Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)called ^(B)by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those ^(C)sanctified in Christ Jesus, ^(D)called to be saints together with all those who in every place ^(E)call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

^3 (F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

⁴ I ^(G)give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way ^(H)you were enriched in him in all ^(I)speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as ^(J)the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you ^(K)wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^8 (L)who will sustain you to the end, ^(M)guiltless ^(N)in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ^9 (O)God is faithful, by whom you were called into the ^(P)fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers,^[a] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no ^(Q)divisions among you, but that you be united ^(R)in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is ^(S)quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that ^(T)each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow ^(U)Apollos,” or “I follow ^(V)Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ^13 (W)Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^(X)baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except ^(Y)Crispus and ^(Z)Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also ^(AA)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 preach the gospel, and ^(AB)not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is ^(AC)folly to ^(AD)those who are perishing, but to us ^(AE)who are being saved it is ^(AF)the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

^20 (AH)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^(AI)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[b] to save those who believe. ²² For ^(AJ)Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ ^(AK)crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^(AL)the power of God and ^(AM)the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: ^(AN)not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[c] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But ^(AO)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(AP)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even ^(AQ)things that are not, to ^(AR)bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so ^(AS)that no human being^[d] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him^[e] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us ^(AT)wisdom from God, ^(AU)righteousness and ^(AV)sanctification and ^(AW)redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, ^(AX)“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Divisions in the Church

3 But I, brothers,^[a] could not address you as ^(A)spiritual people, but as ^(B)people of the flesh, as ^(C)infants in Christ. ^2 (D)I fed you with milk, not solid food, for ^(E)you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is ^(F)jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴ For ^(G)when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” ^(H)are you not being merely human?

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? ^(I)Servants through whom you believed, ^(J)as the Lord assigned to each. ^6 (K)I planted, ^(L)Apollos watered, ^(M)but God gave the growth. ⁷ So ^(N)neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each ^(O)will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are ^(P)God's fellow workers. You are God's field, ^(Q)God's building.

^10 (R)According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled^[b] master builder I laid a ^(S)foundation, and ^(T)someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a ^(U)foundation other ^(V)than that which is laid, ^(W)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ^13 (X)each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed ^(Y)by fire, and ^(Z)the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ^(AA)he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, ^(AB)but only as through fire.

^16 (AC)Do you not know that you^[c] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For ^(AD)God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

^18 (AE)Let no one deceive himself. ^(AF)If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For ^(AG)the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ^(AH)“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” ²⁰ and again, ^(AI)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ So ^(AJ)let no one boast in men. For ^(AK)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 are yours, ²³ and ^(AL)you are Christ's, and ^(AM)Christ is God's.

Food Offered to Idols

8 Now concerning^{[a] (A)}food offered to idols: we know that ^(B)“all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” ^(C)puffs up, ^(D)but love builds up. ^2 (E)If anyone imagines that he knows something, ^(F)he does not yet know as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, ^(G)he is known by God.^[b]

⁴ Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ^(H)“an idol has no real existence,” and that ^(I)“there is no God but one.” ⁵ For although there may be ^(J)so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— ⁶ yet ^(K)for us there is one God, the Father, ^(L)from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and ^(M)one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and ^(N)through whom we exist.

⁷ However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, ^(O)through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and ^(P)their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ^8 (Q)Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. ⁹ But take care ^(R)that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block ^(S)to the weak. ¹⁰ For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating^[c] in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged,^[d] if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? ¹¹ And so by your knowledge this weak person is ^(T)destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. ¹² Thus, sinning against your brothers^[e] and ^(U)wounding their conscience when it is weak, ^(V)you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, ^(W)if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Paul Surrenders His Rights

9 ^(A)Am I not free? ^(B)Am I not an apostle? ^(C)Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? ^(D)Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? ² If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are ^(E)the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³ This is my defense to those who would examine me. ^4 (F)Do we not have the right to eat and drink? ^5 (G)Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,^[a] as do the other apostles and ^(H)the brothers of the Lord and ^(I)Cephas? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? ^7 (J)Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? ^(K)Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

⁸ Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses, ^(L)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰ Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written ^(M)for our sake, because ^(N)the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. ^11 (O)If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? ¹² If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, ^(P)we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything ^(Q)rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. ¹³ Do you not know that ^(R)those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord commanded that ^(S)those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

¹⁵ But ^(T)I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone ^(U)deprive me of my ground for boasting. ¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For ^(V)necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with ^(W)a stewardship. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That in my preaching ^(X)I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For ^(Y)though I am free from all, ^(Z)I have made myself a servant to all, that I might ^(AA)win more of them. ^20 (AB)To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To ^(AC)those outside the law I became ^(AD)as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but ^(AE)under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ^22 (AF)To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. ^(AG)I have become all things to all people, that ^(AH)by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, ^(AI)that I may share with them in its blessings.

