Corinthians-1 Chapters

1 | •  ¹From Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and from Sosthenes our brother, ²to God’s Church which is in Corinth; to you whom God has sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy together with those who everywhere call upon the name of our Lord Christ Jesus, their Lord and ours.

³Receive grace and peace from God, our Father, and Christ Jesus, our Lord.

⁴I give thanks constantly to my God, for you, and for the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. ⁵For you have been fully enriched in him with words and knowledge, ⁶even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷You do not lack any spiritual gift and only await the glorious coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord. ⁸He will keep you steadfast to the end, and you will be without reproach on the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus. ⁹The faithful God will not fail you after calling you to this fellowship with his Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Divisions Among the Faithful

•  ¹⁰I beg you, brothers and sisters, in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, to agree among yourselves and do away with divisions; please be perfectly united with one mind and one judgment.

¹¹For I heard from people of Cloe’s house about your rivalries. ¹²What I mean is this: some say, “I am for Paul,” and others: “I am for Apollos,” or “I am for Peter,” or “I am for Christ.” ¹³Is Christ divided, or have I, Paul, been crucified for you? Have you been baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴I thank God I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one can say he was baptized in my name. ¹⁶Well, I have also baptized the Stephanas family. Apart from these, I do not recall having baptized anyone else.

The Folly of the Cross

•  ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim his gospel. And not with beautiful words! That would be like getting rid of the cross of Christ. ¹⁸The language of the cross remains nonsense for those who are lost. Yet for us who are saved, it is the power of God, ¹⁹as Scripture says: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and make fail the foresight of the foresighted. ²⁰Masters of human wisdom, educated people, philosophers, you have no reply! And the wisdom of this world? God, let it fail.

²¹At first, God spoke the language of wisdom, but the world did not know God through wisdom. Then, God thought of saving the believers through the foolishness we preach.

²²The Jews ask for miracles and the Greeks for a higher knowledge, ²³while we proclaim a crucified Messiah. For the Jews, what a great scandal! And for the Greeks, what nonsense! ²⁴But he is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, for those called by God among both Jews and Greeks.

²⁵In reality, God's “foolishness” is wiser than humans', and God's “weakness” is stronger than humans’.

²⁶Brothers and sisters, look and see whom God has called. Few among you are considered cultured or wealthy, and few belong to noble families. ²⁷Yet God has chosen what the world considers foolish to shame the wise; he has chosen what the world considers weak to shame the strong. ²⁸God has chosen ordinary and unimportant people, making use of what is nothing, to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no mortal may boast before God. ³⁰But by God’s grace, you are in Christ Jesus, who has become our wisdom from God and who makes us just, holy, and free. ³¹Scripture says: Let the one who boasts boast of the Lord.

2 | •  ¹When I came to reveal to you the mystery of God’s plan, I did not count on eloquence or on a show of learning. ²I was determined not to know anything among you but Jesus, the Messiah, and a crucified Messiah. ³I, myself, came weak, fearful, and trembling; ⁴my words and preaching were not brilliant or clever enough to win listeners. It was rather a demonstration of spirit and power, ⁵so that your faith might be a matter, not of human wisdom, but of God’s power.

The Spirit Teaches Us Wisdom

•  ⁶In fact, we do speak of wisdom to the mature in faith, although it is not a wisdom of this world or of its rulers who are doomed to perish. ⁷We teach the mystery and secret plan of divine wisdom, which God destined from the beginning to bring us to glory.

⁸No ruler of this world ever knew this; otherwise, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹But as Scripture says: Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it dawned on the mind what God has prepared for those who love him. ¹⁰God has revealed it to us through his Spirit because the Spirit probes everything, even the depth of God.

¹¹Who, but his own spirit, knows the secrets of a person? Similarly, no one but the Spirit of God knows the secrets of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God, and through him, we understand what God, in his goodness, has given us.

¹³So we speak of this not in terms inspired by human wisdom but in a language taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual wisdom to spiritual persons. ¹⁴The one who remains on the psychological level does not understand the things of the Spirit. They are foolish for him, and he does not understand them because they require spiritual experience. ¹⁵Conversely, the spiritual person judges everything, but no one judges him. ¹⁶Who has known the mind of God to teach him? But we have the mind of Christ.

There Are Many Workers, the Building Is One

3 | ¹I could not, friends, speak to you as spiritual persons but as fleshly people, for you are still infants in Christ. ²I gave you milk, and not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and up to now, you cannot receive it ³for you are still of the flesh. As long as there is jealousy and strife, what can I say? Are you at the level of the flesh and behave like ordinary people?

⁴While one says, “I follow Paul,” and the other, “I follow Apollos,” what are you, but are people still at a human level?

⁵For what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are ministers, and through them, you believed, as it was given by the Lord to each of them. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered the plant, but God made it grow. ⁷So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who makes the plant grow.

