Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Sosthenes, our brother,
to the church of God that is in Corinth,
to those made holy in Christ Jesus, called to be holy ones, with all those, in every place,
who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

I always give thanks to God because of you, for the grace of God given to you in
Christ Jesus, because in him you were enriched in every way, with all speech and all knowledge as the testimony of the Christ was confirmed in you. And so you do not come short in any gift while awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he will keep you secure until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus, Christ, our Lord. 1/9

I encourage you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you would all say the same thing and that there would be no divisions among you, but that you would be restored in the same mind and with the same point of view. My brothers, it was made known to me by those from Chloe that there are rivalries among you. I say this because each of you says, “I am of Paul, indeed” or “I am of Apollos” or “I am of Cephas” or “I am of Christ.” Has the Christ been divided? It was not Paul who was crucified for you. Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. I did baptize the household of Stephanas also. As for the rest, I don't know if I baptized anyone else, since Christ did not send me to baptize, but to bring the gospel, and not with wisdom of speech, so that the cross of the Christ would not be emptied out. 1/17

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those perishing, but to those being saved, to us it is God's power. As it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will disregard.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through its wisdom, God thought it good, by the foolishness of proclamation, to save those who believe. Moreover, Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we proclaim Christ having been crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the nations, but to those who are called, both to Jews and to Greeks, Christ, God's power and God's wisdom, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1/25

Take a look at your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many of good birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the base things of the world and the things dismissed and the things that are not, in order to do away with the things that are. In this way, no flesh may boast in the sight of God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who for us has been made wisdom from God and righteousness and consecration and redemption. So then, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” 1/31

Brothers, when I came to you declaring the testimony of God, I did not come with any prominence of speech or wisdom. I chose not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and him having been crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. My speech and proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in human wisdom but in God’s power. However, we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, and not of the rulers of this age who are being done away with. But we speak God's wisdom, hidden in a mystery that God set apart before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew, because if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it arisen in the human heart, all that God has made ready for those who love him.” 2/9

God revealed this to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among us knows the concerns of a person, except the person's own spirit that is within? So also, no one knows the concerns of God, except the Spirit of God. But we have not received the spirit of the world but the spirit from God, so that we may know those things graciously given to us by God. And we speak of them not in teachings by words of human wisdom, but in spiritual teachings, comparing spiritual things for spiritual people. But the natural person does not accept things from the Spirit of God since they are foolishness to such a person, who cannot know them because they are examined spiritually. Yet the spiritual person examines all things, but in turn is examined by no one, since: “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who will instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 2/16

And yet brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual, but as of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not able then and you are not able now, since you are still of the flesh. For where there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving just like anyone? When someone says, “I am of Paul,” and another says, “I am of Apollos,” are you not people? What then is Apollos and what is Paul? Servants, through whom you came to believe as the Lord gave to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. So neither the one planting nor the one watering is anything, but God who makes it grow. The one planting and the one watering are as one, but each of us will receive our own wages according to our own labour, for we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s cultivation, God’s building. 3/9

According to the grace of God given to me, I placed a foundation as a wise master builder but another builds upon it. Yet let each of us take care how to build upon it. For no one can place any foundation other than the one laid down, that is Jesus Christ. And if any of us build on that foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw, our work will become evident, since the day will make it known, because it is revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each of us has done. If the work that we have built remains, we will receive a reward. If our work is burned up, we will suffer loss but we ourselves will be saved, yet in the same way, as through fire. 3/15

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells within you? If anyone damages the temple of God, God will damage the one who does so. For the temple of God is holy and you are that temple. Let none deceive themselves. If any among you suppose themselves wise in this age, let them become foolish so that they may become wise, because the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their cunning.” And again: “The Lord knows the arguments of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast of any person. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, the world or life or death or what is present or what is coming, all are yours and you are of Christ and Christ is of God. 3/23

In the same way, let a person count us as helpers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Here, in particular, it is expected that any of the stewards be found faithful. Yet it is the least of things to me if I am to be examined by you or by any human court. I do not even examine myself. For there is nothing against me that I am aware of, but I am not declared righteous by that. The one who examines me is the Lord. And so do not judge anything ahead of time, until the Lord comes. He will shed light on what is hidden in darkness and will make clear the purposes of the heart, and then, to each, any praise will come from God. 4/5

Now, brothers, I have expressed these things in terms of myself and Apollos because of you, in order that you might learn by means of us not to go beyond what is written, so that no one would be puffed up on behalf of one compared to the other. For who decides about you? And what do you have that you did not receive? Yet if indeed you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 4/7

