Now I beg you all, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be harmonious in what you say and not to have factions among you, but to be perfectly harmonious in your minds and judgments.

I mean this, that one of you says, "I belong to Paul's party," another, "And I belong to Apollos' party," another, "And I belong to Cephas' party," another, "And I belong to Christ's party."

For the Scripture says: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the learning of the learned."

so that, as the Scripture says, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

But, as the Scripture says, they are: "Things which eye has never seen and ear has never heard, and never have occurred to human hearts, which God prepared for those who love Him."

For when one says, "I belong to Paul's party," and another, "I belong to Apollos' party," are you not acting as mere human creatures?

For this world's wisdom is mere nonsense to God. For the Scripture says, "He who catches the wise with their own cunning,"

But I am coming, and coming soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out, not only what those conceited fellows say but what they can do,

Do you not know that we Christians are to sit in judgment on angels, to say nothing of the ordinary cases of life?

To say no more, it is a mark of moral failure among you to have lawsuits at all with one another. Why not rather suffer being wronged? Why not suffer being robbed?

Or, are you not aware that a man who has to do with a prostitute makes his body one with hers? For God says, "The two shall be physically one."

But I say this by way of concession, not by way of command.

To unmarried people and to widows I would say this: It would be a fine thing for them to remain single, as I am.

To the rest of the people I myself would say -- though the Lord Himself has said nothing about it -- if a Christian has a wife that is not a believer and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her;

I am not saying this only by way of human illustrations, am I? Does not the law say so too?

Now stop being idolaters, as some of them were, for the Scripture says, "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to dance."

I am speaking to sensible men; decide for yourselves about what I say.

But if someone says to you, "This meat has been offered as a heathen sacrifice," make it your rule not to eat it, for the sake of the man who warned you and for conscience' sake;

It is not that you have no houses to eat and drink in, is it? Or, are you trying to show your contempt for the church of God and trying to humiliate those who have no houses? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? No, I cannot praise you for this.

So I want to inform you that no one speaking under the power of the Spirit of God can say, "Jesus is accursed!" and no one except one under the power of the Holy Spirit can really say, "Jesus is Lord!"

If the foot says, "Since I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body.

If the ear says, "Since I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," or the hand to the feet, "I do not need you."

Therefore, the man who speaks in ecstasy must pray for power to explain what he says.

how is the man who occupies the place of the illiterate to say "Amen" to your thanksgiving? For he does not know what you are saying.

In the law it is written, "By men of foreign languages and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord."

Hence, if the whole church has met and everybody speaks in ecstasy, and illiterate people or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are crazy?

If anybody speaks in ecstasy, there must be only two, or three at most, and let one speak at a time, and someone explain what he says.

Women must keep quiet in the churches, for no permission is given them to speak. On the contrary, they must take a subordinate place, just as the law says.

for He has put everything in subjection under His feet. But when He says that everything has been put in subjection to Him, He Himself is evidently excepted who put it all in subjection to Him.

Sober up, as is right, and stop sinning, for some of you -- to your shame I say so -- are without any true knowledge of God.

And when this part once capable of dying puts on the body that can never die, then what the Scripture says will come true, "Death has been swallowed up in victory.