⁸The one who plants and the one who waters work to the same end, and the Lord will pay each, according to their work. ⁹We are fellow workers with God, but you are God’s field and building.

•  ¹⁰I, as a good architect, laid the foundation according to the capacity given to me, and another is to build upon it. Each one must be careful how to build upon it. ¹¹No one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²Then, if someone builds with gold upon this foundation, another with silver and precious stones, or with wood, bamboo, or straw, ¹³the work of each one will be shown for what it is. The day of Judgment will reveal it because the fire will make everything known. The fire will test everyone's work. ¹⁴If your work withstands the fire, you will be rewarded, ¹⁵but if it becomes ashes, you will pay for it. You will be saved, but it will be as if you are passing through fire.
•  ¹⁶Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit abides within you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. God’s temple is holy, and you are this temple.

Do Not Divide the Church

•  ¹⁸Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you considers himself wise in the world's ways, let him become a fool so that he may become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s eyes. To this, Scripture says: God catches the wise in their own wisdom. ²⁰It also says: The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is useless.

²¹Because of this, let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you; ²²Paul, Apollos, Cephas—life, death, the present, and the future. Everything is yours. ²³ And you, you belong to Christ, and Christ is of God.

4 | ¹Let everyone, then, see us as the servants of Christ and stewards of the secret works of God. ²Being stewards, faithfulness shall be demanded of us; ³but I do not mind if you, or any human court, judges me. I do not even judge myself. ⁴My conscience, indeed, does not accuse me of anything, but that is not enough for me to be set right with God: the Lord is the one who judges me.

⁵Therefore, do not judge before the time, until the coming of the Lord. He will bring to light whatever was hidden in darkness and disclose the hearts' secret intentions. Then, each one will receive praise from God.

⁶Brothers and sisters, you forced me to apply these comparisons to Apollos and myself. Learn by this example not to believe yourselves superior by siding with one against the other. ⁷How, then, are you more than the others? What have you that you have not received? And if you received it, why are you proud as if you did not receive it?

Comforted Christians and Harassed Apostles

•  ⁸So, then, you are already rich and satisfied and feel like kings without us! I wish you were kings so we might enjoy the kingship with you!

⁹It seems to me that God has placed us, the apostles, in the last place as if condemned to death and as spectacles for the whole world, for the angels, as well as for mortals.

¹⁰We are fools for Christ while you show forth the wisdom of Christ. We are weak, you are strong. You are honored, while we are despised. ¹¹Until now, we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and badly treated while moving from place to place. ¹²We labor, working with our hands. People insult us, and we bless them; they persecute us, and we endure everything; ¹³they speak evil against us, and ours are works of peace. We have become like the scum of the earth, like the garbage of humankind until now.

¹⁴I do not write this to shame you but to warn you as very dear children. ¹⁵Because, even though you may have ten thousand guardians in the Christian life, you have only one father, and it was I who gave you life in Christ through the gospel. ¹⁶Therefore, I pray you to follow my example. ¹⁷With this purpose, I send to you Timothy, my dear and trustworthy son in the service of the Lord. He will remind you of my Christian way of life as I teach it in all churches everywhere.

¹⁸Some of you thought that I could not visit you and became very arrogant. ¹⁹But I will visit you soon, the Lord willing, and I will see, not what those arrogant people say, but what they can do. ²⁰Because the kingdom of God is not a matter of words but of power. ²¹What do you prefer, for me to come with a stick or with love and gentleness?

Expel the Immoral Brother!

5 | •  ¹You have become news with a case of immorality, which is not even found among pagans. Yes, one of you has taken as wife his own stepmother. ²And you feel proud! Should you not be in mourning instead and expel the one who did such a thing? ³For my part, although I am physically absent, my spirit is with you and, as if present, I have already passed sentence on the man who committed such a sin. ⁴Let us meet together, you and my spirit, and in the name of our Lord Jesus, and with his power ⁵you shall deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit be saved in the day of Judgment.

⁶This is not the time to praise yourselves. Do you not know that a bit of yeast makes the whole mass of dough rise? ⁷Throw out, then, the old yeast and be new dough. If Christ became our Passover, you should be unleavened bread. ⁸Let us celebrate, therefore, the Passover, no longer with old yeast which is sin and perversity; let us have unleavened bread, that is purity and sincerity.

⁹In my last letter, I instructed you not to associate with immoral people. ¹⁰I did not mean, of course, those who do not belong to the church and who are immoral, exploiters, embezzlers, or worshipers of idols. Otherwise, you would have to leave this world. ¹¹What I really meant was to avoid and not to mingle with anyone who, bearing the name of brother or sister, becomes immoral, exploiter, slanderer, drunkard, embezzler. In this case, you should not even eat with them.

¹²Why should I judge outsiders? But you, are you not to judge those who are inside? ¹³Let God judge those outside, but as for you, drive out the wicked person from among you.

