So he that gives his daughter in marriage is doing right, and he who keeps her unmarried will be doing right, and he who keeps her unmarried will be doing better.

For though there be so-called "gods," celestial of terrestrial, as indeed there are gods many and lords many,

But that "knowledge" is not possessed by all; but some, accustomed until now to the idol, eat food as that which has actually been offered to an idol, and so their conscience, being still weak, is defiled.

But see to it lest this right of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak.

For if any one should see you, the possessor of "knowledge," reclining at table in an idol's temple, would not his conscience, if he were weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

So he is lost, this weak man, lost by your "knowledge." this brother for whom Christ died.

In so sinning against your brothers, and in ever and again wounding their weak consciences, you are sinning against Christ.

Have I no right to take a believing wife with me on my journey, as the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter do?

Am I saying this on human authority only, or does not the Law also say the same?

If others share this authority over you, do not I far more? Yet I have not availed myself of it, but am patiently enduring; so that I may not in any way hinder the progress of Christ's gospel.

Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

But for my part, I have never availed myself of any of these rights. I do not say this to bring it about in my own case. I would rather die than let any one make void this boast of mine.

And I am doing it all for the gospel's sake, that I may become a copartner in it.

Do you not know that in a foot-race, though all run, only one receives the prize? So run that you may win.

For I would not have you ignorant, brothers, how our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

So then let him who imagines that he is standing so securely beware lest he fall.

No temptation has overtaken you that is beyond man's power; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but will, with every temptation, provide the way of escape also, so that you may be able to withstand.

So then, my beloved, continually flee from idolatry.

I am speaking to men of sense; do you yourselves judge what I say.

What then shall we say? that an offering to an idol is anything? or that an idol is really anything?

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons; you cannot be partakers in the Lord's table and in the table of demons.

"All things are lawful," you say? But not all things are expedient; "all things are lawful"; but not all build up.

Let not each one be always seeking his own, but rather his neighbor's good.

for the earth and its fulness are the Lord's.

and for your conscience sake??is conscience, not your own. "But," you may object, "why should my freedom be decided upon another's scruples of conscience?

For so I also try to please all men in every way, not by seeking my own good, but the good of the many, that they may be saved.

for just as the woman was made from the man, so also is the man born of the woman, while they both come from God.

but it is woman's glory, because her hair has been given her instead of a veil.

Again, when you meet together, there is no true eating of the Lord's Supper;

What! Have you no houses in which to eat or drink? or do you wish to show your contempt for the church of God, and to shame those who have no homes to eat in? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I certainly do not praise you.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming your Lord's death until he come.

So he that eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthy must answer for a sin against the body and blood of the Lord.

but through our condemnation by the Lord, we are trained so that we may not be condemned;

So, my brothers, whenever you come together for this meal, wait for one another.

If any one is hungry, let him eat at home, so that your meetings do not bring condemnation upon you. The other matters I will adjust when I come.

Wherefore I want you to understand that no one who speaks in the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except in the Holy Spirit.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, although they be many, are one body; so also is Christ.

And we can see this, for in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Gentile, whether slave or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

If the foot should say, "Because I am a hand, I am not part a part the body," would it not indeed be a part of the body?

Or if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," would it be any less a part of the body?

And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you". nor again of head to the feet, "I have no need for you."

Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

For now we see as in a mirror, and are baffled, but then face to face; now I know in fragments, but then shall I understand even as I also have been understood.

Now I should like you all to speak with "tongues"; but I should rather that you prophesied, For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up.

In the same way with you, if you utter unintelligible words with your tongue, how can what you say be understood? You will be speaking to the winds!

There are, let us say, so many languages in the world, and none without its meaning.

So also in your case, since you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them for the upbuilding of the church.

So let him who speaks with tongues pray that he may interpret.

For if you in your spirit bless God, how shall he who fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen to your thanksgiving, when he does not know what you are talking about?

but in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, so as to instruct others, than ten thousand in an unknown tongue.

So then the gift of tongues is for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers; but prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe.

Accordingly, when the whole church assemblies, and everybody is speaking "with tongues," if there enter men unlearned or unbelieving, will they not say that you are mad?

and the secret depths of his heart are laid open. So he will fall upon his face and worship God, saying, "Of a truth, God is with you."

For you can all prophesy one by one; so that all may be learning, and all may be encouraged.

So, my brothers, be ambitious for the gift of prophecy, and speak not against the gifts of tongues.

