Montgomery - I Corinthians

Chapter 1

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

1:2  to the Church of God at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all, wherever they are, who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

1:3  Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:4  I am always thanking God on your behalf, for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus;

1:5  that in everything you have been enriched in him, in all speech, and in all knowledge

1:6  (for thus my witness for Christ was confirmed among you);

1:7  so that you lack no divine gift, while you are waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:8  He will also keep you perfectly stedfast unto the end, so that you will be unreprovable in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:9  Faithful is the God by whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1:10  Now I beg you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to speak in accord, all of you, and to have no divisions among you, but to be knit together in a common mind and temper.

1:11  For it has been plainly told me concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are dissensions among you.

1:12  I mean by this that one of you says, "I am a follower of Paul"; another, "I of Apollos"; another, "I of Cephas"; another, "I of Christ."

1:13  Has Christ been divided? Paul, was he crucified for you? or was it into the name of Paul that you were baptized?

1:14  I am thankful to God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

1:15  so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.

1:16  Yes, I did baptize the house of Stephanas also, but I do not think I baptized any one else.

1:17  For Christ did not think I baptized any one else. For Christ did not send me forth to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel; and that not in philosophic words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made an empty thing.

1:18  For the message of the Cross is indeed for those on their way to destruction, foolishness; but for us who are on our way to salvation it is the power of God.

1:19  For thus it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the philosophers, And the prudence of the prudent will I confound.

1:20  Sage, rabbi, skeptic of this present age - where are they all? Has not God made foolish the philosophy of the world?

1:21  For when, in the wisdom of God, the world by its philosophy knew not God, the world by its philosophy knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save those who believe.

1:22  Jews continue to ask for miracles and Greeks are ever wanting philosophy,

1:23  but we come preaching a crucified Messiah - to Jews a stumbling- block, to Greeks foolishness,

1:24  but to those who are the called, whether Jews or 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 own calling, brothers, that not many wise in earthly wisdom, not many powerful, not many of noble birth, have been called.

1:27  No, God has chosen the world’s folly to confound its philosophy; and the world’s weakness to confound its strength.

1:28  The world’s base things has God chosen, and the things that are not, to bring to naught the things that are;

1:29  so that no mortal man should glory in his presence.

1:30  It is of him that you are in Christ Jesus, whom God made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

1:31  so that as Scripture says, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.

Chapter 2

2:1  And when I came to you, brothers, I came not to proclaim God’s great secret purpose in fine language of philosophy;

2:2  for I determined to know nothing, while among you, but Jesus as Christ, and him a crucified Christ.

2:3  In weakness and fear and great trembling came I among you.

2:4  My message and my preaching were not in the persuasive language of philosophy, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power;

2:5  in order that your faith should rest, not on human philosophy, but on the power of God.

2:6  Notwithstanding, among those who are mature I do teach philosophy; though not the philosophy of the present age, nor of its rulers who are coming to nought.

2:7  No, it is God’s wisdom that I utter, that hidden wisdom which God had decreed before the world began, unto our glory.

2:8  None of the rulers of the present age understands it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.

2:9  Nay, as it is written. Eye has not seen, Nor ear heard, Neither have entered into man’s heart The things which God has prepared For those who love him.

2:10  Yet God has unveiled them to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit fathoms everything, even the abysmal depths of God.

2:11  For what man knows the depths of man except the man’s own inner Spirit? Even so, also, the Spirit of God knows the deeps profound of God.

2:12  But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes forth from God, that we may realize the blessings freely given us by God.

2:13  Of these high themes we speak in words not taught by human philosophy, but by the Spirit; interpreting spiritual things to spiritual men.

2:14  The unspiritual man rejects the teachings of God’s Spirit; for him it is folly. He cannot understand it, for it is spiritually discerned,

2:15  But the spiritual man discerns everything, yet is himself discerned by no one.

2:16  For what man understands the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him?

Chapter 3

3:1  As for me, brothers, I could not talk to you as spiritual men, but as to creatures of flesh, mere babes in Christ.

3:2  I fed you milk, not meat; for you were unable to bear it.

3:3  You are not able even now, for you are still unspiritual. While there is among you jealousy and strife, are you not still unspiritual, and behaving like worldlings?

3:4  When one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere worldlings?

3:5  What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Just ministers through whom you have believed, and each doing the work that the Lord gave him.

3:6  I planted, Apollos watered, but God made the seed grow.

3:7  So neither is he who planted anything, nor he who watered, but God alone, who is making the seed grow.

3:8  Now, though he who plants and he who waters are one, each will receive his own reward, according to his own service.

