1 Corinthians

Chapter 1

¹ Paul, called by Christ Jesus to be an apostle by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

² to the church of God at Corinth, those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy people, together with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is their Lord and ours.

³ May grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I always give thanks to my God for you because of the grace of God that Christ Jesus gave to you. ⁵ He has made you rich in every way, in all speech and with all knowledge, ⁶ just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed as true among you. ⁷ Therefore you lack no spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸ He will also cause you to believe firmly to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who called you into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰ Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you. I urge that you be joined together with the same mind and by the same purpose. ¹¹ For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe's people that there are factions among you. ¹² I mean this: Each one of you says, "I am with Paul," or "I am with Apollos," or "I am with Cephas," or "I am with Christ." ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius. ¹⁵ This was so that no one would say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶ (I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know if I baptized any others.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel—not with clever speech, in order that the cross of Christ would not be emptied of its power.

¹⁸ For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But among those who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

     "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.

     I will set aside the understanding of the intelligent."

²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this world? Has not God turned the wisdom of the world into foolishness? ²¹ Since the world in its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. ²² For Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks seek wisdom. ²³ But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. ²⁴ But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, we preach Christ as the power and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than people, and the weakness of God is stronger than people.

²⁶ Look at your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to the flesh. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame what is strong. ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world. He even chose things that are regarded as nothing, to bring to nothing things that are held as valuable. ²⁹ He did this so that no flesh would have a reason to boast before him. ³⁰ Because of what God did, now you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. He became our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. ³¹ As a result, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Chapter 2

¹ When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence of speech or wisdom as I proclaimed hidden truths about God. ^{[1] 2} For I decided to know nothing when I was among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. ³ And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ And my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom. Instead, they were with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not be in the wisdom of humans, but in the power of God.

⁶ Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this world, or of the rulers of this age, who are passing away. ⁷ Instead, we speak God's wisdom in hidden truth, the hidden wisdom that God predestined before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But as it is written,

     "No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

     no human heart has imagined

     what God has prepared for those who love him"—

¹⁰ But God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything out, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of the person in him? So also, no one knows the deep things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² But we did not receive the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us by God. ¹³ We speak about these things in words not taught by human wisdom but by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to spiritual people. ¹⁴ The unspiritual person does not receive the things that belong to the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The one who is spiritual judges all things, but he is not judged by others.

     ¹⁶ "For who can know the mind of the Lord, that he can instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

Chapter 3

¹ And I, brothers, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as to fleshly people, as to little children in Christ. ² I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and even now you are not yet ready. ³ For you are still fleshly. For where jealousy and strife exist among you, are you not living according to the flesh, and are you not walking by human standards? ⁴ For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another says, "I follow Apollos," are you not merely human beings? ⁵ Who then is Apollos? Who is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, just as the Lord gave tasks to each. ⁶ I planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So then, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. But it is God who gives the growth. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own wages according to his own labor. ⁹ For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's garden, God's building.

¹⁰ According to the grace of God that was given to me as a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that has been laid, that is, Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, ¹³ his work will be revealed, for the day will reveal it. For it will be revealed in fire. The fire will test the quality of what each one has done. ¹⁴ If anyone's work remains, he will receive a reward; ¹⁵ but if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, as though escaping through fire.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and so are you.

¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, 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 catches the wise in their craftiness."

²⁰ And again,

     "The Lord knows that the reasoning of the wise is futile."

²¹ For this reason, let no one boast in men. 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 things are yours, ²³ and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

Chapter 4

¹ This is how a person should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the hidden truths of God. ² Now what is required of stewards is that they are found to be trustworthy. ³ But for me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. For I do not even judge myself. ⁴ I am not aware of any charge being made against me, but that does not mean I am declared innocent. The one who judges me is the Lord. ⁵ Therefore do not pronounce judgment about anything before the time, before the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his praise from God.

⁶ Now, brothers, I applied these principles to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that from us you might learn the meaning of the saying,

     "Do not go beyond what is written."

