Chapter One
1:1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
1:5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—
1:6 just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you—
1:7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1:8 who will sustain you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1:10 I urge you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree together and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same judgment.
1:11 For it has been reported to me, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you,
1:12 And I say this because each of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.”
1:13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
1:14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,
1:15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name.
1:16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Otherwise, I do not remember whether I baptized anyone else.)
1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—and not with eloquent words, so that the cross of Christ would not become emptied of power.
1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of what we preach to save those who believe.
1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1:26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
1:27 But God chose what is foolish of the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
1:28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
1:29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
1:30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1:31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Chapter Two
2:1 And I, when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with eloquent speech or [human] wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God.
2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
2:4 and my speech and my message were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
2:5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God.
2:6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.
2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God that has been hidden in mystery that God determined before the ages for our glory.
2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
2:9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
2:10 but to us God has revealed through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.
2:11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him? For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God.
2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
2:13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
2:14 But a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
2:15 He who is spiritual discerns all things but he himself is judged by no one.
2:16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to advise him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Chapter Three
3:1 But I, brothers, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but fleshly people, as infants in Christ.
3:2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
3:3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not fleshly, behaving like mere men?
3:4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
3:5 What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.
3:7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
3:8 He who plants and he who waters are [work as] one, and each will receive his reward according to his labor.
3:9 We are fellow-workers of God. You are God’s field, God’s building.
3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise skilled builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds.
3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.
3:12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,
3:13 each one’s work will become evident; for the Day will make it evident because it will be revealed by fire,
and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
3:14 If what someone has built remains he will receive a reward.
3:15 If someone’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
3:20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
3:21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours,
3:23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Chapter Four
4:1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
4:2 Moreover, it is sought of stewards that they be found faithful.
4:3 As for me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.
4:4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but by this, I am not acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
4:5 Therefore, do not judge anything before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God.
4:6 I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos because of you [Corinthians], so that through us you mayl earn not to go beyond what is written, so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.
4:7 For who considers you any different? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
4:8 Already you are satisfied! Already you are rich! Without us, you have become kings. How I wish you really had become kings so we could rule with you.
4:9 For, I think, God has displayed us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.
4:10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!
4:11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, brutally treated, and homeless.
4:12 We work hard, laboring with our own hands. When we are verbally abused, we bless, when persecuted, we endure,
4:13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the world, the refuse of all things— still now.
4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
4:15 For if you were to have countless guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for I became yours in Christ Jesus.
4:16 Therefore I urge you be imitators of me.
4:17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
4:18 Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
4:19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not only the talk of these arrogant people, but also their power.
4:20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in only talk but in power.
4:21 What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
Chapter Five
5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
5:2 And you are proud! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
5:3 For even though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit. Already I have pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
5:4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5:5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
5:8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
5:9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral people—
5:10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
5:11 But now, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one.
5:12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
5:13 God judges those outside. “Expel the evil person from among you.”
Chapter Six
6:1 Does any one of you, when he has a law case against another, dare to go to court before the unrighteous and not before the saints?
6:2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?
6:4 So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church?
6:5 I say this to your shame! Is there no one among you wise enough to settle disputes between brothers?
6:6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
6:7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
6:8 But you yourselves wrong and cheat—even your own brothers!
6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals,
6:10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbally abusive, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
6:12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
6:13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food —and God will destroy both one and the other.” The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
6:14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
6:16 Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
6:17 But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him.
6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
6:20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Chapter Seven
7:1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
7:2 But because of sexual immoralities, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
7:3 The husband should give to his wife her [conjugal] rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.
7:4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
7:5 Stop depriving one another, unless perhaps by mutual agreement for a specified time that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
7:6 I say this as a concession, not as command.
7:7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one this way, another that.
7:8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I.
7:9 But if they do not have self-control, let them get married. For it is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
7:10 To the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord —a wife should not divorce a husband
7:11 (but if she does, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband), and a husband should not divorce his wife.
7:12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.
7:13 And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not divorce her husband.
7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her believing husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
7:15 But if an unbeliever wants a divorce, let him divorce. In such cases, the brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.
7:16 For how do you know, wife,whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
7:17 Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so let him walk. This is the order I give in all the churches.