Already you are satisfied. Already you have become rich. Apart from us you have reigned as kings, and I wish that truly you had reigned as kings, so that we might reign as kings with you. For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, as if sentenced to death, such that we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are sensible in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in high esteem, but we of no account. Up to the present moment, we are hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, beaten, with no place to stay, and we labour, working with our own hands. Abused, we bless; persecuted, we endure; spoken of badly, we encourage. We have become the scum of the earth, the rubbish of all things, right up until now. 4/13

It is not to shame you that I write these things but, as my beloved children, to remind you. Even if you were to have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, I fathered you. I encourage you then, become imitators of me. For the same reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my child, beloved and faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ, which I teach everywhere, in every church. 4/17

Some of you have become puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing, and I will learn not the speech of those who are puffed up but their power. For the kingdom of God is not in speech but in power. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a stick or with love and a gentle spirit? It is actually reported that there is fornication among you and a kind of fornication not found even among the nations, that a man has his father’s wife. And you are puffed up. Instead, should you not have mourned, so that the one who did this thing would have been taken from your midst? For I, indeed, being absent in the body but present in the Spirit, have judged already, as if I were present, the one who in that way produced this. 5/3

When you and what is of my spirit are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, in the power of our Lord Jesus hand such a man over to Satan for destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch? Get rid of the old leaven so that you can be a new batch, because you are unleavened. For indeed, Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed. So then, let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and harmfulness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 5/8

In my letter, I wrote to you not to associate with fornicators, not meaning all the fornicators of this world nor all the greedy and robbers and idolaters, since then you would have to leave the world. But now I write to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is also a fornicator or greedy or an idolater or a slanderer or a robber. Do not eat with such a man. What is it to me to judge those who are outside? Are you not to judge those who are inside? And God will judge those who are outside. Remove the harmful one from among you. 5/13

Do any of you, when having a dispute with another, dare to be judged before the unrighteous and not before the holy? Or do you not know that the holy will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unfit to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we will judge angels, let alone livelihoods? Indeed then, if you have judgments over livelihoods, do you seat as judges those who are held of no account by the church? I say this to shame you. In the same way, is there no one wise among you who will be able to decide what is equitable of his brother? Instead, brother is judged with brother and this in front of unbelievers. Then indeed it is already entirely a failure by you that you have lawsuits with each other. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you do wrong and you cheat, and this to brothers. 6/8

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be led astray: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy – no drunkards, no slanderers, no robbers – will inherit the kingdom of God. And some of you were these things, but you were washed, but you were made holy, but you were declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 6/11

All things are permitted to me, but not all things are helpful. All things are permitted to me, but I will not be ruled by any of them. Foods are for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will do away with both the one and the other. Yet the body is not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body, and God has raised the Lord and will raise us by his power. 6/14

Or then do you not know that your bodies are limbs of Christ? Having taken the limbs of the Christ then, may I make them the limbs of a prostitute? Not so. Do you not know that the one joined to a prostitute is one in body? For it says: “The two will become one flesh.” But the one joined to the Lord is one in spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin, whatever people may do, is outside their bodies, but fornicators sin against their own bodies. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So then, glorify God in your body. 6/20

Now about what you wrote: It is good for a man not to touch a woman, but because there are cases of fornication, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband give what is owed to his wife and similarly the wife to her husband. The wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband, and similarly the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife. Do not deprive one another unless by agreement, for a time, so that you may have leisure for prayer. Then you may be together again, so that Satan does not try you through your lack of self-control. And I say this as a concession not as a command, although I wish that all men were as I am myself. However, each of us has our own gift from God, one this, another that. 7/7

But I say to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them to remain that way as I do also. Yet if they are not self-controlled, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to be set on fire. And I direct the married, not I but the Lord: A wife is not to be separated from her husband, but if she has been separated, she is to remain unmarried or to be reconciled to her husband, and the husband is not to leave his wife. 7/11

And to the rest, I, not the Lord, say this: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she agrees to live with him, he is not to leave her; and if a women has an unbelieving husband and he agrees to live with her, she is not to leave her husband. For the unbelieving husband has been made holy by his wife and the unbelieving wife has been made holy by the brother. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. Yet if the unbeliever separates, let that one separate, for the brother or sister is not enslaved in such cases and God called you into peace. Wife, do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, do you know whether you will save your wife? 7/16

