1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.
5 That in everything you were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge.
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 Who shall also confirm you to the end, unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I urge you brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 By this I mean, that each one of you is saying: I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius.
15 Lest any of you should say you were baptized into my name.
16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas. Besides these, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ sent me not so much as to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not in the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no power.
18 For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nothing.
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know God, it was God's good pleasure through the apparent foolishness of the message preached to save them that believe-
22 seeing that Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek after wisdom.
23 But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.
24 But to them that are called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 Consider your calling, brothers; not many of you had worldly wisdom, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world, that He might put to shame those that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that He might put to shame the things that are strong.
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.
29 So that no flesh should boast before God.
30 But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who was made to us by God to be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.
31 That, according to what is written: He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord.
1 And I brothers, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power;
5 so that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 We speak wisdom, however, among them that are mature. Yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even that which was hidden, which God foreordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which not one of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But as it is written: Things which eye saw not and ear heard not and which did not enter into the heart of man, whatever things God prepared for them that love Him,
10 God revealed them to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For who among men knows the things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the things of God nobody knows, save the Spirit of God.
12 But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, so that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.
13 Which things also we speak about, but not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but in words that the Spirit teaches, combining spiritual things with spiritual.
14 Now the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judges all things; and he is ultimately judged by no man.
16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1 And I, brothers, can not speak to you as spiritual people, but as carnal people, as infants in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not with solid food. For you were not yet able to bear it; no, not even now are you able.
3 For you are still carnal. For whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are you not carnal and do you not walk after the manner of men?
4 For when one says: I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos- are you not mere men?
5 Who then is Apollos? And who is Paul? Ministers through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him.
6 I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters, but God that gives the increase.
8 Now he that plants and he that waters are one, but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are God's fellow-workers. You are God's husbandry, God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take care how he builds upon it!
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 But if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble,
13 each man's work shall be revealed. For the day of judgment shall declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire itself shall test each man's work of what sort it is.
14 If anyone's work shall endure which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet as having passed through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy; and such are you.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: He takes the wise in their craftiness.
20 And again: The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain.
21 Therefore, let no one boast in men. For all things are yours.
22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come- all are yours.
23 And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
1 Let a man regard us as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 In this, moreover, it is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or any man's judgment. I do not judge even myself.
4 For I know nothing against myself in my own conscience. Yet hereby I am not justified; but he that judges me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.
6 Now these things, brothers, I have applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes. That from us you might learn not to go beyond the things which are written, so that none of you get puffed up, one against the other.
7 For who makes you to differ? And what have you that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?Paul's Qualification to Teach the Corinthians
8 Already are you filled, already you have become rich, you have come to reign without us. Yes, and I hope that you will indeed reign, that we also might reign with you.
9 For I think God has sent us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.
10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have glory, but we have dishonour.
11 Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling-place;
12 we toil, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.
13 Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the garbage of the world, the scum of the earth, even until now.
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to encourage you as my beloved children.
15 For though you have ten thousand would be teachers in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus it was me who begat you through the gospel.
16 I therefore urge you to be imitators of me.
17 For this cause have I sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.
18 Now some are inflated with pride, as though I were not going to come to you.
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and I will discover not the talk of those that are inflated with pride, but the power.
20 For the kingdom of God is not in talk but in power.
21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such immorality as is not even among the Gentiles, that one of you has taken to himself his father's wife.
2 Instead of grieving, you have become arrogant. Remove the one who has done this deed from among you.
3 For I truly, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him that has done this thing,
4 I command you that in the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are gathered together (and my spirit is present with you when you do), with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 deliver such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast raises the whole lump of dough?
7 Purge out the old yeast so that you may be a new lump, even as you actually are. For our Passover lamb has been sacrificed, even Christ.
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the bread of sincerity and truth which has no yeast.
9 I wrote to you in my letter to have no association with fornicators.
10 I did not mean with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters. For you must go out of the world to do this.
11 But as it is, I wrote to you not to keep association, if anyone that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. With such a one have no association, not even to eat.
12 For what have I to do with judging those that are without? Do you not judge those that are within?
13 But them that are without God judges. Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.
1 Don't Take Believers to Law Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbour, go to law before the unrighteous and not rather take it before the saints?
2 Or do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
4 If then you have to judge things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are of no account in the church.
5 I say this to move you to shame. What! Is there not among you even one wise man who shall be able to decide between his brothers?
6 But as it is with you at the moment, brother goes to law with brother- and that before unbelievers!
7 No, already there is totally a defect in you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather take wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
8 No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud- and that your brothers.
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Food for the belly and the belly for food, but God shall bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will raise us up also through His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? God forbid.
