← Contents The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

Paul’s poem, “Love is patient; love is kind” (1 Cor 13.4–13), his recitation of one of the earliest proclamations of both Jesus’ death on behalf of sinners and Jesus’ resurrection (15.3–5), and his basic formula for celebration of the Lord’s Supper or Communion/Eucharist (11.23b–25) make 1 Corinthians one of the New Testament’s most important books. For the historian, this letter, written in the mid-50s, reveals the divisions facing the Pauline churches over such central concepts as the Holy Spirit (ch 2), marital and sexual norms (chs 5–7; 11), relations with the Gentile world (chs 6; 8), worship practices (ch 12), women’s roles (ch 14), and resurrection (ch 15).

Corinth, a prominent trade center boasting the two ports of Cenchreae and Lechaeum, was the heart of Roman imperial culture in Greece. Among its temples were those dedicated to Aphrodite (the goddess of love) and Asclepius (the god of healing), in which worshippers could also dine after performing sacrifices; in its theater and at public athletic contests, events began with offerings to the gods.

Date of Composition

Dating 1 Corinthians relies on placing the letter in the context of Paul’s life. Paul’s letters do not offer enough historical information to build a complete chronology, so many scholars use information from the New Testament’s later account of the early Jesus movement, the Acts of the Apostles (Acts). Other scholars, who doubt the historical reliability of Acts, must settle for a fragmentary chronology based on Paul’s own writings. According to Acts 18, Paul spent over a year organizing several house-assemblies after arriving in Corinth ca. 50. First Corinthians, written from Ephesus within a few years after the missionary trip to Greece, responds to problems facing this nascent community. In 5.9–12, Paul mentions an earlier letter he had written to these assemblies, and therefore 1 Corinthians is actually his second correspondence with them. Paul will again write to this community (2 Corinthians), but the factionalism Paul sought to repair continued to plague its members, as attested by the late first-century Christian letter 1 Clement (47.3). First Corinthians is considered authentically by Paul, with the exception of 14.33b–35 (or 36), whose content—the silencing of women in the assemblies—contradicts 11.5, where Paul mentions, approvingly, women praying and prophesying. Since the later Pastoral Epistles advocate women’s subordination (1 Tim 2.11–12; Titus 2.5), the authors of these epistles, or someone influenced by them, may have inserted 1 Cor 14.33b–35(36) into Paul’s original letter.

According to 12.2 (see Rom 16.4) and Acts 18.4, the Corinthian congregants were mostly Gentile, with a few Jews. The letter thus addresses issues concerning Gentile rather than Jewish members, such as eating meat offered to idols in pagan temples. Corinthian Gentiles participated in the cultic activities of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Eastern deities, both in public, city-wide festivals and in private assemblies. Even private dinner parties could involve religious rites, such as libation offerings. Many Jews considered such activities idolatrous, and some saw idolatry along with sexual immorality as quintessentially Gentile practices (Wis 14.11–31; Sib. Or. 3.694,751–52; Jub. 1.8; T. Moses 10). Accordingly, Paul singles out idolatry as the principal feature his Corinthian believers had abandoned (12.2).

Philo, the first-century Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, notes that Corinth contained a “Jewish colony” (Leg. Gai. 281–82). Some Jews relocated to Corinth after their expulsion from Rome in 49 ce, toward the end of the Emperor Claudius’s reign (Rom 16.3–4; Suetonius, Claud. 25.4; Orosius, History 7.6.15–17). By the mid-first century, Corinthian Jewish assemblies (Acts 18.4) probably gathered in both private homes and public buildings, yet Paul never uses the Gk word synagogē in his correspondence. When he uses the Gk ekklēsia (usually translated “church” = Heb qahal; see 1.1n.) to describe assemblies of Jesus-followers in Cenchreae and Corinth (1 Cor 1.2; Rom 16.1), he is likely distinguishing them from other assemblies of Jews and Greeks (1 Cor 10.32). The fragmentary inscription reading “[Syna]gogue of the Hebr[ews]” (... GŌGĒ EBR ...) found in Corinth in 1898, dates not from the time of Paul, but from the mid-to-late second century.