7:18 Was anyone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision. Was anyone called who is uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.
7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but keeping the commandments of God.
7:20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.
7:21 Were you called as a slave? Do not let it concern you. But if indeed you are able to be free, make the most of the opportunity.
7:22 For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.
7:23 You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men.
7:24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, let him remain with God.
7:25 Now concerning the virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one shown mercy by the Lord to be trustworthy.
7:26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.
7:27 The one bound to a wife should not seek divorce. The one free from a wife should not seek marriage.
7:28 But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have trials in this life, and I am trying to spare you.
7:29 This is what I mean brethren. The time is short. So then those who have wives should be as those who have none,
7:30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as those not having it,
7:31 those who use the world as though they were not using it to the full. For the present form of this world is passing away.
7:32 And I want you to be free from concerns. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
7:33 and a married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife,
7:34 and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, to be holy both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband.
7:35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to give good and undivided devotion to the Lord.
7:36 If anyone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his virgin, and passions are strong, and it seems necessary he should do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry.
7:37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity and has control over his will, and has decided this in his heart, to keep his own virgin, does well.
7:38 So then, he who marries his own virgin does well but the one who does not does better.
7:39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
7:40 But in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
Chapter Eight
8:1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: we know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
8:2 If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.
8:3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.
8:4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol in this world is nothing,” and that “there is no God but one.”
8:5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
8:7 However, not all possess this knowledge but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8:8 Now food will not bring us close to God. We are no worse if we do not eat and no better if we do.
8:9 But be careful that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
8:10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not he, with his conscience being weak, be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols.
8:11 So the one weaker is ruined, by your knowledge, the brother for whom Christ died.
8:12 Thus, while sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
8:13 For this reason, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin.
Chapter Nine
9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my work in the Lord?
9:2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
9:3 This is my defense to those who examine me.
9:4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink?
9:5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
9:6 Or do only Barnabas and I lack the right not to work?
9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not consume its milk?
9:8 Do I say these thingsbased on human authority, or does not the Law say the same?
9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” God is not concerned here about oxen, is he?
9:10 Is he not speaking surely for our sake? Indeed, it was for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the harvest.
9:11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
9:12 If others share this right from you, do not we even more? But we have not made use of this right. Nevertheless, we endure everything so that we may not be an hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
9:13 Do you not know that those who work the spiritual things of the temple, get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?
9:14 In the same way the Lord commanded those who proclaim the gospel to receive their living by the gospel.
9:15 But I have made no use of any of these rights and I am not writing these things in order that some provision will be done for me. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my boast.
9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
9:17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.
9:18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel without charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
9:19 For though I am free from all, I have enslaved myself to all that I might win more of them.
9:20 To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
9:21 To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God’s law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law.
9:22 To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some.
9:23 I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it.
9:24 Do you not know that in a stadium all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may win it.
9:25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.
9:26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control,lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Chapter Ten
10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
10:2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food,
10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
10:5 But with most of them God was not pleased, for they were scattered dead in the wilderness.
10:6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we do not crave evil things as they did.
10:7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
10:8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
10:9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,
10:10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroyer.
10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
10:12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands be careful that he does not fall.
10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
10:15 I am speaking to thoughtful people. Judge for yourselves what I say.
10:16 Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
10:17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
10:18 Look at the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
10:19 What then am I saying? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
10:20 No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
10:22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
10:23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up others.
10:24 “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of others.
10:25 Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question on account of conscience.
10:26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.
10:27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you want to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on account of conscience.
10:28 But if someone says to you, “This had been offered in a sacrifice, “Do not eat it, because of the one who told you and because of conscience.
10:29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my freedom be determined by another’s conscience?
10:30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?
10:31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.
10:32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,
10:33 just as I also try to please everyone in all things, while not seeking my own benefit but others in order that they may be saved.
Chapter Twelve
12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
12:2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.
12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
12:4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.
12:5 And there are different ministries, but the same Lord.
12:6 There are differences of results, but the same God who produces them all in everyone.
12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
12:8 For to one is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, and to another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the one Spirit,
12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
12:12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ.
12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
12:15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
12:16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
12:18 But as it is, God placed the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
12:19 If all were a one member, where would the body be?