3:9  For we are God’s fellow workers; and you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

3:10  According to the grace of God vouchsafed me, like a skillful master- builder, I have laid a foundation; but another will be building upon it. Let each take heed how he builds on it.

3:11  The foundation is already laid - Jesus Christ - and no man can lay another.

3:12  On that foundation, if a man proceeds to build gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, each man’s work will be made manifest.

3:13  The Day will disclose it, for it dawns in fire, and the fire will test each man’s work, of what quality it is.

3:14  If any man’s work - the building he has made - stands the test, he will be rewarded.

3:15  If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, as it were through the flames.

3:16  Do you not know what you are God’s sanctuary, and that the Spirit of God is dwelling within you?

3:17  If any one tear down God’s sanctuary, God will tear him down; for the sanctuary of God is holy, and that is what you are.

3:18  Let no one deceive himself. If any one of you supposes that he is wise in the philosophy of the present age, let him become foolish, so that he may be wise.

3:19  For the philosophy of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. It is written, He snares the wise in their own craftiness,

3:20  and again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, how futile they are.

3:21  So let no one make boast in men. For all things are yours;

3:22  Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, things present or things to come; all things are yours;

3:23  and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Chapter 4

4:1  Let any man look upon us as servants of Christ, and stewards of the secret truths of God.

4:2  Now it is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful.

4:3  But to me it matters very little that I am judged by you, or by any earthly court.

4:4  Indeed I do not even judge myself; for though I know nothing against myself, yet that does not vindicate me; for he who judges me is the Lord.

4:5  So make no hasty judgment until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make plain the purpose of men’s hearts. Then each man’s due praise will come to him from God.

4:6  Now these things, brothers, I have applied in a figure to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that in us you might learn not to go beyond what is written; that none of you be puffed up for the one, against the other.

4:7  For who makes you a differ, brother? Or what have you that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why are you boasting as if you had not received it?

4:8  But you, forsooth, are already full, are you? You are already rich? Without us you are already reigning? Yes, and I would that you did reign, so that we also might reign with you.

4:9  But it seems to me that God has exhibited us apostles, last of all, like men doomed to death; for we are made a spectacle to the whole world, both to men and to angels.

4:10  For Christ’s sake we are fools, but you are quite philosophic in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong; you are honorable, but we are outcast.

4:11  Even to his very hour we are enduring hunger and thirst and nakedness and blows.

4:12  Homeless men, we toil, working with our own hands.

4:13  When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when defamed, we conciliate. We have been made, as it were, scum-o’-the-earth, the very refuse of the world, to this very hour!

4:14  I am not writing this to shame you, but to admonish you, as my beloved children.

4:15  For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ Jesus, you can have but one father. For in Christ Jesus I begot you through the gospel.

4:16  I beg you then to imitate my example.

4:17  With this in mind I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dear and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ; the manner in which I ever teach everywhere in every church.

4:18  Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.

4:19  But come to you I will, and that soon, if it please the Lord, and then I shall learn not the talk of these boasters, but their power.

4:20  For the kingdom of God is not in talk, but in power.

4:21  Which do you want? Am I to come to you with a rod, or in a loving and tender spirit?

Chapter 5

5:1  It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and such immorality as is not even among the heathen - that a man has taken his father’s wife!

5:2  Yet you are puffed up instead of mourning and removing from among you the man who has done this thing.

5:3  For I, although absent in body, yet present in spirit, have already passed sentence, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, on him who has done this thing.

5:4  When you are gathered together, and my spirit is with you together with the power of our Lord Jesus,

5:5  I have handed over such a man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

5:6  Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that even a little leaven leavens all the lump?

5:7  Then get rid of the old leaven, so that you may be like a new lump, as you are now unleavened. For our Paschal Lamb has already been sacrificed, Christ himself.

5:8  So let us keep the unending feast, not with any old leaven, neither with leaven of malice and vice, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

5:9  I told you in my letter not to associate with the immoral.

5:10  Not that in this world you were actually to have no contact with the immoral, the avaricious, the thievish, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world, altogether.

5:11  But what I wrote was that you were not to associate with any so- called brother who is immoral, or avaricious, or idolatrous, or abusive, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. No, with such persons do not even sit at table.

5:12  What have I to do with the judging of outsiders? Must not you judge those who are within the church, while God judges outsiders?

5:13  Expel that wicked man from among you.

Chapter 6

6:1  Dare any one of you who has a grievance against his neighbor go to law before heathen judges, instead of before the saints?

6:2  Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be tried by you, are you unfit to try such trifling cases?

6:3  Do you not know that we are to try angels? How much more, then, the affairs of life.

