Chapter
1
1 Paul, called to be
an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to
those who are 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 my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been
given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every
way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6 just as the testimony of Christ has been
strengthened 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 He will also strengthen
you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him you were
called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I appeal to
you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of
you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be
united in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For
it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you,
my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean
is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to
Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to
Christ." 13 Has Christ been
divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I
baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so
that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I
did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether
I baptized anyone else.)
17 For Christ did not
send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so
that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For
the message about the cross is foolishness 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 discernment
of the discerning I will thwart." 20 Where
is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God
decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who
believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and
Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim
Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For
God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger
than human strength. 26 Consider your own call, brothers and
sisters: not many of you were wise by human 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, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so
that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the
source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order
that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in “ the
Lord."
Chapter 2
1 When I came to
you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you
in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I
came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My
speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your
faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
6 Yet among the
mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the
rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. 7 But we speak
God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our
glory. 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 human
heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10 these
things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches
everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human being
knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no
one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. 12 Now
we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God,
so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And
we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the
Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. 14 Those
who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are
foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are
spiritually discerned. 15 Those who are spiritual discern
all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny. 16 "For
who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the
mind of Christ.
Chapter 3
1 And so, brothers
and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people
of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk,
not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still
not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as
there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and
behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one
says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to
Apollos," are you not merely human?
5 What then is Apollos?
What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned
to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the
growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who
waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The
one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will
receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are
God's servants, working together; 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 someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with
care how to build on it.
11 For no one can lay
any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus
Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of
each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will
be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If
what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a
reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer
loss; the builder 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
anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is
holy, and you are that temple.
18 Do not deceive
yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools
so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their
craftiness," 20 and again, "The Lord knows the
thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."
21 So let no one
boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22 whether
Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the
future—all belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and
Christ belongs to God.
Chapter 4
1 Think of us in
this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God's mysteries. 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 each one will
receive commendation from God. 6 I have applied all this to
Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may
learn through us the meaning of the saying, "Nothing beyond what is
written," so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against
another.
7 For who sees
anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? And if
you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? 8 Already
you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you
have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might
be kings with you! 9 For I think that God has exhibited us
apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a
spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. 10 We are
fools for the sake of Christ, 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 are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten
and homeless, 12 and we grow weary from the work of our own
hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when
slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs
of all things, to this very day.
14 I am not writing
this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For
though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many
fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 I
appeal to you, then, be imitators of me.
17 For this reason I
sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind
you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18 But
some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. 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 depends not on talk but on power. 21 What would you
prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of
gentleness?
Chapter 5
1 It is actually
reported that there is sexual 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! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done
this would have been 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 hand this man
over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not a good thing.
Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?
7 Clean out the old
yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal
lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore, let us
celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast 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 sexually immoral persons— 10 not
at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or
idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. 11 But
now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of
brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater,
reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. 12 For
what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside
that you are to judge? 13 God will judge those outside.
"Drive out the wicked person from among you."
Chapter 6
1 When any of you
has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court before the
unrighteous, instead of taking it before 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—to say nothing of ordinary matters? 4 If
you have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing
in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that
there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believer and
another, 6 but a believer goes to court against a believer
—and before unbelievers at that? 7 In fact, to have lawsuits
at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged?
Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and
defraud—and believers at that.
9 Do you not know
that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived!
Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves,
the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom
of God. 11 And this is what some of you used to be. 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 beneficial. "All things
are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated 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 meant not for fornication but for the Lord,
and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and
will also raise us by his power. 15 Do you not know that your
bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and
make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know
that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is
said, "The two shall be one flesh." 17 But anyone
united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Shun
fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the
fornicator sins against the body itself. 19 Or do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from
God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought
with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
1 Now concerning
food sacrificed to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge."
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 Anyone who claims
to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3 but
anyone who loves God is known by him.
4 Hence, as to the
eating of food offered to idols, we know that "no idol in the world really
exists," and that "there is no God but one." 5 Indeed,
even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact 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 It is not
everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed
to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an
idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 "Food
will not bring us close to God." We are no worse off if we do not eat, and
no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this liberty of
yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For
if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol,
might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of
eating food sacrificed to idols? 11 So by your knowledge
those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. 12 But
when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience
when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if
food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not
cause one of them to fall.
Chapter 9
1 Am I not free? Am
I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the
Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, 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 believing wife, as do 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 at any
time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and
does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its
milk? 8 Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law
also say the same? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses,
"You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is
it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Or does he not speak
entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows
should plow in hope and whoever threshes should 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 on 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 what is sacrificed on the altar? 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 so that they may be applied
in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my
ground for boasting! 16 If I proclaim the gospel, this gives
me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I
do not proclaim 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
proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use
of my rights in the gospel.
19 For though I am
free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might
win more of them. 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 I
myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21 To
those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free
from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the
law. 22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the
weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save
some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may
share in its blessings.
