And so became yourselves a confirmation of my testimony to the Christ.

And God himself will strengthen you to the end, so that at the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ you may be found blameless.

For I have been informed, my Brothers, by the members of Chloe's household, that party feeling exists among you.

So that no one can say that you were baptized into my Faith.

Where is the Philosopher? where the Teacher of the Law? where the Disputant of to-day? Has not God shown the world's philosophy to be folly?

For since the world, in God's wisdom, did not by its philosophy learn to know God, God saw fit, by the 'folly' of our proclamation, to save those who believe in Christ!

For God's 'folly' is wiser than men, and God's 'weakness' is stronger than men.

So that in his presence no human being should boast.

But you, by your union with Christ Jesus, belong to God; and Christ, by God's will, became not only our Wisdom, but also our Righteousness, Holiness, and Deliverance,

So that-in the words of Scripture-'Let him who boasts make his boast of the Lord!'

So that your faith should be based, not on the philosophy of man, but on the power of God.

It is what Scripture speaks of as-'What eye never saw, nor ear ever heard, what never entered the mind of man-even all that God has prepared for those who love him.'

Yet to us God revealed it through his Spirit; for the Spirit fathoms all things, even the inmost depths of God's being.

For what man is there who knows what a man is, except the man's own spirit within him? So, also, no one comprehends what God is, except the Spirit of God.

For 'who has so comprehended the mind of the Lord as to be able to instruct him?' We, however, have the very mind of Christ.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's harvest field, God's building.

The quality of each man's work will become known, for the Day will make it plain; because that Day is to be ushered in with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of every man's work.

If any man's work, which he has built upon that foundation, still remains, he will gain a reward.

If any man's work is burnt up, he will suffer loss; though he himself will escape, but only as one who has passed through fire.

Do not you know that you are God's Temple, and that God's Spirit has his home in you?

If any one destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him; for the Temple of God is sacred, and so also are you.

For in God's sight this world's wisdom is folly. Scripture tells of-'One who catches the wise in their own craftiness,'

But you are Christ's and Christ is God's.

Let men look upon us as Christ's servants, and as stewards of the hidden truths of God.

Therefore do not pass judgment before the time, but wait till the Lord comes. He will throw light upon what is now dark and obscure, and will reveal the motives in men's minds; and then every one will receive due praise from God.

All this, Brothers, I have, for your sakes, applied to Apollos and myself, so that, from our example, you may learn to observe the precept-'Keep to what is written,' that none of you may speak boastfully of one teacher to the disparagement of another.

Are you all so soon satisfied? Are you so soon rich? Have you begun to reign without us? Would indeed that you had, so that we also might reign with you!

We, for Christ's sake, are 'fools,' but you, by your union with Christ, are men of discernment. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are despised.

This is my reason for sending Timothy to you. He is my own dear faithful child in the Master's service, and he will remind you of my methods of teaching the Faith of Christ Jesus-methods which I follow everywhere in every Church.

But come to you I will, and that soon, if it please the Lord; and then I shall find out, not what words these men use who are so puffed up, but what power they possess;

There is a wide-spread report respecting a case of immorality among you, and that, too, of a kind that does not occur even among the Gentiles-a man, I hear, is living with his father's wife!

To deliver such a man as this over to Satan, that what is sensual in him may be destroyed, so that his spirit may be saved at the Day of the Lord.

Get rid entirely of the old leaven, so that you may be like new dough-free from leaven, as in truth you are. For our Passover Lamb is already sacrificed-Christ himself;

But, as things are, I say that you are not to associate with any one who, although a Brother in name, is immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or abusive, or a drunkard, or grasping-no, not even to sit at table with such people.

Can it be that, when one of you has a dispute with another, he dares to have his case tried before the heathen, instead of before Christ's People?

Do not you know that Christ's People will try the world? And if the world is to be tried by you, are you unfit to try the most trivial cases?

Do not you know that we are to try angels-to say nothing of the affairs of this life?

Do not you know that wrong-doers will have no share in God's Kingdom? Do not be deceived. No one who is immoral, or an idolater, or an adulterer, or licentious, or a sodomite,

Or a thief, or covetous, or a drunkard, or abusive, or grasping, will have any share in God's Kingdom.

Such some of you used to be; but you washed yourselves clean. You became Christ's People! you were pronounced righteous through the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the Spirit of our God!

And, as God has raised the Lord, so he will raise up us also by the exercise of his power.

Do not you know that your bodies are Christ's members? Am I, then, to take the members that belong to the Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? Heaven forbid!

It is not the wife, but the husband, who exercises power over her body; and so, too, it is not the husband, but the wife, who exercises power over his body.

Do not deprive each other of what is due-unless it is only for a time and by mutual consent, so that your minds may be free for prayer till you again live as man and wife-lest Satan should take advantage of your want of self-control and tempt you.

I say this, however, as a concession, not as a command.

To those who are married my direction is-yet it is not mine, but the Master's-that a woman is not to leave her husband

(If she has done so, let her remain as she is, or else be reconciled to her husband) and also that a man is not to divorce his wife.

To all others I say-I, not the Master-If a Brother is married to a woman, who is an unbeliever but willing to live with him, he should not divorce her;

For, through his wife, the husband who is an unbeliever has become associated with Christ's People; and the wife who is an unbeliever has become associated with Christ's People through our Brother whom she has married. Otherwise your children would be 'defiled,' but, as it is, they belong to Christ's People.

