To the Church of God in Corinth, to those who have been consecrated by union with Christ Jesus and called to become his People, and also to all, wherever they may be, who invoke the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ-their Master and ours,

To: God's church in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified by the Messiah Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah their Lord and ours.

because you have in everything been richly blessed through union with Him, with perfect expression and fullness of knowledge.

so that ye have not been deficient in any gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ:

God is entirely trustworthy, and it is He through whom you have been called into this fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now I beg you all, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be harmonious in what you say and not to have factions among you, but to be perfectly harmonious in your minds and judgments.

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

Is the Christ divided? has Paul been crucified for you? or have ye been baptised unto the name of Paul?

I thank God that I have baptised none of you, unless Crispus and Gaius,

that no one may say that I have baptised unto my own name.

and I did baptize also Stephanas' household -- further, I have not known if I did baptize any other.

For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should have been made of none effect.

As it says in the holy Writings, I will put an end to the wisdom of the wise, and will put on one side the designs of those who have knowledge.

But to those who have received the Call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God!

For consider your own calling, brothers, that not many wise in earthly wisdom, not many powerful, not many of noble birth, have been called.

and the things which the world regards as base, and those which it sets utterly at nought--things that have no existence--God has chosen in order to reduce to nothing things that do exist;

So that no flesh might have glory before God.

But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God [revealing His plan of salvation], and righteousness [making us acceptable to God], and sanctification [making us holy and setting us apart for God], and redemption [providing our ransom from the penalty for sin],

For I had made the decision to have knowledge of nothing among you but only of Jesus Christ on the cross.

And I did not use persuasive words of [human] wisdom in my message and preaching, but they were [accompanied by] a demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power [from God]. [Note: This "demonstration" could have included the evidence of miraculous spiritual gifts which Paul utilized while there in Corinth. See 14:18].

This was so that your faith would not [have to] depend on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

But still we have wisdom for those who are complete in knowledge, though not the wisdom of this world, and not of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that 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.

For the natural man is not able to take in the things of the Spirit of God: for they seem foolish to him, and he is not able to have knowledge of them, because such knowledge comes only through the Spirit.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

AND I, brethren, have been unable to speak to you as unto spiritual men, but as to carnal, even as to babes 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.

Who then is Apollos, and who Paul? Ministering servants, through whom ye have believed, and as the Lord has given to each.

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive a reward for his own action.

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

If any man's work comes through the test, he will have a reward.

have ye not known that ye are a sanctuary of God, and the Spirit of God doth dwell in you?

Let no man have a false idea. If any man seems to himself to be wise among you, let him become foolish, so that he may be wise.

for of nothing to myself have I been conscious, but not in this have I been declared right -- and he who is discerning me is the Lord:

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

For who makes you superior? And what do you have that you did not get from someone? But if you got it from someone, why do you boast as though you had not?

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 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.

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.

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

We have worked hard with our own hands for a living. When abused by people, we bless them. When persecuted, we patiently bear it.

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!

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

But some of you have become conceited over the thought that I am not coming to see you.

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,

Which will you have? Shall I come to you with a stick, or in a loving and gentle spirit?

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

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

For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you have come together with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

[I have decided] to hand over such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in order that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Not good is your glorying; have ye not known that a little leaven the whole lump doth leaven?

I wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with fornicators;

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.

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

Do any of you dare, when you have a matter against another, to go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

have ye not known that the saints shall judge the world? and if by you the world is judged, are ye unworthy of the smaller judgments?

have ye not known that we shall judge messengers? why not then the things of life?

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

To say no more, it is a mark of moral failure among you to have lawsuits at all with one another. Why not rather suffer being wronged? Why not suffer being robbed?

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

or thieves or greedy graspers for more or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers will not have a share in the kingdom of God.

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.

"Everything is permissible for me [to do];" but not everything is profitable. [Note: The words in quote marks in this and the following verse are thought to have been commonly held views of that day, to which Paul gives an inspired reply]. "Everything is permissible for me [to do];" but I will not be ruled by anything.

Have ye not known that your bodies are members of Christ? having taken, then, the members of the Christ, shall I make them members of an harlot? let it be not!

have ye not known that he who is joined to the harlot is one body? 'for they shall be -- saith He -- the two for one flesh.'

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

for you have been bought and actually paid for. So you must honor God with your bodies.

NOW with regard to those things concerning which ye have written unto me, it were good for a man not to touch a woman.

Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

The wife does not have the right to do as she pleases with her own body; the husband has his right to it. In the same way the husband does not have the right to do as he pleases with his own body; the wife has her right to it.

You husbands and wives must stop refusing each other what is due, unless you agree to do so just for awhile, so as to have plenty of time for prayer, and then to be together again, so as to keep Satan from tempting you because of your lack of self-control.

But what I have just said is by way of concession, not command.

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.

and if they have not continence -- let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn;

But I proclaim to those who have married, not I, but the Lord, That a wife shall not depart from her husband

(but if also she shall have been separated, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband;) and let not husband leave wife.

But as to the rest, I say, not the Lord, If any brother have an unbelieving wife, and she consent to dwell with him, let him not leave her.

For, in such cases, the unbelieving husband has become--and is--holy through union with a Christian woman, and the unbelieving wife is holy through union with a Christian brother. Otherwise your children would be unholy, but in reality they have a place among God's people.

For what assurance have you, O woman, as to whether you will save your husband? Or what assurance have you, O man, as to whether you will save your wife?

If a man was circumcised when he was called, he must not try to alter it. If a man was uncircumcised when he was called, he must not have himself circumcised.

Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that bother you. Of course, if you have a chance to become free, take advantage of the opportunity.

You have been bought and actually paid for; stop becoming slaves to men.

Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

I think, then, that, in view of the time of suffering that has now come upon us, what I have already said is best-that a man should remain as he is.

Have you become committed to a wife? Stop trying to get released from your commitment. Have you been freed from your commitment to a wife? Stop looking for one.

But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

and they that weep, as those that are unconcern'd; and they that rejoice, as those that do not; and they that buy, as those that have no possessions;

and they that possess this world, as those that can't make an ill use of it. for the scene of this world is continually shifting. I would have you free from anxiety.

But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

The wife and the virgin have been distinguished: the unmarried is anxious for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, and the married is anxious for the things of the world, how she shall please the husband.

so that he who marries, does well; but he who lives single, may have less trouble.

A wife, is bound for as long a time as her husband is living; but, if the husband have fallen asleep, she is, free, to be married unto whom she pleaseth, - only, in the Lord;