Faithful is the God who called you to this fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sage, scribe, critic of this world, where are they all? Has not God stultified the wisdom of the world?

This is the God to whom you owe your being in Christ Jesus, whom God has made our 'Wisdom,' that is, our righteousness and consecration and redemption;

We do discuss 'wisdom' with those who are mature; only it is not the wisdom of this world or of the dethroned Powers who rule this world,

None of the Powers of this world understands it (if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory).

And this is what we discuss, using language taught by no human wisdom but by the Spirit. We interpret what is spiritual in spiritual language.

In virtue of my commission from God, I laid the foundation of the house like an expert master-builder. It remains for another to build on this foundation. Whoever he is, let him be careful how he builds.

Let no one deceive himself about this; whoever of you imagines he is wise with this world's wisdom must become a 'fool,' if he is really to be wise.

For God ranks this world's wisdom as 'sheer folly.' It is written, He seizes the wise in their craftiness,

This is how you are to look upon us, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's secret truths.

Now in this matter of stewards your first requirement is that they must be trustworthy.

It matters very little to me that you or any human court should cross-question me on this point. I do not even cross-question myself;

To this very hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and knocked about, we are waifs,

when defamed, we try to conciliate. To this hour we are treated as the scum of the earth, the very refuse of the world!

I do not write this to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as beloved children of mine.

To ensure this, I am sending you Timotheus, my beloved and trustworthy son in the Lord; he will remind you of those methods in Christ Jesus which I teach everywhere in every church.

For my part, present with you in spirit though absent in body, I have already, as in your presence, passed sentence on such an offender as this,

I did not mean you were literally to avoid contact with the immoral in this world, with the lustful and the thievish, or with idolaters; in that case you would have to leave the world altogether.

I say this to put you to shame. Has it come to this, that there is not a single wise man among you who could decide a dispute between members of the brotherhood,

To the unmarried and to widows I would say this: it is an excellent thing if like me they remain as they are.

Well, what I think is this: that, considering the imminent distress in these days, it would be an excellent plan for you to remain just as you are.

I am saying this in your own interests. Not that I want to restrict your freedom. It is only to secure decorum and concentration upon a life of devotion to the Lord.

But remember, it is not everyone who has this 'knowledge.' Some who have hitherto been accustomed to idols eat the food as food which has been really offered to an idol, and so their weaker conscience is contaminated.

He is ruined, this weak man, ruined by your 'enlightened mind,' this brother for whose sake Christ died!

By sinning against the brotherhood in this way and wounding their weaker consciences, you are sinning against Christ.

Or is he speaking purely for our sakes? Assuredly for our sakes. This word was written for us, because the ploughman needs to plough in hope, and the thresher to thresh in the hope of getting a share in the crop.

If others share this right over you, why not we all the more? We did not avail ourselves of it, you say? No, we do not mind any privations if we can only avoid putting any obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

Only, I have not availed myself of any of these rights, and I am not writing in order to secure any such provision for myself. I would die sooner than let anyone deprive me of this, my source of pride.

And my reward? This, that I can preach the gospel free of charge, that I can refrain from insisting on all my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

For I would have you know this, my brothers, that while our fathers all lived under the cloud, all crossed through the sea,

Now this took place as a warning for us, to keep us from craving for evil as they craved.

But if someone tells you, 'This was sacrificial meat,' then do not eat it; you must consider the man who told you, and also take conscience into account ??29 his conscience, I mean, not your own; for why should one's own freedom be called in question by someone else's conscience?

But I would like you to understand this: Christ is the head of every man, man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ.

If anyone presumes to raise objections on this point ??well, I acknowledge no other mode of worship, and neither do the churches of God.

But this makes it impossible for you to eat the 'Lord's' supper when you hold your gatherings.

What! have you no houses to eat and drink in? Do you think you can show disrespect to the church of God and put the poor to shame? What can I say to you? Commend you? Not for this.

and after thanking God he broke it, saying, 'This means my body broken for you; do this in memory of me.'

In the same way he took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup means the new covenant ratified by my blood; as often as you drink it, do it in memory of me.'

For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

So with yourselves; since your heart is set on possessing 'spirits,' make the edification of the church your aim in this desire to excel.

It is written in the Law, By men of alien tongues and by the lips of aliens I will speak to this People; but even so, they will not listen to me, saith the Lord.

You challenge this rule? Pray, did God's word start from you? Are you the only people it has reached?

Anyone who disregards this will be himself disregarded.

after that, he was seen by over five hundred brothers all at once, the majority of whom survive to this day, though some have died;

and finally he was seen by myself, by this so-called 'abortion' of an apostle.

Ah, if in this life we have nothing but a mere hope in Christ, we are of all men to be pitied most!

Make no mistake about this: 'bad company is the ruin of good character.'

Get back to your sober senses and avoid sin, for some of you ??and I say this to your shame ??some of you are insensible to God.

I tell you this, my brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Realm of God, nor can the perishing inherit the imperishable.

For this perishing body must be invested with the imperishable, and this mortal body invested with immortality;

and when this mortal body has been invested with immortality, then the saying of Scripture will be realized, Death is swallowed up in victory.

I do not care about seeing you at this moment merely in the by-going; my hope is to stay among you for some time, with the Lord's permission.

I ask this favour of you, my brothers. The household of Stephanas, you know, was the first to be reaped in Achaia, and they have laid themselves out to serve the saints.

I Paul write this salutation with my own hand.