Paul, by the will of God called as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and our brother Sosthenes,

to the church of God at Corinth, to those who are consecrated by union with Christ Jesus, and called as God's people, like all those anywhere who call on the name of Jesus Christ, their Lord as well as ours;

God can be depended on, and it was he who called you to this fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

But I urge you all, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree in what you say, and not to allow factions among you, but to be perfectly united in mind and judgment.

For I have been informed, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that quarrels are going on among you.

For to those who are on the way to destruction, the story of the cross is nonsense, but to us who are to be saved, it means all the power of God.

But it is a mysterious divine wisdom that we impart, hitherto kept secret, and destined by God before the world began for our glory.

The planter and the waterer are all one, though each of us will be paid for his own work.

Like an expert builder, I laid a foundation, as God commissioned me to do, and now someone else is building upon it. But let everyone be careful how he does so.

If what a man has built on the foundation stands the test, he will have his pay.

If a man's work is burned up, he must stand the loss, though he himself will be saved, but as one who has passed through the fire.

Now further, what is always demanded of managers is that they can be depended on.

I for my part care very little about being examined by you or by any human court. I do not even offer myself for investigation.

Now, brothers, for your benefit I have applied all this only to Apollos and myself, by using us as illustrations to teach you the old lesson, "Never go beyond the letter," and to keep any of you from boasting of one teacher at the expense of another.

when they slander us, we try to conciliate them. We have come to be like the scum of the earth, the dregs of the world, and we are so now.

and meeting with you, in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, by the authority of our Lord Jesus

I have handed the man over to Satan, for his physical destruction, in order that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.

What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who is supposed to be a Christian brother, and yet is immoral or greedy or idolatrous or abusive or drunken or grasping??ith such a person you must not even eat.

Do you not know that the Christians are to be the judges of the world? And if the world is to come before you for judgment, are you unfit to decide the most trivial cases?

Do you not know that we are to be the judges of angels, to say nothing of ordinary matters?

If then you have ordinary matters to be settled, will you submit them for judgment to men who are nothing in the church?

Having lawsuits with one another at all means your utter failure, to begin with. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be robbed?

Some of you used to be like that; but you have washed it all away, you have been consecrated, you have become upright, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.

And as God raised the Lord to life, he will raise us also by his power.

The husband must give his wife what is due her, and the wife must do the same by her husband.

I should like to have everyone be just as I am myself; but each one has his own special gift from God, one of one kind, and one of another.

But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be on fire with passion.

For the husband who is not a believer is consecrated through union with his wife, and the woman who is not a believer is consecrated through union with her Christian husband, for otherwise your children would be unblessed, but, as it is, they are consecrated.

If you are united to a wife, do not seek to be released. If you are not, do not seek a wife.

and those who mourn as though they did not mourn, and those who are glad as though they were not glad, and those who buy anything as though they did not own it,

I want you to be free from all anxiety. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's work, and how he can please the Lord.

An unmarried woman or a girl is concerned about the Lord's work, so as to be consecrated in body and spirit, but the woman who marries is concerned with worldly affairs, and how she can please her husband.

But if a man thinks he is not acting properly toward the girl to whom he is engaged, if his passions are too strong, and that is what ought to be done, let him do as he pleases; it is no sin; let them be married.

But a man who has definitely made up his mind, under no constraint of passion but with full self-control, and who has decided in his own mind to keep her as she is, will be doing what is right.

But she will be happier, in my judgment, if she remains as she is, and I think I have God's spirit as well as other people.

But if a man loves God, God is known by him.

For if somebody sees you, who are intelligent about this matter, attending a dinner in an idol's temple, will not he, with his sensitive conscience, be led to eat meat that is offered to idols?

For this overscrupulous brother, for whom Christ died, is ruined by what you call your knowledge.

What soldier ever pays his expenses out of his own pay? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of the grapes? Who tends a flock and does not get any of the milk?

For if I do it of my own accord, I have my pay, but if I do it because I must, it is still a responsibility that I am charged with.

What pay then do I get? Why, that in my preaching I can offer the good news without cost, and so not take full advantage of my rights as a preacher.

To the overscrupulous I have become overscrupulous, so as to win the overscrupulous; I have become everything to everybody, so as by all means to save some of them.

But I beat and bruise my body and make it my slave, so that after I have called others to the contest I may not be disqualified myself.

For I would not have you forget, brothers, that though our forefathers were all protected by the cloud, and all passed safely through the sea,

Let us not try the Lord's patience too far, as some of them did, for they were killed for it by the snakes.

You must not grumble, as some of them did, for they were destroyed for it by the destroying angel.

So the man who thinks he can stand must be on his guard against a fall.