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives ^(AJ)the prize? So ^(AK)run that you may obtain it. ²⁵ Every ^(AL)athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we ^(AM)an imperishable. ²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I ^(AN)do not box as one ^(AO)beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and ^(AP)keep it under control,^[b] lest after preaching to others ^(AQ)I myself should be ^(AR)disqualified.

Spiritual Gifts

12 Now ^(A)concerning^[a] spiritual gifts,^[b] brothers,^[c] I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that ^(B)when you were pagans ^(C)you were led astray to ^(D)mute idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that ^(E)no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is ^(F)accursed!” and ^(G)no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now ^(H)there are varieties of gifts, but ^(I)the same Spirit; ⁵ and ^(J)there are varieties of service, but ^(K)the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is ^(L)the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ^7 (M)To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of ^(N)wisdom, and to another the utterance of ^(O)knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another ^(P)faith by the same Spirit, to another ^(Q)gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another ^(R)the working of miracles, to another ^(S)prophecy, to another ^(T)the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another ^(U)various kinds of tongues, to another ^(V)the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, ^(W)who apportions to each one individually ^(X)as he wills.

One Body with Many Members

¹² For just as ^(Y)the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, ^(Z)so it is with Christ. ¹³ For ^(AA)in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—^(AB)Jews or Greeks, slaves^[d] or free—and ^(AC)all were made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, ^(AD)God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, ^(AE)as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts,^[e] yet one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴ which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵ that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, ^(AF)all rejoice together.

²⁷ Now ^(AG)you are the body of Christ and individually ^(AH)members of it. ²⁸ And ^(AI)God has appointed in the church first ^(AJ)apostles, second ^(AK)prophets, third teachers, then ^(AL)miracles, then ^(AM)gifts of healing, ^(AN)helping, ^(AO)administrating, and ^(AP)various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But ^(AQ)earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(A)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(B)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (C)If I give away all I have, and ^(D)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

^4 (E)Love is patient and ^(F)kind; love ^(G)does not envy or boast; it ^(H)is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It ^(I)does not insist on its own way; it ^(J)is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it ^(K)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^(L)rejoices with the truth. ^7 (M)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^(N)endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For ^(O)we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but ^(P)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For ^(Q)now we see in a mirror dimly, but ^(R)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^(S)I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel ^(A)I preached to you, which you received, ^(B)in which you stand, ² and by which ^(C)you are being saved, if you ^(D)hold fast to the word I preached to you—^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³ For ^(F)I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised ^(I)on the third day ^(J)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that ^(K)he appeared to Cephas, then ^(L)to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to ^(M)James, then ^(N)to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, ^(O)he appeared also to me. ⁹ For ^(P)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(Q)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(R)I worked harder than any of them, ^(S)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, ^(T)how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, ^(U)then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that ^(V)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, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and ^(W)you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who ^(X)have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope^[b] in this life only, ^(Y)we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But in fact ^(Z)Christ has been raised from the dead, ^(AA)the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For as ^(AB)by a man came death, ^(AC)by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For ^(AD)as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then ^(AE)at his coming ^(AF)those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers ^(AG)the kingdom to God the Father after destroying ^(AH)every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign ^(AI)until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be ^(AJ)destroyed is death. ²⁷ For ^(AK)“God^[c] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸ When ^(AL)all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that ^(AM)God may be all in all.

²⁹ Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? ³⁰ Why are we ^(AN)in danger every hour? ³¹ I protest, brothers, by ^(AO)my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, ^(AP)I die every day! ³² What do I gain if, humanly speaking, ^(AQ)I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ^(AR)“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ^33 (AS)Do not be deceived: ^(AT)“Bad company ruins good morals.”^{[d] 34 (AU)}Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For ^(AV)some have no knowledge of God. ^(AW)I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

³⁵ But someone will ask, ^(AX)“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” ³⁶ You foolish person! ^(AY)What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. ³⁹ For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. ⁴⁰ There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. ⁴¹ There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

^42 (AZ)So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; ^(BA)it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. ⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ Thus it is written, ^(BB)“The first man Adam became a living being”;^{[e] (BC)}the last Adam became a ^(BD)life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ^47 (BE)The first man was from the earth, ^(BF)a man of dust; ^(BG)the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, ^(BH)so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just ^(BI)as we have borne the image of the man of dust, ^(BJ)we shall^[f] also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: ^(BK)flesh and blood ^(BL)cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. ^(BM)We shall not all sleep, ^(BN)but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For ^(BO)the trumpet will sound, and ^(BP)the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and ^(BQ)this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and ^(BT)the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, ^(BU)who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

^58 (BV)Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in ^(BW)the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord ^(BX)your labor is not in vain.