First Corinthians mentions “Jews” (Gk Ioudaioi) only four times (1.22–24; 9.20; 10.32; 12.13), each time in relation to the gospel’s universal significance. The letter also frequently references the scriptures of Israel without explanation, such as to the paschal lamb (5.7) and to the “law of Moses” (9.9); for the Gentile Corinthians, Israel’s Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures is their scripture as well.

The epistle also evokes apocalyptic Jewish thought known from many Second Temple texts (e.g., Dan 7–12; 1 En., 1QM). For Paul the (former) Pharisee (Phil 3.5), the Messiah has redeemed his followers from Satan’s authority and death’s power. The “saints” (Gk hagioi; better, “holy ones”; Paul’s term for members of the assemblies) have been justified—made righteous in relation to God—because of their participation in Jesus’ death and resurrection through baptism (6.11; cf. 1 En. 48–51). They anticipate the near arrival of the Messianic kingdom, when their mortal bodies will be transformed (15.53–55).

Paul instructs his churches to display the power and authority of the Christ by how they live before the end-time. Although they believe that God’s Spirit now dwells in them, the Corinthians’ moral failings and organizational chaos contradict Paul’s teaching that Christ’s death has redeemed them from their propensity to sin. Paul counsels the community to let God’s Spirit goad them to repentance because only those who are reconciled with God and neighbor and who manifest love (Gk agapē) can remain in the united ekklēsia.

Shira L. Lander

1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

2To 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 Lorda and ours:

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4I give thanks to myb God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— 6just as the testimony ofc Christ has been strengthened among you— 7so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,a 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. 11For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.b 12What 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.” 13Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank Godc that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so 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.) 17For 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.

18For 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. 19For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20Where 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? 21For 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. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

26Consider your own call, brothers and sisters:a not many of you were wise by human standards,b not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no onec might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast ind the Lord.”

2When I came to you, brothers and sisters,a I did not come proclaiming the mysteryb of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,c but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

6Yet 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. 7But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But, 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”—

10these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11For 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. 12Now 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. 13And 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.d

Paul and the Trinity

Like their Jewish contemporaries, early Christians advocated diverse understandings of the nature of God within the general framework of divine oneness expressed in Tanakh. The relationship among the three “persons” of the Trinity—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—and their individual natures divided various Christian sects. Even after Christian authorities promulgated the doctrine of the Trinity at the Council of Nicea (325 ce), concerns arose over early Christian writings that seemed to understand God differently, most notably the idea that Jesus the Christ was subordinate to God the Father, an idea called subordinationism. Despite its obscurity, 1 Cor 15.24–28 expresses an end-time theology that seems ultimately subordinationist. The passage illustrates Paul’s understanding that Christ (the Messiah) is not “truly God” (Gk theon alēthōs, as articulated in the Chalcedonian Creed, 451 ce), even though Christ incarnates God’s wisdom and power (1.24), imparts the Holy Spirit (6.17), and is the conduit for all existence (8.6); ultimately, “Christ belongs to God” (3.23), who is both the source of all that exists in the universe as well as its purpose. Further evidence of subordinationism in this letter is the use of “God” (theos) over 100 times compared with 64 occurrences of “Christ.” Paul may be emphasizing the role of the divine Father in the eschaton to address misconceptions among believers that the gospel allocates God’s power and sovereignty to Christ (see 1.12,30); perhaps he is particularly addressing those who say, “I belong to Christ,” and who claim that the manifestation of the Father’s glory, along with a sense of salvation, are seen as already experienced fully in the present. Many Christians would reject this subordinationist characterization of Paul’s theology. (See “Christology,” p. 754.)

14Those who are unspirituala 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. 15Those 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.

3And so, brothers and sisters,b I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3for 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? 4For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?

5What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

10According 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. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13the 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. 14If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

16Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?a 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

“He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

20and again,

“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,

that they are futile.”