Do Not Bring Another Christian to Court

6 | •  ¹When you have a complaint against a brother, how dare you bring it before pagan judges instead of bringing it before God’s people? ²Do you not know that you shall one day judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you incapable of judging such simple problems?

³Do you not know that we will even judge the angels? And could you not decide everyday affairs? ⁴But when you have ordinary cases to be judged, you bring them before those who are of no account in the Church! ⁵Shame on you! Is there not even one among you wise enough to be the arbiter among believers?

⁶But no. One of you brings a suit against another one and files that suit before unbelievers. ⁷It is already a failure that you have suits against each other. Why do you not rather suffer wrong and receive some damage? ⁸But no. You wrong and injure others and those are your brothers and sisters. ⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Make no mistake about it: those who lead sexually immoral lives, or worship idols, or who are adulterers, perverts, sodomites, ¹⁰or thieves, exploiters, drunkards, slanderers or embezzlers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹Some of you were like that, but you have been cleansed and consecrated to God and have been set right with God by the name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God.

Sexual Immorality

•  ¹²Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is to my profit. Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become a slave of anything. ¹³Food is for the stomach as the stomach is for food, and God will destroy them both. Yet the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴And God, who raised the Lord, will also raise us with his power.

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? And you would make that part of his body become a part of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶But you well know that when you join yourselves to a prostitute, you become one with her. For Scripture says: The two will become one flesh. ¹⁷On the contrary, anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

¹⁸Avoid unlawful sex entirely. Any other sin a person commits is outside the body, but those who commit sexual immorality sin against their own body.

¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, given by God? You belong no longer to yourselves. ²⁰Remember at what price you have been bought, and make your body serve the glory of God.

Marriage and Abstinence

7 | •  ¹Now I will answer the questions in your letter. It is good for a man not to touch a woman. ²Yet to avoid immorality, every man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³Let the husband fulfill his duty as husband and likewise the wife. ⁴The wife is not the owner of her own body; the husband is. Similarly, the husband is not the owner of his own body; the wife is.

⁵Do not refuse each other, except by mutual consent, and only for a time to dedicate yourselves to prayer, and then come together again lest you fall into Satan’s trap by lack of self-control. ⁶I approve of this abstention, but I do not order it. ⁷I would like everyone to be like me, but each has a particular gift from God, some in one way, others differently.

⁸To the unmarried and the widows, I say that it would be good for them to remain as I am, ⁹but if they cannot control themselves, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Marriage and Divorce

•  ¹⁰I command married couples—not I but the Lord—that the wife should not separate from her husband. ¹¹If she separates from him, let her not marry again, or let her make peace with her husband. Similarly, the husband should not divorce his wife.

¹²To the others I say—from me and not from the Lord—if a brother has a wife who is not a believer, but she agrees to live with him, let him not separate from her. ¹³In the same manner, if a woman has a husband who is not a believer, but he agrees to live with her, let her not separate from her husband. ¹⁴Because the wife sanctifies the unbelieving husband, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband who believes. Otherwise, your children would also be separated from God, but they are consecrated to God as it is.

¹⁵Now, if the unbelieving husband or wife wants to separate, let them do so. In this case, the Christian partner is not bound for the Lord has called us to peace. ¹⁶Besides, are you sure, wife, that you could save your husband, and you, husband, that you could save your wife?

•  ¹⁷Except for this, let each one continue living as he was when God called him as was his lot set by the Lord. This is what I order in all churches. ¹⁸Let the circumcised Jew not remove the marks of the circumcision when he is called by God, and let the non-Jew not be circumcised when he is called. ¹⁹The important thing is not to be circumcised but to keep the commandments of God.

²⁰Let each of you, therefore, remain in the state in which you were called by God. ²¹If you were a slave when called, do not worry; yet if you can gain your freedom, take the opportunity.

²²The slave called to believe in the Lord is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever has been called while free becomes a slave of Christ. ²³You have been bought at a very great price; do not become slaves of a human being.

²⁴So then, brothers and sisters, continue living in the state you were before God at the time of his call.

Marriage and Virginity

•  ²⁵I have no special commandment from the Lord regarding those who remain virgins, but I give some advice, hoping that I am worthy of trust because of the mercy of the Lord.

²⁶I think this is good in these challenging times in which we live. It is good for someone to remain as he is. ²⁷If you are married, do not try to divorce your wife; if you are not married, do not marry. ²⁸He who marries does not sin, nor does the young girl sin who marries. Yet they will face disturbing experiences, and I would like to spare you.

²⁹I say this, brothers and sisters: time is running out, and those who are married must live as if not married; ³⁰those who weep as if not weeping; those who are happy as if they were not happy; those buying something as if they had not bought it, and those enjoying the present life as if they were not enjoying it. ³¹For the order of this world is vanishing.