6:4  Why then, if you have cases relating to earthly affairs which need to be decided, is it men who are absolutely nothing in the church whom you make your judges?

6:5  I say this to shame you. Is it so that there is not among you a single wise man, capable of deciding between a man and his brother?

6:6  Must brother go to law with brother, and that, too, before unbelievers?

6:7  Indeed, to say nothing more, the fact that you have lawsuits with one another is altogether a defect in you. Why not rather suffer injustice? Why not rather endure being cheated?

6:8  On the contrary, you yourselves are inflicting injustice and fraud, and that upon your brothers.

6:9  Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. None who are immoral, or idolaters, or adulterers, or catamites, or sodomites,

6:10  or thieves, or avaricious men, or drunkards, or foul-mouthed men, or extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

6:11  Such were some of you, but you have washed away your stains, you have been consecrated, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

6:12  "All things are lawful for me"? Yes, but not all things are good for me. "All things are lawful for me"? Yes, but I will not let myself be enslaved by the power of any.

6:13  "Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food"? Yes, but God will soon put an end both to the one and to the other. The body, however, exists not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body;

6:14  and the God who raised up our Lord will up-raise us also by his mighty power.

6:15  You know, do you not, that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid!

6:16  Do you not know that he who joins himself to a harlot is one with her in body? (For God says, The two shall become one flesh.)

6:17  While a man who is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit?

6:18  Flee from immorality. Every other sin that a man commits lies outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

6:19  Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is within you, the Spirit whom you have from God?

6:20  You are not your own; for you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your bodies.

Chapter 7

7:1  Now concerning the question in your letter. It is well for a man to have no intercourse with a woman,

7:2  but because there is so much immorality let each man have his own wife; and let each women have her own husband.

7:3  Let the husband give his wife her due, and likewise the wife her husband. The wife is not mistress of her own person,

7:4  but her husband is; and in the same way the husband is not master of his own person, but his wife is.

7:5  Do not refuse one another, unless it is only temporary and by mutual consent, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, lest through your lack of self-control Satan begin to tempt you to sin.

7:6  But what I have just said is by way of concession, not command.

7:7  I would that every one lived as I do; but each man has his own special gift from God, one this, another that.

7:8  But to the unmarried, and the widows, I say that it is well for them to remain as I am.

7:9  If, however, they are not exercising self-control, by all means let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of passion.

7:10  But to those already married my commandment is - and not mine, but the Lord’s - that a wife is not to leave her husband;

7:11  (or if she has already left him let her either remain as she is, or be reconciled to him), and also that a husband is not to put away his wife.

7:12  To the rest it is I who am speaking, not the Lord. If any brother has a wife who is not a believer, if he is willing to live with her, let him not send her away.

7:13  And a woman whose husband is not a believer, if he is willing to live with her, let her not separate from him.

7:14  For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through union with his believing wife; and the unbelieving wife, through union with her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unholy, but now they are consecrated to God.

7:15  But if the unbelieving partner be determined to leave, separation let it be. In such cases the believing husband or wife is not under bondage. But it is into peace that God has called us.

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  Only whatever be the lot in life to which God has assigned each one - and whatever the condition in which he was living when God called him- -in that let him continue. Such is the rule I give in all the churches.

7:18  So, was any man called, being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was any man called when he was uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.

7:19  Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands in everything.

7:20  Whatever be the condition of life in which he was called, in that let him continue.

7:21  Were you called in slavery? Let not that trouble you; but if you can become free make use of the opportunity.

7:22  For the slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; and in the same way, the free man who is called is Christ’s slave.

7:23  You have been brought with a price; do not become slaves to men.

7:24  Where each man stood when he was called, there, brothers, let him stay, close to God.

7:25  I have no command from the Lord to give you concerning unmarried women; but I give you my opinion, and it is that of a man who, through the Lord’s mercy, is deserving of your confidence.

7:26  I think then, that in view of the time of suffering now imminent, it is best for a man to remain as he is.

7:27  Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from the marriage bond? Do not seek for a wife.

7:28  Yet if you do not marry, you have not done wrong; and if a girl marries, she has not done wrong. Such people, however, will have trouble in worldy affairs, and I wish to spare you.

7:29  Indeed, brothers, the time that remains to us has been shortened; so let those who have wives live as if they had none,

7:30  let those who weep be as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess,

7:31  and those who use the world as though using it sparingly. For the present phase of the world is passing away.

7:32  So I want you to be free from all anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the Lord’s business, how he may please the Lord;

7:33  but a married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how he may please his wife, and he is divided in his mind.

