But the person who unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Keep on running away from sexual immorality. Any other sin that a person commits is outside his body, but the person who sins sexually sins against his own body.

A wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but his wife does.

But I say this as a concession, not as a command.

To married people I give this command (not really I, but the Lord): A wife must not leave her husband.

But if she does leave him, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. Likewise, a husband must not abandon his wife.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified because of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

But if the unbelieving partner leaves, let him go. In such cases the brother or sister is not under obligation. God has called you to live in peace.

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but obeying God's commandments is everything.

But if you do get married, you have not sinned. And if a virgin gets married, she has not sinned. However, these people will experience trouble in this life, and I want to spare you from that.

But a married man is concerned about things of this world, that is, about how he can please his wife,

An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the affairs of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, that is, about how she can please her husband. I'm saying this for your benefit, not to put a noose around your necks, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

So then the man who marries the virgin acts appropriately, but the man who refrains from marriage does even better.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord.

Now concerning food offered to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

But anyone who loves God is known by him.

But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry that when they eat food that has been offered to an idol, their conscience becomes contaminated because it is weak.

But you must see to it that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block for those who are weak.

If others enjoy this right over you, don't we have a stronger claim? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we tolerate everything in order not to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of the Messiah.

But I have not used any of these rights, and I'm not writing this so that they may be applied in my case. I would rather die than let anyone deprive me of my reason for boasting.

For if I preach voluntarily, I get a reward, but if I am unwilling to do it, I am still entrusted with that obligation.

To those who do not have the Law, I became like a man who does not have the Law in order to win those who do not have the Law. However, I am not free from God's Law, but I'm subject to the Messiah's law.

You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don't you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious.

Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that withers away, but we run to win a prize that never fades.

But God wasn't pleased with most of those people, and so they were struck down in the wilderness.

No temptation has overtaken you that is unusual for human beings. But God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Instead, along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.

Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible, but not everything builds up.

No one should seek his own welfare, but rather his neighbor's.

just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don't look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved.

A man should not cover his head, because he exists as God's image and glory. But the woman is man's glory.

For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;

and man was not created for woman, but woman for man.

For as woman came from man, so man comes through woman. But everything comes from God.

But if anyone wants to argue about this, we do not have any custom like this, nor do any of God's churches.

Now I am not praising you in giving you the following instructions. When you gather, it is not for the better but for the worse.

But if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,

and there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord.

There are varieties of results, but it is the same God who produces all the results in everyone.

But one and the same Spirit produces all these results and gives what he wants to each person.

For the body does not consist of only one part, but of many.

But now God has arranged the parts, every one of them, in the body according to his plan.

So there are many parts, but one body.

However, our attractive parts don't need this. But God has put the body together and has given special honor to the parts that lack it,

so that there might be no disharmony in the body, but that its parts should have the same concern for each other.

If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing.

Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.

But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with.

Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

For the person who speaks in a foreign language is not actually speaking to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands him, because he is talking about secrets by the Spirit.

But the person who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, encouragement, and comfort.

The person who speaks in a foreign language builds himself up, but the person who prophesies builds up the church.

Now I wish that all of you could speak in foreign languages, but especially that you could prophesy. The person who prophesies is more important than the person who speaks in a foreign language, unless he interprets it so that the church may be built up.

In the same way, lifeless instruments like the flute or harp produce sounds. But if there's no difference in the notes, how can a person tell what tune is being played?

For if I pray in a foreign language, my spirit prays but my mind is not productive.

What does this mean? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, but I will also sing psalms with my mind.

It's good for you to give thanks, but it does not build up the other person.

But in church I would rather speak five words with my mind to instruct others than 10,000 words in a foreign language.

Brothers, stop being childish in your thinking. Be like infants with respect to evil, but think like adults.

In the Law it is written, "By means of foreign languages and through the mouths of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," declares the Lord.

Foreign languages, then, are meant to be a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is meant, not for unbelievers, but for believers.

But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted and examined by everything that's happening.

for God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women must keep silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak out, but must place themselves in submission, as the oral law also says.

But if anyone ignores this, he should be ignored.

But everything must be done in a proper and orderly way.

But by God's grace I am what I am, and his grace shown to me was not wasted. Instead, I worked harder than all the others not I, of course, but God's grace that was with me.

But at this moment the Messiah stands risen from the dead, the first one offered in the harvest of those who have died.

But when everything has been put under him, then the Son himself will also become subject to the one who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come back?"

and what you plant is not the form that it will be, but a bare kernel, whether it is wheat or something else.

But God gives the plant the form he wants it to have, and to each kind of seed its own form.

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of those in heaven is of one kind, and that of those on earth is of another.

The body is planted in a state of dishonor but is raised in a state of splendor. It is planted in weakness but is raised in power.

It is planted a physical body but is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.

The spiritual does not come first, but the physical does, and then comes the spiritual.

Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changed

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah!

Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but he was not inclined to do so just now. However, he will visit you when the time is right.

In fact, we felt that we had received a death sentence so we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God's grace especially toward you.

For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us by me, Silvanus, and Timothy was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes."

It is not that we are trying to rule over your faith, but rather to work with you for your joy, because you have been standing firm in the faith.

After all, if I were to grieve you, who should make me happy but the person I am making sad?

I wrote to you out of great sorrow and anguish of heart along with many tears not to make you sad but to let you know how much love I have for you.

But if anyone has caused grief, he didn't cause me any grief. To some extent I don't want to emphasize this too much it has affected all of you.

but my spirit could not find any relief, because I couldn't find Titus, my brother. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

But thanks be to God! He always leads us triumphantly by the Messiah and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of knowing him.

You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah's letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

who has also qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, which is not written but spiritual, because the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

For we do not preach ourselves, but rather Jesus the Messiah as Lord, and ourselves as merely your servants for Jesus' sake.

But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us.

In every way we're troubled but not crushed, frustrated but not in despair,

persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

And so death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

So while we are still in this tent, we sigh under our burdens, because we do not want to put it off but to put it on, so that our dying bodies may be swallowed up by life.