and my language and the message I preached were not adorned with pleasing words of worldly wisdom, but they were attended with proof and power given by the Spirit,

Not one of this world's leaders understands it, for if they had, they would never have crucified our glorious 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."

An unspiritual man does not accept the things that the Spirit of God teaches, for they are nonsense to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are appreciated by spiritual insight.

(46:21) Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future -- they all belong to you.

Now in this matter of trustees the first and final requirement is that they should prove to be trustworthy.

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on exhibition at the disgraced end of the procession, as they do with men who are doomed to die in the arena.

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,

But if they do not practice self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burning in the fire of passion.

For the unbelieving husband is consecrated by union with his wife and the unbelieving wife by union with her Christian husband, for otherwise your children would be unblessed, but in this way they are consecrated.

I mean this, brothers. The time has been cut short. For the future, men who have wives should live as though they had none,

and those that mourn as though they did not mourn, and those who are glad as though they were not glad, and those who buy as though they did not own a thing,

and those who are enjoying the world as though they were not entirely absorbed in it. For the outward order of this world is passing away.

But it is not in all of you that such knowledge is found. Some, because of their past habits with idols, even down to the present moment, still eat such food as was really sacrificed to an idol, and so their consciences, because they are overscrupulous, are contaminated.

they all allowed themselves to be baptized as followers of Moses,

and all drank the same spiritual drink -- for they continued to drink the water from the spiritual Rock which accompanied them, and that Rock was the Christ --

Now all these things occurred as warnings to us, to keep us from hankering after what is evil, in the ways they did.

Those things continued to befall them as warnings to others, and they were written down for the purpose of instructing us, in whose lives the climax of the ages has been reached.

I mean that what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be in fellowship with demons.

just as I myself am in the habit of pleasing everybody in everything, not aiming at my own welfare but at that of as many people as possible, in order that they may be saved.

But as I am giving you these instructions I cannot approve of your meetings, because they do not turn out for the better but for the worse.

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

If they were all one part, how could it be a body?

Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all are wonder-workers, are they?

Not all are people with power to cure the sick, are they? Not all are ecstatic speakers, are they? Not all can explain ecstatic speaking, can they?

Love never fails; if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if now exist ecstatic speakings, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will soon be set aside;

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?

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.

If they want to find out about something, they should ask their own 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.

Otherwise, what do those people mean who submit to being baptized on behalf of their dead? If the dead are never raised at all, why do they submit to being baptized on their behalf?

But someone will ask, "How can the dead rise? With what kind of body do they come back?"

And if it seems proper for me to go too, they shall go as my companions.

Now I beg you, brothers -- you know that the family of Stephanas were the first converts in Greece, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's people --

And I am glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have come to see me, because they have supplied what you lacked.

Yes, they have cheered my spirit, and yours too. You must deeply appreciate such men.