7:34  Again, the woman who is widow, or the maid, is anxious about the Lord’s business, how she may be pure in body and in mind; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how she may please her husband.

7:35  It is in your own interest that I say this; not that I may entangle you in a snare, but that I may help you to serve the Lord with fitting and undistracted service.

7:36  If, however, a father feels that he is not treating his virgin daughter in a seemly manner, in leaving her unmarried beyond the flower of her age, and so the matter is urgent, let him do what she desires; he commits no sin. Let the marriage take place.

7:37  On the other hand, he who is firm in his purpose and is under no compulsion, but is free to carry out his own wishes, and who has determined to keep his daughter unmarried, does well.

7:38  So he that gives his daughter in marriage is doing right, and he who keeps her unmarried will be doing right, and he who keeps her unmarried will be doing better.

7:39  A wife is bound to her husband during his lifetime; but if her husband dies, she is free to marry whomever she will, provided it be in the Lord.

7:40  But she is happier, in my judgment, if she remains as she is; and I think that I, too, have the Spirit of God.

Chapter 8

8:1  Now in regard to food which has been offered to idols, we are sure of course that "we all have knowledge." But knowledge puffs up, while love builds up.

8:2  If a man thinks that he already has knowledge, he does not yet truly know as he ought to know;

8:3  but if a man loves God, he is known by him.

8:4  Now as to eating food that has been offered to idols, we know well that an idol has no real existence in the universe, and that there is no God but One.

8:5  For though there be so-called "gods," celestial of terrestrial, as indeed there are gods many and lords many,

8:6  yet for there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

8:7  But that "knowledge" is not possessed by all; but some, accustomed until now to the idol, eat food as that which has actually been offered to an idol, and so their conscience, being still weak, is defiled.

8:8  Now food does not bring us nearness to God. Neither if we eat do we gain any advantage, nor if we eat not, do we lose any.

8:9  But see to it lest this right of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak.

8:10  For if any one should see you, the possessor of "knowledge," reclining at table in an idol’s temple, would not his conscience, if he were weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

8:11  So he is lost, this weak man, lost by your "knowledge." this brother for whom Christ died.

8:12  In so sinning against your brothers, and in ever and again wounding their weak consciences, you are sinning against Christ.

8:13  Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, lest I make my brother to stumble.

Chapter 9

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?

9:2  Even if I am not an apostle to others, to you at least I am; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

9:3  This is my reply to my critics.

9:4  Have I no right to claim food and drink?

9:5  Have I no right to take a believing wife with me on my journey, as the rest of the apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Peter do?

9:6  Are we the only ones, Barnabas and I, who have no right to give up manual labor?

9:7  What soldier ever serves at his own expense? What farmer ever plants a vineyard and his flock and does not taste the milk?

9:8  Am I saying this on human authority only, or does not the Law also say the same?

9:9  Yea, in the Law of Moses it is written, Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while he is treading out the grain.

9:10  Is it the oxen that God is thinking about, or is it really said for our sakes? It was written for us; because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher in hope of getting a share of the crop.

9:11  If I have sown for you the seeds of spiritual good, is it a great thing if I reap from you temporal goods?

9:12  If others share this authority over you, do not I far more? Yet I have not availed myself of it, but am patiently enduring; so that I may not in any way hinder the progress of Christ’s gospel.

9:13  You know, do you not, that those who minister in the temple, and those who serve at the altar, get their portion of the sacrifices?

9:14  Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

9:15  But for my part, I have never availed myself of any of these rights. I do not say this to bring it about in my own case. I would rather die than let any one make void this boast of mine.

9:16  Proclaiming the gospel gives me no ground of boasting; for necessity is laid upon me; woe is me if I preach not the gospel.

9:17  For if I do this of my own accord, I have my pay; but if unwilling, I have at least discharged my stewardship.

9:18  What then is my wage? This, that I can make the gospel free where I carry it; and that I can refrain from using my rights as a preacher of the gospel.

9:19  Though free from all men, I make myself the slave of all, that I may win the more.

9:20  To the Jews I am become like a Jew, that I may win Jews; to those under the Law, like one under the Law, though I am not under the Law, myself;

9:21  to those outside the Law, as one outside the Law, to win those outside the Law (though I am not outside the law of God, but inside the law of Christ).

9:22  I am become weak to the weak, to win the weak. I am become all these things to all men that, by any and by all means, I may save some.

9:23  And I am doing it all for the gospel’s sake, that I may become a copartner in it.

9:24  Do you not know that in a foot-race, though all run, only one receives the prize? So run that you may win.

