1 Corinthians,
chapter 1
1: Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ
Jesus, and our brother Sos'thenes,
2: To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified
in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in
every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord
and ours:
3: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
4: I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of
God which was given you in Christ Jesus,
5: that in every way you were enriched in Him with all speech and
all knowledge --
6: even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you --
7: so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait
for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ;
8: who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
9: God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship
of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10: I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among
you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
11: For it has been reported to me by Chlo'e's people that there
is quarreling among you, my brethren.
12: What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to
Paul," or "I belong to Apol'los," or "I belong to
Cephas," or "I belong to Christ."
13: Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you
baptized in the name of Paul?
14: I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and
Ga'ius;
15: lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name.
16: (I did baptize also the household of Steph'anas. Beyond that,
I do not know whether I baptized any one else.)
17: For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the
gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be
emptied of its power.
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.
19: For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart."
20: Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the
debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God
through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to
save those who believe.
22: For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23: but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and
folly to Gentiles,
24: but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God.
25: For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men.
26: For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise
according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of
noble birth;
27: but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
28: God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things
that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
29: so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
30: He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made
our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
31: therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast
of the Lord."
1 Corinthians,
chapter 2
1: When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to
you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom.
2: For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified.
3: And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling;
4: and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5: that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the
power of God.
6: Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a
wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass
away.
7: But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God
decreed before the ages for our glorification.
8: None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they
had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9: But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear
heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those
who love Him,"
10: God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit
searches everything, even the depths of God.
11: For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of
the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God
except the Spirit of God.
12: Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on
us by God.
13: And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but
taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess
the Spirit.
14: The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit
of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned.
15: The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be
judged by no one.
16: "For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to
instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 3
1: But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but
as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ.
2: I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready
for it; and even yet you are not ready,
3: for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy
and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like
ordinary men?
4: For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another,
"I belong to Apol'los," are you not merely men?
5: What then is Apol'los? What is Paul? Servants through whom you
believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6: I planted, Apol'los watered, but God gave the growth.
7: So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but
only God who gives the growth.
8: He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall
receive his wages according to his labor.
9: For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's
building.
10: According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled
master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it.
Let each man take care how he builds upon it.
11: For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is
laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12: Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw --
13: each man's work will become manifest; for the day will
disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will
test what sort of work each one has done.
14: If the work which any man has built on the foundation
survives, he will receive a reward.
15: If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though
he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
16: Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's
Spirit dwells in you?
17: If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For
God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.
18: Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that
he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
19: For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is
written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness,"
20: and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise
are futile."
21: So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours,
22: whether Paul or Apol'los or Cephas or the world or life or
death or the present or the future, all are yours;
23: and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 4
1: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and
stewards of the mysteries of God.
2: Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found
trustworthy.
3: But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged
by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.
4: I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not
thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
5: Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before
the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in
darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man
will receive his commendation from God.
6: I have applied all this to myself and Apol'los for your
benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is
written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against
another.
7: For who sees anything different in you? What have you that you
did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were
not a gift?
8: Already you are filled! Already you have become rich! Without
us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might
share the rule with you!
9: For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all,
like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the
world, to angels and to men.
10: We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ.
We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in
disrepute.
11: To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and
buffeted and homeless,
12: and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we
bless; when persecuted, we endure;
13: when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are
now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.
14: I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you
as my beloved children.
15: For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not
have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the
gospel.
16: I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
17: Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful
child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them
everywhere in every church.
18: Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
19: But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will
find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.
20: For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
21: What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with
love in a spirit of gentleness?
1 Corinthians,
chapter 5
1: It is actually reported that there is immorality among you,
and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living
with his father's wife.
2: And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him
who has done this be removed from among you.
3: For though absent in body I am present in spirit, and as if
present, I have already pronounced judgment
4: in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a
thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present, with the power
of our Lord Jesus,
5: you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of
the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6: Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little
leaven leavens the whole lump?
7: Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you
really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been
sacrificed.
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.
9: I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men;
10: not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy
and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the
world.
11: But rather I wrote to you not to associate with any one who
bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is
an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber -- not even to eat with such a
one.
12: For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those
inside the church whom you are to judge?
13: God judges those outside. "Drive out the wicked person
from among you."
1 Corinthians,
chapter 6
1: When one of you has a grievance against a brother, does he
dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
2: Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if
the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial
cases?
