\v 2 to the church of God at Corinth, those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy people, together with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is their Lord and ours.
\v 10 Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you. I urge that you be joined together with the same mind and by the same purpose.
\v 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel—not with clever speech, in order that the cross of Christ would not be emptied of its power.
\v 26 Look at your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to the flesh. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth.
\v 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame what is strong.
\s5
\v 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world. He even chose things that are regarded as nothing, to bring to nothing things that are held as valuable.
\v 1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence of speech or wisdom as I proclaimed hidden truths about God. \f + \ft A few important and ancient Greek copies read, \fqa as I proclaimed the testimony about God \fqa* . \f*
\v 2 For I decided to know nothing when I was among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
\s5
\v 3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
\v 4 And my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom. Instead, they were with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
\v 5 so that your faith might not be in the wisdom of humans, but in the power of God.
\s5
\p
\v 6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this world, or of the rulers of this age, who are passing away.
\v 7 Instead, we speak God's wisdom in hidden truth, the hidden wisdom that God predestined before the ages for our glory.
\v 10 For God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything out, even the deep things of God. \f + \ft Some ancient Greek copies say \fqa But God \fqa* but following our Greek source, it reads,\fqa For God \fqa*. \f
\v 14 The unspiritual person does not receive the things that belong to the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
\v 15 The one who is spiritual judges all things, but he is not judged by others.
\v 3 For you are still fleshly. For where jealousy and strife exist among you, are you not living according to the flesh, and are you not walking by human standards?
\v 7 So then, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. But it is God who gives the growth.
\s5
\v 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own wages according to his own labor.
\v 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's garden, God's building.
\s5
\p
\v 10 According to the grace of God that was given to me as a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.
\v 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that has been laid, that is, Jesus Christ.
\s5
\v 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,
\v 13 his work will be revealed, for the day will reveal it. For it will be revealed in fire. The fire will test the quality of what each one has done.
\v 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment about anything before the time, before the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his praise from God.
\s5
\p
\v 6 Now, brothers, I applied these principles to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that from us you might learn the meaning of the saying,
\q "Do not go beyond what is written."
\m This is so that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against the other.
\v 7 For who sees any difference between you and others? What do you have that you did not receive? If you have received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
\v 8 Already you have all you could want! Already you have become rich! You began to reign—and that quite apart from us! Indeed, I wish you did reign, so that we could reign with you.
\v 9 For I think God has put us apostles on display as the last in line, in a procession and like men sentenced to death. We have become a spectacle to the world—to angels, and to human beings.
\v 15 For even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
\v 16 So I urge you to be imitators of me.
\s5
\v 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach them everywhere and in every church.
\v 1 We heard a report that there is sexual immorality among you, a kind of immorality that is not even permitted among the pagans: A man has his father's wife.
\v 7 Cleanse yourselves of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, unleavened, just as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
\v 8 So let us then celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of bad behavior and wickedness. Instead, let us celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
\s5
\p
\v 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.
\v 10 In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy, or swindlers, or idolaters, since to stay away from them you would need to go out of the world.
\s5
\v 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother but who is living in sexual immorality, or who is greedy, or is an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or is a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat a meal with such a person.
\v 12 For how am I involved with judging those who are outside the church? Instead, are you not to judge those who are inside the church?
\v 13 But God judges those who are on the outside.
\v 2 Do you not know that God's holy people will judge the world? If then you will judge the world, are you not able to settle matters of little importance?
\v 3 Do you not know that we will judge the angels? How much more, then, can we judge matters of this life?
\s5
\v 4 If then you have to make judgments that pertain to daily life, why do you lay such cases as these before those who have no standing in the church?
\v 5 I say this to your shame. Is there no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between brothers?
\v 7 The fact that you have lawsuits with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather allow yourselves to be cheated?
\v 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to homosexual acts, nor men who perform homosexual acts,
\v 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
\v 11 That is what some of you were like. But you have been cleansed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
\v 13 "Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food," but God will do away with both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality. Instead, the body is for the Lord, and the Lord will provide for the body.
\s5
\v 14 God both raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
\v 18 Run away from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
\s5
\v 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you, whom you have from God? Do you not know that you are not your own?
\v 4 It is not the wife who has authority over her own body, it is the husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
\v 5 Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement and for a specific period of time. Do this so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then you should come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
\p
\v 6 But I say these things to you as a concession and not as a command.
\v 7 I wish that everyone were as I am. But each one has his own gift from God. One has this kind of gift, and another that kind.
\s5
\v 8 To the unmarried and to widows I say that it is good for them if they remain unmarried, as I am.