21So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

4Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3But 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. 4I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore 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.

6I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters,a 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. 7For who sees anything different in you?b 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?

8Already 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! 9For 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. 10We 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. 11To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, 12and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

14I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15For 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. 16I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. 17For this reason I senta 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. 18But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. 19But 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. 20For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. 21What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

5It 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. 2And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you?

3For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment 4in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing.a When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5you 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.b

6Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7Clean 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. 8Therefore, 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.

9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— 10not 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. 11But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sisterc who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. 12For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? 13God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

6When 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? 2Do 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? 3Do you not know that we are to judge angels—to say nothing of ordinary matters? 4If you have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? 5I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to decide between one believerc and another, 6but a believerc goes to court against a believerc—and before unbelievers at that?

Freedom from the Law

Paul’s discussion of freedom from the Law has sometimes been misconstrued as an antinomian repudiation of Torah commandments. Believers are not free from or above the law, — only from sin — but, through their baptism, they have become “slaves to righteousness” (Rom 6.18). Believers, therefore, are no longer condemned by the guilty verdict rendered to Gentiles under the law of Moses, the “curse of the law” (Gal 3.13). Paul does not reject Torah per se, nor does he reject the idea of Jews following the specific commandments given to Jews (e.g., circumcision, dietary regulations). But he does reject Gentiles practicing such traditions. With Christ’s death and resurrection, Gentiles are now incorporated into the community in which the Law is inscribed on believers’ hearts (Rom 2.15; 6.17; 2 Cor 1.22; 3.3; Gal 4.6). Furthermore, Paul did not understand the freedom vis-à-vis the Law obtained in Christ as a license to immorality, as others apparently did (see Rom 2.12–14; 6.15–18; 8.2; Gal 5.1): freedom from sin meant rather slavery “to righteousness” (Rom 6.18; Gal 4.31).

Slaves, in the broader Roman context, were not protected by imperial legislation; thus they were vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Freed slaves were subject to certain laws but were denied the full range of protections and privileges, while citizens were bound to and protected by the laws of the state. In Paul’s allegorical schema of the old Mosaic covenant in the pre-Christ age, Gentiles were slaves and Jews were citizens. Christ freed Gentiles from sin so that they would no longer be slaves but free (7.22), transforming the exclusively Jewish Torah covenant into Gentile-inclusive Christ’s law (9.21).

For Second Temple-period and rabbinic Jews, obedience to the Law, or Torah, served various functions, such as a vehicle for maintaining the divine covenant and a demonstration of faithfulness to God, as reflected in the rabbinic aphorism “only one who engages in Torah study is truly liberated” (m. Avot 6.2; see also 1 Macc 2.20–27; 2 Macc 6.18–7.42; T. Moses 9.6). Some Jews predicted that all the commandments would be rendered obsolete in the end-time, which may relate to Paul’s view of freedom from the Law. For example, Rav Joseph interprets the halakhah that cloth of mixed fibers (Lev 19.19 and Deut 22.9–11) may be used as a burial shroud to mean that Israel will not be held accountable for such violations of Torah injunctions in the eschatological age, when the dead have been resurrected (b. Nidd. 61b).

In a similar eschatological vein, Paul envisions that believers will be “kings” once the kingdom of God has been fulfilled (4.8). In discussing the relationship of kings to the law of the state, Greek philosophers such as Dio Chrysostom (first century ce) wrote that kings could choose to follow the law without being subject to it (3 Regn. [Or. 3] 10; 1 Serv. lib. [Or. 14] 7–18; Regn. tyr. [Or. 62] 2). By contrast, the Bible mandates that kings obey “this law and these statutes” (Deut 17.19–20).

7In 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? 8But you yourselves wrong and defraud—and believersa at that.

9Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And 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,”a 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. 14And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. 15Do 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! 16Do 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.” 17But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19Or do you not know that your body is a templeb of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

7Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is well for a man not to touch a woman.” 2But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6This I say by way of concession, not of command. 7I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.