9:25  Every man who contends in the games continually trains himself by all manner of self-restraint. Now they do it to get a fading garland, but we, one that is unfading.

9:26  For my part, then, I run with no wavering to the goal. I box not as one beating the air,

9:27  but I bruise my body and keep it in subjection, lest having called others to the contest, I should myself be disqualified.

Chapter 10

10:1  For I would not have you ignorant, brothers, how 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  They all ate of the same spiritual bread,

10:4  and all drank from the same spiritual stream, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

10:5  But in most of them God was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the desert.

10:6  Now this happened as a warning for us, that we might not long for evil things as they longed.

10:7  And you must not be idolaters like some of them. as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, And they rose up for idol dances.

10:8  Nor must we act licentiously, as some of them did, and fell in a single day, twenty-three thousand of them.

10:9  Neither must we presume upon the patience of our Lord, as some of them presumed, and were destroyed by the serpents;

10:10  nor murmur, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroying Angel.

10:11  Now these things were happening to them typically, but were written down for our admonition who stand at the meeting of the ages.

10:12  So then let him who imagines that he is standing so securely beware lest he fall.

10:13  No temptation has overtaken you that is beyond man’s power; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but will, with every temptation, provide the way of escape also, so that you may be able to withstand.

10:14  So then, my beloved, continually flee from idolatry.

10:15  I am speaking to men of sense; do you yourselves judge what I say.

10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a common participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a common participation in the body of Christ?

10:17  Because we who are many are one bread, one body, for we all do share in the one loaf.

10:18  Look at Israel according to the flesh; are not those who eat the sacrifices in communion with the altar?

10:19  What then shall we say? that an offering to an idol is anything? or that an idol is really anything?

10:20  On the contrary, what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have communion with demons.

10:21  You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of demons; you cannot be partakers in the Lord’s table and in the table of demons.

10:22  What! would we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

10:23  "All things are lawful," you say? But not all things are expedient; "all things are lawful"; but not all build up.

10:24  Let not each one be always seeking his own, but rather his neighbor’s good.

10:25  Eat anything that is for sale in the markets, asking no questions for conscience sake;

10:26  for the earth and its fulness are the Lord’s.

10:27  If one who is not a believer invites you to his house, and you wish to go, eat everything that is set before you, without asking questions for conscience sake.

10:28  But if any one tells you, "This food has been offered in sacrifice," do not eat it, for the sake of him who told you,

10:29  and for your conscience sake - his conscience, not your own. "But," you may object, "why should my freedom be decided upon another’s scruples of conscience?

10:30  If I eat after giving thanks, why am I denounced for eating that for which I have given thanks?"

10:31  Because whether you are eating or whether you are drinking, you are to do it all for the glory of God.

10:32  Do not be a cause of stumbling either to Jews of to Gentiles, or to the church of God.

10:33  For so I also try to please all men in every way, not by seeking my own good, but the good of the many, that they may be saved.

Chapter 11

11:1  Be imitators of me, as I am an imitator of Christ.

11:2  Indeed I praise you for remembering me in everything, and because you are holding fast to the traditions just as you received them.

11:3  But I wish you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and of a wife her husband is head; and that God is head of Christ.

11:4  Every man who prays or prophesies with head veiled dishonors his Head;

11:5  but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head (her husband). for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven.

11:6  If a woman does not wear a veil, let her also cut off her hair; now if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her be veiled.

11:7  A man, indeed, ought not to have his head veiled, for he is an image and glory of God; but woman is a glory of man.

11:8  For it is not man who was made from woman, but woman was made from man.

11:9  And man was not created for woman, but woman for man.

11:10  For this reason the woman ought to have authority over her head, because of her guardian angels.

11:11  However, in the Lord neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman;

11:12  for just as the woman was made from the man, so also is the man born of the woman, while they both come from God.

11:13  Judge of this for your own selves. It is fitting that a woman should pray to God with her head unveiled.

11:14  Nor does nature itself teach you that it is a disgrace to a man to have long hair,

11:15  but it is woman’s glory, because her hair has been given her instead of a veil.

11:16  If, however, any one is inclined to be disputatious regarding such a custom, let him know that neither I nor the churches of God hold to such a custom.

11:17  But in giving you the following instructions, I cannot praise you; your solemn assemblies do more harm than good.

11:18  To begin with, I am told - and I believe there is some truth in it - that when you meet at a church there are divisions among you.

11:19  For there must needs be also parties among you, in order that the good may be tested and made known.

11:20  Again, when you meet together, there is no true eating of the Lord’s Supper;

11:21  for each one of you begins to eat his own supper; one goes hungry, while another gets drunk.

