And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.

For judges and magistrates are to be feared not by right-doers but by wrong-doers. You desire--do you not? --to have no reason to fear your ruler. Well, do the thing that is right, and then he will commend you.

Carry out these injunctions because you know the critical period at which we are living, and that it is now high time, to rouse yourselves from sleep; for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first became believers.

Who are you that you should find fault with the servant of another? Whether he stands or falls is a matter which concerns his own master. But stand he will; for the Master can give him power to stand.

One man esteems one day more highly than another; another esteems all days alike. Let every one be thoroughly convinced in his own mind.

For this was the purpose of Christ's dying and coming to life--namely that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living.

So we see that every one of us will give account of himself to God.

Therefore let us no longer judge one another; but, instead of that, you should come to this judgement--that we must not put a stumbling-block in our brother's path, nor anything to trip him up.

As one who lives in union with the Lord Jesus, I know and am certain that in its own nature no food is 'impure'; but if people regard any food as impure, to them it is.

The right course is to forego eating meat or drinking wine or doing anything that tends to your brother's fall.

For all that was written of old has been written for our instruction, so that we may always have hope through the power of endurance and the encouragement which the Scriptures afford.

And may God, the giver of power of endurance and of that encouragement, grant you to be in full sympathy with one another in accordance with the example of Christ Jesus,

so that with oneness both of heart and voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My meaning is that Christ has become a servant to the people of Israel in vindication of God's truthfulness-- in showing how sure are the promises made to our forefathers--

and that the Gentiles also have glorified God in acknowledgment of His mercy. So it is written, "For this reason I will praise Thee among the Gentiles, and sing psalms in honour of Thy name."

May God, the giver of hope, fill you with continual joy and peace because you trust in Him--so that you may have abundant hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But as to you, brethren, I am convinced-- yes, I Paul am convinced--that, even apart from my teaching, you are already full of goodness of heart, and enriched with complete Christian knowledge, and are also competent to instruct one another.

that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, doing priestly duties in connexion with God's Good News so that the sacrifice--namely the Gentiles--may be acceptable to Him, being (as it is)

For I will not presume to mention any of the results that Christ has brought about by other agency than mine in securing the obedience of the Gentiles by word or deed,

Yes, they have kindly done this, and, in fact, it was a debt they owed them. For seeing that the Gentiles have been admitted in to partnership with the Jews in their spiritual blessings, they in turn are under an obligation to render sacred service to the Jews in temporal things.

So after discharging this duty, and making sure that these kind gifts reach those for whom they are intended, I shall start for Spain, passing through Rome on my way there;

and I know that when I come to you it will be with a vast amount of blessing from Christ.

asking that I may escape unhurt from those in Judaea who are disobedient, and that the service which I am going to Jerusalem to render may be well received by the Church there,

in order that if God be willing I may come to you with a glad heart, and may enjoy a time of rest with you.

that you may receive her as a fellow Christian in a manner worthy of God's people, and may assist her in any matter in which she may need help. For she has indeed been a kind friend to many, including myself.

Greetings, too, to the Church that meets at their house. Greetings to my dear Epaenetus, who was the earliest convert to Christ in the province of Asia;

and to Andronicus and Junia, my countrymen, who once shared my imprisonment. They are of note among the Apostles, and are Christians of longer standing than myself.

Greetings to Apella, that veteran believer; and to the members of the household of Aristobulus.

For men of that stamp are not bondservants of Christ our Lord, but are slaves to their own appetites; and by their plausible words and their flattery they utterly deceive the minds of the simple.

that you have been so richly blessed in Him, with readiness of speech and fulness of knowledge.

so that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is ever true to His promises, and it was by Him that you were, one and all, called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.

For I have been distinctly informed, my brethren, about you by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.

What I mean is that each of you is a partisan. One man says "I belong to Paul;" another "I belong to Apollos;" a third "I belong to Peter;" a fourth "I belong to Christ."

I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius--

for fear people should say that you were baptized to be my adherents.

I did, however, baptize Stephanas' household also: but I do not think that I baptized any one else.

Seeing that Jews demand miracles, and Greeks go in search of wisdom,

Because that which the world deems foolish in God is wiser than men's wisdom, and that which it deems feeble in God is mightier than men's might.

and the things which the world regards as base, and those which it sets utterly at nought--things that have no existence--God has chosen in order to reduce to nothing things that do exist;

in order that it may be as Scripture says, "He who boasts--let his boast be in the Lord."

And as for myself, brethren, when I came to you, it was not with surpassing power of eloquence or earthly wisdom that I came, announcing to you that which God had commanded me to bear witness to.

And my language and the Message that I proclaimed were not adorned with persuasive words of earthly wisdom, but depended upon truths which the Spirit taught and mightily carried home;

so that your trust might rest not on the wisdom of man but on the power of God.

