Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

But because of immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.

The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.

But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have troubles in this flesh, and I am trying to spare you.

I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; so that from now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none,

But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is; and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

For if a man sees you, who have knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols?

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

Do we not have the right to food and drink?

Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

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

If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?

But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!

For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if it is not of my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that I might by all means save some.

But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

For if a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, let her cover her head.

Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

If anyone wants to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.

What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? No, I will not.

That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you may have been moved.

And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

while our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the parts that lacked it,

so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I have to the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fullyeven as I have been fully known.

After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

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

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day.

If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. Now I urge you, brethren,

I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part.

He delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

For our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with holiness and godly sincerity, not in worldly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and still more toward you.

as you have understood us in part, that you can be proud of us just as we can be of you, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double benefit.

I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.

For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?

And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I had confidence in all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.

For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Any one whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

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

But we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak,

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

We are not again commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you may have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.

For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Make room for us in your hearts; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. With all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

For behold what this very thing, godly sorrow, has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to see justice done! At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

For if I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting before Titus has proved true.

I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you.

for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.

For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have.

for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many matters, but who is now more diligent than ever because of his great confidence in you.

So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren to go on to you before me, and arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as an exaction but as a willing gift.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may have an abundance for every good work.

I beg you that when I am present I may not have to be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.

But even if I am unskilled in speech, I am not in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the open sea.

I have been on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brethren;

I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not in the least inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.

I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will have to mourn over many of those who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and lewdness which they have practiced.

I trust that you will realize that we have not failed the test.

Now we pray to God that you may not do wrong, not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may seem to have failed.

I write these things while I am absent, in order that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority which the Lord gave me for building you up, and not for tearing you down.

As we have said before, so I say again now, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.

For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it;

But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.

yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law will no flesh be justified.

But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not!

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given which could impart life, then righteousness would indeed have come by the law.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things? Do you desire to be enslaved all over again?