This is so that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against the other. ⁷ For who sees any difference between you and others? What do you have that you did not receive? If you have received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? ⁸ Already you have all you could want! Already you have become rich! You began to reign—and that quite apart from us! Indeed, I wish you did reign, so that we could reign with you. ⁹ For I think God has put us apostles on display as the last in line, in a procession and like men sentenced to death. We have become a spectacle to the world—to angels, and to human beings. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we are held in dishonor. ¹¹ Up to this present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are beaten, and we are homeless. ¹² We labor hard, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure. ¹³ When we are slandered, we speak with kindness. We have become as the refuse of the world and the filthiest of all things.

¹⁴ I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. ¹⁵ For even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶ So I urge you to be imitators of me. ¹⁷ That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach them everywhere and in every church. ¹⁸ Now some of you have become puffed up, acting as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹ But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills. Then I will know not merely the words of these who are so puffed up, but I will see their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. ²¹ What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod or with love and in a spirit of gentleness?

Chapter 5

¹ We heard a report that there is sexual immorality among you, a kind of immorality that is not even permitted among the pagans: A man has his father's wife. ² You are puffed up! Should you not mourn instead, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from among you? ³ For even though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit. I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as though I were there. ⁴ When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, ⁵ commit this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. ⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole loaf? ⁷ Cleanse yourselves of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, unleavened, just as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ So let us then celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of bad behavior and wickedness. Instead, let us celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy, or swindlers, or idolaters, since to stay away from them you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother but who is living in sexual immorality, or who is greedy, or is an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or is a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat a meal with such a person. ¹² For how am I involved with judging those who are outside the church? Instead, are you not to judge those who are inside the church? ¹³ But God judges those who are on the outside.

     "Remove the evil person from among you."

Chapter 6

¹ When one of you has a dispute against another, does he dare to go to law before the unrighteous rather than before God's holy people? ² Do you not know that God's holy people will judge the world? If then you will judge the world, are you not able to settle matters of little importance? ³ Do you not know that we will judge the angels? How much more, then, can we judge matters of this life? ⁴ If then you have to make judgments that pertain to daily life, why do you lay such cases as these before those who have no standing in the church? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Is there no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between brothers? ⁶ But one brother goes to law against another brother—and this before unbelievers! ⁷ The fact that you have lawsuits with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather allow yourselves to be cheated? ⁸ But you yourselves do wrong and you cheat, and you do this to your own brothers! ⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, those who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, and swindlers—none of them will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ That is what some of you were like. But you have been cleansed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹² "Everything is lawful for me," but not everything is profitable. "Everything is lawful for me," but I will not be mastered by any of them. ¹³ "Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food," but God will do away with both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality. Instead, the body is for the Lord, and the Lord will provide for the body. ¹⁴ God both raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I then take the members of Christ and join them to a prostitute? May it not be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? As scripture says, "The two will become one flesh." ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Run away from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you, whom you have from God? Do you not know that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God with your body and in your spirit, which belong to God.

Chapter 7

¹ Now concerning the issues you wrote about: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." ² But because of temptations for many immoral acts, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. ³ The husband should fulfill his duty to have sexual relations with his wife, and in the same way the wife to her husband. ⁴ It is not the wife who has authority over her own body, it is the husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ⁵ Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement and for a specific period of time. Do this so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then you should come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶ But I say these things to you as a concession and not as a command. ⁷ I wish that everyone were as I am. But each one has his own gift from God. One has this kind of gift, and another that kind. ⁸ To the unmarried and to widows I say that it is good for them if they remain unmarried, as I am. ⁹ But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better for them to marry than to burn with passion. ¹⁰ Now to the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord—the wife should not separate from her husband ¹¹ (but if she does separate from her husband, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. ¹² But to the rest I say—I, not the Lord—that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and if she is content to live with him, he should not divorce her. ¹³ If a woman has an unbelieving husband, and if he is content to live with her, she should not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is set apart because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart because of the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but actually they are set apart. ¹⁵ But if the unbeliever departs, let him go. In such cases, the brother or sister is not bound to their vows. God has called us to live in peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, woman, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, man, whether you will save your wife? ¹⁷ However, as the Lord has given each one his portion, let each one walk as God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. ¹⁸ Was anyone circumcised when he was called to believe? He should not try to appear uncircumcised. Was anyone uncircumcised when he was called to faith? He should not be circumcised. ¹⁹ For it is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision that matters. What matters is obeying the commandments of God. ²⁰ Each one should remain in the calling he was in when God called him to believe. ²¹ Were you a slave when God called you? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can become free, take advantage of it. ²² For someone who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freeman. In the same way, the one who was free when he was called to believe is Christ's slave. ²³ You have been bought with a price, so do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brothers, in whatever situation he was in when he was called, let each one remain with God.

