I always thank my God for the grace of God that has been bestowed on you in Christ Jesus;

By 'quarrelling' I mean that each of you has his party-cry, "I belong to Paul," "And I to Apollos," "And I to Cephas," "And I to Christ."

Has Christ been parcelled out? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Was it in Paul's name that you were baptized?

Sage, scribe, critic of this world, where are they all? Has not God stultified the wisdom of the world?

No, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame what is strong;

God has chosen what is mean and despised in the world ??things which are not, to put down things that are;

This is the God to whom you owe your being in Christ Jesus, whom God has made our 'Wisdom,' that is, our righteousness and consecration and redemption;

No, as it is written, what no eye has ever seen, what no ear has ever heard, what never entered the mind of man, God has prepared all that for those who love him.

And God has revealed it to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit fathoms everything, even the depths of God.

Still, though planter and waterer are on the same level, each will get his own wage for the special work that he has done.

So do not criticize at all; the hour of reckoning has still to come, when the Lord will come to bring dark secrets to the light and to reveal life's inner aims and motives. Then each of us will get his meed of praise from God.

Now I have applied what has been said above to myself and Apollos, to teach you ... that you are not to be puffed up with rivalry over one teacher as against another.

Who singles you out, my brother? What do you possess that has not been given you? And if it was given you, why do you boast as if it had been gained, not given?

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality such as is unknown even among pagans ??that a man has taken his father's wife!

Clean out the old dough that you may be a fresh lump. For you are free from the old leaven; Christ our paschal lamb has been sacrificed.

When any of you has a grievance against his neighbour, do you dare to go to law in a sinful pagan court, instead of laying the case before the saints?

I say this to put you to shame. Has it come to this, that there is not a single wise man among you who could decide a dispute between members of the brotherhood,

the wife cannot do as she pleases with her body ??her husband has power, and in the same way the husband cannot do as he pleases with his body ??his wife has power.

I would like all men to be as I am. However, everyone is endowed by God in his own way; he has a gift for the one life or the other.

For married people these are my instructions (and they are the Lord's, not mine). A wife is not to separate from her husband ??11 if she has separated, she must either remain single or be reconciled to him ??and a husband must not put away his wife.

To other people I would say (not the Lord): ??if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and if she consents to live with him, he must not put her away;

and if any wife has a husband who is not a believer, and if he consents to live with her, she must not put her husband away.

For the unbelieving husband is consecrated in the person of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated in the person of the Christian brother she has married; otherwise, of course, your children would be unholy instead of being consecrated to God.

(Should the unbelieving partner be determined to separate, however, separation let it be; in such cases the Christian brother or sister is not tied to marriage.) It is to a life of peace that God has called us.

Was a man circumcised at the time he was called? Then he is not to efface the marks of it. Has any man been called when he was uncircumcised? Then he is not to get circumcised.

I mean, brothers, ??the interval has been shortened; so let those who have wives live as if they had none,

But the man of firm purpose who has made up his mind, who, instead of being forced against his will, has determined to himself to keep his maid a spiritual bride ??that man will be doing the right thing.

With regard to food that has been offered to idols. Here, of course, 'we all possess knowledge'! Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.

Whoever imagines he has attained to some degree of knowledge, does not possess the true knowledge yet;

Well then, with regard to food that has been offered to idols, I am quite aware that 'there is no such thing as an idol in the world' and that 'there is only the one God.'

But remember, it is not everyone who has this 'knowledge.' Some who have hitherto been accustomed to idols eat the food as food which has been really offered to an idol, and so their weaker conscience is contaminated.

Suppose anyone sees you, a person of enlightened mind, reclining at meat inside an idol's temple; will that really 'fortify his weak conscience'? Will it not embolden him to violate his scruples of conscience by eating food that has been offered to idols?

It all happened to them by way of warning for others, and it was written down for the purpose of instructing us whose lot has been cast in the closing hours of the world.

No temptation has waylaid you that is beyond man's power; trust God, he will never let you be tempted beyond what you can stand, but when temptation comes, he will provide the way out of it, so that you can bear up under it.

Do I imply, you ask, that 'food offered to an idol has any meaning, or that an idol itself means any thing'?

Eat any food that has been sold in the market, instead of letting scruples of conscience oblige you to ask any questions about it;

If one partakes of food after saying a blessing over it, why should one be denounced for eating what one has given thanks to God for?

one man in the same Spirit has the gift of faith, another in the one Spirit has gifts of healing;

one has prophecy, another the gift of distinguishing spirits, another the gift of 'tongues' in their variety, another the gift of interpreting 'tongues.'

As the human body is one and has many members, all the members of the body forming one body for all their number, so is it with Christ.

As it is, God has set the members in the body, each as it pleased him.

which does not need to be paid to our more decorous parts. Yes, God has tempered the body together, with a special dignity for the inferior parts,

That is to say, God has set people within the church to be first of all apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, and speakers in 'tongues' of various kinds.

You challenge this rule? Pray, did God's word start from you? Are you the only people it has reached?

and if Christ did not rise, then our preaching has gone for nothing, and your faith has gone for nothing too.

For God has put everything under his feet. When it is said that everything has been put under him, plainly that excludes Him who put everything under him;

and when this mortal body has been invested with immortality, then the saying of Scripture will be realized, Death is swallowed up in victory.

As for our brother Apollos, I urged him to accompany the other brothers on a visit to you; he will come as soon as he has time, but for the present it is not the will of God that he should visit you.

'If any one has no love for the Lord, God's curse be on him! Maran atha!