However, if the unbeliever wishes to be separated, let him be so. Under such circumstances neither the Brother nor the Sister is bound; God has called you to live in peace.

For the man who was a slave when he was called to the master's service is the Master's freed-man; so, too, the man who was free when called is Christ's slave.

And those who use the good things of the world as using them sparingly; for this world as we see it is passing away.

I want you to be free from anxiety. The unmarried man is anxious about the Master's Cause, desiring to please him;

And so his interests are divided. Again, the unmarried woman, whether she is old or young, is anxious about the Master's Cause, striving to be pure both in body and in spirit, while the married woman is anxious about worldly matters, desiring to please her husband.

I say this for your own benefit, not with any intention of putting a halter round your necks, but in order to secure for the Master seemly and constant devotion, free from all distraction.

In short, the one who consents to his daughter's marriage is doing right, and yet the other will be doing better.

Even supposing that there are so-called 'gods' either in Heaven or on earth-and there are many such 'gods' and 'lords'-

For if some one should see you who possess this knowledge, feasting in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is a weak man, become so hardened that he, too, will eat food offered to idols?

And so, through this knowledge of yours, the weak man is ruined-your Brother for whose sake Christ died!

Have not we a right to take a wife with us, if she is a Christian, as the other Apostles and the Master's brothers and Kephas all do?

Am I, in all this, speaking only from the human standpoint? Does not the Law also say the same?

So, too, the Master has appointed that those who tell the Good News should get their living from the Good News.

If I tell the Good News, I have nothing to boast of, for I can but do so. Woe is me if I do not tell it!

What is my reward, then? To present the Good News free of all cost, and so make but a sparing use of the rights which it gives me.

Although I was entirely free, yet, to win as many converts as possible, I made myself everyone's slave.

To those who have no Law I became like a man who has no Law- -not that I am free from God's Law; no, for I am under Christ's Law-to win those who have no law.

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so as at all costs to save some.

I want you to bear in mind, Brothers, that all our ancestors were beneath the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

That in the cloud and in the sea they all underwent baptism as followers of Moses;

And do not murmur, as some of them murmured, and so 'were destroyed by the Angel of Death.'

No temptation has come upon you that is not common to all mankind. God will not fail you, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength; but, when he sends the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, so that you may have strength to endure.

No; what I say is that the sacrifices offered by the Gentiles 'are offered to demons and to a Being who is no God,' and I do not want you to share with demons.

But, if any one should say to you 'This has been offered in sacrifice to an idol,' then, for the sake of the speaker and his scruples, do not eat it.

I do not say 'your' scruples, but 'his.' For why should the freedom that I claim be condemned by the scruples of another?

A man ought not to have his head covered, for he has been from the beginning 'the likeness of God' and the reflection of his glory, but woman is the reflection of man's glory.

For just as woman came from man, so man comes by means of woman; and all things come from God.

A woman's long hair is her glory? Her hair has been given her to serve as a covering.

Indeed, there must be actual parties among you, for so only will the men of real worth become known.

When you meet together, as I understand, it is not possible to eat the Lord's Supper;

Have you no houses in which you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show your contempt for the Church of God, and to humiliate the poor? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I cannot praise you.

For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death-till he comes.

Therefore, whoever eats the bread, or drinks the Lord's cup, in an irreverent spirit, will have to answer for an offence against the Lord's body and blood.

That is why so many among you are weak and ill, and why some are sleeping.

Yet, in being judged by the Lord, we are undergoing discipline, so that we may not have judgment passed upon us with the rest of the world.

If a man is hungry, let him eat at home, so that your meetings may not bring a judgment upon you. The other details I will settle when I come.

Therefore I tell you plainly that no one who speaks under the influence of the Spirit of God says 'JESUS IS ACCURSED,' and that no one can say 'JESUS IS LORD,' except under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

For just as the human body is one whole, and yet has many parts, and all its parts, many though they are, form but one body, so it is with the Christ;

The eye cannot say to the hand 'I do not need you,' nor, again, the head to the feet 'I do not need you.'

Yes, God has so constructed the body--by giving a special honor to the part that lacks it-

As yet we see, in a mirror, dimly, but then-face to face! As yet my knowledge is incomplete, but then I shall know in full, as I have been fully known.

Now I want you all to speak in 'tongues,' but much more I wish that you should preach. A Preacher is of more account than he who speaks in 'tongues,' unless he interprets his words, so that the faith of the Church may be built up.

This being so, Brothers, what good shall I do you, if I come to you and speak in 'tongues,' unless my words convey some revelation, or knowledge, or take the form of preaching or teaching?

And so with you; unless, in using the gift of 'tongues,' you utter intelligible words, how can what you say be understood? You will be speaking to the winds!

And so with you; since your are striving for spiritual gifts, be eager to excel in such as will build up the faith of the Church.

If you bless God with your spirit only, how can the man in the congregation who is without your gift say 'Amen' to your thanksgiving? He does not know what you are saying!

But at a meeting of the Church I would rather speak five words with my mind, and so teach others, than ten thousand words when using the gift of 'tongues.'

So, when the whole Church meets, if all present use the gift of 'tongues,' and some men who are without the gift, or who are unbelievers, come in, will not they say that you are mad?

If any of you use the gift of 'tongues,' not more than two, or at the most three, should do so-each speaking in his turn-and some one should interpret them.

For you can all preach in turn, so that all may learn some lesson and all receive encouragement.

For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.) This custom prevails in all the Churches of Christ's People.