12:20 So now there are many members, but one body.
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.”
12:22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
12:23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable members treated with greater modesty,
12:24 which our more presentable parts do not need. But God has blended together the body giving greater honor to those who lack it
12:25 that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.
12:26 If one member suffers, all members suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it.
12:28 And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues.
12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
12:30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
12:31 But you should be eager for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Chapter Thirteen
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
13:2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body in order to boast, but have not love, I gain nothing.
13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag; it is not arrogant.
13:5 It is not rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
13:6 it is not glad at injustice, but rejoices with the truth.
13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
13:8 Love never fails; but if there are prophecies, they will be set aside, if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.
13:9 For we know in part and we prophecy in part,
13:10 but when the complete comes, the partial will be set aside.
13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
13:12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.
13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Chapter Fourteen
14:1 Pursue love and be eager for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
14:2 For the one speaking in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands; he is speaking mysteries by the Spirit.
14:3 But the one who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and consolation.
14:4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.
14:5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.
14:6 Now brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues how will I benefit you unless I speak to you with a revelation or with knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
14:7 If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how can what is played on the flute or harp be understood?
14:8 And if the trumpet gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?
14:9 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you give speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air.
14:10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning.
14:11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.
14:12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
14:13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.
14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.
14:15 What is it then? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
14:16 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of one ignorant of the language say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?
14:17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.
14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
14:19 Nevertheless, in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
14:20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
14:21 In the Law it is written:
“With other tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,
— says the Lord.”
14:22 So then, tongues are a sign not for believers but
for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.
14:23 Therefore if the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and unbelievers or those ignorant of the language enter, will they not say that you have lost your minds?
14:24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all;
14:25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.
14:26 What is it then brothers and sisters? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
14:27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, one after the other, and someone must interpret.
14:28 But if there is no interpreter, he should be silent in the church. Let him speak to himself and to God.
14:29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.
14:30 But if someone sitting down receives a revelation, the person who is speaking should be silent.
14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged,
14:32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
14:33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints,
14:34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.
14:35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church
14:36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or did it come to you alone?
14:37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.
14:38 But if anyone ignores this, he will be ignored.
14:39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
14:40 But all things should be done decently and in order.
Chapter Fifteen
15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
15:4 that he was buried, that he had been raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
15:5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
15:8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God with me.
15:11 Whether then it was I or they, this is the way we preach and this is the way you believed.
15:12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
15:15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
15:19 For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.
15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
15:24 Then the end when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
15:27 For he has put everything under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear —that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him.
15:28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
15:29 Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them?
15:30 Why too are we in danger every hour?
15:31 Every day I am in danger of death! This is as sure as my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
15:32 If from a human viewpoint I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
15:33 “Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals.”
15:34 Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God—I say this to your shame!
15:35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”
15:36 You fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies.
15:37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a seed, a bare grain—perhaps of wheat or something else.
15:38 But God gives it a body just as he wanted, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is a flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
15:40 And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
15:41 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.
15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised incorruptible.
15:43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
15:46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.
15:47 The first man is out from the earth, made of earth: the second man is from heaven.
15:48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, let us bear the image of the heavenly.
15:50 Now this is what I am saying, brethren [brothers and sisters] that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
15:51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
15:52 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 shall be changed.
15:53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
15:54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
15:55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:58 Therefore, my brothers and sisters be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Chapter Sixteen
16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.
16:2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside some income saving it up as he may do well, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
16:3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you approve by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
16:4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they willgo with me.
16:5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia,
16:6 and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you can send me on my journey, wherever I go.
16:7 For I do not want to see you now in passing, since I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord allows.
16:8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
16:9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
16:10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the Lord’s work, as I am too.
16:11 So then, let no one treat him with contempt. But send him on his way in peace so that he may come to me. For I am expecting him with the brothers.
16:12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.
16:15 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints—
16:16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.
16:17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking from you.
16:18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours. So then, recognize people like this.
16:19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca greet you warmly in the Lord, with the church that meets in their house.
16:20 All the brothers and sisters send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
16:21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
16:22 Let anyone who has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
16:23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
16:24 My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.