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

God has chosen what is mean and despised in the world ??things which are not, to put down things that are;

it is the mysterious Wisdom of God that we discuss, that hidden wisdom which God decreed from all eternity for our glory.

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.

Which is it to be? Am I to come to you with a rod of discipline or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

Only, everyone must lead the lot assigned him by the Lord; he must go on living the life in which God's call came to him. (Such is the rule I lay down for all the churches).

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.

and all drank the same supernatural drink (drinking from the supernatural Rock which accompanied them ??and that Rock was Christ),

The cup of blessing, which we bless, is that not participating in the blood of Christ? The bread we break, is that not participating in the body of Christ?

Quite the contrary. We cannot do without those very members of the body which are considered rather delicate,

which does not need to be paid to our more decorous parts. Yes, God has tempered the body together, with a special dignity for the inferior parts,

Now, brothers, I would have you know the gospel I once preached to you, the gospel you received, the gospel in which you have your footing,

the gospel by which you are saved ??provided you adhere to my statement of it ??unless indeed your faith was all haphazard.