From: Paul, called to be an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and from our brother Sosthenes.

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.

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given you by the Messiah Jesus.

In this way our testimony about Christ was confirmed and established in you,

Therefore, you don't lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus the Messiah to be revealed.

And He will also confirm you to the end [keeping you strong and free of any accusation, so that you will be] blameless and beyond reproach in the day [of the return] of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is the God by whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

Brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, I urge all of you to be in agreement and not to have divisions among you, so that you may be perfectly united in your understanding and opinions.

This is what I mean: Each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to the Messiah."

Has Christ been divided [into different parts]? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? [Certainly not!]

For Christ did not send me [as an apostle] to baptize, but [commissioned and empowered me] to preach the good news [of salvation]—not with clever and eloquent speech [as an orator], so that the cross of Christ would not be made ineffective [deprived of its saving power].

but we preach Christ crucified, [a message which is] to Jews a stumbling block [that provokes their opposition], and to Gentiles foolishness [just utter nonsense],

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah is God's power and God's wisdom.

It is because of God that you are in union with the Messiah Jesus, who for us has become wisdom from God, as well as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

for I made the decision to know nothing [that is, to forego philosophical or theological discussions regarding inconsequential things and opinions while] among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified [and the meaning of His redemptive, substitutionary death and His resurrection].

For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].

Brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as mere infants in the Messiah.

for no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ.

but you belong to the Messiah, and the Messiah belongs to God.

Think of us as servants of the Messiah and as servant managers entrusted with God's secrets.

We are fools for the Messiah's sake, but you are wise in the Messiah. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.

You may have 10,000 mentors who work for the Messiah, but not many fathers. For in the Messiah Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

That's why I sent Timothy to you. He is my dear and dependable son in the Lord and will help you remember how I live for the Messiah Jesus as I teach everywhere in every church.

This pride of yours is not good. Do you not see that a little leaven makes a change in all the mass?

Take away, then, the old leaven, so that you may be a new mass, even as you are without leaven. For Christ has been put to death as our Passover.

That is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and by the Spirit of our God.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Am I therefore to take the members of Christ and make them part of a prostitute? Certainly not!

For he who was a slave when he was called in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, likewise he who was free when he was called is a slave of Christ.

yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom everything came into being and for whom we live. And there is only one Lord, Jesus the Messiah, through whom everything came into being and through whom we live.

For through your knowledge (spiritual maturity) this weak man is ruined [that is, he suffers in his spiritual life], the brother for whom Christ died.

When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak consciences, you are sinning against the Messiah.

If others enjoy this right over you, don't we have a stronger claim? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we tolerate everything in order not to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of the Messiah.

To those who do not have the Law, I became like a man who does not have the Law in order to win those who do not have the Law. However, I am not free from God's Law, but I'm subject to the Messiah's law.

and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah.

Is the cup of blessing which we bless [at the Lord’s Supper] not a sharing in the blood of Christ? [Indeed it is.] Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ? [Indeed it is.]

Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

Now I want you to realize that the Messiah is the head of every man, and man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of the Messiah.

For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form [only] one body, so it is with Christ.

Now you are the Messiah's body and individual parts of it.

For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold],

Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised,

and if the Messiah has not been raised, then our message means nothing and your faith means nothing.

In addition, we are found to be false witnesses about God because we testified on God's behalf that he raised the Messiah whom he did not raise if in fact it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, then the Messiah has not been raised,

and if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still imprisoned by your sins.

Yes, even those who have died believing in the Messiah are lost.

If we have set our hopes on the Messiah in this life only, we deserve more pity than any other people.

But now [as things really are] Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, [and He became] the first fruits [that is, the first to be resurrected with an incorruptible, immortal body, foreshadowing the resurrection] of those who have fallen asleep [in death].

For as in Adam all die, so also in the Messiah will all be made alive.

But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s [own will be resurrected with incorruptible, immortal bodies] at His coming.

Then the end will come, when after he has done away with every ruler and every authority and power, the Messiah hands over the kingdom to God the Father.

For he must rule until God puts all the Messiah's enemies under his feet.

I face death every day! That is as certain, brothers, as it is that I am proud of you in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah!

May my love remain with all of you in union with the Messiah Jesus.