all of which verifies the testimony we bore to Christ when we were with you.

For when the world with all its wisdom failed to know God in his wisdom, God resolved to save believers by the 'sheer folly' of the Christian message.

Thus when I came to you, my brothers, I did not come to proclaim to you God's secret purpose with any elaborate words or wisdom.

When one cries, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," what are you but men of the world?

So do not criticize at all; the hour of reckoning has still to come, when the Lord will come to bring dark secrets to the light and to reveal life's inner aims and motives. Then each of us will get his meed of praise from God.

we work hard for our living; when reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we put up with it;

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

When any of you has a grievance against his neighbour, do you dare to go to law in a sinful pagan court, instead of laying the case before the saints?

And yet, when you have mundane issues to settle, you refer them to the judgment of men who from the point of view of the church are of no account!

Was a man circumcised at the time he was called? Then he is not to efface the marks of it. Has any man been called when he was uncircumcised? Then he is not to get circumcised.

You were a slave when you were called? Never mind. Of course, if you do find it possible to get free, you had better avail yourself of the opportunity.

It is written in the law of Moses, You must not muzzle an ox when he is treading the grain. Is God thinking here about cattle?

No temptation has waylaid you that is beyond man's power; trust God, he will never let you be tempted beyond what you can stand, but when temptation comes, he will provide the way out of it, so that you can bear up under it.

When an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you agree to go, eat whatever is put before you, instead of letting scruples of conscience induce you to ask any questions about it.

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

As it is, we are chastened when we are judged by him, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Well then, my brothers, when you gather for a meal, wait for one another;

and if anyone is hungry let him eat at home. You must not gather, only to incur condemnation. I will give you my instructions upon the other matters when I come.

You know when you were pagans, how your impulses led you to dumb idols;

so I tell you now, that no one is speaking in the Spirit of God when he cries, 'Cursed be Jesus,' and that no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the holy Spirit.

love is never glad when others go wrong, love is gladdened by goodness,

but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will be superseded.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I argued like a child; now that I am a man, I am done with childish ways.

Very well then, brothers; when you meet together, each contributes something ??a song of praise, a lesson, a revelation, a 'tongue,' an interpretation? Good, but let every thing be for edification.

Then comes the end, when he hands over his royal power to God the Father, after putting down all other rulers, all other authorities and powers.

For God has put everything under his feet. When it is said that everything has been put under him, plainly that excludes Him who put everything under him;

and when everything is put under him, then the Son himself will be put under Him who put everything under him, so that God may be everything to everyone.

But, someone will ask, 'how do the dead rise? What kind of body have they when they come?'

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

On the first day of the week let each of you put aside a sum from his weekly gains, so that the money may not have to be collected when I come.

When Timotheus arrives, see that you make him feel quite at home with you; he carries on the work of the Lord as I do.

So let no one disparage him. When he leaves to rejoin me, speed him cordially on his journey, for I am expecting him along with the other brothers.