supposing there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth??nd indeed there are plenty of such gods and lords??6 yet for us there is just one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and for whom we live, and just one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything was made and through whom we live.

But food is not going to affect our standing with God. We are none the worse if we do not eat it, and none the better if we do.

What soldier ever pays his expenses out of his own pay? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of the grapes? Who tends a flock and does not get any of the milk?

For in the Law of Moses it reads, "You shall not muzzle an ox that is treading out the grain." Is it about the oxen that God is concerned?

If others enjoy such rights over you, have we not a still better claim? But, you say, we have never availed ourselves of this right. No, we will stand anything rather than put any hindrance in the way of the good news of the Christ.

Do you not know that those who do the work about the Temple get their living from the Temple, and those who attend to the altar divide the sacrifices with the altar?

In just that way the Lord directed that those who preach the good news should get their living from it.

As far as preaching the good news is concerned, that is nothing for me to boast of, for I cannot help doing it. For I am ruined if I do not preach.

What pay then do I get? Why, that in my preaching I can offer the good news without cost, and so not take full advantage of my rights as a preacher.

To those who have no law I have become like a man without any law??hough I am not without the law of God, but under the law of Christ??o as to win over those who are without any law.

And I do it all for the sake of the good news, so that I may share in its blessings along with the rest.

and drank the same supernatural drink??for they used to drink from a supernatural rock which attended them, and the rock was really Christ??5 still most of them disappointed God, for they were struck down in the desert.

You must not become idolaters, like some of them, for the Scripture says, "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to dance."

It is no superhuman temptation that you have had. And God can be depended on, not to let you be tried beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to give you a way out of it, so that you can withstand it.

I appeal to your good sense. Make up your minds about what I say.

No, but that what the heathen sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

We are free to do anything, but not everything is good for us. We are free to do anything, but not everything builds up character.

So whether you are eating or drinking or doing anything else, do it all to the honor of God.

You must not be hindrances to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God either,

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, while a woman's head is her husband, and Christ's head is God.

Any man who offers prayer or explains the will of God with anything on his head disgraces his head,

and any woman who offers prayer or explains the will of God bareheaded disgraces her head, for it is just as though she had her head shaved.

For if a woman will not wear a veil, let her cut off her hair too. But if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her wear a veil.

For a man ought not to wear anything on his head, for he is the image of God and reflects his glory; while woman is the reflection of man's glory.

For just as woman was made from man, man is born of woman, and both like everything else really come from God.

Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to offer prayer to God with nothing on her head?

But if anyone is disposed to be contentious about it, I for my part recognize no other practice in worship than this, and neither do the churches of God.

But while I am on this subject, I cannot approve of your meetings, because they are doing you more harm than good.

for each of you hurries to get his own supper and eat it, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.

Have you no houses to eat and drink in? Or do you mean to show your contempt for the church of God, and to humiliate those who have none? What can I say to you? Can I approve of you? Not in this matter certainly.

Therefore, I must tell you that no one who is speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God ever says, "Curse Jesus!" and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord!" without being under the influence of the holy Spirit.

and activities vary, but God who produces them all in us all is the same.

Each one is given his spiritual illumination for the common good.

As it is, God has arranged the parts, every one of them in the body as he wished them to be.

which our presentable parts do not need. God has so adjusted the body and given such especial distinction to its inferior parts

And God has placed people in the church, first as apostles, second as inspired preachers, third as teachers, then wonder-workers; then come ability to cure the sick, helpfulness, administration, ecstatic speaking.

Even if I give away everything I own, and give myself up, but do it in pride, not love, it does me no good.

For now we are looking at a dim reflection in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face. Now my knowledge is imperfect, but then I shall know as fully as God knows me.

For anyone who speaks ecstatically is speaking not to men but to God, for no one can understand him, though he is uttering secret truths.

But the inspired preacher does his fellow-men good and encourages and comforts them.

Anyone who speaks ecstatically does himself good, but the inspired preacher does a congregation good.

I want you all to speak ecstatically, but I especially want you to be inspired to preach. The man who is inspired to preach is more useful than the one who speaks ecstatically??nless he can explain what he says so that it may do the church some good.

But as it is brothers, if I come back to you and speak ecstatically, what good will I do you, unless I have some revelation or special knowledge or message or teaching to give you?

So since you are ambitious for spiritual endowments, you must try to excel in them in ways that will do good to the church.