(for thus my witness for Christ was confirmed among you);

For it has been plainly told me concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.

so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.

For Christ did not think I baptized any one else. For Christ did not send me forth to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel; and that not in philosophic words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made an empty thing.

My message and my preaching were not in the persuasive language of philosophy, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power;

But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may realize the blessings freely given us by God.

As for me, brothers, I could not talk to you as spiritual men, but as to creatures of flesh, mere babes in Christ.

According to the grace of God vouchsafed me, like a skillful master-builder, I have laid a foundation; but another will be building upon it. Let each take heed how he builds on it.

Let no one deceive himself. If any one of you supposes that he is wise in the philosophy of the present age, let him become foolish, so that he may be wise.

But to me it matters very little that I am judged by you, or by any earthly court.

Indeed I do not even judge myself; for though I know nothing against myself, yet that does not vindicate me; for he who judges me is the Lord.

But it seems to me that God has exhibited us apostles, last of all, like men doomed to death; for we are made a spectacle to the whole world, both to men and to angels.

I am not writing this to shame you, but to admonish you, as my beloved children.

I beg you then to imitate my example.

With this in mind I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dear and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ; the manner in which I ever teach everywhere in every church.

When you are gathered together, and my spirit is with you together with the power of our Lord Jesus,

I have handed over such a man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Then get rid of the old leaven, so that you may be like a new lump, as you are now unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb has already been sacrificed, Christ himself.

I told you in my letter not to associate with the immoral.

"All things are lawful for me"? Yes, but not all things are good for me. "All things are lawful for me"? Yes, but I will not let myself be enslaved by the power of any.

Do not refuse one another, unless it is only temporary and by mutual consent, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, lest through your lack of self-control Satan begin to tempt you to sin.

But to those already married my commandment is??nd not mine, but the Lord's??hat a wife is not to leave her husband;

I have no command from the Lord to give you concerning unmarried women; but I give you my opinion, and it is that of a man who, through the Lord's mercy, is deserving of your confidence.

So I want you to be free from all anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the Lord's business, how he may please the Lord;

but a married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how he may please his wife, and he is divided in his mind.

Again, the woman who is widow, or the maid, is anxious about the Lord's business, how she may be pure in body and in mind; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how she may please her husband.

It is in your own interest that I say this; not that I may entangle you in a snare, but that I may help you to serve the Lord with fitting and undistracted service.

But she is happier, in my judgment, if she remains as she is; and I think that I, too, have the Spirit of God.

Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, lest I make my brother to stumble.

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

Even if I am not an apostle to others, to you at least I am; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

This is my reply to my critics.

Have I no right to take a believing wife with me on my journey, as the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter do?

If others share this authority over you, do not I far more? Yet I have not availed myself of it, but am patiently enduring; so that I may not in any way hinder the progress of Christ's gospel.

But for my part, I have never availed myself of any of these rights. I do not say this to bring it about in my own case. I would rather die than let any one make void this boast of mine.

Proclaiming the gospel gives me no ground of boasting; for necessity is laid upon me; woe is me if I preach not the gospel.

For if I do this of my own accord, I have my pay; but if unwilling, I have at least discharged my stewardship.

What then is my wage? This, that I can make the gospel free where I carry it; and that I can refrain from using my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

Though free from all men, I make myself the slave of all, that I may win the more.

To the Jews I am become like a Jew, that I may win Jews; to those under the Law, like one under the Law, though I am not under the Law, myself;

I am become weak to the weak, to win the weak. I am become all these things to all men that, by any and by all means, I may save some.

And I am doing it all for the gospel's sake, that I may become a copartner in it.

Do you not know that in a foot-race, though all run, only one receives the prize? So run that you may win.

For my part, then, I run with no wavering to the goal. I box not as one beating the air,

but I bruise my body and keep it in subjection, lest having called others to the contest, I should myself be disqualified.

No temptation has overtaken you that is beyond man's power; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but will, with every temptation, provide the way of escape also, so that you may be able to withstand.

So then, my beloved, continually flee from idolatry.

and for your conscience sake??is conscience, not your own. "But," you may object, "why should my freedom be decided upon another's scruples of conscience?

For so I also try to please all men in every way, not by seeking my own good, but the good of the many, that they may be saved.

Be imitators of me, as I am an imitator of Christ.

Indeed I praise you for remembering me in everything, and because you are holding fast to the traditions just as you received them.

For there must needs be also parties among you, in order that the good may be tested and made known.

and when he had given thanks, he broke it, saying, "This is my body, broken for you; this do in memory of me."

In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in memory of me."

but through our condemnation by the Lord, we are trained so that we may not be condemned;

So, my brothers, whenever you come together for this meal, wait for one another.

And though I sell all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it avails me nothing.

Hotly pursue this love, yet seek earnestly spiritual gifts, and chiefly that you may prophesy.

Now I should like you all to speak with "tongues"; but I should rather that you prophesied, For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up.

If then I do not know the force of expression, I shall seem a barbarian to the one who uses it, and he will seem a barbarian to me.

So let him who speaks with tongues pray that he may interpret.

For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is barren.

What then? I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray also with my mind. I will praise God with my spirit, but I will praise him with my mind, also.

but in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, so as to instruct others, than ten thousand in an unknown tongue.

In the Law it is written. With men of other tongues, and by the lips of strangers, will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

For you can all prophesy one by one; so that all may be learning, and all may be encouraged.

So, my brothers, be ambitious for the gift of prophecy, and speak not against the gifts of tongues.

and last of all, as by one born out of due time, he was seen by me also.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and that grace of his, bestowed upon me, did not prove ineffectual. I labored more abundantly than all the rest, yet not I, but by the grace of God that is with me.

For when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself shall subject himself to Him who made them subject, that God may be all in all.

Every day I am facing death, my brothers, I affirm it by that pride in you which I have through Christ Jesus our Lord.

If after the manner of men I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what good does it do me? If the dead do not rise, Let us eat and drink, For we shall be dead tomorrow.

So, my brothers beloved, stand firm, immovable, always abounding in work for the Lord, because you know that your toil is not fruitless in the Lord.

On the first day of each week let each of you put aside something, keeping it in store as he may prosper, so that when I come there may be no collections going on.

On my arrival I will send those whom you may accredit by letter to carry your bounty to Jerusalem.

And if it is worth while for me to go too, they will accompany me.

I shall remain some time with you; possibly spending the winter, in order that you may help me forward in whatever journey I take.

for a door has opened to me, great and effectual, and the opponents are many.

Whenever he comes to me, send him on his way in peace, for I am expecting him with the other brothers.

I beg you this, my brothers??ou know the household of Stephanus, that they were the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they devoted themselves to the service of the saints??16 so I want you also to show deference to such, and to every fellow worker, and laborer.

They refresh my spirit as they do yours. So cultivate the acquaintance of such men.

The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand.

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.