Sexual Mores

Sexual behavior was highly regulated in the Republican Roman period. The Emperor Augustus’s adultery law mandated that an unfaithful wife be divorced, but it allowed husbands to engage in sexual relations with unmarried women and slaves (Lex Julia 123). Roman law presumed the husband’s authority over the wife’s body, but not the wife’s authority over the husband’s body, the position advanced by Paul and others (Plutarch, Mor. 144b; Musonius Rufus, frag. 9.5,7). Rabbinic law accorded women some authority over her husband’s body, namely, the right to sexual relations (m. Ketub. 5.6). Furthermore, Roman law did not permit polygyny, and it only recognized marriage between citizens, not slaves (Gaius, Inst. 1.63–4; Ulpian, frag. 5.3). Jewish law of the time defined adultery in terms of the wife’s infidelity but not the husband’s (as long as his sexual partner was unmarried [Ex 20.14; Lev 20.10; Prov 6.32; Josephus, Ant. 3.274]), since polygyny (marrying multiple wives) was permissible. Polygyny among Second Temple period Jews is attested (Josephus, Ant. 12.186–89; 17.14; J.W. 1.477; m. Yebam. 4.11), although the practice is condemned by the Essenes (CD 4.20–21; 11Q19 57.17-18); the tenth-century German Rabbi Gershom ben Judah Meʾor ha-Golah banned polygyny.

Divorce was easily available and widely tolerated by Roman citizens. Jewish attitudes toward divorce were not homogeneous, as illustrated by the divergent rulings attributed to the two first-century sages Hillel and Shammai as well as to Jesus (Mt 5.31–32; Mk 10.2–12; also see Deut 24.1; Mt 1.9; Lk 16.18). Whereas Hillel permitted divorce for even the most trivial reason, Shammai only allowed a man to divorce his wife if she was not faithful to him (m. Git. 9.10). King Herod’s sister Salome initiated her own divorce proceedings, which Josephus claims is contrary to Jewish law (Ant. 15.7.10 [259], 4.8.23 [253]; see also Philo, Spec. Laws 3.5 [30–31]). See “Gender,” p. 611.

Celibacy was cultivated by some Essenes (Josephus, J.W. 2.8.2 [119]) and, according to Philo, by the Jewish enclave in Egypt, the Therapeutae (Cont. Life 68). Jesus praises those who “make themselves eunuchs” for the kingdom of heaven (Mt 19.12), and the book of Revelation identifies the first who are saved in the final judgment as male virgins (Rev 14.4). In light of his expectation of the Christ’s imminent return, Paul was more concerned about changes in marital status than marital status per se. Nonetheless, Paul’s teachings inspired a second-century movement of Christian celibacy (Acts of Paul and Thecla 3.5), and virginity was esteemed as a Christian virtue (Tertullian, Exh. cast.). The practice did not survive among Jews, perhaps in part because it was so emphasized by the early church. Christians began mandating celibacy for priests in the fourth century (Council of Elvira, canon 33). While the tradition of clerical celibacy continued in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Church permitted clergy to remain married if they were already married at the time of their ordination (Council of Trullo, canon 13). After the Protestant Reformation, nearly all Protestant churches abolished compulsory celibacy for clergy, though some sectarian movements (the Shakers) and non-Roman Catholic monastics (e.g., Anglican religious orders) reintroduced it.

8To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. 9But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

10To the married I give this command—not I but the Lord—that the wife should not separate from her husband 11(but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

12To the rest I say—I and not the Lord—that if any believera has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you.b 16Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.

17However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in all the churches. 18Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything. 20Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.

21Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever.c 22For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. 23You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters. 24In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters,d there remain with God.

25Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26I think that, in view of the impendinga crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life,b and I would spare you that. 29I mean, brothers and sisters,c the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

32I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

36If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée,d if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin. Let them marry. 37But if someone stands firm in his resolve, being under no necessity but having his own desire under control, and has determined in his own mind to keep her as his fiancée,d he will do well. 38So then, he who marries his fiancéed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.

