to the church of God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, as well as to all who, wherever they may be, invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord no less than ours:

Thus you lack no spiritual endowment during these days of waiting till our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed;

Faithful is the God who called you to this fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Well, I did baptize the household of Stephanas, but no one else, as far as I remember.)

It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the sages, I will confound the insight of the wise.

but our message is Christ the crucified ??a stumbling-block to the Jews, 'sheer folly' to the Gentiles,

but for those who are called, whether Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For the 'foolishness' of God is wiser than men, and the 'weakness' of God is stronger than men.

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!

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;

so that, as it is written, let him who boasts boast of the Lord.

We do discuss 'wisdom' with those who are mature; only it is not the wisdom of this world or of the dethroned Powers who rule this world,

it is the mysterious Wisdom of God that we discuss, that hidden wisdom which God decreed from all eternity for our glory.

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.

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.

And this is what we discuss, using language taught by no human wisdom but by the Spirit. We interpret what is spiritual in spiritual language.

The unspiritual man rejects these truths of the Spirit of God; to him they are 'sheer folly,' he cannot understand them. And the reason is, that they must be read with the spiritual eye.

The spiritual man, again, can read the meaning of everything; and yet no one can read what he is.

For who ever understood the thoughts of the Lord, so as to give him instruction? No one. Well, our thoughts are Christ's thoughts.

But I could not discuss things with you, my brothers, as spiritual persons; I had to address you as worldlings, as mere babes in Christ.

Who is Apollos? Who is Paul? They are simply used by God to give you faith, each as the Lord assigns his task.

In virtue of my commission from God, I laid the foundation of the house like an expert master-builder. It remains for another to build on this foundation. Whoever he is, let him be careful how he builds.

The foundation is laid, namely Jesus Christ, and no one can lay any other.

but in every case the nature of his work will come out; the Day will show what it is, for the Day breaks in fire, and the fire will test the work of each, no matter what that work may be.

if a man's work is burnt up, he will be a loser ??and though he will be saved himself, he will be snatched from the very flames.

God will destroy anyone who would destroy God's temple, for God's temple is sacred ??and that is what you are.

Let no one deceive himself about this; whoever of you imagines he is wise with this world's wisdom must become a 'fool,' if he is really to be wise.

For God ranks this world's wisdom as 'sheer folly.' It is written, He seizes the wise in their craftiness,

and again, The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise is futile.

This is how you are to look upon us, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's secret truths.

Now in this matter of stewards your first requirement is that they must be trustworthy.

for, although I am not conscious of having anything against me, that does not clear me. It is the Lord who cross-questions me on the matter.

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?

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!

For it seems to me that God means us apostles to come in at the very end, like the doomed gladiators in the arena! We are made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men!

when defamed, we try to conciliate. To this hour we are treated as the scum of the earth, the very refuse of the world!

I do not write this to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as beloved children of mine.

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

Which is it to be? Am I to come to you with a rod of discipline or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

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!

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,

Your boasting is no credit to you. Do you not know that a morsel of dough will leaven the whole lump?

So let us celebrate our festival, not with any old leaven, not with vice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of innocence and integrity.

What I now write is that you are not to associate with any so-called brother who is immoral or lustful or idolatrous or given to abuse or drink or robbery. Associate with him! Do not even eat with him!

Outsiders it is no business of mine to judge. No, you must judge those who are inside the church, for yourselves;

as for outsiders, God will judge them. Expel the wicked from your company.

Do you not know the saints are to manage the world? If the world is to come under your jurisdiction, are you incompetent to adjudicate upon trifles?

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,

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?

'Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food'? Yes, and God will do away with the one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body;

and the God who raised the Lord will also raise us by his power.

Do you not know that he who joins himself to a harlot is one with her in body (for the pair, it is said, shall become one flesh),

while he who joins himself to the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Shun immorality! Any other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his body.

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.

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.

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

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.

To the unmarried and to widows I would say this: it is an excellent thing if like me they remain as they are.

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.

Only, everyone must lead the lot assigned him by the Lord; he must go on living the life in which God's call came to him. (Such is the rule I lay down for all the churches).

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.

Circumcision counts for nothing, uncircumcision counts for nothing; obedience to God's commands is everything.

But a slave who is called to be in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord. Just as a free man who is called is a slave of Christ

Well, what I think is this: that, considering the imminent distress in these days, it would be an excellent plan for you to remain just as you are.

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,

let mourners live as if they were not mourning, let the joyful live as if they had no joy, let buyers live as if they had no hold on their goods,

let those who mix in the world live as if they were not engrossed in it, for the present phase of things is passing away.

I want you to be free from all anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the Lord's affairs, how best to satisfy the Lord;

the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how best to satisfy his wife ??34 so he is torn in two directions. The unmarried woman or the maid is also anxious about the Lord's affairs, how to be consecrated, body and spirit; once married, she is anxious about worldly affairs, how best to satisfy her husband.

I am saying this in your own interests. Not that I want to restrict your freedom. It is only to secure decorum and concentration upon a life of devotion to the Lord.

At the same time, if any man considers he is not behaving properly to the maid who is his spiritual bride, if his passions are strong and if it must be so, then let him do what he wants ??let them be married; it is no sin for him.

A woman is bound to her husband during his lifetime; but if he dies, she is free to marry anyone she pleases ??only, it must be a Christian.

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 if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

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.'

(So-called gods there may be, in heaven or on earth ??as indeed there are plenty of them, both gods and 'lords' ??6 but for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all comes, and for whom we exist; one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom all exists, and by whom we exist.)

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.

Now mere food will not bring us any nearer to God; if we abstain we do not lose anything, and if we eat we do not gain anything.

He is ruined, this weak man, ruined by your 'enlightened mind,' this brother for whose sake Christ died!

Therefore if food is any hindrance to my brother's welfare, sooner than injure him I will never eat flesh as long as I live, never!

Here is my reply to my inquisitors.

It is written in the law of Moses, You must not muzzle an ox when he is treading the grain. Is God thinking here about cattle?

Or is he speaking purely for our sakes? Assuredly for our sakes. This word was written for us, because the ploughman needs to plough in hope, and the thresher to thresh in the hope of getting a share in the crop.

If we sowed you the seeds of spiritual good, is it a great matter if we reap your worldly goods?

Do you not know that as men who perform temple-rites get their food from the temple, and as attendants at the altar get their share of the sacrifices,

What I am proud of is not the mere preaching of the gospel; that I am constrained to do. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

I get a reward if I do it of my own accord, whereas to do it otherwise is no more than for a steward to discharge his trust.