in him you have received a wealth of all blessing, full power to speak of your faith and full insight into its meaning,

Why, look at your own ranks, my brothers; not many wise men (that is, judged by human standards), not many leading men, not many of good birth, have been called!

None of the Powers of this world understands it (if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory).

Now we have received the Spirit ??not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may understand what God bestows upon us.

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.

You Corinthians have your heart's desire already, have you? You have heaven's rich bliss already! You have come into your kingdom without us! I wish indeed you had come into your kingdom, so that we could share it with you!

You may have thousands to superintend you in Christ, but you have not more than one father. It was I who in Christ Jesus became your father by means of the gospel.

Certain individuals have got puffed up, have they, as if I were not coming myself?

For my part, present with you in spirit though absent in body, I have already, as in your presence, passed sentence on such an offender as this,

by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ; I have met with you in spirit, and by the power of our Lord Jesus

I have consigned that individual to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, in order that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord Jesus.

I did not mean you were literally to avoid contact with the immoral in this world, with the lustful and the thievish, or with idolaters; in that case you would have to leave the world altogether.

And yet, when you have mundane issues to settle, you refer them to the judgment of men who from the point of view of the church are of no account!

Even to have law-suits with one another is in itself evidence of defeat. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather let yourselves be defrauded?

Do you not know your body is the temple of the holy Spirit within you ??the Spirit you have received from God? You are not your own,

Now about the questions in your letter. It is an excellent thing for a man to have no intercourse with a woman;

but there is so much immorality that every man had better have a wife of his own and every woman a husband of her own.

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

I have no orders from the Lord for unmarried women, but I will give you the opinion of one whom you can trust, after all the Lord's mercy to him.

Of course, if you are actually married, there is no sin in that; and if a maid marries, there is no sin in that. (At the same time those who marry will have outward trouble ??and I would spare you that.)

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

Thus both are right alike in marrying and in refraining from marriage, but he who does not marry will be found to have done better.

However, she is happier if she remains as she is; that is my opinion ??and I suppose I have the Spirit of God as well as other people!

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.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the work I have accomplished in the Lord?

Have we no right to eat and drink at the expense of the churches?

Have we no right to travel with a Christian wife, like the rest of the apostles, like the brothers of the Lord, like Cephas himself?

Only, I have not availed myself of any of these rights, and I am not writing in order to secure any such provision for myself. I would die sooner than let anyone deprive me of this, my source of pride.

Why, free as I am from all, I have made myself the slave of all, to win over as many as I could.

To Jews I have become like a Jew, to win over Jews; to those under the Law I have become as one of themselves ??though I am not under the Law myself ??to win over those under the Law;

to those outside the Law I have become like one of themselves ??though I am under Christ's law, not outside God's Law ??to win over those outside the Law;

to the weak I have become as weak myself, to win over the weak. To all men I have become all things, to save some by all and every means.

For I would have you know this, my brothers, that while our fathers all lived under the cloud, all crossed through the sea,

If a woman will not veil herself, she should cut off her hair as well. But she ought to veil herself; for it is disgraceful that a woman should have her hair cut off or be shaven.

Man does not require to have a veil on his head, for he represents the likeness and supremacy of God; but woman represents the supremacy of man.

What! have you no houses to eat and drink in? Do you think you can show disrespect to the church of God and put the poor to shame? What can I say to you? Commend you? Not for this.

Hence anyone who eats the loaf or drinks the cup of the Lord carelessly, will have to answer for a sin against the body and the blood of the Lord.

For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one Body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen; we have all been imbued with one Spirit.

The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'

so that there may be no disunion in the body, but that the various members should have a common concern for one another.

Thus, I may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but if I have no love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal;

I may prophesy, fathom all mysteries and secret lore, I may have such absolute faith that I can move hills from their place, but if I have no love, I count for nothing;

I may distribute all I possess in charity, I may give up my body to be burnt, but if I have no love, I make nothing of it.

At present we only see the baffling reflections in a mirror, but then it will be face to face; at present I am learning bit by bit, but then I shall understand, as all along I have myself been understood.

Now, brothers, I would have you know the gospel I once preached to you, the gospel you received, the gospel in which you have your footing,

after that, he was seen by over five hundred brothers all at once, the majority of whom survive to this day, though some have died;

But by God's grace I am what I am. The grace he showed me did not go for nothing; no, I have done far more work than all of them ??though it was not I but God's grace at my side.

At any rate, whether I or they have done most, such is what we preach, such is what you believed.

More than that: those who have slept the sleep of death in Christ have perished after all.

Ah, if in this life we have nothing but a mere hope in Christ, we are of all men to be pitied most!

But, someone will ask, 'how do the dead rise? What kind of body have they when they come?'

Thus, as we have borne the likeness of material Man, so we are to bear the likeness of the heavenly Man.

On the first day of the week let each of you put aside a sum from his weekly gains, so that the money may not have to be collected when I come.

for I have wide opportunities here for active service ??and there are many to thwart me.

I ask this favour of you, my brothers. The household of Stephanas, you know, was the first to be reaped in Achaia, and they have laid themselves out to serve the saints.

I am glad that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have arrived, for they have made up for your absence.