16 Or do you not know that he that is joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For the scripture says: The two shall become one flesh.
17 But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? And you are not your own;
20 for you were bought with a price. Glorify God therefore in your body and spirit, for they are God's.
1 Now concerning the things of which you wrote. It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2 But because there is so much immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
3 Let the husband render to the wife her due and likewise also the wife to the husband.
4 The wife has no power over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise also the husband has no power over his own body, but the wife does.
5 Do not deprive one another, unless it is for an agreed time, so that you may give yourselves to prayer and then come together again, that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 But this I say by way of concession, not by commandment.
7 Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. However each man has his own gift from God, one after this manner and another after that.
8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they live as I do.
9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn.
10 But to the married I give this instruction; not I, but the Lord: That the wife should not leave her husband
11 (but should she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband) and the husband should not leave his wife.
12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is content to dwell with him, let him not leave her.
13 And the woman that has an unbelieving husband and he is content to dwell with her, let her not leave her husband.
14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the brother. Else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
15 Yet if the unbelieving departs, let him depart. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases; but God has called us to peace.
16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you shall save your wife?
17 Only as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all the churches.
18 Was anyone called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has any been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing- but the keeping of the commandments of God is all important.
20 Let each man abide in that calling wherein he was called.
21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry, but if you can become free, do so.
22 For he that was called in the Lord being a slave, is the Lord's freedman. Likewise he that was called being free, is Christ's slave.
23 You were bought with a price. Become not slaves of men.
24 Brothers, let each man, wherein he was called, therein stay with God.
25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my judgment, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy.
26 I think therefore that it is good by reason of the present distress that is upon us, that a man should remain as he is.
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
28 But should you marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh, and I would spare you.
29 But this I say brothers, because the time is shortened, that from this time forward both those that have wives may be as though they had none;
30 those that weep, as though they wept not, those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not, and those that buy, as though they possessed not.
31 And those that use the world, as not using it to the full. For the fashion of this world passes away.
32 But I would have you to be free of worries. He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
33 But he that is married is careful for the things of the world, how he may please his wife,
34 and is divided. Also the woman that is unmarried or betrothedis anxious about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she that is married is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35 And this I say for your own profit. Not that I may cast a snare upon you, but so you may do what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.
36 But if anyone thinks that he behaves himself inappropriately toward his betrothed, if she be past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he will. He sins not. Let them marry.
37 But he that stands steadfast in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desires under control, and has determined this in his heart, to remain betrothed; he shall do well.
38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
39 A wife is bound for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband dies she is free to be married to whoever she chooses. But only in the Lord.
40 But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I am certain that I also have the Spirit of God.
1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols. We know that we all have knowledge; yet knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
2 If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he does not know anything as he ought to know.
3 But if anyone loves God, the same is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol has real existence and there is no God but one.
5 For though there are those called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are gods many and lords many,
6 yet to us there is only one God, the Father, of whom are all things and we are everything to Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, for the sake of whom are all things, and we exist for His sake.
7 However there is not in all men that knowledge, but some being used until now to the idol, eat things sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled.
8 But food will not commend us to God. Neither, if we eat not, are we the worse. Nor, if we eat, are we the better.
9 But take heed, lest by any means this freedom of yours becomes a stumblingblock to the weak.
10 For if a man sees you who have knowledge dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be encouraged to eat things sacrificed to idols?
11 For through your knowledge he that is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
12 And thus, sinning against the believers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh again, so that I do not cause my brother to stumble.
1 Paul's View of a Paid Ministry Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my works in the Lord?
2 If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defence to them that examine me is this:
4 Have we no right to eat and to drink?
5 Have we no right to lead a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
6 Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have a right not to have to work for a living?
7 What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who feeds a flock and does not drink the milk of the flock?
8 Do I speak these things after the manner of men? Or did not the law say the same?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses: You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn. Is it for the oxen that God cares,
10 or did He say it entirely for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written. Because he that ploughs ought to plough in hope, and he that threshes, hopes to partake in the harvest.
11 If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your material things?
12 If others have this rightful claim over you, do we not have more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that they that labour in the temple get their food from the temple, and they that serve at the altar have their portion from that which is sacrificed on the altar?
14 Even so the Lord ordained that they that proclaim the gospel should live from the gospel.
15 But I have used none of these things, and I do not write these things that it may be so done in my case. For it is better for me to die, than that anyone should make my boasting void.
16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about. For necessity is laid upon me. For woe to me, if I do not preach the gospel.
17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if against my own will, then I have clearly had a stewardship entrusted to me.
18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.
19 For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, I became as one under the law (though I am not under the law), that I might gain those that are under the law.