\v 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better for them to marry than to burn with passion.
\s5
\v 10 Now to the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord—the wife should not separate from her husband
\v 11 (but if she does separate from her husband, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
\s5
\v 12 But to the rest I say—I, not the Lord—that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and if she is content to live with him, he should not divorce her.
\v 13 If a woman has an unbelieving husband, and if he is content to live with her, she should not divorce him.
\v 14 For the unbelieving husband is set apart because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart because of the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but actually they are set apart.
\v 18 Was anyone circumcised when he was called to believe? He should not try to appear uncircumcised. Was anyone uncircumcised when he was called to faith? He should not be circumcised.
\v 19 For it is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision that matters. What matters is obeying the commandments of God.
\s5
\v 20 Each one should remain in the calling he was in when God called him to believe.
\v 21 Were you a slave when God called you? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can become free, take advantage of it.
\v 22 For someone who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freeman. In the same way, the one who was free when he was called to believe is Christ's slave.
\v 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a divorce. If you are free of a wife, do not seek a wife.
\v 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who do will have many kinds of fleshly trouble, and I want to spare you from this.
\v 29 But this I say, brothers: The time is short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none.
\v 30 Those who weep should act as though they were not weeping, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not possess anything,
\v 31 and those who use the world should not act as though they are using it to the full. For the world in its present form is coming to an end.
\s5
\v 32 I would like you to be free from worries. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please him.
\v 33 But the married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife—
\v 34 he is divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to be set apart in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband.
\s5
\v 35 I say this for your own benefit, and not to put any constraint on you. I say this for what is right, so that you may be devoted to the Lord without any distraction.
\v 36 But if anyone thinks that he is not treating his virgin with respect—if she is beyond the age of marriage and it must be so—he should do what he wants. He is not sinning. They should marry.
\v 37 But if he is standing firm in his heart, if he is not under pressure but can control his own will, and if he has decided in his own heart to do this, to keep his own a virgin, he will do well.
\v 38 So the one who marries his virgin does well, and the one who chooses not to marry will do even better.
\v 5 For even if there were so-called gods, either in heaven or on earth (just as there are many "gods" and many "lords"),
\v 6 yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist, and through whom we exist.
\v 7 However, this knowledge is not in everyone. Instead, some previously practiced idol worship, and they eat this food as if it were something sacrificed to an idol. Their conscience is thereby defiled because it is weak.
\v 8 But food will not present us to God. We are not worse if we do not eat, nor better if we do eat it.
\v 9 But take care that your freedom does not become a reason for someone who is weak in faith to stumble.
\v 10 For suppose that someone sees you, who have knowledge, eating a meal in an idol's temple. Is not his weak conscience emboldened to eat what is offered to idols?
\s5
\v 11 So because of your understanding about the true nature of idols, the weaker one, the brother for whom Christ died, is destroyed.
\v 12 Thus, when you sin against your brothers and wound their weak consciences, you sin against Christ.
\v 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to fall.
\v 7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink milk from it?
\v 10 Is he not speaking about us? It was written for us, because the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes should thresh in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
\v 12 If others exercised this right from you, do we not have even more? But we did not claim this right. Instead we endured everything rather than be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.
\v 13 Do you not know that those who perform sacred duties get their food from the temple? Do you not know that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
\v 15 But I have not claimed any of these rights. And I do not write this so something might be done for me. It would be better for me to die than—No one will make my boast empty!
\v 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law in order to win those under the law. I did this even though I myself was not under the law. \f + \ft The ULB has: \fqa I did this even though I myself was not under the law. \fqa* . A few important and ancient Greek copies, with other ancient translations, leave this sentence out. \f*
\v 21 To those outside the law, I became like one outside the law, although I was not outside the law of God myself, but under the law of Christ. I did this so that I may win those outside the law.
\v 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I may win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.
\v 23 I do all things for the gospel's sake, so that I may participate in its blessings.
\s5
\v 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run the race, but that only one receives the prize? So run to win the prize.
\v 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a wreath that is perishable, but we do it to receive one that is imperishable.
\v 10 Also do not grumble, as many of them did and were destroyed by an angel of death.
\s5
\v 11 Now these things happened to them as examples for us. They were written for our instruction—for us on whom the end of the ages has come.
\v 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.
\v 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to all humanity. Instead, God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. With the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.
\v 15 I speak to you as people who have understanding, so you may judge what I say.
\v 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
\v 17 Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body. We all take of one loaf of bread together.
\v 20 But I say about the things they sacrifice, that they offer these things to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!