But in dealing with truths hitherto kept secret we speak of God's wisdom--that hidden wisdom which, before the world began, God pre-destined, so that it should result in glory to us;

But--to use the words of Scripture--we speak of things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, and which have never entered the heart of man: all that God has in readiness for them that love Him.

But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may know the blessings that have been so freely given to us by God.

Of these we speak--not in language which man's wisdom teaches us, but in that which the Spirit teaches--adapting, as we do, spiritual words to spiritual truths.

you are still unspiritual. For so long as jealousy and strife continue among you, can it be denied that you are unspiritual and are living and acting like mere men of the world?

So that neither the planter nor the waterer is of any importance. God who gives the increase is all in all.

For no one can lay any other foundation in addition to that which is already laid, namely Jesus Christ.

And whether the building which any one is erecting on that foundation be of gold or silver or costly stones, of timber or hay or straw--

the true character of each individual's work will become manifest. For the day of Christ will disclose it, because that day is soon to come upon us clothed in fire, and as for the quality of every one's work-- the fire is the thing which will test it.

Do you not know that you are God's Sanctuary, and that the Spirit of God has His home within you?

Let no one deceive himself. If any man imagines that he is wise, compared with the rest of you, with the wisdom of the present age, let him become "foolish" so that he may be wise.

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

I however am very little concerned at undergoing your scrutiny, or that of other men; in fact I do not even scrutinize myself.

Though I am not conscious of having been in any way unfaithful, yet I do not for that reason stand acquitted; but He whose scrutiny I must undergo is the Lord.

Therefore form no premature judgements, but wait until the Lord returns. He will both bring to light the secrets of darkness and will openly disclose the motives that have been in people's hearts; and then the praise which each man deserves will come to him from God.

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?

Every one of you already has all that heart can desire; already you have grown rich; without waiting for us, you have ascended your thrones! Yes indeed, would to God that you had ascended your thrones, that we also might reign with you!

For even if you were to have ten thousand spiritual instructors--for all that you could not have several fathers. It is I who in Christ Jesus became your father through the Good News.

But some of you have been puffed up through getting the idea that I am not coming to Corinth.

It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and of a kind unheard of even among the Gentiles--a man has his father's wife!

I have handed over such a man to Satan for the destruction of his body, that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus.

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?

Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be dough of a new kind; for in fact you *are* free from corruption. For our Passover Lamb has already been offered in sacrifice--even Christ.

I wrote to you in that letter that you were not to associate with fornicators;

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.

But what I meant was that you were not to associate with any one bearing the name of "brother," if he was addicted to fornication or avarice or idol-worship or abusive language or hard-drinking or greed of gain. With such a man you ought not even to eat.

Do you not know that God's people will sit in judgement upon the world? And if you are the court before which the world is to be judged, are you unfit to deal with these petty matters?

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

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,

but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?

To say no more, then, it is altogether a defect in you that you have law-suits with one another. Why not rather endure injustice? Why not rather submit to being defrauded?

Do you not know that unrighteous men will not inherit God's Kingdom? Cherish no delusion here. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor any who are guilty of unnatural crime,

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? No, indeed.

Or do you not know that a man who has to do with a prostitute is one with her in body? For God says, "The two shall become one."

Flee from fornication. Any other sin that a human being commits lies outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.

Or do you not know that your bodies are a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you--the Spirit whom you have from God?

Do not refuse one another, unless perhaps it is just for a time and by mutual consent, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and may then associate again; lest the Adversary begin to tempt you because of your deficiency in self-control.

Yet I would that everybody lived as I do; but each of us has his own special gift from God--one in one direction and one in another.

But I tell the unmarried, and women who are widows, that it is well for them to remain as I am.

If, however, they cannot maintain self-control, by all means let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of passion.

But to those already married my instructions are--yet not mine, but the Lord's--that a wife is not to leave her husband;

or if she has already left him, let her either remain as she is or be reconciled to him; and that a husband is not to send away his wife.

Only, whatever be the condition in life which the Lord has assigned to each individual--and whatever the condition in which he was living when God called him--in that let him continue.

Whatever be the condition in life in which a man was, when he was called, in that let him continue.

Were you a slave when God called you? Let not that weigh on your mind. And yet if you can get your freedom, take advantage of the opportunity.

Concerning unmarried women I have no command to give you from the Lord; but I offer you my opinion, which is that of a man who, through the Lord's mercy, is deserving of your confidence.

I think then that, taking into consideration the distress which is now upon us, it is well for a man to remain as he is.

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,

There is a difference too between a married and an unmarried woman. She who is unmarried concerns herself with the Lord's business--that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but the married woman concerns herself with the business of the world--how she shall please her husband.

So that he who gives his daughter in marriage does well, and yet he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

A woman is bound to her husband during the whole period that he lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to marry whom she will, provided that he is a Christian.

But in my judgement, her state is a more enviable one if she remains as she is; and I also think that I have the Spirit of God.

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.