3: Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more,
matters pertaining to this life!
4: If then you have such cases, why do you lay them before those
who are least esteemed by the church?
5: I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no man among
you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood,
6: but brother goes to law against brother, and that before
unbelievers?
7: To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you.
Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
8: But you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that even your own
brethren.
9: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts,
10: nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.
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
in the Spirit of our God.
12: "All things are lawful for me," but not all things
are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be
enslaved by anything.
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 immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14: And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his
power.
15: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall
I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a
prostitute? Never!
16: Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute
becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall
become one flesh."
17: But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.
18: Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is
outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body.
19: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;
20: you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 7
1: Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well
for a man not to touch a woman.
2: But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should
have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
3: The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and
likewise the wife to her husband.
4: For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband
does; likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife
does.
5: Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a
season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together
again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control.
6: I say this by way of concession, not of command.
7: I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own
special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
8: To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them
to remain single as I do.
9: But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry.
For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
10: To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the
wife should not separate from her husband
11: (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled
to her husband) -- and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
12: 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 should
not divorce her.
13: If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he
consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
14: For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife,
and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise,
your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.
15: But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be
so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has
called us to peace.
16: Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband?
Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?
17: Only, let every one lead the life which the Lord has assigned
to him, and in which God has called him. This is my rule in all the
churches.
18: Was any one at the time of his call already circumcised? Let
him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was any one at the
time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.
19: For neither circumcision counts for anything nor
uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
20: Every one should remain in the state in which he was called.
21: Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain
your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.
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.
23: You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
24: So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let
him remain with God.
25: Now concerning the unmarried, I have no command of the Lord,
but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy.
26: I think that in view of the present distress it is well for a
person to remain as he is.
27: Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free
from a wife? Do not seek marriage.
28: But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a girl marries she
does not sin. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I
would spare you that.
29: I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short;
from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,
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 though they had no goods,
31: and those who deal with the world as though they had no
dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away.
32: I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is
anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
33: but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to
please his wife,
34: and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or
girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body
and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how
to please her husband.
35: I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint
upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided
devotion to the Lord.
36: If any one thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his
betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as
he wishes: let them marry -- it is no sin.
37: But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under
no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined
this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.
38: So that he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who
refrains from marriage will do better.
39: A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the
husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the
Lord.
40: But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is.
And I think that I have the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 8
1: Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all
of us possess knowledge." "Knowledge" puffs up, but love
builds up.
2: If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet
know as he ought to know.
3: But if one loves God, one is known by Him.
4: Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that
"an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no
God but one."
5: For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth
-- as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"
--
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.
7: However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through
being hitherto accustomed to idols, eat food as really offered to an
idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8: Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do
not eat, and no better off if we do.
9: Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a
stumbling block to the weak.
10: For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an
idol's temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to
eat food offered to idols?
11: And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the
brother for whom Christ died.
12: Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their
conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13: Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will
never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 9
1: Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our
Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?
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.
3: This is my defense to those who would examine me.
4: Do we not have the right to our food and drink?
5: Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the
other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
6: Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from
working for a living?
7: Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a
vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without
getting some of the milk?
8: Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the
same?
9: For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not
muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain." Is it for oxen
that God is concerned?
10: Does He not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for
our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher
thresh in hope of a share in the crop.
11: If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if
we reap your material benefits?
12: If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still
more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure
anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
13: Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple
service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar
share in the sacrificial offerings?
14: In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim
the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
15: But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I
writing this to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than
have any one deprive me of my ground for boasting.
16: For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for
boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach
the gospel!
17: For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not
of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
18: What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may
make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the
gospel.
19: For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave
to all, that I might win the more.
20: To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win 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.
21: To those outside the law I became as one outside the law --
not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ -- that I
might win those outside the law.
22: To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have
become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
23: I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in
its blessings.
24: Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but
only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
25: Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do
it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26: Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the
air;
27: but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to
others I myself should be disqualified.
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1 Corinthians,
chapter 10
1: I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
2: and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3: and all ate the same supernatural food
4: and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from
the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
5: Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they
were overthrown in the wilderness.
6: Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as
they did.
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 dance."
8: We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and
twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
9: We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and
were destroyed by serpents;
10:
nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.
11: Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were
written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has
come.
12: Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed
lest he fall.
13: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your
strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape,
that you may be able to endure it.
14: Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols.
15: I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say.