In any case, as the Lord has apportioned to each of us, as God has called each of us, let us walk accordingly. And such I direct in all the churches. Was anyone called who had been circumcised? Let him not undo it. Was anyone called when uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and lack of circumcision is nothing, but rather keeping the commands of God. Let each of us remain in the condition in which we were called. Were you a slave when called? Do not let it trouble you, but if you are able to become free, rather make use of it. For the one called by the Lord as a slave has been freed in the Lord. Likewise, the one called as free is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of people. In whatever condition each of you was called, brothers, remain in it in before God. 7/24

Now about the young people, I have no command from the Lord, but I give a point of view, as one who was shown mercy by the Lord to be faithful. I assume, therefore, that this is good because of the present distress, that it is good for a man to be like this. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be freed. Are you unattached to a wife? Do not seek a wife. Yet even if you marry you have not sinned and if the girl marries she has not sinned, but those who marry will have affliction in the flesh, and I would spare you that. 7/28

But I say this, brothers: The time has been shortened, so that, in what remains, may those who have wives be as if having none, and those who weep as if not weeping, and those who rejoice as if not rejoicing, and those who buy as if not holding on, and those who make use of the world as if not using it up, since the present form of this world is passing away. 7/31

Yet I want you to be without anxiety. The unmarried man cares about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord, but the married man cares about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided. The unmarried woman and the girl care about the things of the Lord, that they may be holy in body and in spirit, but the married woman cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And I say this for your own benefit, not to put a restriction on you, but for what is appropriate and for undistracted attention to the Lord. 7/35

Yet if anyone assumes that he is behaving improperly toward his girl, if she is more than ripe and it ought to happen, let him do what he wants. He does not sin. Let them marry. But one who stands stable in his heart and is under no necessity, but has authority over his own will and he has decided within his heart to keep his girl a virgin, he will do well. So then, he who marries his girl does well and he who does not marry will do better. 7/38

A wife is bound for as long as her husband lives, but if her husband dies, she is free to marry whomever she wants, only in the Lord. Yet from my point of view, she is happier to remain as she is, and I think that I also have God’s Spirit. 7/40

Now about the sacrifices to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. If any think they know something, they do not yet know as they should, but if any love God, they are known by him. About eating what is sacrificed to idols then, we know that there is no idol in the world and that there is no God but one. And even if there are so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things exist and we exist for him, and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist and we exist through him. 8/6

However, not everyone has this knowledge, and some, through familiarity with idols up to the present, eat as if it were a sacrifice to idols, and their consciences, being weak, are polluted. But food will not bring us near to God. If we do not eat, we lose nothing, and if we eat, we gain nothing. Yet watch out that your authority does not somehow become a cause of stumbling to those who are weak. For if someone were to see you, one who has knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, would not his weak conscience be built up to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So someone who is weak is destroyed by your knowledge, the brother for whom Christ died. And in this way, sinning against your brothers and wounding their weak consciences, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will not eat meat in this age, so that I will not make my brother stumble. 8/13

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, surely I am to you, for you are the seal of my mission in the Lord. This is my defense to those examining me. 9/3

Do we not have authority to eat and drink? Do we not have authority to bring a believing wife with us, as do the rest of the apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no authority not to work in a trade? Who is ever a soldier and pays themselves? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who will tend a flock and does not drink of the flock’s milk? It is not just as a man that I say these things, or does not the law say them also? For in the law of Moses it is written: “You shall not muzzle an ox that is threshing the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned, or is it altogether for us that he says it? It is written for us, because the plowman ought to plow in hope and the thresher also, in hope of having a share. If we have sown the spiritual in you, is it any great thing if we harvest something for the body from you? If others have a share with your authority, should not we even more? However, we have not made use of this authority, but we bear all things so that we do not create an obstacle for anyone to the gospel of the Christ. 9/12

Do you not know that those working at the sacred tasks eat what comes from the temple and those who serve at the altar have a share from the altar? And in the same way, the Lord directed those who declare the gospel that they should live from the gospel. But I have not made use of any of these things, and I am not writing of them so that it will be like that in my case. To me, it is better to die than that anyone may make this boast of mine empty. And if I do bring the gospel, there is nothing for me to boast of, since necessity is laid upon me. For it is woe to me if I will not bring the gospel. If willingly, I have wages, but if unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 9/17

