So let us keep our feast, not with old yeast nor with the yeast of vice and wickedness, but with the bread of purity and truth without the yeast.

Now what I really meant was for you to stop associating with any so-called brother, if he is sexually immoral, a greedy grasper, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler -- with such a person you must even stop eating.

For what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not for you to judge those who are inside the church,

Do you not know that God's people are to judge the world? And if the world is to be judged before you, are you unfit to try such petty cases?

So if you have the ordinary cases of life for settlement, do you set up as judges the very men in the church who have no standing?

I ask this to make you blush with shame. Has it come to this, that there is not a single wise man among you who could settle a grievance of one brother against another,

To say no more, it is a mark of moral failure among you to have lawsuits at all with one another. Why not rather suffer being wronged? Why not suffer being robbed?

Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is good for me. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not become a slave to anything.

Foods are intended for the stomach, and the stomach for foods, but God will finally put a stop to both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality but for the service of the Lord, and the Lord is for the body to serve.

And as God by His power raised the Lord to life, so He will raise us too.

But the man who is in union with the Lord is spiritually one with Him.

Keep on running from sexual immorality! Any other sin that a man commits is one outside his body, but the man who commits the sexual sin is sinning against his own body.

Or, are you not conscious that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you, whom you have as a gift from God? Furthermore, you are not your own,

The husband must always give his wife what is due her, and the wife too must do so for her husband.

The wife does not have the right to do as she pleases with her own body; the husband has his right to it. In the same way the husband does not have the right to do as he pleases with his own body; the wife has her right to it.

You husbands and wives must stop refusing each other what is due, unless you agree to do so just for awhile, so as to have plenty of time for prayer, and then to be together again, so as to keep Satan from tempting you because of your lack of self-control.

However, I should like for everyone to be just as I am myself, yet each of us has his own special gift from God, one for one way, another for another.

To unmarried people and to widows I would say this: It would be a fine thing for them to remain single, as I am.

But if they do not practice self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burning in the fire of passion.

To the people already married I give this instruction -- no, not I but the Lord -- that a wife is not to leave her husband.

To the rest of the people I myself would say -- though the Lord Himself has said nothing about it -- if a Christian has a wife that is not a believer and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her;

and a woman who has a husband that is not a believer, but he consents to live with her, must not divorce her husband.

For the unbelieving husband is consecrated by union with his wife and the unbelieving wife by union with her Christian husband, for otherwise your children would be unblessed, but in this way they are consecrated.

But if the unbelieving consort actually leaves, let the separation stand. In such cases the Christian husband or wife is not morally bound; God has called us to live in peace.

Being circumcised or not being circumcised has no value, but keeping God's commands is important.

For the slave who has been called to union with the Lord is the Lord's freedman; in the same way the freeman who has been called is a slave of Christ.

About unmarried women I have no command from the Lord, but I will give you my opinion as of one who is trustworthy, since I have had mercy shown me by the Lord.

Now this is my opinion in the light of the present distress: That it is a good thing for a man to remain as he is.

I mean this, brothers. The time has been cut short. For the future, men who have wives should live as though they had none,

and those that mourn as though they did not mourn, and those who are glad as though they were not glad, and those who buy as though they did not own a thing,

and those who are enjoying the world as though they were not entirely absorbed in it. For the outward order of this world is passing away.

I want you to be free from worldly worries. An unmarried man is concerned about the affairs of the Lord.

A married man is concerned about the affairs of the world, and how he can please his wife, and so his devotion is divided.

An unmarried woman or a girl is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so as to be consecrated in body and spirit, but a married woman is concerned about the affairs of the world, and how she can please her husband.

It is for your welfare that I am saying this, not to put restraint on you, but to foster good order and to help you to an undivided devotion to the Lord.

Now if a father thinks that he is not doing the proper thing regarding his single daughter, if she is past the bloom of her youth, and she ought to do so, let him do what she desires; he commits no sin. Let the daughter and her suitor marry.

But the father who stands firm in his purpose, without having any necessity for doing so, and he has made the decision in his own heart to keep her single, will do what is right.

And so the man who gives his daughter in marriage does what is right, and yet the man who does not do so does even better.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she pleases, except that he must be a Christian.

But in my opinion she will be happier, if she remains as she is, and I think too that I have God's Spirit.