16: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation
in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a
participation in the body of Christ?
17: Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for
we all partake of the one bread.
18: Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the
sacrifices partners in the altar?
19: What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything,
or that an idol is anything?
20: No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons
and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.
21: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.
You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
22: Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than
He?
23: "All things are lawful," but not all things are
helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up.
24: Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
25: Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any
question on the ground of conscience.
26: For "the earth is the Lord's, and everything in
it."
27: If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are
disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any
question on the ground of conscience.
28: (But if some one says to you, "This has been offered in
sacrifice," then out of consideration for the man who informed you,
and for conscience' sake --
29: I mean his conscience, not yours -- do not eat it.) For why
should my liberty be determined by another man's scruples?
30: If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of
that for which I give thanks?
31: So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to
the glory of God.
32: Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,
33: just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not
seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 11
1: Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
2: I commend you because you remember me in everything and
maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.
3: But I want you to understand that the head of every man is
Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is
God.
4: Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered
dishonors his head,
5: but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled
dishonors her head -- it is the same as if her head were shaven.
6: For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off
her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven,
let her wear a veil.
7: For a man ought not to cover his head, since He is the image
and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
8: (For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.
9: Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.)
10: That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because
of the angels.
11: (Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man
nor man of woman;
12: for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman.
And all things are from God.)
13: Judge for yourselves; is it proper for a woman to pray to God
with her head uncovered?
14: Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long
hair is degrading to him,
15: but if a woman has long hair, it is her pride? For her hair
is given to her for a covering.
16: If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no
other practice, nor do the churches of God.
17: But in the following instructions I do not commend you,
because when you come together it is not for the better but for the
worse.
18: For, in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I
hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it,
19: for there must be factions among you in order that those who
are genuine among you may be recognized.
20: When you meet together, it is not the Lord's supper that you
eat.
21: For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one
is hungry and another is drunk.
22: What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you
despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What
shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
23: For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you,
that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread,
24: and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said,
"This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of
me."
25: In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of me."
26: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you
proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
27: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and
blood of the Lord.
28: Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink
of the cup.
29: For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body
eats and drinks judgment upon himself.
30: That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
31: But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged.
32: But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that
we may not be condemned along with the world.
33: So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for
one another --
34: if any one is hungry, let him eat at home -- lest you come
together to be condemned. About the other things I will give directions
when I come.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 12
1: Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to
be uninformed.
2: You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to
dumb idols, however you may have been moved.
3: Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the
Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say
"Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5: and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6: and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who
inspires them all in every one.
7: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the
common good.
8: To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom,
and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9: to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of
healing by the one Spirit,
10: to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to
another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11: All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who
apportions to each one individually as He wills.
12: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the
members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13: For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews
or Greeks, slaves or free -- and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14: For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15: If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do
not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of
the body.
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.
17: If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If
the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
18: But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one
of them, as He chose.
19: If all were a single organ, where would the body be?
20: As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21: The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of
you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of
you."
22: On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be
weaker are indispensable,
23: and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we
invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated
with greater modesty,
24: which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has
so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part,
25: that there may be no discord in the body, but that the
members may have the same care for one another.
26: If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is
honored, all rejoice together.
27: Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of
it.
28: And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second
prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers,
helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
29: Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all
work miracles?
30: Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?
Do all interpret?
31: But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a
still more excellent way.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 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.
2: And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.
3: If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be
burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4: Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
5: it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own
way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6: it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
7: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
8: Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as
for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9: For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
10: but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
11: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a
child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish
ways.
12: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now
I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully
understood.
13: So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of
these is love.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 14
1: Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts,
especially that you may prophesy.
2: For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God;
for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
3: On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks to men for their
upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
4: He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who
prophesies edifies the church.
5: Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to
prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues,
unless some one interprets, so that the church may be edified.
6: Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how shall
I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or
prophecy or teaching?
7: If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp,
do not give distinct notes, how will any one know what is played?
8: And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready
for battle?
9: So with yourselves; if you in a tongue utter speech that is
not intelligible, how will any one know what is said? For you will be
speaking into the air.
10: There are doubtless many different languages in the world,
and none is without meaning;
11: but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be
a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.
12: So with yourselves; since you are eager for manifestations of
the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
13: Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should pray for the
power to interpret.
14: For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is
unfruitful.
15: What am I to do? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray
with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the
mind also.
