And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”

And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?

just as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes to see not and ears to hear not,
Down to this very day.”

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

“This is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.

For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.

For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you;

Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.

I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord.

Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”;

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.

To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;

For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.

I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.

Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?

I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren,

On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

But this I say by way of concession, not of command.

Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.

Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.

I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.

But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none;

and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.

This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

But he who stands firm in his heart, being under no constraint, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well.

However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

My defense to those who examine me is this:

If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

But if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience’ sake;

But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.

What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

In the Law it is written, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord.

But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.

Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.

For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing;

Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time?

But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again.

This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all.

Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority,

For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.

For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it.

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.

But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,

in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;

For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,

For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

For this reason we have been comforted.And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.

But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.

I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.

I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it.

For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality—

at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality;

and not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our readiness,

taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift;

For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints;

But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you may be prepared;

otherwise if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to speak of you—will be put to shame by this confidence.

Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.