It is no superhuman temptation that you have had. And God can be depended on, not to let you be tried beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to give you a way out of it, so that you can withstand it.

his scruples, I say, not yours. For why should my liberty of action be limited by another's scruples?

If I give thanks for what I eat, why should I be denounced for eating what I give thanks over?

You must not be hindrances to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God either,

just as I for my part try to please everyone in all I do, not aiming at my own advantage, but at that of people generally, in order that they may be saved.

I appreciate your always remembering me, and your standing by the things I passed on to you, just as you received them.

But if anyone is disposed to be contentious about it, I for my part recognize no other practice in worship than this, and neither do the churches of God.

Doubtless there must be parties among you, if those who are right are to be recognized among you.

He took the cup, too, after supper, in the same way, saying, "This cup is the new agreement ratified by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do so in memory of me."

Hence anyone who eats the bread or drinks from the Lord's cup in a way that is unworthy of it will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the Lord.

But since we do incur it, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

About spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be misinformed.

One man receives through the Spirit the power to speak wisely, another, by the same Spirit, receives the power to express knowledge,

another, from his union with the same Spirit receives faith, another, by one and the same Spirit, the ability to cure the sick,

These are all produced by one and the same Spirit, and apportioned to each of us just as the Spirit chooses.

As it is, God has arranged the parts, every one of them in the body as he wished them to be.

If they were all one part, where would the body be?

I want you all to speak ecstatically, but I especially want you to be inspired to preach. The man who is inspired to preach is more useful than the one who speaks ecstatically??nless he can explain what he says so that it may do the church some good.

So if you in your ecstatic speaking utter words no one can understand, how will people know what you are saying? You will be talking to the empty air!

So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall seem to the man who is speaking to be a foreigner, and he will seem to me to be one too.

Brothers, you must not be children mentally. In evil be babies, but mentally be mature.

In the Law it says, "By men of strange languages and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this nation, and not even then will they listen to me, says the Lord."

But if they are all inspired to preach and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convinced of his sin by them all, he is called to account by them all,

Then what is the right course, brothers? When you meet together, suppose every one of you has a song, a teaching, a revelation, an ecstatic utterance, or an explanation of one; it must all be for the good of all.

If there is any ecstatic speaking, let it be limited to two or three people at the most, and have one speak at a time and someone explain what he says.

For in this way you can all preach one after another, as you are inspired to, so that everyone may be instructed and stimulated,

If anyone claims to be inspired to preach, or to have any other spiritual endowment, let him understand that what I am now writing you is a command from the Lord.

If anyone pays no attention to it, pay no attention to him.

But let everything be done in a proper and orderly way.

Now I want to remind you, brothers, of the form in which I presented to you the good news I brought, which you accepted and have stood by,

and through which you are to be saved, if you hold on, unless your faith has been all for nothing.

and that he was seen by Cephas, and then by the Twelve.

After that he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some of them have fallen asleep.

Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles,

and finally he was seen by me also, as though I were born at the wrong time.

For I am the least important of the apostles, and am not fit to be called an apostle, because I once persecuted God's church.

But by God's favor I have become what I am, and the favor he showed me has not gone for nothing, but I have worked harder than any of them, although it was not really I but the favor God showed me.

But the truth is, Christ was raised from the dead, the first to be raised of those who have fallen asleep.

For just as because of their relation to Adam all men die, so because of their relation to Christ they will all be brought to life again.

The last enemy to be overthrown will be death,

for everything is to be reduced to subjection and put under Christ's feet. But when it says that everything is subject to him, he is evidently excepted who reduced it all to subjection to him.

And when everything is reduced to subjection to him, then the Son himself will also become subject to him who has reduced everything to subjection to him, so that God may be everything to everyone.

Otherwise, what do people mean by having themselves baptized on behalf of their dead? If the dead do not rise at all, why do they have themselves baptized on their behalf?

By the very pride I take in you, brothers, through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord, I face death every day.

From the human point of view, what good is it to me that I have fought wild animals here in Ephesus? If the dead do not rise at all, "Let us eat and drink, for we will be dead tomorrow!"

Do not be misled. Bad company ruins character.

and as we have been like the man of the earth, let us also try to be like the man from heaven.

I will tell you a secret. We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed,

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised free from decay, and we shall be changed.

On the first of every week each of you is to put aside and store up whatever he gains, so that money will not have to be collected after I come.

and I will probably stay some time with you, or even pass the winter, so that you may start me off for wherever I may be going.

Be on the watch. Stand firm in your faith. Act like men. Show yourselves strong.

Now I urge you, brothers??ou know that the family of Stephanas was the first to be converted in Greece, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's people??16 I want you to enlist under such leaders, and under anyone who joins with you and works hard.