11:22  What! Have you no houses in which to eat or drink? or do you wish to show your contempt for the church of God, and to shame those who have no homes to eat in? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I certainly do not praise you.

11:23  For I passed on to you the account, which I myself received from the Lord; how the Lord Jesus, on the very night he was betrayed, took bread,

11:24  and when he had given thanks, he broke it, saying, "This is my body, broken for you; this do in memory of me."

11:25  In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in memory of me."

11:26  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming your Lord’s death until he come.

11:27  So he that eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthy must answer for a sin against the body and blood of the Lord.

11:28  Let each man scrutinize himself, and thus let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

11:29  For whoever eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks condemnation to himself.

11:30  This is why many among you are feeble and sickly, and many sleep.

11:31  If however, we were judging ourselves aright, we should not now be condemned;

11:32  but through our condemnation by the Lord, we are trained so that we may not be condemned;

11:33  So, my brothers, whenever you come together for this meal, wait for one another.

11:34  If any one is hungry, let him eat at home, so that your meetings do not bring condemnation upon you. The other matters I will adjust when I come.

Chapter 12

12:1  Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not wish you to be ignorant.

12:2  You know that when you were heathen you went astray after dumb idols, wherever he be led.

12:3  Wherefore I want you to understand that no one who speaks in the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except in the Holy Spirit.

12:4  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

12:5  there are various forms of service, and the same Lord;

12:6  and varieties of work, and the same God, who works in all.

12:7  Now to each man has been given his manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

12:8  For to one man by the Spirit has been given a word of wisdom, to another a word of insight by the same Spirit;

12:9  to one man by the same Spirit is given faith, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit;

12:10  to another the powers which work miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

12:11  But the one and the same Spirit gives power to all, distributing his gifts to each as he wills.

12:12  For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, although they be many, are one body; so also is Christ.

12:13  And we can see this, for in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Gentile, whether slave 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 should say, "Because I am a hand, I am not part a part the body," would it not indeed be a part of the body?

12:16  Or if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," would it be any less a part of the body?

12:17  If the whole body were an eye, where were hearing? If all were hearing, where were smelling?

12:18  But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body as it has pleased him.

12:19  If all were one member, where would the body be?

12:20  But now there are many members, but one body.

12:21  And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you". nor again of head to the feet, "I have no need for you."

12:22  On the contrary, we need those members of the body which seem to be weaker;

12:23  upon those parts of the body which we esteem less honorable, we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

12:24  For whereas our comely parts have no need, God has tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that member in which lacked;

12:25  that there should be no disunion in the body, but that members mutual care for one another.

12:26  When one member suffers, all the others suffer with it; and when one member is honored, all the members are glad with it.

12:27  Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.

12:28  And God has appointed those in the church to be first of all apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers. then workers of miracles, healers, helpers, administrators, users of various kinds of "tongues."

12:29  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? teachers? workers of miracles?

12:30  Have all gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

12:31  Desire earnestly the greater gifts. And yet I will go on to show you a still more excellent way.

Chapter 13

13:1  Though I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have no love, I am become a clanging brass, or a clashing cymbal.

13:2  Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

13:3  And though I sell all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it avails me nothing.

13:4  Love suffers long and is kind; love envies not; love makes no parade, is not puffed up,

13:5  is not rude, nor selfish, nor easily provoked. Love bears no malice, never rejoices over wrong-doing,

13:6  but rejoices when the truth rejoices.

13:7  It knows how to be silent, it is trustful, hopeful, patient, enduring.

13:8  Love never fails; but though there are prophecies, they will fail; though there are tongues, they will cease; though there is knowledge, it will be superseded.

13:9  For our knowing is imperfect, and our prophesying is imperfect;

13:10  but when the perfect is come, then the perfect will be done away.

13:11  When I was a child I spoke like a child, felt like a child, thought like a child; now that I am become a man, I have done with childish things.

13:12  For now we see as in a mirror, and are baffled, but then face to face; now I know in fragments, but then shall I understand even as I also have been understood.

13:13  Faith, Hope, Love endure - these three; but the greatest of these is Love.

Chapter 14

14:1  Hotly pursue this love, yet seek earnestly spiritual gifts, and chiefly that you may prophesy.

14:2  For he who speaks in a "tongue" speaks not to man but to God, for no one understands him, but in the Spirit he utters secret truths.

14:3  But he who prophesies addresses words to men that build up, encourage, and console.

14:4  He who speaks in a tongue upbuilds himself; but he who prophesies upbuilds the church.

14:5  Now I should like you all to speak with "tongues"; but I should rather that you prophesied, For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up.

