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.

Just the opposite: God chose what the world calls foolish to put the wise to shame, what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame,

what the world calls of low degree, yea, what it counts as nothing and what it thinks does not exist, God chose to put a stop to what it thinks exists,

For what man can understand his own inner thoughts except by his own spirit within him? Just so no one but the Spirit of God can understand the thoughts of God.

Then what is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Mere servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave each of us his task.

Now, brothers, for your sakes I have applied all this to Apollos and myself, that from us as illustrations you might learn the lesson, "Never go beyond what is written," so that you might stop boasting in favor of one teacher against another.

For who makes you superior? And what do you have that you did not get from someone? But if you got it from someone, why do you boast as though you had not?

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,

Now what I really meant was for you to stop associating with any so-called brother, if he is sexually immoral, a greedy grasper, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler -- with such a person you must even stop eating.

For what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not for you to judge those who are inside the church,

The husband must always give his wife what is due her, and the wife too must do so for her husband.

You husbands and wives must stop refusing each other what is due, unless you agree to do so just for awhile, so as to have plenty of time for prayer, and then to be together again, so as to keep Satan from tempting you because of your lack of self-control.

Now if a father thinks that he is not doing the proper thing regarding his single daughter, if she is past the bloom of her youth, and she ought to do so, let him do what she desires; he commits no sin. Let the daughter and her suitor marry.

But the father who stands firm in his purpose, without having any necessity for doing so, and he has made the decision in his own heart to keep her single, will do what is right.

And so the man who gives his daughter in marriage does what is right, and yet the man who does not do so does even better.

What soldier ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its grapes? Who shepherds a flock and does not drink any of the milk the flock produces?

Then what is the pay that I am getting? To be able to preach the good news without expense to anybody, and so never to make full use of my rights in preaching the good news.

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

No temptation has taken hold of you but what is common to human nature. And God is to be trusted not to let you be tempted beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to make a way out of it, so that you can bear up under it.

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

Then what do I mean? That the sacrifice to an idol is a reality, or that an idol itself is a reality? Of course not!

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.

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.

For what we know is incomplete and what we prophesy is incomplete.

But when perfection comes, what is imperfect will be set aside.

For now we see a dim reflection in a looking-glass. But then we shall see face to face; Now what I know is imperfect, but then I shall know perfectly, as God knows me.

But as it now is, brothers, if I do come back to you speaking in ecstasy, what good shall I do you, unless my speech contains a revelation or new knowledge or a prophetic message or some teaching?

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

What is my conclusion then? I will certainly pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind in action too. I will certainly sing with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind in action too. For if you give thanks with your spirit only,

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.

Then what is our conclusion, brothers? When you meet together, everybody has a song, something to teach, a revelation, an ecstatic utterance, or an explanation of one. It must all be for the upbuilding of all.

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.

Let two or three prophets speak, and the rest consider carefully what is said;

If anyone claims to have the prophetic spirit, or any other spiritual gift, let him recognize that what I now am writing is the Lord's command.

For I passed on to you, among the primary principles of the good news, what I had received, that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures,

But by God's unmerited favor I have become what I am, and His unmerited favor shown to me was not bestowed for nothing, for I have toiled more extensively than any of them, and yet it was not I but God's unmerited favor working with me.

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?

If from merely human motives I have fought wild beasts here in Ephesus, what profit will it be to me? If the dead are never raised at all, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead."

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

and what you sow does not have the body that it is going to have, but is a naked grain, of wheat (it may be) or something else;

But this I tell you, brothers: Our physical bodies cannot take part in the kingdom of God; what is decaying will never take part in what is immortal.

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.

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