And I do it all for the sake of the good news, so as to share with others in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race the runners all run, but only one can get the prize? You must run in such a way that you can get the prize.

still with the most of them God was not at all satisfied, for He allowed them to be laid low in the desert.

Now stop being idolaters, as some of them were, for the Scripture says, "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to dance."

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 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.

Everything is permissible for people, but not everything is good for them. Everything is permissible for people, but not everything builds up their personality.

So if you eat or drink or do anything else, do everything to honor God.

Stop being stumbling blocks to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God,

But I want you to realize the fact that Christ is the Head of every man, that the husband is the head of the wife, and that God is the Head of Christ.

For if a woman will not wear a veil, let her have her hair cut off too. Now if it is a dishonor for a woman to have her hair cut off, or her head shaved, let her wear a veil.

For a man ought not to wear anything on his head, because he is the image and reflected glory of God, but woman is man's reflected glory.

For just as woman originated from man, so man is born of woman, and both, with everything else, originated from God.

You must judge for yourselves in this matter. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with nothing on her head?

But if anyone is inclined to be contentious about it, I for my part prescribe no other practice than this, and neither do the churches of God.

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.

So I want to inform you that no one speaking under the power of the Spirit of God can say, "Jesus is accursed!" and no one except one under the power of the Holy Spirit can really say, "Jesus is Lord!"

there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who does all things by putting energy in us all.

To each of us is given a special spiritual illumination for the common good.

But as it now is, God has placed the parts, every one of them, in the body just as He wanted them to be.

while our well-shaped parts do not want for anything. Yes, God has perfectly adjusted the body, giving great honor to its apparently inferior parts,

And God has placed people in the church, first as apostles, second as prophets, third as teachers, then wonder-workers; then people with power to cure the sick, helpers, managers, ecstatic speakers.

If I should dole out everything I have for charity, and give my body up to torture in mere boasting pride, but have no love, I get from it no good at all.

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.

For whoever speaks in ecstasy is speaking not to men but to God, for no one understands him, and yet by the Spirit he is speaking secret truths.

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?

Thank God, I speak in ecstasy more than any of you.

the secrets of his heart are laid bare, he falls upon his face and worships God, declaring, "God is really among you."

But if there is no one to explain it, let him keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God alone.

for God is not a God of disorder but of order, as it is in all the churches of God's people.

Women must keep quiet in the churches, for no permission is given them to speak. On the contrary, they must take a subordinate place, just as the law says.

Did the message of God begin with you Corinthians? Or, are you the only people it has reached?

Now let me remind you, brothers, of the essence of the good news which I proclaimed to you, which you accepted, on which you now are standing,

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,

For I belong to the lowest rank of the apostles, and am not fit to bear the title apostle, because I once persecuted the church of God.

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.

and we are found guilty of lying about God, for we have testified that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if indeed the dead are never raised.

After that comes the end, when He will turn the kingdom over to God His Father, when He will put an end to all other government, authority, and power;

And when everything has been put in subjection to Him, then the Son Himself will also become subject to Him who has put everything in subjection to Him, so that God may be everything to everybody.

Do not be so misled: "Evil companionships corrupt good character."

Sober up, as is right, and stop sinning, for some of you -- to your shame I say so -- are without any true knowledge of God.

but God gives it just the body He sees fit, even each kind of seed its own body.

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.

But thank God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now about the contribution for God's people, I want you to do as I directed the churches of Galatia to do.

When I get there, I will send on, with credentials, the persons whom you approve, to carry your gift of charity to Jerusalem.

As for our brother Apollos, I have earnestly urged him to go to see you, but he is not at all inclined to come just now; yet he is coming when he has a good opportunity.

Now I beg you, brothers -- you know that the family of Stephanas were the first converts in Greece, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's people --

Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all God's people all over Greece:

spiritual blessing and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father and the all-comforting God,

who comforts me in every sorrow I have, so that I can comfort people who are in sorrow with the comfort with which I am comforted by God.

Yes, I felt within my very self the sentence of death, to keep me from depending on myself instead of God who raises the dead.

because you are helping me by your prayers for me, so that thanks to God will be given by many on my behalf for God's gracious gift to me in answer to the prayers of many.

For my boast is this, to which my conscience testifies, that before the world, but especially before you, I have acted from pure motives and in sincerity before God, not depending on worldly wisdom but on God's unmerited favor.

As certainly as God is to be trusted, my message to you has not been a "Yes" that might mean "No."