24 Do you not know
that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in
such a way that you may win it. 25 Athletes exercise
self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we
an imperishable one. 26 So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I
box as though beating the air; 27 but I punish my body and
enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be
disqualified.
Chapter 10
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 just as I handed them on to you. 3 But
I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband
is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. 4 Any
man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head, 5 but
any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head—it
is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. 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 have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should
wear a veil. 7 For a man ought not to have his head veiled,
since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of
man. 8 Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from
man. 9 Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but
woman for the sake of man. 10 For this reason a woman ought
to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless,
in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. 12 For
just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come
from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman
to pray to God with her head unveiled? 14 Does not nature
itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, 15 but
if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a
covering. 16 But if anyone is disposed to be contentious—we
have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.
17 Now 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, to begin
with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among
you; and to some extent I believe it. 19 Indeed, there have
to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are
genuine. 20 When you come together, it is not really to eat
the Lord's supper. 21 For when the time comes to eat, each
of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes
drunk. 22 What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in?
Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have
nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do
not commend you!
23 For I received
from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night
when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he
had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 25 In
the same way he took the cup also, 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 answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Examine
yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For
all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment
against themselves. 30 For this reason many of you are weak
and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves,
we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the
Lord, we are disciplined so that we may
not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my
brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If
you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for
your condemnation. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.
Chapter 12
1 Now concerning
spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You
know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that
could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that
no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let 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 services, but the same Lord; 6 and
there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of
them in everyone. 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
discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the
interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one
and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit
chooses.
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 in the one Spirit
we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were
all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 Indeed, the body does
not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would
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 would 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 the hearing be? If the whole body were
hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is,
God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If
all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it
is, there are many members, 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 members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and
those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater
honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas
our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the
body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that
there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same
care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer
together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
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 deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of
leadership, 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 in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But
strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Chapter 13
1 If I speak in the
tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have 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 do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I
give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient;
love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or
rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it
does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends.
But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will
cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we
know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when
the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When
I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;
when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For
now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then
we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even
as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love
abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Chapter 14
1 Pursue love and
strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 2 For
those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody
understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On
the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding
and encouragement and consolation. 4 Those who speak in a
tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church. 5 Now
I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who
prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone
interprets, so that the church may be built up.
6 Now, brothers and
sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I
speak to you in some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7 It
is the same way with lifeless instruments that produce sound, such as the flute
or the harp. If they do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is
being played? 8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound,
who will get ready for battle? 9 So with yourselves; if in a
tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is
being said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There
are doubtless many different kinds of sounds in the world, and nothing is
without sound. 11 If then I do not know the meaning of a
sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 So
with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in
them for building up the church. 13 Therefore, one 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 unproductive.
15 What should I do
then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will
sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. 16 Otherwise,
if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an
outsider say the "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does
not know what you are saying? 17 For you may give thanks
well enough, but the other person is not built up. 18 I
thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; 19 nevertheless,
in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct
others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers
and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil,
but in thinking be adults.
21 In the law it is
written, "By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I
will speak to this people; yet even then they will not listen to me," says
the Lord. 22 Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but
for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If,
therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and
outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your
mind? 24 But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who
enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. 25 After
the secrets of the unbeliever's heart are disclosed, that person will bow down
before God and worship him, declaring, "God is really among you."
26 What should be
done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a
revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building
up. 27 If anyone speaks 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 them be silent in church and speak to
themselves 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 someone else sitting nearby, let the first person 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 the prophets, 33 for
God is a God not of disorder but of peace.
(As in all the churches of the saints,
34 women should be
silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be
subordinate, as the law also 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 Or did the word of
God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?) 37 Anyone
who claims to be a prophet, or to have spiritual powers, must acknowledge that
what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. 38 Anyone
who does not recognize this is not to be recognized. 39 So,
my friends, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; 40 but
all things should be done decently and in order.
Chapter 15
1 Now I would remind
you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you
in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which
also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed
to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. 3 For I
handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and
that he was buried, and 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
brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some
have died. 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 has not been in
vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I,
but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was
I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
12 Now if Christ is
proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no
resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of
the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ
has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has
been 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 died in Christ have perished. 19 If
for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be
pitied.
20 But in fact Christ
has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. 21 For
since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also
come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so
all will be made alive in Christ. 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 hands over the
kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler 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 "God9 has put all things in
subjection under his feet." But when it says, "All things are put in
subjection," it is plain that this does not include the one who put all
things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are
subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who
put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all. 29 Otherwise,
what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the
dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 And
why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? 31 I die
every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a
boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If with
merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have
gained by it? 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 a sober and right
mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to
your shame.
35 But someone will
ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" 36 Fool!
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as
for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed,
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 Not
all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for
animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There
are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is
one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41 There is
one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the
stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. 42 So it is
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 that 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 will also bear the image of the man of
heaven. 50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this:
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable
inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I will
tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will 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 will be changed. 53 For
this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put
on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on
imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that
is written will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in
victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your 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, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord,
because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Chapter 16
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Last revised: February 8, 2003