How is it, that if any one of you has a cause at law against another, he takes it before a Gentile judge and not before the saints?

Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things?

Is it not certain that we are to be the judges of angels? how much more then of the things of this life?

Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men,

Do you not see that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? how then may I take what is a part of the body of Christ and make it a part of the body of a loose woman? such a thing may not be.

Or do you not see that he who is joined to a loose woman is one body with her? for God has said, The two of them will become one flesh.

Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the Holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves;

Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control.

It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that.

But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband

(Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife.

But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another.

For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?

My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him.

And the wife is not the same as the virgin. The virgin gives her mind to the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit: but the married woman takes thought for the things of the world, how she may give pleasure to her husband.

Now I say this for your profit; not to make things hard for you, but because of what is right, and so that you may be able to give all your attention to the things of the Lord.

But it will be better for her to keep as she is, in my opinion: and it seems to me that I have the Spirit of God.

So, then, as to the question of taking food offered to images, we are certain that an image is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.

Still, all men have not that knowledge: but some, being used till now to the image, are conscious that they are taking food which has been offered to the image; and because they are not strong in the faith, their minds are troubled.

But take care that this power of yours does not give cause for trouble to the feeble.

For if a man sees you, who have knowledge, taking food as a guest in the house of an image, will it not give him, if he is feeble, the idea that he may take food offered to images?

For this reason, if food is a cause of trouble to my brother, I will give up taking meat for ever, so that I may not be a cause of trouble to my brother.

If to others I am not an Apostle, at least I am one to you: for the fact that you are Christians is the sign that I am an Apostle.

For it says in the law of Moses, It is not right to keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. Is it for the oxen that God is giving orders?

If others have a part in this right over you, have we not even more? But we did not make use of our right, so that we might put nothing in the way of the good news of Christ.

Do you not see that the servants of the holy things get their living from the Temple, and the servants of the altar have their part in the food which is offered on the altar?

Even so did the Lord give orders that the preachers of the good news might get their living from the good news.

But I have not made use of any of these things: and I am not writing this in the hope that it may be so for me: for it would be better for me to undergo death, than for any man to make this pride of mine of no effect.

What then is my reward? This, that when I am giving the good news, I may give it without payment, not making use of my rights as a preacher of the good news.

For though I was free from all men, I made myself a servant to all, so that more might have salvation.

And to the Jews I was as a Jew, so that I might give the good news to them; to those under the law I was the same, not as being myself under the law, but so that I might give the good news to those under the law.

To those without the law I was as one without the law, not as being without law to God, but as under law to Christ, so that I might give the good news to those without the law.

To the feeble, I was as one who is feeble, so that they might have salvation: I have been all things to all men, so that some at least might have salvation.

And I do all things for the cause of the good news, so that I may have a part in it.

Do you not see that in a running competition all take part, but only one gets the reward? So let your minds be fixed on the reward.

But I give blows to my body, and keep it under control, for fear that, after having given the good news to others, I myself might not have God's approval.

For it is my desire, my brothers, that you may keep in mind how all our fathers were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea;

Now these things were for an example to us, so that our hearts might not go after evil things, as they did.

You have been put to no test but such as is common to man: and God is true, who will not let any test come on you which you are not able to undergo; but he will make with the test a way out of it, so that you may be able to go through it.

Do I say, then, that what is offered to images is anything, or that the image is anything?

What I say is that the things offered by the Gentiles are offered to evil spirits and not to God; and it is not my desire for you to have any part with evil spirits.

Right and wrong, I say, not for you, but for the other man; for the fact that I am free is not dependent on another man's sense of right or wrong.

But if I give praise to God for the food which I take, let no man say evil of me for that reason.

Even as I give way to all men in all things, not looking for profit for myself, but for the good of others, that they may get salvation.

Now I am pleased to see that you keep me in memory in all things, and that you give attention to the teaching which was handed down from me to you.

But it is important for you to keep this fact in mind, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

Does it not seem natural to you that if a man has long hair, it is a cause of shame to him?

But in giving you this order, there is one thing about which I am not pleased: it is that when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.

For first of all, it has come to my ears that when you come together in the church, there are divisions among you, and I take the statement to be true in part.

For divisions are necessary among you, in order that those who have God's approval may be clearly seen among you.

For it was handed down to me from the Lord, as I gave it to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when Judas was false to him, took bread,

For a man puts himself in danger, if he takes part in the holy meal without being conscious that it is the Lord's body.

But if punishment does come, it is sent by the Lord, so that we may be safe when the world is judged.