For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Wake up, do justly, cease from sin; for I say to your shame that some of you have no acquaintance with God.

Foolish man! The seed you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

And when you sow the seed you are not sowing the body that it will become, but bare grain, of wheat perhaps, or some other grain.

So it is in the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, It is raised in incorruption;

As we have borne the likeness of him who was of earth, so also let us bear the likeness of Him who is of heaven.

So, my brothers beloved, stand firm, immovable, always abounding in work for the Lord, because you know that your toil is not fruitless in the Lord.

On the first day of each week let each of you put aside something, keeping it in store as he may prosper, so that when I come there may be no collections going on.

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

If Timothy come, see to it that he is among you without trepidation; for he is doing the Lord's work, as I am, so let no one disparage him.

I beg you this, my brothers??ou know the household of Stephanus, that they were the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they devoted themselves to the service of the saints??16 so I want you also to show deference to such, and to every fellow worker, and laborer.

They refresh my spirit as they do yours. So cultivate the acquaintance of such men.

To the Church of God which is in Corinth, and to all the saints throughout Greece. from Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ, and from brother Timothy.

who ever comforts me in all my troubles, so that I may be continually able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort with which God is ever comforting me.

For just as I have more than my share in the sufferings of the Christ, so also through the Christ I have more than my share of comfort.

My hope for you is firm; for I know that as you are comrades in my sufferings, so also are you comrades in my comfort.

Now, brothers, I want you to know about the troubles which befell me in Asia; how I was burdened altogether beyond my strength, so that I renounced all hope even of life itself.

while all of you also are helping me by your prayers; so that from many lips thanksgiving may rise on my behalf for the blessings vouchsafed to me through the intercessions of many.

In purposing this did I display "caprice"? Or what I purpose do I purpose in a worldly way, so that it may mean either "Yes, yes," or "No, no"?

so that now you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest he should be overwhelmed by the excess of his grief.

So I beg you to reinstate him in your love.

For this very purpose also I wrote you (before), that I might test you, to see if you were obedient in every respect.

I could get no peace of mind because I failed to find Titus, my brother. So I bade them good-bye and started off for Macedonia.

But thanks be to God, who in every place is leading me in the train of Christ's triumph, and is making manifest through me the knowledge of him, an odor of incense everywhere.

I am Christ's fragrance upwafted unto God, among those who are being saved and those who are perishing;

Since all can see that you are a letter of Christ transcribed by men, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts as tablets.

If, however, the administration of death, written with letters and engraved on stones, began in glory, so that the children of Israel could not gaze steadily on the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face?? glory even then fading??8 how much more shall the ministry of the Spirit abide in glory?

So then, as I have this ministry because of God's mercy to me, I do not lose heart.

I have renounced the hidden things of shame, not spending my life in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God; but setting forth the truth openly, I strive to commend myself to every man's conscience as in the sight of God.

Among them the god of this age has blinded the understanding of the unbelieving so that the sunshine of the gospel of God, should not dawn upon them.

So while death is working in me, life is working in you.

But having the same spirit of faith of which it is written, I believed, and therefore have spoken, I also believe and so I speak.

For everything is for your sakes, so that more abundant grace, because of the thanksgiving of many voices, might overflow to the glory of God.

For in this tent I am groaning, earnestly longing to be under the cover of my heavenly habitation; if so be that being so covered,

So I have good courage, and am well pleased rather, to be in banishment from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

For we must all be made manifest, in our true characters, before the Judgment-seat of Christ; so that each one may receive according to that which he has done in his body, whether good or evil.

So, because I know the fear of God, I "persuade men." What I am is manifest to God, and I hope manifest also to your conscience.

I am not "commending myself to you again," but I am giving you an occasion of boasting on my behalf, so that you may have an answer ready for those who boast in externals, and not in the heart.

Therefore henceforth I know no one simply as a man??ven if I have known Christ as a man, yet now I do so no longer.

So there is a new creation when any man is in Christ. The old life has passed away, behold, the new is come.

On Christ's behalf, then, I come as ambassador. It is as though God was entreating you, through me, on Christ's behalf I beg you to be reconciled to God.

Him who knew no sin, in our behalf he has made to be sin; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

but in every way I am striving to commend myself as God's minister by stedfast endurance, by afflictions, by troubles, by distresses,

as unknown and yet well known; as at death's door, yet, strange to tell, I live on; as chastened, but not killed;