14:6  Now brothers, if I should come to you speaking with tongues, what should I benefit you, unless I speak to you some revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching?

14:7  For if lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp give no distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is fluted or harped?

14:8  Or, for example, if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, what soldier will be prepared for battle?

14:9  In the same way with you, if you utter unintelligible words with your tongue, how can what you say be understood? You will be speaking to the winds!

14:10  There are, let us say, so many languages in the world, and none without its meaning.

14:11  If then I do not know the force of expression, I shall seem a barbarian to the one who uses it, and he will seem a barbarian to me.

14:12  So also in your case, since you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them for the upbuilding of the church.

14:13  So let him who speaks with tongues pray that he may interpret.

14:14  For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is barren.

14:15  What then? I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray also with my mind. I will praise God with my spirit, but I will praise him with my mind, also.

14:16  For if you in your spirit bless God, how shall he who fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen to your thanksgiving, when he does not know what you are talking about?

14:17  You on the one hand offer a good thanksgiving, but the other is not built up.

14:18  Thank God I speak with tongues more than you all,

14:19  but in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, so as to instruct others, than ten thousand in an unknown tongue.

14:20  Brothers, do not become children in understanding; be babes in malice, but in understanding become mature men.

14:21  In the Law it is written. With men of other tongues, and by the lips of strangers, will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

14:22  So then the gift of tongues is for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers; but prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe.

14:23  Accordingly, when the whole church assemblies, and everybody is speaking "with tongues," if there enter men unlearned or unbelieving, will they not say that you are mad?

14:24  But if all are prophesying when an unlearned or unbelieving man enters, he is convicted in conscience by your speaker, he feels himself judged by all,

14:25  and the secret depths of his heart are laid open. So he will fall upon his face and worship God, saying, "Of a truth, God is with you."

14:26  What follows, then, brothers? Whenever you meet together, each contributes something; a psalm, a sermon, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation. Let all be done for edification.

14:27  If any one speaks in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that in turn, and let some one interpret.

14:28  But if there is no one to interpret, let them keep silence in the church, and speak to themselves and to God.

14:29  Let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others exercise their judgment.

14:30  But if to one as he sits there some revelation is made, let the first be silent.

14:31  For you can all prophesy one by one; so that all may be learning, and all may be encouraged.

14:32  The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets,

14:33  for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. This custom prevails in all the churches of the saints.

14:34  "In your congregation" you write, "as in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silence in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. On the contrary let them be subordinate, as also says the law.

14:35  And if they want to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a women to speak in church."

14:36  What, was it from you that the word of God went forth, or to you only did it come?

14:37  If any one thinks himself a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that what I am now writing you is a command of the Lord.

14:38  But if any one disregard it he will be disregarded.

14:39  So, my brothers, be ambitious for the gift of prophecy, and speak not against the gifts of tongues.

14:40  Let everything be done decently and in order.

Chapter 15

15:1  Now I am calling to your remembrance, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and on which you have taken your stand, ;47 The first man is of the earth, earthly; the second Man is of heaven.

15:2  by which also you are saved, if you are holding fast the message which I preached to you; unless indeed you have believed in vain.

15:3  For the very first thing I taught you was that I had myself been taught, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture,

15:4  that he was buried, and that he was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures,

15:5  and was seen by Cephas, and then by the Twelve.

15:6  Afterward he was seen at one time by more than five hundred brethren, most of whom are still alive, but some are fallen asleep.

15:7  Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles,

15:8  and last of all, as by one born out of due time, he was seen by me also.

15:9  For I am the least of the apostles, I who am not worthy 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 that grace of his, bestowed upon me, did not prove ineffectual. I labored more abundantly than all the rest, yet not I, but by the grace of God that is with me.

15:11  But whether it is I or they, thus do I preach, and thus you came to believe.

15:12  If then, we are preaching Christ, that he rose from the dead, how are some of you saying that there is no resurrection from the dead?

15:13  But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;

15:14  and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, and vain also is your faith.

15:15  More than that, we are detected in bearing false witness against God; because we testified of God that he raised Christ from the dead, whom he did not raise, if indeed the dead rise not.

15:16  For if the dead rise not, neither has Christ arisen;

15:17  and if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, you are still in your sins.

15:18  More than that, those who are sleeping in Christ have perished.

15:19  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all mankind most pitiable.

15:20  But now, now, Christ is risen from the dead, the first-fruit of those who have fallen asleep.

15:21  For since by man came to death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead.

15:22  For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

15:23  But each in his own order; Christ the first-fruits, then those who belong to Christ at his appearing.