16: Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how can any one in
the position of an outsider say the "Amen" to your
thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?
17: For you may give thanks well enough, but the other man is not
edified.
18: I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all;
19: nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with
my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a
tongue.
20: Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; be babes in
evil, but in thinking be mature.
21: In the law it is written, "By men of strange tongues and
by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then
they will not listen to Me, says the Lord."
22: Thus, tongues are a sign not for believers but for
unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.
23: If, therefore, the whole church assembles and all speak in
tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you
are mad?
24: But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he
is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,
25: the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on
his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
26: What then, brethren? When you come together, each one has a
hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all
things be done for edification.
27: If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most
three, and each in turn; and let one interpret.
28: But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep
silence in church and speak to himself and to God.
29: Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh
what is said.
30: If a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first
be silent.
31: For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn
and all be encouraged;
32: and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
33: For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the
churches of the saints,
34: the
women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to
speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says.
35: If
there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at
home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
36: What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only
ones it has reached?
37: If
any one thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge
that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord.
38: If any one does not recognize this, he is not recognized.
39: So, my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid
speaking in tongues;
40: but all things should be done decently and in order.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 15
1: Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to
you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand,
2: by which you are saved, if you hold it fast -- unless you
believed in vain.
3: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also
received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
scriptures,
4: that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in
accordance with the scriptures,
5: and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
6: Then He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one
time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
7: Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
8: Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.
9: For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace 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 which is with me.
11: Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you
believed.
12: Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can
some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13: But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has
not been raised;
14: if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain
and your faith is in vain.
15: We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we
testified of God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is
true that the dead are not raised.
16: For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been
raised.
17: If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you
are still in your sins.
18: Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished.
19: If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all
men most to be pitied.
20: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first
fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21: For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the
resurrection of the dead.
22: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive.
23: But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at
his coming those who belong to Christ.
24: Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the
Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
25: For He must reign until He has put all his enemies under his
feet.
26: The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
27: "For God has put all things in subjection under his
feet." But when it says, "All things are put in subjection
under Him," it is plain that He is excepted who put all things
under Him.
28: When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son himself
will also be subjected to Him who put all things under Him, that God may
be everything to every one.
29: Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of
the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on
their behalf?
30: Why am I in peril every hour?
31: I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in
Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
32: What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at
Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die."
33: Do not be deceived: "Bad
company ruins good morals."
34: Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no
knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
35: But some one will ask, "How are the dead raised? With
what kind of body do they come?"
36: You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies.
37: And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare
kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
38: But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of
seed its own body.
39: For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men,
another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40: There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies;
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial
is another.
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.
42: So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is
perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
43: It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in
weakness, it is raised in power.
44: It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If
there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
45: Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living
being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46: But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical,
and then the spiritual.
47: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second
man is from heaven.
48: As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and
as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
49: Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall
also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50: I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51: Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed,
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.
53: For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and
this mortal nature must put on immortality.
54: When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal
puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
55: "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy
sting?"
56: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57: But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
58: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your
labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 16
1: Now concerning the contribution for the saints: as I directed
the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.
2: On the first day of every week, each of you is to put
something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that
contributions need not be made when I come.
3: And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by
letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
4: If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will
accompany me.
5: I will visit you after passing through Macedo'nia, for I
intend to pass through Macedo'nia,
6: and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so
that you may speed me on my journey, wherever I go.
7: For I do not want to see you now just in passing; I hope to
spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
8: But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
9: for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there
are many adversaries.
10: When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you,
for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.
11: So let no one despise him. Speed him on his way in peace,
that he may return to me; for I am expecting him with the brethren.
12: As for our brother Apol'los, I strongly urged him to visit
you with the other brethren, but it was not at all his will to come now.
He will come when he has opportunity.
13: Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be
strong.
14: Let all that you do be done in love.
15: Now, brethren, you know that the household of Steph'anas were
the first converts in Acha'ia, and they have devoted themselves to the
service of the saints;
16: I urge you to be subject to such men and to every fellow
worker and laborer.
17: I rejoice at the coming of Steph'anas and Fortuna'tus and
Acha'icus, because they have made up for your absence;
18: for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give
recognition to such men.
19: The churches of Asia send greetings. Aq'uila and Prisca,
together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in
the Lord.
20: All the brethren send greetings. Greet one another with a
holy kiss.
21: I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
22:
If any one has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord,
come!
23: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
24: My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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