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

Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. And to preach it with no fine rhetoric, lest the cross of Christ should lose its power!

Those who are doomed to perish find the story of the cross 'sheer folly,' but it means the power of God for those whom he saves.

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.

God has chosen what is mean and despised in the world ??things which are not, to put down things that are;

what I said, what I preached, did not rest on the plausible arguments of 'wisdom' but on the proof supplied by the Spirit and its power,

so that your faith might not rest on any human 'wisdom' but on the power 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.

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.

When one cries, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," what are you but men of the world?

I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but it was God who made the seed grow.

So neither planter nor waterer counts, but God alone who makes the seed grow.

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.

we work hard for our living; when reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we put up with it;

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

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.

I will come to you before long, if the Lord wills, and then I will find out from these puffed up creatures not what their talk but what their power amounts to.

For God's Reign does not show itself in talk but in power.

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.

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,

But instead of that you inflict wrong and practise frauds ??and that upon members of the brotherhood!

Some of you were once like that; but you washed yourselves clean, you were consecrated, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

'All things are lawful for me'? Yes, but not all are good for me. 'All things are lawful for me'? Yes, but I am not going to let anything master me.

'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;

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

you were bought for a price; then glorify God with your body.

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.

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.

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

(for you were bought for a price; you must not turn slaves to any man).

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.

But the man of firm purpose who has made up his mind, who, instead of being forced against his will, has determined to himself to keep his maid a spiritual bride ??that man will be doing the right thing.

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.

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.

but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

(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.

But see that the exercise of your right does not prove any stumbling-block to the weak.

To other people I may be no apostle, but to you I am, for you are the seal set upon my apostleship in the Lord.

Human arguments, you say? But does not Scripture urge the very same?

Every athlete practises self-restraint all round; but while they do it to win a fading wreath, we do it for an unfading.

No temptation has waylaid you that is beyond man's power; trust God, he will never let you be tempted beyond what you can stand, but when temptation comes, he will provide the way out of it, so that you can bear up under it.

'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are good for us. 'All things are lawful'? Yes, but not all are edifying.

When an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you agree to go, eat whatever is put before you, instead of letting scruples of conscience induce you to ask any questions about it.

But if someone tells you, 'This was sacrificial meat,' then do not eat it; you must consider the man who told you, and also take conscience into account ??29 his conscience, I mean, not your own; for why should one's own freedom be called in question by someone else's conscience?

Put no stumbling-block in the way of Jews or Greeks or the church of God.

Such is my own rule, to satisfy all men in all points, aiming not at my own advantage but at the advantage of the greater number ??at their salvation.

But I would like you to understand this: Christ is the head of every man, man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ.

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.

and man was not created for woman, but woman for man.)

But in giving you the following injunction I cannot commend you; for you are the worse, not the better, for assembling together.

But this makes it impossible for you to eat the 'Lord's' supper when you hold your gatherings.

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.

But I want you to understand about spiritual gifts, brothers.

There are varieties of talents, but the same Spirit;

varieties of service, but the same Lord;

varieties of effects, but the same God who effects everything in everyone.

But all these effects are produced by one and the same Spirit, apportioning them severally to each individual as he pleases.

Why, even the body consists not of one member but of many.

which does not need to be paid to our more decorous parts. Yes, God has tempered the body together, with a special dignity for the inferior parts,

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.

For we only know bit by bit, and we only prophesy bit by bit;

but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded.

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.

Thus 'faith and hope and love last on, these three,' but the greatest of all is love.

Now I would like you all to speak with 'tongues,' but I would prefer you to prophesy. The man who prophesies is higher than the man who speaks with 'tongues' ??unless indeed the latter interprets, so that the church may get edification.

Inanimate instruments, such as the flute or the harp, may give a sound, but if no intervals occur in their music, how can one make out the air that is being played either on flute or on harp?

For if I pray with a 'tongue,' my spirit prays, no doubt, but my mind is no use to anyone.

Very well then, I will pray in the Spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing praise in the Spirit, but I will also sing praise with my mind.

Your thanksgiving may be all right, but then ??the other man is not edified!

but in church I would rather say five words with my own mind for the instruction of other people than ten thousand words in a 'tongue.'

Brothers, do not be children in the sphere of intelligence; in evil be mere infants, but be mature in your intelligence.

It is written in the Law, By men of alien tongues and by the lips of aliens I will speak to this People; but even so, they will not listen to me, saith the Lord.

Thus 'tongues' are intended as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; whereas prophesying is meant for believers, not for unbelievers.

Very well then, brothers; when you meet together, each contributes something ??a song of praise, a lesson, a revelation, a 'tongue,' an interpretation? Good, but let every thing be for edification.

for God is a God not of disorder but of harmony. [Move 33b-36 to follow vs 40] As is the rule in all churches of the saints,

To sum up, my brothers. Set your heart on the prophetic gift, and do not put any check upon speaking in 'tongues';

but let everything be done decorously and in order.

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.

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

But it is not so! Christ did rise from the dead, he was the first to be reaped of those who sleep in death.

But each in his own division: ??Christ the first to be reaped; after that, all who belong to Christ, at his arrival.

For he must reign until all his foes are put under his feet.

(Death is the last foe to be put down.)

For God has put everything under his feet. When it is said that everything has been put under him, plainly that excludes Him who put everything under him;

and when everything is put under him, then the Son himself will be put under Him who put everything under him, so that God may be everything to everyone.

(Not a day but I am at death's door! I swear it by my pride in you, brothers, through Christ Jesus our Lord.)

Make no mistake about this: 'bad company is the ruin of good character.'

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

There are heavenly bodies and also earthly bodies, but the splendour of the heavenly is one thing and the splendour of the earthly is another.

but the animate, not the spiritual, comes first, and only then the spiritual.