What then are my wages? That in bringing the gospel I may present the gospel at no charge, not making full use of my authority in the gospel. Being free of all people, I made myself a slave to all people so that I might gain even more. I became as a Jew to the Jews, so that I might gain the Jews; as if under the law to those under the law – not being under the law myself – so that I might gain those under the law. I became as one with no law to those with no law – not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ – so that I might gain those with no law. To the weak, I became weak, so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all people so that altogether I may save some, and I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become one who shares in it. 9/23

Do you not know that all those who run in a stadium are really running, but only one receives the prize? So then, run that you may receive. All athletes exercise self-control in every way. Indeed, they do so in order to receive a perishable wreath, but we for an imperishable. I run in that manner, therefore, not as if uncertain. I fight in that manner, not as if punching the air, but I bruise my own body and make it a slave, so that having proclaimed to others I do not become disproven myself. 9/27

For I don't want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. And they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock accompanying them and that rock was the Christ. But God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies littered the desert. These things happened as examples for us, so that we would not desire bad things, as they desired also. 10/6

Do not become idolaters as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play.” And may we not fornicate, as some of them did fornicate and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. And may we not make trial of the Lord, as some of them tried him and were destroyed by the snakes. And do not murmur, as some of them murmured and were destroyed by the destroying angel. But these things happened to them as examples, and were written down for our instruction, we upon whom the end of the ages has come. So then, any who think they stand, let them watch out not to fall. No trial has overtaken you except what is human, and God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your ability, but along with the trial he will make a way out also so that you are able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee idolatry. 10/14

I speak to you as sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not fellowship in the blood of the Christ? The loaf which we break, is it not fellowship in the body of the Christ? Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all share from the one loaf. Look at the Israel that is according to flesh. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants of the altar? So then, what am I saying, that a sacrifice to an idol is anything or that an idol is anything? Rather, that what they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the Lord’s cup and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and in the table of demons. Shall we make the Lord jealous? We are not stronger than he is, are we? 10/22

All things are permitted, but not all things are helpful. All things are permitted, but not all things build up. One should not seek one's own interest, but that of the other. Eat anything sold in the meat market without making inquiries because of conscience, for the earth and its fullness are the Lord's. If an unbeliever invites you and you want to go along, eat anything set before you without making inquiries because of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who pointed it out and for the sake of conscience, that one's conscience I mean, not yours. For why is my freedom judged by the conscience of another? If I take a share with gratitude, why am I slandered over what I am thankful for? 10/30

So then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God. Give no offence to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please all people in all things, not seeking my own advantage but that of the many, so that they may be saved. Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. 11/1

Now I praise you because you remember all my ways and you hold on to the traditions just as I handed them over to you. But I want you to know that the head of every man is the Christ, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of the Christ is God. Any man praying or prophesying with something over his head dishonours his head, but any woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonours her head, since that is one and the same thing as the woman having her head shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her hair be cut off also. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or shaved, let her be covered. For indeed, a man should not have his head covered, being the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man, and man was not created for woman, but woman for man. Because of that, the woman should have a sign of authority upon her head for the angels. However, in the Lord, there is neither woman apart from man, nor man apart from woman. For just as woman came from man, so also man came through woman, and all things come from God. Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature herself teach you that indeed if a man has long hair, it is a dishonour to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her because her hair has been given to her as a mantle? And if anyone is thinking to be argumentative, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God. 11/16

But in directing what follows, I do not praise, because you do not gather together for the better but for the worse. In the first place, I hear that when you gather together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For indeed, there must be factions among you so that those who are proven would become evident among you. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For when eating, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunk. Do you not have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you look down upon the church of God and humiliate those who do not have? What should I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter, I do not praise. 11/22

For I received from the Lord what I handed over to you also: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and having given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for your sake. Do this for remembering me.” And in the same way, with the cup after supper, he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink, for remembering me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you declare the Lord’s death until he comes. 11/26

So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty toward the body and blood of the Lord. But let each of you test yourselves, and in this way eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For those who eat and drink without deciding about the body eat and drink judgment upon themselves. As a result, many of you are weak and sick and some have fallen asleep. But if we decided about ourselves, we would not be judged, but being judged by the Lord we are being trained, so that we may not be condemned with the world. So my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If any of you are hungry, let them eat at home so that you do not come together for judgment. As for the rest, I will give directions when I come. 11/34

Now brothers, I do not want you to be unaware about the spiritual. You know that when you were of the nations you were repeatedly led away to dumb idols. Therefore, I make known to you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Accursed Jesus,” and no one is able to say, “Lord Jesus,” except by the Holy Spirit. 12/3