²⁵ Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord. But I give my opinion as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy. ²⁶ Therefore, I think that because of the disaster that is coming, it is good for a man to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a divorce. If you are free of a wife, do not seek a wife. ²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who do will have many kinds of fleshly trouble, and I want to spare you from this. ²⁹ But this I say, brothers: The time is short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none. ³⁰ Those who weep should act as though they were not weeping, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not possess anything, ³¹ and those who use the world should not act as though they are using it to the full. For the world in its present form is coming to an end. ³² I would like you to be free from worries. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please him. ³³ But the married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife— ³⁴ he is divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to be set apart in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband. ³⁵ I say this for your own benefit, and not to put any constraint on you. I say this for what is right, so that you may be devoted to the Lord without any distraction. ³⁶ But if anyone thinks that he is not treating his virgin with respect—if she is beyond the age of marriage and it must be so—he should do what he wants. He is not sinning. They should marry. ³⁷ But if he is standing firm in his heart, if he is not under pressure but can control his own will, and if he has decided in his own heart to do this, to keep his own a virgin, he will do well. ³⁸ So the one who marries his virgin does well, and the one who chooses not to marry will do even better. ³⁹ A woman is bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but only in the Lord. ⁴⁰ Yet in my judgment she would be happier if she lives as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

Chapter 8

¹ Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ² If anyone thinks he knows something, that person does not yet know as he should know. ³ But if anyone loves God, that person is known by him. ⁴ Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol in this world is nothing and that there is no God but one. ⁵ For even if there were so-called gods, either in heaven or on earth (just as there are many "gods" and many "lords"), ⁶ yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist, and through whom we exist.

⁷ However, this knowledge is not in everyone. Instead, some previously practiced idol worship, and they eat this food as if it were something sacrificed to an idol. Their conscience is thereby defiled because it is weak. ⁸ But food will not present us to God. We are not worse if we do not eat, nor better if we do eat it. ⁹ But take care that your freedom does not become a reason for someone who is weak in faith to stumble. ¹⁰ For suppose that someone sees you, who have knowledge, eating a meal in an idol's temple. Is not his weak conscience emboldened to eat what is offered to idols? ¹¹ So because of your understanding about the true nature of idols, the weaker one, the brother for whom Christ died, is destroyed. ¹² Thus, when you sin against your brothers and wound their weak consciences, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to fall.

Chapter 9

¹ Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? ² If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. ³ This is my defense to those who examine me: ⁴ Do we not have the right to eat and drink? ⁵ Do we not have the right to take along with us a sister wife, as do the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no authority to not labor? ⁷ Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink milk from it? ⁸ Do I say these things based on human authority? Does not the law also say this? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, "Do not put a muzzle on an ox when it is threshing the grain." Is it really the oxen that God cares about? ¹⁰ Is he not speaking about us? It was written for us, because the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes should thresh in the hope of sharing in the harvest. ¹¹ If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it too much for us to reap physical things from you? ¹² If others exercised this right from you, do we not have even more? But we did not claim this right. Instead we endured everything rather than be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ. ¹³ Do you not know that those who perform sacred duties get their food from the temple? Do you not know that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living from the gospel. ¹⁵ But I have not claimed any of these rights. And I do not write this so something might be done for me. It would be better for me to die than—No one will make my boast empty! ¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I must do this. And woe be to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if not willingly, I still have a stewardship that was entrusted to me. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That when I preach, I may offer the gospel without charge and so not take full use of my right in the gospel. ¹⁹ For though I am free from all, I became a servant to all, in order that I might win more. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law in order to win those under the law. I did this even though I myself was not under the law. ^{[1] 21} To those outside the law, I became like one outside the law, although I was not outside the law of God myself, but under the law of Christ. I did this so that I may win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, so that I may win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some. ²³ I do all things for the gospel's sake, so that I may participate in its blessings. ²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run the race, but that only one receives the prize? So run to win the prize. ²⁵ Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a wreath that is perishable, but we do it to receive one that is imperishable. ²⁶ Therefore this is how I run, as not without purpose; this is how I box, not as one beating the air. ²⁷ But I subdue my body and make it a slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself may not be disqualified.