Now about the foods that have been sacrificed to idols: We know that every one of us has some knowledge of the matter. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

If a man supposes that he has already gotten some true knowledge, as yet he has not learned it as he ought to know it.

But if a man loves God, God is known by him.

So, as to eating things that have been sacrificed to idols, we are sure that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but One.

For even if there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth -- as there are, indeed, a vast number of gods and lords --

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things and the goal of our living, and but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom everything was made and through whom we live.

But it is not in all of you that such knowledge is found. Some, because of their past habits with idols, even down to the present moment, still eat such food as was really sacrificed to an idol, and so their consciences, because they are overscrupulous, are contaminated.

Food will never bring us near to God. We are no worse if we do not eat it; we are no better if we do.

Yes, the overscrupulous brother, for whom Christ died, is ruined by your so-called knowledge.

My vindication of myself to those who are investigating me is this:

It cannot be that we have no right to take a Christian wife about with us, can it, as well as the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers, and Cephas?

Or is it Barnabas and I alone who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

For in the law of Moses it is written, "You must not muzzle an ox that is treading out your grain." Is it that God is concerned about oxen only?

Is He not really speaking on our behalf? Yes, indeed, this law was written on our behalf, because the plowman ought to plow and the thresher ought to thresh, in the hope of sharing in the crop.

If we have sown the spiritual seed for you, is it too great for us to reap a material support from you?

Then what is the pay that I am getting? To be able to preach the good news without expense to anybody, and so never to make full use of my rights in preaching the good news.

Yes, indeed, though I am free from any human power, I have made myself a slave to everybody, to win as many as possible.

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

So that is the way I run, with no uncertainty as to winning. That is the way I box, not like one that punches the air.

they all allowed themselves to be baptized as followers of Moses,

Now all these things occurred as warnings to us, to keep us from hankering after what is evil, in the ways they did.

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."

Let us stop practicing immorality, as some of them did, and on one day twenty-three thousand fell dead.

Let us stop trying the Lord's patience, as some of them did, and for it were destroyed by the snakes.

You must stop grumbling, as some of them did, and for it were destroyed by the destroying angel.

Those things continued to befall them as warnings to others, and they were written down for the purpose of instructing us, in whose lives the climax of the ages has been reached.

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.

Is not the consecrated cup which we consecrate a sign of our sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf which we break a sign of our sharing in the body of Christ?

Because there is only one loaf, so we, though many, are only one body, for we all partake of one loaf.

Then what do I mean? That the sacrifice to an idol is a reality, or that an idol itself is a reality? Of course not!

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

As a rule eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question about it for conscience' sake,

If some unbelieving heathen invites you to his house, and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question for conscience' sake.

But if someone says to you, "This meat has been offered as a heathen sacrifice," make it your rule not to eat it, for the sake of the man who warned you and for conscience' sake;

just as I myself am in the habit of pleasing everybody in everything, not aiming at my own welfare but at that of as many people as possible, in order that they may be saved.

You must follow my example, just as I myself am following Christ's.

I prize and praise you for always remembering me and for firmly standing by the teachings as I passed them on to you.

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.

and any woman who prays or prophesies bareheaded dishonors her head, for it is one and the same thing with having her head shaved.

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.

This is why woman ought to wear upon her head a symbol of man's authority, especially out of respect to the angels.

But from the Lord's point of view woman is not independent of man nor man of woman.

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?

Does not nature itself teach you that it is degrading for a man to wear long hair,

but that it is a woman's glory to do so? For her hair is given her for a covering.

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.

But as I am giving you these instructions I cannot approve of your meetings, because they do not turn out for the better but for the worse.

For, in the first place, when you meet as a congregation, I hear that there are cliques among you, and I partly believe it.

So when you hold your meetings, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper,

for each of you is in a rush to eat his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.

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.

and gave thanks for it and broke it and said, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me."

In the same way, after supper, He took the cup of wine, saying, "This cup is the new covenant ratified by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do so in memory of me."

So whoever eats the bread and drinks from the Lord's cup in an unworthy way is guilty of sinning against the Lord's body and blood.

This is why many of you are sick and feeble, and a considerable number are falling asleep.

But if we properly saw ourselves, we would not bring down upon us this judgment.

But since we do bring down upon us this judgment, we are being disciplined by the Lord, so that finally we may not be condemned along with the world.

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that your meetings may not bring on you judgment. I will settle in detail the matters that remain, when I come.