For God's Son, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, Silvanus, Timothy, and me, did not become a "Yes" that might mean "No."

But with Him it is always "Yes," for, as many as the promises of God may be, through Him they are always "Yes." This is why our "Amen" through Him is for the glory of God when spoken by us.

But it is God who makes us as well as you secure through union with Christ, and has anointed us,

But upon my soul I call God to witness that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth.

When I went to Troas to preach the good news of Christ, although I had an opportunity in the service of the Lord,

But thanks be to God, for He always leads me in His triumphal train, through union with Christ, and everywhere through me keeps spreading the perfume of the knowledge of Him.

Indeed, I am the fragrance of Christ to God, alike for those who are being saved and for those who are perishing;

Now who is qualified for such a task? I am, for I am not a peddler of God's message, like the most of them, but like a man of sincerity, like a man that is sent from God and living in His presence, in union with Christ I speak His message.

for you are always showing that you are a letter of Christ, produced by my service, written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

Such is the confidence I have through Christ in the presence of God.

Not that I am myself qualified to consider anything as coming from me myself. No, my qualification comes from God, for

For if the service connected with condemnation had such splendor, the service resulting in right standing with God will surely far surpass it in splendor.

So, because I hold a place in this ministry and that because I have had God's mercy shown me, I never give up.

On the other hand, I have renounced all underhanded, disgraceful methods; I neither practice cunning nor do I tamper with God's message, but by clear and candid statements of truth I try to commend myself to every human conscience in God's sight.

If the meaning of the good news I preach is covered up at all, it is so only in the case of those who are on the way to destruction.

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers, to keep the glorious light of the good news of Christ, who is the likeness of God, from dawning upon them.

For God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in my heart, to give me the light of the knowledge of God's glory, reflected on the face of Christ.

But I am keeping this jewel in an earthen jar, to prove that its surpassing power is God's, not mine.

For everything is for your sakes, in order that His favor by multiplying the thanksgiving of many may make the cup run over to the praise of God.

For I know that if this earthly tent in which I live is taken down, I have a building in heaven which comes from God, a house not built by human hands but eternal.

Now it is God Himself who has put the finishing touches on me for this change, because He has given me the Spirit as the first installment of future bliss.

For we must all appear before the judgment-bar of Christ, that each may get his pay for what he has done, whether it be good or bad.

So, since I know what the fear of God can do, I am trying to win men. My inner self is perfectly known to God, and I hope, to your consciences too.

For if I did go crazy, it was for God's glory; and if I am keeping my head cool, it is for your good.

This has all originated with God, for He through Christ has reconciled me to Himself and has given me the ministry of reconciliation.

For it was through Christ that God was reconciling the world to Himself instead of debiting men's offenses against them, and He has committed to me the message of this reconciliation.

So I am an envoy to represent Christ, because it is through me that God is making His appeal. As one representing Christ I beg you, be reconciled to God.

He made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be a sin-offering for us, so that through union with Him we might come into right standing with God.

As God's fellow-worker I beg you too not to accept God's favor and throw it away.

On the contrary, I am trying in everything to prove to people that I am a true servant of God: by my tremendous endurance in sorrows, distresses, difficulties;

my message of truth, and the power of God; with the weapons of right-doing in my right hand and my left;

And what agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they will be my people."

So, since we have such promises as these, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles our bodies and spirits, and in reverence to God carry on our consecration to completeness.

But God, who comforts the downhearted, comforted me by the coming of Titus,

I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me.

For the sorrow that comes in accordance with the will of God results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets, but the sorrow the world produces results in death.

For see what this very sorrow, suffered in accordance with the will of God, has done for you! How earnest it has made you, how concerned to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how much it made you long to see me, how loyal to me, how determined to punish the offender! At every point you have cleared yourselves in the matter.

So, although I did write to you, it was not for the offender's sake, nor for the offended party's sake, but in the sight of God for the sake of having your enthusiasm for me made perfectly clear to you. This is why I am so comforted.

Now I am going to tell you, brothers, of God's spiritual blessing which was given in the churches of Macedonia,

with earnest entreaty, they kept on begging me for the favor of sharing in this service that is being rendered to God's people.

They did not do as I expected but even more; they first by God's will gave themselves to the Lord, and then to me;

But thanks be to God, who kindles in the heart of Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have;

I am sending with him the well-known brother whose praise for spreading the good news is ringing through all the churches.

It is really superfluous for me to write to you about this service which is being rendered to God's people,