21 To them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
23 And I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
24 Do you not know that they that run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run like this, so that you may attain the prize.
25 And every man that strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
26 I therefore run, but not with uncertainty. So fight I, but not as a shadow boxer.
27 But like an athlete I discipline my body and make it my slave; lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
1 Brothers, I would not have you ignorant that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea,
2 and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They did all eat the same spiritual food,
4 and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock represented Christ.
5 However with most of them God was not well pleased; for their dead bodies were scattered over the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted.
7 Neither be you idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and so in one day twenty three thousand died.
9 Neither let us put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and perished by the serpents.
10 Neither let us grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the Destroyer angel.
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written about for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore let him that thinks he stands be careful lest he fall.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
14 Don't Participate in Idol Worship Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise people. Think upon what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ?
17 Seeing that we, who are many, are one loaf, one body; for we are all partaking of the one loaf.
18 Behold Israel after the flesh. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
19 What say I then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I would not have you sharing communion with demons.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.
22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
23 All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.
24 Let no one seek his own, but his neighbour's good. Don't Cause Others to Stumble
25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience,
26 for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it.
27 If one of them that do not believe invites you to a feast and you are inclined to go, whatever is set before you eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
28 But if anyone says to you: This has been offered in sacrifice to idols! Do not eat it for the sake of he that tells you, and for conscience sake.
29 Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other's. One may ask: Why is my liberty judged by another's conscience?
30 If I eat my food with thankfulness, why is evil spoken of me, for that for which I give thanks?
31 The principle is that whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do or do not- do all to the glory of God.
32 Give no occasions of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Gentiles, or to the church of God.
33 Even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but that of the many, that they may be saved.
1 Be imitators of me, even as I am of Christ.
2 Now I praise you who remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, as I delivered them to you.
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonours his head.
5 But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonours her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven.
6 For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn; but if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled.
7 For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man.
8 For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man.
9 For neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.
10 For this cause ought the woman to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.
11 Nevertheless, in the Lord, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman.
12 For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?
14 Does not nature itself teach you, that if a man has long hair it is a dishonour to him?
15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her. For her hair is given her for a covering.
16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, let them know we have no such custom, neither do the churches of God.
17 But in giving you this instruction, I do not praise you- for you come together not for the better but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must also be factions among you, that they that are approved may be revealed among you.
20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat.
21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.
22 What, have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who do not have? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you!
23 For I received of the Lord that which I in turn delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said: This is my body, which is for you. This do in remembrance of me.
25 In the same manner also the cup, after supper, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27 Therefore whoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he that eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not discern the body of the Lord.
30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly and not a few sleep.
31 If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
33 Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, that your coming together be not to condemnation. About the other things I will give instruction when I come.
1 Brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts.
2 You know that when you were Gentiles you were led away to those dumb idols, in whichever way you might have been led.
3 Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says Jesus is accursed. And no one can say Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are diversities of service, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of activities, but the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
7 But to each individual is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit.
9 To another faith through the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healings through the same one Spirit.
10 And to another workings of miracles, and to another prophecy and to another discerning of spirits; to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these gifts are energized by one and the same Spirit, apportioned to each man according as he is willing to receive it.
12 For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
13 For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot shall say: Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body- that would not make it not a part of the body.
16 And if the ear shall say: Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body- that would not make it not a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where is the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where is the smelling?
18 But now has God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased Him.
19 And if they were all one member, where is the body?
20 But now they are many members, but one body.
21 Therefore the eye cannot say to the hand: I have no need of you; nor the head to the feet: I have no need of you.
22 No, on the contrary, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary.
23 And those parts of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our unattractive parts have more abundant covering;
24 whereas our more attractive parts have no need of this. But God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honour to that part which lacked it,
25 so that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26 And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and each individually members of it.
28 And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then those who do miracles, then the gifts of healing, helping, administration and various kinds of languages.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak with languages? Do all interpret?
31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
1 If I speak with all the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become like sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long, and is kind. Love envies not. It is not arrogant or rude, is not puffed up,
5 does not behave itself inappropriately, is not self seeking, is not easily provoked, keeps no record of evil done,
6 rejoices not in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth;
7 carries all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away. Whether there be speaking in foreign languages, this shall cease. Whether there be the gift of knowledge, it shall be done away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when that which is perfect comes, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I am a man, I have put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully, even as also I have been fully known.
13 But now abides faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
1 Pursue love, and in this pursuit therefore earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that of prophecy.
2 For he that speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God. For no one understands, but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries.
3 But he that prophesises speaks to men, words of edification, exhortation and consolation.
4 He that speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesises edifies the church.
5 Now I would wish that you all speak with tongues, but especiallyI wish that you should prophesy; for greater is he that prophesises than he that speaks with tongues, unless he interpret, that the church may receive edification.