³²I would like you to be free from anxieties. He who is not married is concerned about the things of the Lord and how to please the Lord. ³³While he who is married is taken up with the things of the world and how to please his wife and he is divided in his interests.

³⁴Likewise, the unmarried woman and the virgin are concerned with serving the Lord and being holy in body and spirit. The married woman, on the other hand, worries about the things of the world and how to please her husband.

³⁵I say this for your own good. I do not wish to lay traps for you but to lead you to a beautiful life entirely united with the Lord.

•  ³⁶If anyone realizes he will not be behaving correctly with his fiancée because of the ardor of his passion and that things should take their due course, let him marry; he commits no sin. ³⁷But if another of firmer heart thinks that he can control his passion and decides not to marry so that his fiancée may remain a virgin, he does better. ³⁸So then, he who marries does well, and he who does not marry does better.

³⁹The wife is bound as long as her husband lives. If he dies, she is free to be married to whomsoever she wishes, provided that she does so in the Christian way. ⁴⁰However, she will be happier if, following my advice, she remains as she is, and I believe that I also have the Spirit of God.

Can we Share in Pagan Customs?

8 | •  ¹Regarding meat from the offerings to idols, we know that all of us have the knowledge, but knowledge puffs up while love builds. ²If anyone thinks that he has the knowledge, he does not yet know as he should know, ³but if someone loves (God), he has been known (by God).

⁴Can we, then, eat meat from offerings to the idols? We know that an idol is without existence and that there is no God but one. ⁵People speak indeed of other gods in heaven and on earth; in this sense, there are many gods and lords. ⁶Yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom everything comes and to whom we go. And there is one Lord, Christ Jesus, through whom everything exists, and through him we exist.

⁷Not everyone, however, has that knowledge. For some persons who have taken idols seriously until recently, food remains linked to the idol, and eating it stains their unformed conscience.

⁸It is not food that brings us closer to God. If we eat, we gain nothing, and if we do not eat, we do not lose anything. ⁹We are free, of course, but let not your freedom cause others, who are less prepared, to fall. ¹⁰What if others with an unformed conscience see you a person of knowledge sitting at the table in the temple of idols? Will not their weak conscience, because of your example, move them to eat also? ¹¹Then, with your knowledge, you would have caused your weak brother or sister to perish, the one for whom Christ died. ¹²When you disturb the weak conscience of your brother or sister and sin against them, you sin against Christ himself. ¹³Therefore, if any food will bring my brother or sister to sin, I shall never eat this food, lest my brother or sister fall.

Renouncing One’s Own Rights: The Example of Paul

9 | •  ¹As for me, am I not free? I am an apostle and have seen Jesus the Lord, and you are my work in the Lord. ²Although I may not be an apostle for others, at least I am one for you. You are, in the Lord, evidence of my apostleship.

³Now, this is what I answer to those who criticize me: ⁴Have we not the right to be fed? ⁵Have we not the right to bring along with us a sister as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? ⁶Am I the only one, with Barnabas, bound to work?

What soldier goes to war at his own expense? ⁷What farmer does not eat from the vineyard he planted? Who tends a flock and does not drink from its milk? ⁸Are these rights only accepted by human practice? No. The law says the same. The law of Moses says: Do not muzzle the ox which threshes grain. ⁹Does this mean that God is concerned with oxen, ¹⁰or rather with us? Of course, it applies to us. For our sake, it was written that no one plows without expecting a reward for plowing, and no one threshes without hoping for a share of the crop. ¹¹Then, if we have sown spiritual riches among you, would it be too much for us to reap some material reward? ¹²If others have had a share among you, we could have it all the more.

Yet, we made no use of this right and prefer to endure everything rather than put any obstacle to the gospel of Christ. ¹³Do you not know that those working in the sacred service eat from what is offered for the temple? And those serving at the altar receive their part from the altar? ¹⁴The Lord ordered, likewise, that those announcing the gospel live from the gospel. ¹⁵Yet, I have not made use of my rights, and now I do not write to claim them: I would rather die! No one will deprive me of this glory of mine.

¹⁶Because I cannot boast of announcing the gospel: I am bound to do it. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷If I preach voluntarily, I could expect my reward, but I have been trusted with this office against my will. ¹⁸How can I, then, deserve a reward? In announcing the gospel, I will do it freely without using the rights given to me by the gospel.

¹⁹So, feeling free with everybody, I have become everybody’s slave to gain a greater number. ²⁰To save the Jews, I became a Jew with the Jews, and because they are under the law, I myself submitted to the law, although I am free from it. ²¹With the pagans, not subject to the law, I became one of them, although I am not without a law of God since Christ is my law. Yet, I wanted to gain those strangers to the law. ²²To the weak, I made myself weak to win the weak. So I made myself all things to all people to save some of them by all possible means. ²³This, I do for the gospel so that I, too, have a share of it.

