but to those whom God has called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is God's power and God's wisdom.

and my teaching and message were not put in plausible, philosophical language, but they were attended with convincing spiritual power,

Yet there is a wisdom that we impart when we are with people who have a mature faith, but it is not what this world calls wisdom, nor what the authorities of this world, doomed as they are to pass away, would call so.

It is a wisdom unknown to any of the authorities of this world, for otherwise they would never have crucified our glorious Lord.

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

we have worked with our hands for a living. When people abuse us, we bless them, when they persecute us, we put up with it,

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.

But I am coming very soon to see you, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out, not what these conceited people have to say, but what they can actually do.

To all who are unmarried and to widows, I would say this: It is an excellent thing if they can remain single as I am.

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

To those already married my instructions are??nd they are not mine, but the Lord's??hat a wife is not to separate from her husband.

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.

But this I do say, brothers. The appointed time has grown very short. From this time on those who have wives should live as though they had none,

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,

and those who mix in the world, as though they were not absorbed in it. For the present shape of the world is passing away.

and drank the same supernatural drink??for they used to drink from a supernatural rock which attended them, and the rock was really Christ??5 still most of them disappointed God, for they were struck down in the desert.

Now these things happened to warn us, so that we should not long for what is evil as they did.

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.

These things happened to them as a warning to others, but they were written down to instruct us, in whose days the ages have reached their climax.

No, but that what the heathen sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

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.

But while I am on this subject, I cannot approve of your meetings, because they are doing you more harm than good.

For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, many as they are, form one body, so it is with Christ.

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

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."

Hence, if the whole church assembles and they all speak ecstatically, and ordinary people or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are crazy?

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,

Women are to keep quiet in church, for they are not allowed to speak. They must take a subordinate place, just as the Law says.

If they want to find out about anything, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in church.

But whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

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.

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?

But someone will say, "How can the dead rise? What kind of a body will they have when they come back?"

And if it seems worth while for me to go myself, they can go with me.

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.

And I am glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have come here, for they have made up for your absence.

They have cheered my heart, and yours too. You should appreciate such men.