\v 28 But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— \f + \ft Some ancient copies of the Greek text add, \fqa For the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord \fqa* . But the best ancient copies of the Greek text do not have this. Many scholars see this addition as a duplication of verse 26. \f*
\v 3 Now I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, that a man is the head of a woman, and that God is the head of Christ.
\v 4 Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.
\s5
\v 5 But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is the same thing as if her head were shaved.
\v 6 For if a woman will not cover her head, she should cut her hair short. If it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or for her to shave her head, let her cover her head.
\s5
\v 7 For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man.
\v 8 For man was not made from woman. Instead, woman was made from man.
\s5
\v 9 For neither was man created for woman. Instead, woman was created for man.
\v 10 This is why the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.
\s5
\v 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord, the woman is not independent from the man, nor is the man independent from the woman.
\v 12 For as the woman comes from the man, so does the man come from the woman. And all things come from God.
\s5
\v 13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
\v 20 For when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat.
\v 21 When you eat, each one eats his own food before the others have their meal. One is hungry, and another becomes drunk.
\v 22 Do you not have houses to eat and to drink in? Do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!
\s5
\v 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread.
\v 24 After he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this to remember me."
\s5
\v 25 In the same way he took the cup after supper, and he said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, to remember me."
\v 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
\v 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. And about the other things you wrote, I will give instructions when I come.
\v 1 About spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
\v 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to idols who could not speak, in whatever ways you were led by them.
\v 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who speaks by the Spirit of God can say, "Jesus is accursed." No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
\s5
\p
\v 4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.
\v 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord;
\v 10 To another is given miraculous works, and to another prophecy. To another is given the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
\v 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who do miracles, then gifts of healing, those who provide helps, those who do the work of administration, and those who have various kinds of tongues.
\v 29 Are all of them apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles?
\v 1 Suppose that I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. But if I do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
\v 2 Suppose that I have the gift of prophecy and understand all hidden truths and knowledge, and that I have all faith so as to remove mountains. But if I do not have love, I am nothing.
\v 3 Suppose that I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and that I give my body to be burned. But if I do not have love, I gain nothing. \f + \ft Most important and ancient Greek copies, and ancient translations read, \fqa I give my body to be burned \fqa* . There are a few important and ancient Greek copies, and some ancient translations that read, \fqa I give my body so that I might boast \fqa* . \f*
\v 5 Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues. But even more than that, I wish that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues (unless someone interprets so that the church may receive edification).
\v 6 But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you? I cannot, unless I speak to you with revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching.
\v 7 In the same way, when lifeless instruments are producing sounds—like the flute or the harp—if they do not produce different tones, how will anyone know what tune the flute or harp is playing?
\v 9 It is the same way for you with the tongue. If you utter speech that is not clear, how will what is said be understood? You will be speaking into the air.
\v 16 Otherwise, if you bless God with the spirit, how will the outsider say "Amen" when you are giving thanks if he does not know what you are saying?
\v 23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders and unbelievers come in, would they not say that you are insane?
\s5
\v 24 But if you all were prophesying and an unbeliever or an outsider came in, he would be convicted by all he hears. He would be judged by all that is said.
\v 25 The secrets of his heart would be revealed. As a result, he would fall on his face and worship God. He would declare that God is really among you.
\s5
\p
\v 26 What is next then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Do everything so that you build up the church.
\v 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace in me was not in vain. Instead, I labored harder than all of them. Yet it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
\v 15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified that God raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.
\v 27 For "he has put everything under his feet." But when it says "he has put everything," it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection under him.
\v 28 When all things are subjected under him, then the Son himself will be subjected under the one who put all things into subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
\v 32 What do I gain, from a human point of view, if I fought with beasts at Ephesus, if the dead are not raised? "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
\v 39 Not all flesh is the same. Instead, there is one flesh for human beings, and another flesh for animals, and another flesh for birds, and another for fish.
\v 52 We will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
\v 53 For this perishable body must put on what is imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
\s5
\v 54 But when this perishable body has put on what is imperishable, and when this mortal body has put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,
\v 58 Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always abound in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
\v 2 On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper. Do this so that there will be no collections when I come.
\v 11 Let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me. For I am expecting him to come along with the brothers.
\v 12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the brothers. But it was not at all his will that he come now. However, he will come when the time is right.
\s5
\p
\v 13 Be watchful, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong.
\v 15 You know the household of Stephanas, that they were the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's holy people. Now I urge you, brothers,
\v 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. \f + \ft A few important and ancient Greek copies and some ancient translations have \fqa Amen \fqa* at the end of verse 24. But many important ancient Greek copies, as well as many ancient translations, do not have \fqa Amen \fqa* at the end. \f
See in Reader