Faith Demands Sacrifice

•  ²⁴Have you not learned anything from the stadium? Many run, but only one gets the prize. Run, therefore, intending to win it, ²⁵as athletes who impose rigorous discipline upon themselves. Yet, for them, the wreath is of laurels, which wither, while it does not wither for us.

²⁶So then, I run, knowing where I go. I box, but not aimlessly in the air. ²⁷I punish my body and control it, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be rejected.

10 | •  ¹Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, about our ancestors. All of them were under the cloud, and all crossed the sea. ²All underwent the baptism of the land and of the sea to join Moses; ³and all of them ate from the same spiritual manna; ⁴and all of them drank from the same spiritual drink. For you know that they drank from a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was Christ. ⁵However, most of them did not please God, and the desert was strewn with their bodies.

⁶All this happened to set an example for us so we might not desire evil things as they did.

⁷Do not follow idols as some of them did, and Scripture says: The people sat down to eat and drink and stood up for an orgy. ⁸Let us not fall into sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day, twenty-three thousand of them fell dead. ⁹And let us not tempt the Lord, as some of them did, and were killed by serpents; ¹⁰nor grumble, as some of them did, and were cut down by the destroying angel.

¹¹These things happened to them as an example, and they were written as a warning for us as the last times come upon us. ¹²Therefore, if you think you stand, beware, lest you fall. ¹³No trial greater than human endurance has overcome you. God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength. He will give you, together with the temptation, the strength to escape and to resist.

¹⁴Therefore, dear friends, shun the cult of idols.

•  ¹⁵I address you as intelligent persons; judge what I say. ¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a communion with the body of Christ? ¹⁷The bread is one, and so we, though many, form one body sharing the one bread.

¹⁸Consider the Israelites. For them, to eat of the victim is to come into communion with its altar.

¹⁹What does all that mean? That the meat is really consecrated to the idol, or that the idol is a being. ²⁰However, when the pagans offer a sacrifice, the sacrifice goes to the demons, not to God. I do not want you to come into fellowship with demons. ²¹You cannot drink simultaneously from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord's table and the demons' table. ²²Do we want, perhaps, to provoke the jealousy of the Lord? Could we be stronger than he?

Practical Solutions

•  ²³Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is to my profit. Everything is lawful for me, but not everything builds up: ²⁴let no one pursue his own interests, but the interests of the other.

²⁵Eat, then, whatever is sold at the market, and do not raise questions of conscience about it. ²⁶Because the earth and whatever is in it belongs to the Lord. ²⁷If someone who does not share your faith invites you, go and eat anything served to you without problems of conscience. ²⁸However, if somebody tells you that the meat is from the offerings to idols, then do not eat out of consideration for those warning you and for the sake of their conscience.

²⁹I say, “In consideration of their conscience,” not of yours, for is it convenient that they and their conscience misinterpret my rights? ³⁰Is it good that I bring on criticism for some good thing I am sharing, for which I will give thanks?

³¹Then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. ³²Give no offense to the Jews or the Greeks or to the Church of God, ³³just as I try to please everyone in everything. I do not seek my own interest but that of many; this is that they be saved.

Women’s Dress and Mediterranean Customs

11 | •  ¹Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. ²I praise you because you remember me in everything, and you keep the traditions that I have given you. ³However, I wish to remind you that every man has Christ as his head, while the wife has her husband as her head, and God is the head of Christ. ⁴If a man prays or prophesies with his head covered, he dishonors his head. ⁵On the contrary, the woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered does not respect her head. She might as well cut her hair. ⁶If a woman does not use a veil, let her cut her hair; and if it is a shame for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved, then let her use a veil.

⁷Men do not need to cover their heads, for they are the image of God and reflect his glory, while a woman reflects the glory of man. ⁸Man was not formed from woman, but woman from man. ⁹Nor did God create man for woman, but woman for man. ¹⁰Therefore, a woman must respect the angels and have a symbol of dependence on her head.

¹¹Anyway, the Christian attitude does not separate man from woman and woman from man. ¹²And if God has created woman from man, man is born of woman and both come from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray without a veil? ¹⁴Common sense teaches us that it is shameful for a man to wear long hair ^15,while long hair is a woman's pride, and it has been given to her precisely as a veil.

¹⁶If some of you want to argue, let it be known that it is not our custom, nor the custom in the churches of God.

The Lord’s Supper

•  ¹⁷To continue with my advice, I cannot praise you for your gatherings, which are not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸First, as I have heard, when you gather together, you have divisions, and I partly believe it. ¹⁹There may have to be different groups among you so that it becomes clear who among you is genuine.

²⁰Your gatherings are no longer the Supper of the Lord, ²¹for each one eats at once his own food, and while one is hungry, the other is getting drunk. ²²Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or perhaps you despise the Church of God and desire to humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say? Shall I praise you? For this, I cannot praise you.