If any man is in need of food, let him take his meal in his house; so that you may not come together to your damage. And the rest I will put in order when I come.

You are conscious that when you were Gentiles, in whatever way you were guided, you went after images without voice or power.

So it is my desire for you to be clear about this; that no one is able to say by the Spirit of God that Jesus is cursed; and no one is able to say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.

So that there might be no division in the body; but all the parts might have the same care for one another.

But when that which is complete is come, then that which is in part will be no longer necessary.

When I was a child, I made use of a child's language, I had a child's feelings and a child's thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child.

Go after love; still desiring to have the things which the Spirit gives, but most of all that you may have the prophet's power.

For this reason, let the man who has the power of using tongues make request that he may, at the same time, be able to give the sense.

For if you give a blessing with the spirit, how will the man who has no knowledge say, So be it, after your prayer, seeing that he has not taken in what you are saying?

I give praise to God that I am able to make use of tongues more than you all:

But in the church it would be better for me to make use of five words of which the sense was clear, so that others might have profit, than ten thousand words in a strange tongue.

If, then, the church has come together, and all are using tongues, and there come in men without knowledge or faith, will they not say that you are unbalanced?

The secrets of his heart are made clear; and he will go down on his face and give worship to God, saying that God is truly among you.

For you may all be prophets in turn so that all may get knowledge and comfort;

What? was it from you that the word of God went out? or did it only come in to you?

By which you have salvation; that is to say, the form in which it was given to you, if it is fixed in your minds, and if your faith in it is not without effect.

Now if the good news says that Christ came back from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no coming back from the dead?

Yes, and we are seen to be false witnesses of God; because we gave witness of God that by his power Christ came again from the dead: which is not true if there is no coming back from the dead.

And if that is so, your faith is of no effect; you are still in your sins.

For, as it says, He has put all things under his feet. But when he says, All things are put under him, it is clear that it is not said about him who put all things under him.

And when all things have been put under him, then will the Son himself be under him who put all things under him, so that God may be all in all.

Foolish man, it is necessary for the seed which you put into the earth to undergo death in order that it may come to life again:

And there are bodies of heaven and bodies of earth, but the glory of the one is different from that of the other.

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for the glory of one star is different from that of another.

But that which is natural comes before that which is of the spirit.

Now I say this, my brothers, that it is not possible for flesh and blood to have a part in the kingdom of God; and death may not have a part in life.

In a second, in the shutting of an eye, at the sound of the last horn: for at that sound the dead will come again, free for ever from the power of death, and we will be changed.

But when this has taken place, then that which was said in the Writings will come true, Death is overcome by life.

For this cause, my dear brothers, be strong in purpose and unmoved, ever giving yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you are certain that your work is not without effect in the Lord.

On the first day of the week, let every one of you put by him in store, in measure as he has done well in business, so that it may not be necessary to get money together when I come.

But I will come to you after I have gone through Macedonia, for that is my purpose;

But I may be with you for a time, or even for the winter, so that you may see me on my way, wherever I go.

For it is not my desire to see you now, on my way; because it is my hope to be with you for some time, if that is the Lord's pleasure.

Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear; because he is doing the Lord's work, even as I am:

See then that he has the honour which is right. But send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me: for I am looking for him with the brothers.

Now I make my request to you, my brothers, for you have knowledge that the house of Stephanas is the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they have made themselves the servants of the saints,

That you put yourselves under such, and under everyone who is helping the Lord's work.

Who gives us comfort in all our troubles, so that we may be able to give comfort to others who are in trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

And our hope for you is certain; in the knowledge that as you take part in the troubles, so you will take part in the comfort.

For it is our desire that you may not be without knowledge of our trouble which came on us in Asia, that the weight of it was very great, more than our power, so that it seemed that we had no hope even of life:

Yes, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead:

Who gave us salvation from so great a death: on whom we have put our hope that he will still go on to give us salvation;

You at the same time helping together by your prayer for us; so that for what has been given to us through a number of persons, praise may go up to God for us from all of them.

For our glory is in this, in the knowledge which we have that our way of life in the world, and most of all in relation to you, has been holy and true in the eyes of God; not in the wisdom of the flesh, but in the grace of God.

Even as you have been ready, in part, to say that we are your glory, in the same way that you are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

And being certain of this, it was my purpose to come to you before, so that you might have a second grace;

And by way of Corinth to go into Macedonia, and from there to come back again to you, so that you might send me on my way to Judaea.