There are different gifts but the same Spirit, and there are different services but the same Lord, and there are different workings but the same God works all of them in all. And to each one is given an expression of the Spirit in order to be helpful. To one, through the Spirit, a word of wisdom is given, and to another, a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit. To another, faith is given by the same Spirit; and to another, by the one Spirit, gifts of healing; and to another, exercising miraculous powers; and to another, prophecy; and to another, decisions about spirits; to another, various tongues; and to another, interpretation of tongues. One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each individually, just as he wants. 12/11

For just as the body is one and has many members – and all the members of the body, although many, are one body – so is the Christ also. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Indeed, the body is not made up of one member, but of many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a member of the body,” not on that account is it not a member of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a member of the body,” not on that account is it not a member of the body. If the body were entirely eye, where would be the sense of hearing? Or were it entirely hearing, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he intended, and if it were all one member, where would be the body? As it is, there are indeed many members, but one body. 12/20

Now, the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” or again, the head cannot say to the feet, “I have no need of you.” But the members of the body that seem to be weaker are much more necessary, and the ones we think to be without honour, these we surround with more abundant honour. And our inappropriate ones have a more abundant propriety but our appropriate ones have no need of it. Instead, God has composed the body, giving greater honour to the member lacking it, so that there would be no division in the body, but the members would care equally for one another. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it. And you are Christ's body and members from one part of it. 12/27

And indeed, God has placed some in the church: first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then miraculous powers, gifts of healing, helps, administration, various tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all have miraculous powers? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But be zealous for the greater gifts and, still further, I will show you a way. 12/31

If I speak in any tongue, whether human or angelic, but do not have love, I become sounding brass or repeating cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove a mountain, but do not have love, then I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions and hand over my body to be burnt, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 13/3

This love behaves patiently, behaves kindly. This love is not jealous. This love does not revolve around itself. It does not become puffed up, does not behave improperly, does not seek its own interests, does not become irritated. It is not obliged to take account of what is bad, not rejoicing over unrighteousness but rejoicing in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. This love never fails. 13/8

As for prophecies, they will be done away with; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the complete comes, the partial is done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child and I reasoned as a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. Now we see through a mirror, in a riddle, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, then I will understand just as I have been understood. But now, faith, hope and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love. 13/13

Pursue love and be zealous for spiritual gifts, but particularly that you may prophesy. For those who speak in a tongue are not speaking to people but to God. No one hears, but in spirit they are speaking mysteries. Yet the one who prophesies to people speaks in building up, encouragement and comfort. Those who speak in a tongue build themselves up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. I would like all of you to speak in tongues but even more that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless the speaker also interprets so that the church may receive building up. 14/5

Now brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak in revelation or in knowledge or in prophecy or in teaching? Even when lifeless things give out sound, whether flute or harp, if they do not give distinctness to the sound, how will what is played on the flute or played on the harp be recognized? For indeed, if the trumpet gives out an indistinct sound, who will prepare for battle? And in the same way, unless you speak clearly with your tongue, how will what is said be recognized? For you will be speaking into the air. How many kinds of languages are there in the world? And not one is without sound. Therefore if I do not know the meaning of the sound, I will be like a foreigner to the one speaking and the one speaking like a foreigner to me. Similarly, with you also, since you are zealots for spiritual things, seek to abound in building up the church. Therefore, let those who speak in a tongue pray that they may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit is praying but my mind is useless. What then? I will pray with my spirit but with my mind also. I will sing with my spirit but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you are praising in spirit, how will one who is in the position of an ordinary person say the ‘amen’ to your thanksgiving? Such a one doesn't know what you are saying. For indeed you may be giving thanks well, but the other is not built up. I give thanks to God that I speak in tongues more than all of you, but in a church I would rather speak five words with my mind, so that I could instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. 14/19

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Indeed, be infants with respect to malice but be mature in your thinking. It is written in the law that: “‘In other tongues and from the lips of others I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to me,’ says the Lord.” So then, tongues are not a sign for those who believe, but for unbelievers, and prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe. Therefore, if the whole church were to gather together and all were speaking in tongues, and ordinary people or unbelievers were to come in, would they not say that you are raving? But if all prophesy and unbelievers or ordinary people come in, they are corrected by all, examined by all, and the secrets of their hearts become evident, and so, falling face down, they will worship God, reporting that really, God is among you. 14/25