²³This is the tradition of the Lord that I received and that in my turn I have handed on to you; the Lord Jesus, on the night that he was delivered up, took bread and, ²⁴after giving thanks, broke it, saying, “This is my body which is broken for you; do this in memory of me.” ²⁵In the same manner, taking the cup after supper, he said, “This cup is the new Covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of me.” ²⁶So then, whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this cup, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord until he comes.

²⁷Therefore, if anyone eats of the bread or drinks from the cup of the Lord unworthily, he sins against the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Let each one examine himself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. ²⁹Otherwise, he eats and drinks his own condemnation in not recognizing the Body.

³⁰This is the reason why so many among you are sick and weak and several have died. ³¹But if we examine ourselves, we will not be examined by God and judged in this way. ³²The Lord’s strokes are to correct us so that we may not be condemned with this world.

³³So then, brothers and sisters, when you gather for a meal, wait for one another ³⁴and, if someone is hungry, let him eat in his own house. In this way, you will not gather for your common condemnation. I shall give the other instructions when I go there.

Spiritual Gifts and Harmony

12 | •  ¹Concerning spiritual gifts, I will remind you of the following: ²When you were still pagans, you were irresistibly drawn to your dumb idols. ³I tell you that nobody inspired by the Spirit of God may say, “A curse on Jesus,” as no one can say, “Jesus is the Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴There is a diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. ⁵There is a diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. ⁶There is a diversity of works, but the same God works in all.

⁷The Spirit reveals his presence in each one with a gift that is also a service. ⁸One is to speak with wisdom through the Spirit. Another teaches according to the same Spirit. ⁹To another is given faith in which the Spirit acts; to another the gift of healing, and it is the same Spirit. ¹⁰Another works miracles, another is a prophet; another recognizes what comes from the good or evil spirit; another speaks in tongues, and another interprets what has been said in tongues. ¹¹And all of this is the work of the one and only Spirit, who gives to each one as he desires.

Comparison with the Body

•  ¹²As the body is one, having many members, and all the members while being many form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptized in one Spirit to form one body, and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

¹⁴The body has not just one member but many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, “I do not belong to the body, for I am not a hand,” it would be wrong: it is part of the body! ¹⁶Even though the ear says, “I do not belong to the body, for I am not an eye,” it is part of the body. ¹⁷If all the body were an eye, how would we hear? And if all the body were an ear, how would we smell?

¹⁸God has arranged all the members, placing each body part as he pleased. ¹⁹If all were the same part, where would the body be? ²⁰But there are many members and one body. ²¹The eye cannot tell the hand, “I do not need you,” nor the head tell the feet, “I do not need you.”

²²Still more, the parts of our body that we most need are those that seem to be the weakest; ²³the parts that we consider lower are treated with much care, ²⁴and we cover them with more modesty because they are less presentable, whereas the others do not need much attention. ²⁵God himself arranged the body in this way, giving more honor to those parts that need it so that the body may not be divided, but rather each member may care for the others. ²⁶When one suffers, all of them suffer, and when one receives honor, all rejoice together.

²⁷Now, you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member. ²⁸So God has appointed us in the Church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers. Then come miracles, then the gift of healing, material help, administration in the Church, and the gift of tongues.

²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Can all perform miracles ³⁰or cure the sick or speak in tongues or explain what was said in tongues? ³¹Be that as it may, set your hearts on the most precious gifts, and I will show you a much better way.

No Gift Higher than Love

13 | •  ¹If I could speak all the human and angelic tongues but had no love, I would only be sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ²If I had the gift of prophecy, knowing secret things with all kinds of knowledge and had faith great enough to remove mountains but had no love I would be nothing. ³If I gave everything I had to the poor and even gave up my body to be burned, if I am without love, it would be of no value to me.

⁴Love is patient, kind, without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. It is not ill-mannered, nor does it seek its own interest. ⁵Love overcomes anger and forgets offenses. ⁶It does not delight in the wrong but rejoices in the truth. ⁷Love excuses everything, believes, hopes, and endures all things.

⁸Love will never end. Prophecies may cease, tongues will be silent, and knowledge disappear. ⁹For knowledge grasps something of the truth and prophecy as well. ¹⁰And when what is perfect comes, everything imperfect will pass away. ¹¹When I was a child, I thought and reasoned like a child, but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways. ¹²Likewise, at present, we see dimly as in a mirror, but then it shall be face to face. Now we know in part, but then I will know as I am known. ¹³Now, we have faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues

14 | •  ¹Strive, then, for love and set your hearts on spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ²The one who speaks in tongues does not speak to people, but to God, for no one understands him; the spirit makes him say things that are not understandable. ³The prophet, instead, addresses all people to give them strength, encouragement, and consolation. ⁴He who speaks in tongues strengthens himself, but the prophet builds the Church.