6 But now, brothers, if I came to you speaking with tongues, without speaking to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching- what shall I profit you?
7 Even things without life which give a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
8 For if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle, who shall prepare himself for war?
9 So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech easily understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.
10 There are, surely, many languages in the world and none is without meaning.
11 If then I do not know the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian and he that speaks will be a barbarian to me.
12 So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to excel in edifying the church.
13 Therefore let him that speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also.
16 Else if you bless with the spirit, how shall he that is in the place of the unlearned say the Amen at your giving of thanks, seeing he does not understand what you say?
17 For you truly give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all.
19 However in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers, be not children in your thinking. Yet in malice be babes; but in thinking be men.
21 In the law it is written: By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak to this people, and not even thus will they hear Me, says the Lord.
22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe but to the unbelieving; but prophesying is for a sign, not to the unbelieving but to those that believe.
23 If therefore the whole church be assembled together and all speak with tongues, and there come in unlearned or unbelieving people, will they not say that you are mad?
24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all.
25 The secrets of his heart are revealed, and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed.
26 What is it then, brothers? As it is, when you come together, each one has a Psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. But let all things be done to edify.
27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be by two, or at the most three; and even then in turn, and let one interpret.
28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
29 And let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others discern them.
30 But if a revelation be made to another sitting by, let the first keep silence.
31 For you all can prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be exhorted.
32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
34 Let the women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted for them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also said the law.
35 And if they would learn anything, let them ask their men at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church.
36 What? Was it from you that the word of God went out? Or came it to you alone?
37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandment of the Lord.
38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.
39 Therefore my brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues.
40 But let all things be done decently and in order.
1 Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, wherein also you stand.
2 By which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which also I received: That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he rose on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
5 that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
6 Then he appeared to above five hundred believers at once, of whom the greater part remain until now (but some have fallen asleep);
7 then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
8 And last of all, as to the abnormally born, he appeared to me also.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, who is unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than all of them. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Whether I or they, so we preach and so you believed. The Crucial Importance of Christ's Resurrection
12 Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then is our preaching vain, your faith also is vain.
15 Yes, we are found false witnesses of God. Because we witnessed of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised-
16 for if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain, you are still in your sins;
18 and therefore also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all people the most pitiable.
20 But now has Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep.
21 For since by a man came death, by a man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, then they that are Christ's, at his coming.
24 Then comes the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign until He has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.
27 For He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when He said all things are put in subjection, it is evident that He is excepted who did subject all things to him.
28 And when all things have been subjected to him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to Him that did subject all things to him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do that are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are people baptized for them?
30 Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by that boasting in you, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord: I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
33 Be not deceived. Evil companionships corrupt good moral habits.
34 Awake to soberness righteously, and do not sin. For some among you have no knowledge of God. I speak this to move you to shame.
35 But someone will say: How are the dead resurrected? And with what type of body do they come forth?
36 You foolish one, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
37 And what you sow is not the plant body that shall later be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or some other grain.
38 But God gives it a body just as it pleases Him; and to each seed a body of its own.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes.
40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one and the glory of the earthly is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
43 It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 So also it is written: The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and only then the spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is heavenly.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all remain asleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to fulfilment the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Paul's Plans for Corinth Now concerning the collection for the saints, do as I instructed the churches in Galatia.
2 Upon the first day of the week let each one of you, as your income allows, put some money aside and store it up so that no collections are needed when I come.
3 And when I arrive, whomsoever you shall approve, them will I send with letters to carry your generosity to Jerusalem.
4 And if it be fitting for me to go also, they shall go with me.
5 But I will come to you, when I shall have passed through Macedonia (for I plan to pass through Macedonia).
6 And perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go further.
7 But I do not wish to see you just in passing; I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permit.
8 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost,
9 for a great door for effective work has opened to me, but there are many adversaries.
10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear while he is with you. For he does the work of the Lord, as I do.
11 Let no one despise him. But set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me. For I expect him with the brothers.
12 But as touching Apollos the brother, I pleaded with him to come to you with the brothers; but he was unwilling to come right now, but he will come when he shall have the opportunity.
13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
14 Let all you do be done in love.
15 You know the family of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia and that they have devoted themselves to serving the saints; now I beseech you, brothers,
16 you also be in subjection to such, and to everyone that helps in the work and labours.
17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus. For what was lacking on your part they supplied;
18 they refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore, acknowledge those that are such.
19 The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.
20 All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 The greeting of me Paul with my own hand.
22 If anyone loves not the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha.
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.