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,

For I have been informed, my Brothers, by the members of Chloe's household, that party feeling exists among you.

You have rent the Christ in pieces! Was it Paul who was crucified for you? or were you baptized into the Faith of Paul?

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

This philosophy is not known to any of the leaders of to-day; for, had they known it, they would not have crucified our glorified Lord.

And as for us, it is not the Spirit of the World that we have received, but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may realize the blessings given to us by him.

For 'who has so comprehended the mind of the Lord as to be able to instruct him?' We, however, have the very mind of Christ.

All this, Brothers, I have, for your sakes, applied to Apollos and myself, so that, from our example, you may learn to observe the precept-'Keep to what is written,' that none of you may speak boastfully of one teacher to the disparagement of another.

For who makes any one of you superior to others? And what have you that was not given you? But if you received it as a gift, why do you boast as if you had not?

Are you all so soon satisfied? Are you so soon rich? Have you begun to reign without us? Would indeed that you had, so that we also might reign with you!

We meet slander with gentle appeals. We have been treated as the scum of the earth, the vilest of the vile, to this very hour.

Though you may have thousands of instructors in the Faith of Christ, yet you have not many fathers. It was I who, through union with Christ Jesus, became your father by means of the Good News.

For I myself, though absent in body, have been present with you in spirit, and in the name of our Lord Jesus I have already passed judgment, just as if I had been present, upon the man who has acted in this way.

I have decided-having been present in spirit at your meetings, when the power of the Lord Jesus was with us-

Not, of course, meaning men of the world who are in immoral, or who are covetous and grasping, or who worship idols; for then you would have to leave the world altogether.

What have I to do with judging those outside the Church? Is it not for you to judge those who are within the Church,

Can it be that, when one of you has a dispute with another, he dares to have his case tried before the heathen, instead of before Christ's People?

Why, then, if you have cases relating to the affairs of this life, do you set to try them men who carry no weight with the Church? To your shame I ask it.

To begin with, it is undoubtedly a loss to you to have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?

Do not you know that wrong-doers will have no share in God's Kingdom? Do not be deceived. No one who is immoral, or an idolater, or an adulterer, or licentious, or a sodomite,

Or a thief, or covetous, or a drunkard, or abusive, or grasping, will have any share in God's Kingdom.

Again, do not you know that your body is a shrine of the Holy Spirit that is within you-the Spirit which you have from God?

But, owing to the prevalence of immorality, I advise every man to have his own wife, and every woman her husband.

With regard to unmarried women, I have no command from the Master to give you, but I tell you my opinion, and it is that of a man whom the Master in his mercy has made worthy to be trusted.

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.

still, if you should marry, that is not wrong; nor, if a young woman marries, is that wrong. But those who marry will have much trouble to bear, and my wish is to spare you.

What I mean, Brothers, is this-The time is short. Meanwhile, let those who have wives live as if they had none,

Yet she will be happier if she remains as she is-in my opinion, for I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

With reference to food that has been offered in sacrifice to idols-We are aware that all of us have knowledge! Knowledge breeds conceit, while love builds up character.

If a man thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet reached that knowledge which he ought to have reached.

Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Have I not seen our Lord Jesus? Are not you yourselves my work achieved in union with the Lord?

Have not we a right to food and drink?

Have not we a right to take a wife with us, if she is a Christian, as the other Apostles and the Master's brothers and Kephas all do?

Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to give up working for our bread?

I, however, have not availed myself of any of these rights. I am not saying this to secure such an arrangement for myself; indeed, I would far rather die-Nobody shall make my boast a vain one!

If I tell the Good News, I have nothing to boast of, for I can but do so. Woe is me if I do not tell it!

If I do this work willingly, I have a reward; but, if unwillingly, I have been charged to perform a duty.

To those who have no Law I became like a man who has no Law- -not that I am free from God's Law; no, for I am under Christ's Law-to win those who have no law.

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so as at all costs to save some.

No, I bruise my body and make it my slave, lest I, who have called others to the contest, should myself be rejected.

No temptation has come upon you that is not common to all mankind. God will not fail you, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength; but, when he sends the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, so that you may have strength to endure.

A man ought not to have his head covered, for he has been from the beginning 'the likeness of God' and the reflection of his glory, but woman is the reflection of man's glory.

If, however, any one still thinks it right to contest the point-well, we have no such custom, nor have the Churches of God.

Have you no houses in which you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show your contempt for the Church of God, and to humiliate the poor? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I cannot praise you.

For I myself received from the Lord the account which I have in turn given to you-how the Lord Jesus, on the very night of his betrayal, took some bread,

Therefore, whoever eats the bread, or drinks the Lord's cup, in an irreverent spirit, will have to answer for an offence against the Lord's body and blood.

Yet, in being judged by the Lord, we are undergoing discipline, so that we may not have judgment passed upon us with the rest of the world.

Can every one be an Apostle? can every one be a Preacher? can every one be a Teacher? can every one have supernatural powers?

Can every one have power to cure diseases? can every one speak in 'tongues'? can every one interpret them?

Though I speak in the 'tongues' of men, or even of angels, yet have not Love, I have become mere echoing brass, or a clanging cymbal!

Even though I have the gift of preaching, and fathom all hidden truths and all the depths of knowledge; even though I have such faith as might move mountains, yet have not Love, I am nothing!

Even though I dole my substance to the poor, even though I sacrifice my body, that I may boast, yet have not Love, it avails me nothing!

When I was a child, I talked as a child, I felt as a child, I reasoned as a child; now that I am a man, I have done with childish ways.

As yet we see, in a mirror, dimly, but then-face to face! As yet my knowledge is incomplete, but then I shall know in full, as I have been fully known.

Next, Brothers, I would remind you of the Good News which I told you, and which you received-the Good News on which you have taken your stand,

After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of our Brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have gone to their rest.

But it is through the love of God that I am what I am, and the love that he showed me has not been wasted. No, I have toiled harder than any of them, and yet it was not I, but the love of God working with me.

Yes, and we are being proved to have borne false testimony about God; for we testified of God that he raised the Christ, whom he did not raise, if, indeed, the dead do not rise!

Yes, and they, who have passed to their rest in union with Christ, perished!

If all that we have done has been to place our hope in Christ for this life, then we of all men are the most to be pitied.

For God has placed all things under Christ's feet. (But, when it is said that all things have been placed under Christ, it is plain that God is excepted who placed everything under him.)

If with only human hopes I had fought in the arena at Ephesus, what should I have gained by it? If the dead do not rise, then-'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die'!

Awake to a righteous life, and cease to sin. There are some who have no true knowledge of God. I speak in this way to shame you.

And as we have borne the likeness of him who came from the dust, so let us bear the likeness of him who came from Heaven.

This I say, Brothers-Flesh and blood can have no share in the Kingdom of God, nor can the perishable share the imperishable.

Listen, I will tell you God's hidden purpose! We shall not all have passed to our rest, but we shall all be transformed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,

On the first day of every week each of you should put by what he can afford, so that no collections need be made after I have come.

I will come to you as soon as I have been through Macedonia- -for I am going through Macedonia-

As for our Brother Apollos, I have often urged him to go to you with the others. He has, however, been very unwilling to do so as yet; but he will go as soon as he finds a good opportunity.

I have another request to make of you, Brothers. You remember Stephanas and his household, and that they were the first-fruits gathered in from Greece, and set themselves to serve Christ's People.

I am glad Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have come, for they have made up for your absence;

They have cheered my heart, and your hearts also. Recognize the worth of such men as these.