Chapter 10

¹ I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. ² All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food. ⁴ All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ But God was not well pleased with most of them, and their corpses were scattered about in the wilderness. ⁶ Now these things were examples for us, so we would not be those who lust for evil things as they lusted. ⁷ Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. This is as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." ⁸ Let us not commit sexual immorality, as many of them did. In one day, twenty-three thousand people died because of it. ⁹ Neither let us put Christ to the test, as many of them did and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ Also do not grumble, as many of them did and were destroyed by an angel of death. ¹¹ Now these things happened to them as examples for us. They were written for our instruction—for us on whom the end of the ages has come. ¹² Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to all humanity. Instead, God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. With the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved ones, run away from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak to you as people who have understanding, so you may judge what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body. We all take of one loaf of bread together. ¹⁸ Look at the Israel that is according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? ¹⁹ What am I saying then? That an idol is anything? Or that food sacrificed to an idol is anything? ²⁰ But I say about the things they sacrifice, that they offer these things to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot participate at the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²² Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?

²³ "Everything is lawful," but not everything is profitable. "Everything is lawful," but not everything builds people up. ²⁴ No one should seek his own good. Instead, each one should seek the good of his neighbor. ²⁵ Eat everything sold in the market without asking questions of conscience. ²⁶ For "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness of it." ²⁷ If an unbeliever invites you to eat a meal, and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you without asking questions of conscience. ²⁸ But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— ^{[1] 29} the conscience of the other man, I mean, and not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? ³⁰ If I partake of the meal with gratitude, why am I being insulted for that for which I gave thanks? ³¹ Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ³² Be blameless both to Jews and to Greeks, and to the church of God. ³³ In the same way I try to please all people in all things. I do not seek my benefit, but that of the many. I do this so that they may be saved.

Chapter 11

¹ Be imitators of me, just as I am an imitator of Christ.

² Now I praise you because you remember me in everything. I praise you because you hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you. ³ Now I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, that a man is the head of a woman, and that God is the head of Christ. ⁴ Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. ⁵ But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is the same thing as if her head were shaved. ⁶ For if a woman will not cover her head, she should cut her hair short. If it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or for her to shave her head, let her cover her head. ⁷ For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. ⁸ For man was not made from woman. Instead, woman was made from man. ⁹ For neither was man created for woman. Instead, woman was created for man. ¹⁰ This is why the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. ¹¹ Nevertheless, in the Lord, the woman is not independent from the man, nor is the man independent from the woman. ¹² For as the woman comes from the man, so does the man come from the woman. And all things come from God. ¹³ Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? ¹⁴ Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor for him? ¹⁵ Does not nature teach you that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair has been given to her as a covering. ¹⁶ But if anyone wants to argue about this, we do not have any other practice, nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷ But in the following instructions, I do not praise you. For when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For in the first place, I hear that when you come together in the church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. ¹⁹ For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become visible among you. ²⁰ For when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. ²¹ When you eat, each one eats his own food before the others have their meal. One is hungry, and another becomes drunk. ²² Do you not have houses to eat and to drink in? Do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this! ²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. ²⁴ After he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this to remember me." ²⁵ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and he said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, to remember me." ²⁶ For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. ²⁷ Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a person examine himself first, and in this way let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For he who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment to himself. ³⁰ That is why many among you are weak and ill, and some of you have fallen asleep. ³¹ But if we examine ourselves, we will not be judged. ³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along 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, so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. And about the other things you wrote, I will give instructions when I come.

Chapter 12

¹ About spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to idols who could not speak, in whatever ways you were led by them. ³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who speaks by the Spirit of God can say, "Jesus is accursed." No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ There are different ministries, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are different kinds of work, but it is the same God who works all in all. ⁷ Now to each one is given the outward display of the Spirit for the benefit of all. ⁸ For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. ⁹ To another is given faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit. ¹⁰ To another is given miraculous works, and to another prophecy. To another is given the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, giving the gifts to each one individually, as he chooses.