What then, brothers? When you gather together, each of you has a song or has a teaching or has a revelation or has a tongue or has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two or at most three should do so, each in turn, and there should be one to interpret. But if there is no interpreter, they should be silent in the assembly and should speak to themselves and to God. Let two or three prophets speak and let the others decide about it; and if something has been revealed to another who is seated, let the first speaker be silent. For you can all prophesy, one at a time, so that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, since God is not a God of disorder but of peace. 14/33

As in all the assemblies of the holy, let the women remain silent in the assemblies. For they are not allowed to speak but should be subordinate, as the law says also. Yet if there is something that they want to learn, let them ask their own husbands at home, because it is shameful for a woman to speak in the assembly. Was it from you that the word of God went forth or did it reach only to you? If any think themselves to be prophets or spiritual, let them understand that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. And if any are unaware of this, they are unaware. So then, brothers, be zealous to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but let all things be done properly and in an orderly way. 14/40

Now I would make known to you, brothers, the gospel that I brought to you and which you received and in which you stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold on to the word of the gospel that I brought to you. Otherwise, you came to believe for no reason. For I handed over to you, as of first importance, that which I received also: that Christ died for our sins, in accord with the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he was raised on the third day, in accord with the scriptures; and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, although some have fallen asleep. Then he was seen by James; then by all the apostles. Last of all, as by one of untimely birth, he was seen by me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and I am not sufficient to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain but I worked harder than all of them, although it was not I but the grace of God with me. So then, whether it was I or they, such we proclaim and such you have come to believe. 15/11

But if Christ is proclaimed, that he has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead then neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain also. And we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified about God that he raised the Christ, whom he did not raise if the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile: you are still in your sins and those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished also. If with this life only we have put our hope in Christ, we are more pitiable than all people. 15/19

But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, resurrection of the dead came through a man also. For as in the Adam all die, so also in the Christ all will be given life, but each in the proper order: Christ, the first fruits, and afterwards those who are of the Christ at his coming. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he does away with every ruler and authority and power. For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be done away with is death, for “he has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says that all things were subjected, clearly this is other than the one who subjected all things to him. But when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all. 15/28

So then, what would they be doing, those being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not actually raised, then why are people being baptized on their behalf? And why are we in danger all the time? I die every day, brothers – I say it by the boasting about you that I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. If, as a man, I fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what is the advantage to me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and let us drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be led astray. Bad companions damage kind customs. Sober up righteously and sin no more, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 15/34

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised and with what kind of body do they come?” This is foolish. What you sow is not given life unless it dies, and what you sow is not the body that will come to be but a bare seed, of wheat perhaps or some other grain, but God gives it a body as he intended and to each seed there is its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but indeed there is one flesh for humans and another for animals and another for birds and another for fishes. And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind and that of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. And so it is with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in decay; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. 15/44

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. And so it is written: “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the first was not the spiritual but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, made of earth. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of earth, so also are those who are of earth, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have worn the image of the man of earth, we will wear the image of the man of heaven also. But I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can what decays inherit the imperishable. 15/50

Look, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. For this decaying body must put on imperishability and this mortal body will put on immortality. Then, what is written will come to be:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, Death, is your victory?
Where, Death, is your sting?” 15/55

Yet the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my beloved brothers, come to be stable, unwavering, always overflowing in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain. 15/58

Now, about the collection for the holy, you should do the same as I directed to the churches of Galatia. On the first day of the week, each of you should put something aside and save it, as you have prospered, so that when I come there will be no collections. And when I arrive, I will help onward with letters any whom you have tested to carry this gift of yours to Jerusalem. If it seems worthwhile for me to go also, they will go with me. 16/4

But I will come to you after I have gone through Macedonia, since I am going through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you can send me on to wherever I may go. I do not want to see you now, just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, as a large door for activity has opened to me and there are many opposing. 16/9

If Timothy comes, see that he is unafraid when he is with you, because he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am. May no one dismiss him. Send him on in peace so that he may come to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. 16/11

Now about our brother, Apollos, I greatly encouraged him to come to you with the brothers but it is not his intention to come now, although he will come when he has opportunity. 16/12

Be watchful. Stand in the faith. Be brave. Grow strong. Become all that is yours with love. 16/14

Now, brothers, you know the household of Stephanas, that it was the first fruits of Achaia and they placed themselves in the service of the holy. I encourage you so that you also would submit to such as these, and to all those who join in the work and labour at it. And I rejoice at the presence of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus because they have filled in for your absence, since they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore, understand such people. 16/18

The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church that meets in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord. All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 16/20

This greeting, I, Paul, write with my own hand.

If anyone does not love the Lord, let that one be accursed. Lord, please come.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.