⁵I should like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The prophet has an advantage over the one who speaks in tongues unless someone explains what was spoken so that the community may profit. ⁶Suppose, brothers and sisters, I go to you and speak in tongues, of what use will it be to you if I do not bring you some revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or teaching?

⁷When someone plays the flute or harp or any musical instrument, if there are no tunes and notes, who will recognize the tune? ⁸And if the bugle call is unclear, who will prepare for battle? ⁹The same with you. If your words are not understood, who will know what is said? You will be talking to the moon! ¹⁰There are many languages in the world, and each of them has a meaning, ¹¹but if I cannot find any meaning in what is said, I become a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker to me.

¹²As you set your heart on spiritual gifts, be eager to build the Church, and you will receive abundantly. ¹³Because of this, those who speak in tongues should ask God for the ability to explain what they say.

¹⁴When I am praying in tongues, my spirit prays, but my mind remains idle. ¹⁵What shall I do, then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with my mind. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind. ¹⁶If you praise God only with your spirit, how will the ordinary person add the “Amen” to your thanksgiving since the outsider has not understood what you said? ¹⁷Your thanksgiving was indeed beautiful, but it was useless for others.

¹⁸I give thanks to God because I speak in tongues more than all of you, ¹⁹but when I am in the assembly, I prefer to say five words from my mind, which may teach others than ten thousand words in tongues.

²⁰Brothers and sisters do not remain as children in your thinking. Be like infants in doing evil, but mature in your thinking. ²¹God says in the law: I will speak to this people through those talking other tongues and through lips of foreigners, but even so, they will not listen to me. ²²So, speaking in tongues is significant for those who refuse to believe, not for those who believe, while prophecy is a sign for those who believe, not for those who refuse to believe.

²³Yet, imagine that the whole Church is gathered together and all speak in tongues when unbelievers and uninformed people enter. What will they think? That you are crazy. ²⁴Instead, suppose that each of you speaks as a prophet; as soon as an unbeliever or an uninformed person enters, all of you call him to account and disclose his most secret thinking. ²⁵Then, falling on his face, he would be urged to worship God and declare that God is truly among you.

²⁶What then shall we conclude, brothers and sisters? When you gather, each of you can take part with a song, a teaching, or a revelation, by speaking in tongues or interpreting what has been said in tongues. But let all this build up the Church.

²⁷Are you going to speak in tongues? Let two or three at most speak, each in turn, and let one interpret what has been said. ²⁸If there is no interpreter, hold your tongue in the assembly and speak to God by yourself.

²⁹As for the prophets, let two or three speak with the others, commenting on what has been said. ³⁰If a revelation comes to one of those sitting by, let the first person be silent. ³¹Even all of you could prophesy, one by one, for the instruction and encouragement of all. ³²The spirits, speaking through prophets, are submitted to prophets ³³because God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

³⁴(Let women be silent in the assemblies as in all the churches of the saints. They are not allowed to speak. Let them be submissive as the law commands. ³⁵If they want to know anything, let them consult their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in Church.)

³⁶Did the word of God perhaps come from you? Or did it come only to you? ³⁷Anyone among you who claims to be a prophet or a spiritual person should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. ³⁸If he does not recognize that, God will not recognize him.

³⁹So, my friends, set your hearts on the gift of prophecy and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰However, everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Resurrection Is a Fact

15 | •  ¹Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the Good News that I preached to you, which you received, and on which you stand firm. ²By that gospel, you are saved provided that you hold to it as I preached it. Otherwise, you will have believed in vain.

³In the first place, I have passed on to you what I, myself, received: that Christ died for our sins as Scripture says; ⁴that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; ⁵that he appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. ⁶Afterward, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters together; most of them are still alive although some have already gone to rest. ⁷Then he appeared to James and after that to all the apostles. ⁸And last of all, he appeared to the most despicable of them; this is to me. ⁹For I am the last of the apostles, and I do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. ¹⁰Nevertheless, by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been without fruit. Far from it, I have toiled more than all of them, although not I, rather the grace of God in me.

¹¹Now, whether it was they or I, this we preach, and this you have believed. ¹²Well then, if Christ is preached as risen from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty, and our belief comes to nothing. ¹⁵And we become false witnesses of God, attesting that he raised Christ, whereas he could not raise him if indeed the dead are not raised. ¹⁶If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin. ¹⁸Also, those who fall asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹If it is only for this life that we hope in Christ, we are the most unfortunate of all people.

Christ Gave Us the Way

•  ²⁰But no, Christ has been raised from the dead and comes before all who have fallen asleep. ²¹A human being brought death; a human being also brings resurrection of the dead. ²²For, as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive. ²³However, each one in his own time: first Christ, then Christ’s people when he comes.