15:24  And then the end, when he shall hand over his kingdom to God his Father, after he has abolished all rule and authority and power.

15:25  For he must rule until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

15:26  The last enemy that will be destroyed is Death.

15:27  For He hast put all things under his feet, but in that quotation All things are put under him, it is evident that God is excepted, who put all things under Him.

15:28  For when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself shall subject himself to Him who made them subject, that God may be all in all.

15:29  Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are really not raised, why are they baptized for them?

15:30  Yes, and why am I myself exposed to danger every hour?

15:31  Every day I am facing death, my brothers, I affirm it by that pride in you which I have through Christ Jesus our Lord.

15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what good does it do me? If the dead do not rise, Let us eat and drink, For we shall be dead tomorrow.

15:33  Do not deceive yourselves. Evil companions ruin good morals.

15:34  Wake up, do justly, cease from sin; for I say to your shame that some of you have no acquaintance with God.

15:35  But some one will ask. "How are the dead raised? and with what body are they coming?"

15:36  Foolish man! The seed you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

15:37  And when you sow the seed you are not sowing the body that it will become, but bare grain, of wheat perhaps, or some other grain.

15:38  But God gives it what body he pleases, and to each kind of seed its own body.

15:39  All flesh is not the same flesh; there is human flesh, another of fishes of animals, another of birds, another of fishes.

15:40  There are both celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial; but the splendor of the celestial is one thing, and the splendor of the terrestrial is another.

15:41  There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

15:42  So it is in the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, It is raised in incorruption;

15:43  Sown in weakness, It is raised in power;

15:44  The body sown is animal The body is raised is spiritual. If there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual body.

15:45  Thus it is written. The first man, Adam, became a living being, the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit.

15:46  Now it is not the spiritual which is first, but the animal, and then the spiritual.

15:48  Like him who was of earth, are the earthy; and like Him who is of heaven, are the heavenly;

15:49  As we have borne the likeness of him who was of earth, so also let us bear the likeness of Him who is of heaven.

15:50  I tell you this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor can corruption inherit incorruption.

15:51  Lo, I tell you a secret truth. we shall not all be sleeping, but we shall be changed,

15:52  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised, incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

15:53  For this corruptible must be clothed with incorruption, and this mortal must be clothed with immortality.

15:54  And when this mortal has been clothed with immortality, then will the words of Scripture come to pass, Death has been swallowed up in victory.

15:55  Where, Death, is thy victory? Where, Death, is thy sting?

15:56  Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.

15:57  But thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

15:58  So, my brothers beloved, stand firm, immovable, always abounding in work for the Lord, because you know that your toil is not fruitless in the Lord.

Chapter 16

16:1  Now concerning the offering for the saints, you also are to do as I directed the church of Galatia.

16:2  On the first day of each week let each of you put aside something, keeping it in store as he may prosper, so that when I come there may be no collections going on.

16:3  On my arrival I will send those whom you may accredit by letter to carry your bounty to Jerusalem.

16:4  And if it is worth while for me to go too, they will accompany me.

16:5  Now I shall come to you after I have gone through Macedonia.

16:6  I shall remain some time with you; possibly spending the winter, in order that you may help me forward in whatever journey I take.

16:7  For I do not wish at this present time to see you merely in passing; but if the Lord permits, I hope to remain some time with you.

16:8  I am staying for the present in Ephesus, until Pentecost;

16:9  for a door has opened to me, great and effectual, and the opponents are many.

16:10  If Timothy come, see to it that he is among you without trepidation; for he is doing the Lord’s work, as I am, so let no one disparage him.

16:11  Whenever he comes to me, send him on his way in peace, for I am expecting him with the other brothers.

16:12  As for our Apollos, I have many times urged him to go to you with the others, but he was always unwilling to go to you at this time. He will come, however, whenever he has a good opportunity.

16:13  Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, be manly, be strong.

16:14  Let all that you do be done in love.

16:15  I beg you this, my brothers - you know the household of Stephanus, that they were the first-fruits of Achaia, and that they devoted themselves to the service of the saints -

16:16  so I want you also to show deference to such, and to every fellow worker, and laborer.

16:17  I am glad that Stephanus and Fortunatus and Achaicus have arrived, for they have made up for your absence.

16:18  They refresh my spirit as they do yours. So cultivate the acquaintance of such men.

16:19  The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla (Prisca), with the church that meets in their house, greet you heartily in the Lord.

16:20  All the brothers send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

16:21  The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand.

16:22  If any one does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord is coming.

16:23  The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

16:24  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.