¹² For as the body is one and has many members and all are members of the same body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slave or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. ¹⁴ For the body is not a single member, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, "Since I am not the hand, I am not part of the body," it is not any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body," it is not any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But God has appointed each member, each one of them, into the body as he has desired. ¹⁹ If they were all the same member, where would the body be? ²⁰ So now they are many members, but only one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you." Nor does the head say to the feet, "I have no need of you." ²² But the members of the body that appear to be weaker are essential, ²³ and the parts of the body that we think are less honorable, we give them greater honor, and our unpresentable members have more dignity. ²⁴ Now our presentable members have no such need. Rather, God has composed the body, giving greater honor to those members that lack it. ²⁵ He did this so there may be no division within the body, but that the members should care for one another with the same affection. ²⁶ So when one member suffers, all the members suffer together; or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice together. ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ²⁸ And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who do miracles, then gifts of healing, those who provide helps, those who do the work of administration, and those who have various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all of them apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? ³⁰ Do all of them have gifts of healing? Do all of them speak with tongues? Do all of them interpret tongues? ³¹ Zealously seek the greater gifts. And now I will show you a more excellent way.

Chapter 13

¹ Suppose that I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. But if I do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² Suppose that I have the gift of prophecy and understand all hidden truths and knowledge, and that I have all faith so as to remove mountains. But if I do not have love, I am nothing. ³ Suppose that I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and that I give my body to be burned. But if I do not have love, I gain nothing. ^{[1] 4} Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous and does not boast. It is not puffed up ⁵ or rude. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked, nor does it keep a count of wrongs. ⁶ It does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Instead, it rejoices in the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. ⁸ Love never ends. If there are prophecies, they will pass away. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when the perfect comes, that which is incomplete will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see indirectly in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I have been fully known. ¹³ But now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Chapter 14

¹ Pursue love and be zealous for spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ² For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. For no one understands him because he speaks mysteries in the Spirit. ³ But the one who prophesies speaks to people to build them up, to exhort them, and to comfort them. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵ Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues. But even more than that, I wish that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues (unless someone interprets so that the church may receive edification). ⁶ But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you? I cannot, unless I speak to you with revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching. ⁷ In the same way, when lifeless instruments are producing sounds—like the flute or the harp—if they do not produce different tones, how will anyone know what tune the flute or harp is playing? ⁸ For if the trumpet is played with an uncertain sound, how will anyone know when it is time to prepare for battle? ⁹ It is the same way for you with the tongue. If you utter speech that is not clear, how will what is said be understood? You will be speaking into the air. ¹⁰ There are doubtless many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning. ¹¹ But if I do not know the meaning of a language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me. ¹² So it is with you. Since you are eager for the manifestations of the Spirit, seek for the edification of the church so that you might abound. ¹³ So the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴ For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵ What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, and I will also sing with my mind. ¹⁶ Otherwise, if you bless God with the spirit, how will the outsider say "Amen" when you are giving thanks if he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷ For you certainly give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. ¹⁸ I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹ But in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding so that I might instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰ Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Rather, in regard to evil, be like infants. But in your thinking be mature. ²¹ In the law it is written,

     "By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers

     I will speak to this people.

     Even then they will not hear me,"

says the Lord.

²² So then, tongues are a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers. But prophecy is for a sign, not for unbelievers, but for believers. ²³ If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders and unbelievers come in, would they not say that you are insane? ²⁴ But if you all were prophesying and an unbeliever or an outsider came in, he would be convicted by all he hears. He would be judged by all that is said. ²⁵ The secrets of his heart would be revealed. As a result, he would fall on his face and worship God. He would declare that God is really among you.

²⁶ What is next then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Do everything so that you build up the church. ²⁷ If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at most three, and each one in turn, and then someone should interpret what is said. ²⁸ But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in the church. Let each one speak to himself alone and to God. ²⁹ Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others listen with discernment to what is said. ³⁰ But if there is a revelation to one who is sitting, let the first be silent. ³¹ For each of you can prophesy one by one so that each one may learn and all may be exhorted. ³² For the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. ³³ For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.

