Where is your wise man? Where your expounder of the Law? Where your investigator of the questions of this present age? Has not God shown the world's wisdom to be utter foolishness?

I fed you with milk and not with solid food, since for this you were not yet strong enough. And even now you are not strong enough:

For when some one says, "I belong to Paul," and another says, "I belong to Apollos," is not this the way men of the world speak?

This world's wisdom is "foolishness" in God's sight; for it is written, "He snares the wise with their own cunning."

As for us Apostles, let any one take this view of us--we are Christ's officers, and stewards of God's secret truths.

This being so, it follows that fidelity is what is required in stewards.

In writing this much, brethren, with special reference to Apollos and myself, I have done so for your sakes, in order to teach you by our example what those words mean, which say, "Nothing beyond what is written!" --so that you may cease to take sides in boastful rivalry, for one teacher against another.

Why, who gives you your superiority, my brother? Or what have you that you did not receive? And if you really did receive it, why boast as if this were not so?

To this very moment we endure both hunger and thirst, with scanty clothing and many a blow.

when slandered, we try to conciliate. We have come to be regarded as the mere dirt and filth of the world--the refuse of the universe, even to this hour.

I am not writing all this to shame you, but I am offering you advice as my dearly-loved children.

For this reason I have sent Timothy to you. Spiritually he is my dearly-loved and faithful child. He will remind you of my habits as a Christian teacher--the manner in which I teach everywhere in every Church.

And you, instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this deed of shame, are filled with self-complacency!

It is no good thing--this which you make the ground of your boasting. Do you not know that a little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough?

not that in this world you are to keep wholly aloof from such as they, any more than from people who are avaricious and greedy of gain, or from worshippers of idols. For that would mean that you would be compelled to go out of the world altogether.

Do you not know that we are to sit in judgement upon angels--to say nothing of things belonging to this life?

If therefore you have things belonging to this life which need to be decided, is it men who are absolutely nothing in the Church--is it *they* whom you make your judges?

I say this to put you to shame. Has it come to this, that there does not exist among you a single wise man competent to decide between a man and his brother,

And all this describes what some of you were. But now you have had every stain washed off: now you have been set apart as holy: now you have been pronounced free from guilt; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.

This is what I command in all the Churches. Was any one already circumcised when called? Let him not have recourse to the surgeons. Was any one uncircumcised when called? Let him remain uncircumcised.

Yet of this I warn you, brethren: the time has been shortened--so that henceforth those who have wives should be as though they had none,

Now as to things which have been sacrificed to idols. This is a subject which we already understand--because we all have knowledge of it. Knowledge, however, tends to make people conceited; it is love that builds us up.

But take care lest this liberty of yours should prove a hindrance to the progress of weak believers.

For if any one were to see you, who know the real truth of this matter, reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience (supposing him to be a weak believer)

But I, for my part, have not used, and do not use, my full rights in any of these things. Nor do I now write with that object so far as I myself am concerned, for I would rather die than have anybody make this boast of mine an empty one.

But every competitor in an athletic contest practices abstemiousness in all directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish.

And in this they became a warning to us, to teach us not to be eager, as they were eager, in pursuit of what is evil.

All this kept happening to them with a figurative meaning; but it was put on record by way of admonition to us upon whom the ends of the Ages have come.

But if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice;" abstain from eating it--out of respect for him who warned you, and, as before, for conscience' sake.

Judge of this for your own selves: is it seemly for a woman to pray to God when she is unveiled?

for, in the first place, when you meet as a Church, there are divisions among you. This is what I am told, and I believe that there is some truth in it.

Why, have you no homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you wish to show your contempt for the Church of God and make those who have no homes feel ashamed? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I certainly do not praise you.

and after giving thanks He broke it and said, "This is my body which is about to be broken for you. Do this in memory of me."

In the same way, when the meal was over, He also took the cup. "This cup," He said, "is the new Covenant of which my blood is the pledge. Do this, every time that you drink it, in memory of me."

For every time that you eat this bread and drink from the cup, you are proclaiming the Lord's death--until He returns.

Therefore, brethren, when you come together for this meal, wait for one another.

For this reason I would have you understand that no one speaking under the influence of The Spirit of God ever says, "Jesus is accursed," and that no one is able to say, "Jesus is Lord," except under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Be eager in your pursuit of this Love, and be earnestly ambitious for spiritual gifts, but let it be chiefly so in order that you may prophesy.

In the Law it stands written, "'By men of unknown tongues and by the lips of an unknown nation will I speak to this People, but even then they will not listen to Me', says the Lord."

This shows that the gift of tongues is intended as a sign not to those who believe but to unbelievers, but prophecy is intended not for unbelievers but for those who believe.

The conclusion, my brethren, is this. Be earnestly ambitious to prophesy, and do not check speaking with tongues;

But whether it is I or they, this is the way we preach and the way that you came to believe.

If in this present life we have a *hope* resting on Christ, and nothing more, we are more to be pitied than all the rest of the world.

But this will happen to each in the right order--Christ having been the first to rise, and afterwards Christ's people rising at His return.

Wake from this drunken fit; live righteous lives, and cease to sin; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak thus in order to move you to shame.

But this I tell you, brethren: our mortal bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor will what is perishable inherit what is imperishable.

For so it must be: this perishable nature must clothe itself with what is imperishable, and this mortality must clothe itself with immortality.

But when this perishable nature has put on what is imperishable, and this mortality has put on immortality, then will the words of Scripture be fulfilled, "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

For I do not wish to see you on this occasion merely in passing; but if the Lord permits, I hope to remain some time with you.