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.

Of course, there must be factions among you to show which of you are genuine!

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the cup in an unworthy manner will be held responsible for the Lord's body and blood.

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

Now, while we are being judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so we won't be condemned along with the world.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I don't want you to be ignorant.

For this reason I want you to be aware that no one who is speaking by God's Spirit can say, "Jesus is cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

To one has been given a message of wisdom by the Spirit; to another the ability to speak with knowledge according to the same Spirit;

to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit;

For by one Spirit all of us Jews and Greeks, slaves and free were baptized into one body and were all privileged to drink from one Spirit.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

Now if all of it were one part, there wouldn't be a body, would there?

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable,

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

Love never fails. Now if there are prophecies, they will be done away with. If there are languages, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

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.

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.

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.

Indeed, brothers, if I come to you speaking in foreign languages, what good will I be to you unless I speak to you in some revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or teaching?

In the same way, unless you speak an intelligible message with your language, how will anyone know what is being said? You'll be talking into the air!

If I don't know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

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.

His secret, inner heart will become known, and so he will bow down to the ground and worship God, declaring, "God is truly among you!"

What, then, does this mean, brothers? When you gather, everyone has a psalm, teaching, revelation, foreign language, or interpretation. Everything must be done for upbuilding.

If a revelation is made to another person who is seated, the first person should be silent.

For everyone can prophesy in turn, so that everyone can be instructed and everyone can be encouraged.

But if anyone ignores this, he should be ignored.

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

and by which you are also being saved if you hold firmly to the message I proclaimed to you unless, of course, your faith was worthless.

and he was seen by Cephas, and then by the Twelve.

After that, he was seen by more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.

Next he was seen by James, then by all the apostles,

and finally he was seen by me, as though I were born abnormally late.

For I am the least of the apostles and not even fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted God's church.

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.

In addition, we are found to be false witnesses about God because we testified on God's behalf that he raised the Messiah whom he did not raise if in fact it is true that the dead are not raised.

and if the Messiah has not been raised, your faith is worthless and you are still imprisoned by your sins.

For as in Adam all die, so also in the Messiah will all be made alive.

The last enemy to be done away with is death,

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.

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

This is how it will be at the resurrection of the dead. What is planted is decaying, what is raised cannot decay.

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

in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed.

For what is decaying must be clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying must be clothed with what cannot die.

Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up by victory!"

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

Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that the work that you do for the Lord isn't wasted.

After the Sabbath ends, each of you should set aside and save something from your surplus in proportion to what you have, so that no collections will have to be made when I arrive.

If Timothy comes, see to it that he does not have anything to be afraid of while he is with you, for he is doing the Lord's work as I am.

Everything you do should be done lovingly.

If anyone doesn't love the Lord, let him be !

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you!

From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To: God's church in Corinth, and to all the holy people throughout Achaia.

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He is our merciful Father and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our suffering, so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God.

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about the suffering we experienced in Asia. We were so crushed beyond our ability to endure that we even despaired of living.

as you also help us by your prayers for us. Then many people will thank God on our behalf because of the favor shown us through the prayers of many.

just as you have already understood us partially, so that on the Day of our Lord Jesus we can be your reason to boast, even as you are ours.

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."

Now I decided not to pay you another painful visit.

This is the very reason I wrote you, so that when I did come I might not be made sad by those who should have made me happy. For I had confidence that all of you would share the joy that I have.

This punishment by the majority is severe enough for such a man.

I had also written to you to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in every way.

so that we may not be outsmarted by Satan. After all, we are not unaware of his intentions.

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 our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by everyone.

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.

By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God,

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.

As all of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, we are becoming more like him with ever-increasing glory by the Lord's Spirit.

Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God's word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience before God.

We are always carrying around the death of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our bodies.

While we are alive, we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our mortal bodies.

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.

We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human hands.

Of course, if we do put it on, we will not be found without a body.

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.

For we live by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord.

So whether we are at home or away from home, our goal is to be pleasing to him.

We are not recommending ourselves to you again but are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who are proud of outward things rather than inward character.

for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us.

Therefore, we are the Messiah's representatives, as though God were pleading through us. We plead on the Messiah's behalf: "Be reconciled to God!"

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God's righteousness would be produced in us.

We do not put an obstacle in anyone's way. Otherwise, fault may be found with our ministry.

Instead, in every way we demonstrate that we are God's servants by tremendous endurance in the midst of difficulties, hardships, and calamities;

What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters," declares the Lord Almighty.

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let's cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit by becoming mature in our holy fear of God.

Yet God, who comforts those who feel miserable, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing for me, your sorrow, and your eagerness to take my side, and this made me even happier.

Now I am happy, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repent. For you were sorry in a godly way, and so you were not hurt by us in any way.

So, even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the man who did the wrong or because of the man who was hurt. Instead, I wrote to you so that your devotion to us might be made perfectly clear to you before God.

This is what comforted us. In addition to our own comfort, we were even more delighted at the joy of Titus, because his spirit had been set at rest by all of you.