This is the rule in all the churches of God's holy people. ³⁴ The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak. Instead, they should be in submission, as also the law says. ³⁵ If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. ³⁶ Did the word of God come from you? Are you the only ones it has reached?

³⁷ If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I write to you are a command of the Lord. ³⁸ But if anyone does not recognize this, let him not be recognized.

³⁹ So then, brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid anyone from speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰ But let all things be done properly and in order.

Chapter 15

¹ Now I want to make known to you, brothers, the gospel I proclaimed to you, which you received and on which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. ⁵ Christ appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve; ⁶ then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once. Most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, he appeared to me, as if to one born prematurely. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles. I am 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 in me was not in vain. Instead, I labored harder than all of them. Yet it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Therefore whether it is I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁴ and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain. ¹⁵ Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified that God raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁷ and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. ¹⁹ If only in this life we hope in Christ, of all people we are most to be pitied.

²⁰ But now Christ has been raised from the dead as the firstfruits of those who sleep. ²¹ For since death came by a man, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ, who is the firstfruits, and then those who belong to Christ will be made alive at his coming. ²⁴ Then will be the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, when he will abolish 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 to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For "he has put everything under his feet." But when it says "he has put everything," it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection under him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected under him, then the Son himself will be subjected under the one who put all things into subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

²⁹ Or else what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are they baptized for them? ³⁰ Why then are we in danger every hour? ³¹ I die every day! This is as sure as my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² What do I gain, from a human point of view, if I fought with beasts at Ephesus, if the dead are not raised? "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

³³ Be not deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals." ³⁴ Sober up! Live righteously! Do not keep sinning. For some of you have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

³⁵ But someone will say, "How are the dead raised, and with what kind of body will they come?" ³⁶ You fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ What you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare grain. It may become wheat or something else. ³⁸ But God will give it a body as he chooses, and to each seed its own body. ³⁹ Not all flesh is the same. Instead, there is one flesh for human beings, and another flesh for animals, and another flesh for birds, and another for fish. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly body is one kind 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. What is sown is perishable, and what is raised is imperishable. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; 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 the spiritual did not come first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸ Just as the one made from dust is, so also are those who are made of the dust, and as the man of heaven is, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

⁵⁰ Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does what is perishable inherit what is imperishable. ⁵¹ Look! I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. ⁵² We will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on what is imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ But when this perishable body has put on what is imperishable, and when this mortal body has put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,

     "Death is swallowed up in victory."

    

⁵⁵ "Death, where is your victory?

     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 dear brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always abound in the work of the Lord, because you know that your toil in the Lord is not in vain.

Chapter 16

¹ Now concerning the collection for God's holy people: as I instructed the churches of Galatia, so you are to do. ² On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper. Do this so that there will be no collections when I come. ³ When I arrive, to whoever you approve, I will give letters of introduction to them and will send them with your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴ If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me. ⁵ But I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia. For I will pass through Macedonia. ⁶ Perhaps I may stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my way, wherever I go. ⁷ For I do not wish to see you now for only a passing visit. For I hope to spend more time with you, if the Lord permits. ⁸ But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, ⁹ for a wide door has opened for me, and there are many adversaries.

¹⁰ Now when Timothy comes, see that he is with you unafraid, for he is laboring at the work of the Lord, as I am doing. ¹¹ Let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me. For I am expecting him to come along with the brothers. ¹² Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the brothers. But it was not at all his will that he come now. However, he will come when the time is right.

¹³ Be watchful, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong. ¹⁴ Let all that you do be done in love.

¹⁵ You know the household of Stephanas, that they were the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's holy people. Now I urge you, brothers, ¹⁶ to be in submission to such people and to everyone who helps in the work and labors with us. ¹⁷ I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus. They have made up for your absence. ¹⁸ For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. So then, acknowledge people like them.

¹⁹ The churches of Asia send greetings to you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you in the Lord, with the church that is in their home. ²⁰ All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹ I, Paul, write this with my own hand. ²² If anyone does not love the Lord, may he be accursed. Our Lord, come! ²³ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. ²⁴ My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. ^[1][2]