²⁴Then, the end will come when Christ delivers the kingdom to God the Father after having destroyed every rule, authority, and power. ²⁵For he must reign and put all enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. ²⁷As Scripture says, God has subjected everything under his feet.

When we say that everything is put under his feet, we exclude, of course, the Father who subjects everything to him. ²⁸When the Father has subjected everything to him, the Son will place himself under the One who subjected everything to him. From then on, God will be all in all.

²⁹Tell me: what are these people doing who are baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead cannot be raised, why do they want to be baptized for the dead?

³⁰As for us, why do we constantly risk our lives? For death is my daily companion. ³¹I say that, brothers and sisters, before you who are my pride in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³²Was it for the human interest that I fought in Ephesus like a lion tamer? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die!

³³Do not be deceived; bad theories corrupt good morals. Wake up and do not sin, ³⁴because some of you are outstandingly ignorant about God; I say this to your shame.

The Body After the Resurrection

•  ³⁵Some of you will ask: How will the dead be raised? With what kind of body will they come?

³⁶You fools! What you sow cannot sprout unless it dies. ³⁷And what you sow is not the body of the future plant, but a bare grain of wheat or any other seed, ³⁸and God will give the appropriate body as he gives to each seed its own body. ³⁹Now, look: not all flesh is the same; one is the flesh of human beings, another the flesh of animals, and still others the flesh of birds and fish. ⁴⁰There are, likewise, heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the earthly bodies do not shine as do the heavenly ones. ⁴¹The brightness of the sun differs from the brightness of the moon and the stars, and the stars differ from one another in brightness.

⁴²It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in decomposition; it will be raised never more to die. ⁴³It is sown in humiliation and it will be raised for glory. It is buried in weakness, but the resurrection shall be with power. When buried, it is a natural body, but it will be raised as a spiritual body. ⁴⁴For there shall be a spiritual body as there is at present a living body. ⁴⁵Scripture says that Adam, the first man, became a living being, but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit.

⁴⁶The spirit does not appear first but the natural life and afterward comes the spirit. ⁴⁷The first man comes from the earth and is earthly, while the second one comes from heaven. ⁴⁸As it was the earthly one, so is it with the earthly people, and as the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. ⁴⁹This is why, after bearing the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.

The Day of Resurrection

⁵⁰This I say, brothers: Flesh and blood cannot share the kingdom of God; nothing of us that is to decay can reach imperishable life. ⁵¹So I want to teach you this mystery: although not all of us will die, all of us have to be transformed, ⁵²in an instant, at the sound of the trumpet. You have heard of the last trumpet; then, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead will be raised, imperishable, while we shall be transformed. ⁵³For it is necessary that our mortal and perishable being put on the life that knows neither death nor decay.

⁵⁴When our perishable being puts on imperishable life, when our mortal being puts on immortality, the word of Scripture will be fulfilled: Death has been swallowed up by victory. ⁵⁵Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?

⁵⁶Sin is the sting of death, to kill, and the law gives force to sin. ⁵⁷But give thanks to God, who gives us victory through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

⁵⁸So then, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast and do not be moved. Improve constantly in the work of the Lord, knowing that, with him, your labor is not without fruit.

Commendations and Greetings

16 | •  ¹With regard to the collection in favor of the saints, follow the rules that I gave to the churches of Galatia. ²On the first day of the week, let each of you put aside what you can spare so that no collection need be made when I come. ³Then, when I arrive, I will send those whom you approve with letters of explanation to carry your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴And if it seems better for me to go, they will go with me.

⁵I will visit you after passing through Macedonia because I want to go only through Macedonia. ⁶I would like to stay with you for a while. Perhaps I will spend the winter so that you may help me on my way wherever I go. ⁷I do not want to see you now, just in passing, for I really hope to stay with you, if the Lord permits. ⁸But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost ⁹because I have a door open here despite many opponents.

¹⁰When Timothy comes, make him feel at ease with you. Consider that, like me, he is working for the Lord. ¹¹Let no one look down on him. Help him continue his journey so that he may return to me without difficulties. I am expecting him with the brothers.

¹²Regarding our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the brothers, but he did not want to go at all; he will visit you at his first opportunity.

¹³Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. ¹⁴Let love be in all. ¹⁵Now, brothers and sisters, you know that in Achaia, there is none better than Stephanas and his family and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the holy ones. ¹⁶I urge you to be subject to such persons and anyone who works and toils with them.

¹⁷I am glad about the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, who were able to represent you. ¹⁸In fact, they appeased my spirit and yours. Appreciate persons like them.

¹⁹The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you in the Lord, as does the church that gathers in their house. ²⁰All the brothers and sisters greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹The greeting is from me, Paul, in my own hand. ²²A curse on anyone who does not love the Lord! Maranatha! Come, Lord!

²³The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. ²⁴My love to all, in Christ Jesus.