39A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if the husband dies,e she is free to marry anyone she wishes, only in the Lord. 40But in my judgment she is more blessed if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

8Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; 3but anyone who loves God is known by him.

4Hence, 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.” 5Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— 6yet 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.

7It 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.”a We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For 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? 11So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.b 12But when you thus sin against members of your family,c and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling,d I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of theme to fall.

9Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4Do we not have the right to our food and drink? 5Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife,a as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7Who 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?

8Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same? 9For 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? 10Or 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. 11If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? 12If 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. 13Do 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? 14In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

15But 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! 16If 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! 17For 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. 18What 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.

19For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20To 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. 21To 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. 22To 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. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

24Do 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. 25Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. 26So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

10I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,a that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

6Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 7Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” 8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christb to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

14Therefore, my dear friends,a flee from the worship of idols. 15I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16The 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? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18Consider the people of Israel;b are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? 19What do I imply then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

23“All things are lawful,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other. 25Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience, 26for “the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s.” 27If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29I mean the other’s conscience, not your own. For why should my liberty be subject to the judgment of someone else’s conscience? 30If I partake with thankfulness, why should I be denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

Head Covering

The evidence of veiling in the biblical period is uncertain. Roman women covered their hair in public (except during mourning, weddings, and certain festivals) as a sign of modesty and to indicate their respectable status as protection against solicitation. Such veiling was also normative for Jewish married women (LXX [Theodotion] Dan 13.32; Avot de R. Natan B 9.25; 42.117; m. Ketub. 2.1; 7.4; m. Shabb. 6.6; b. Ketub. 72a-b). The veil is prominent in pagan and Jewish marriages, where the groom’s veiling of the bride signified her change of status, and his private unveiling of her symbolized consummation (Gen 24.65–67; Poll., Onom. 3.36; Catullus, Carm. 61.8; Claud., Fesc. 4.2–3; Epithal. 10.282–85; Ovid Metam. 10.1–10; Ex. Rab. 41.6; Tanh. Ki Tissa 112 b. Sot. 49a). Uncovering or shaving a woman’s head were forms of shaming, punishment, or mourning in biblical and later culture (Num 5.18; Isa 3.17–24; 3 Macc 4.6; m. Sot. 1.5). Paul recommends customs consonant with both Jewish and Roman social norms: what is appropriate for women is inappropriate for men and vice versa (11.14–15). Roman and Jewish priests traditionally covered their heads when in the divine presence (Ex 28.36–40; Ezek 44.18–20; Plutarch, Quaest. rom. 10; Mor. 266C). However, non-priests did not cover their heads when viewing (or, in the case of Romans, performing) sacrifices. Paul mandated this non-priestly practice for all males (11.4), perhaps to preserve a sense of unity or to avoid pagan ritual associations. Rabbinic tradition describes male head covering (Heb sudaraʾ) as a “crown of glory” and as signifying the “fear of heaven” (b. Ber. 60b, quoting Ps 8.5; b. Shabb. 156b; see also b. Qidd. 31a). Widespread wearing of head coverings by Jewish men is a post-Talmudic custom. Some Jewish women began wearing wigs instead of head coverings in the sixteenth century (Shulchan Arukh, Orech Chaim 75, 2).

31So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved.

11Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

2I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you. 3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husbanda is the head of his wife,b and God is the head of Christ. 4Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head, 5but 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. 6For 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. 7For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflectionc of God; but woman is the reflectionc of man. 8Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. 10For this reason a woman ought to have a symbol ofd authority on her head,e because of the angels. 11Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. 12For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God. 13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? 14Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16But if anyone is disposed to be contentious—we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

17Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18For, 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. 19Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. 20When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. 22What! 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!

23For 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, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is fora you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25In 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.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27Whoever, 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. 28Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For all who eat and drinkb without discerning the body,c eat and drink judgment against themselves. 30For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.d 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplinede so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

33So then, my brothers and sisters,f when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34If 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.

Cursing Jesus

Let Jesus be cursed! (12.3): Justin Martyr (ca. 160) claimed that Jews cursed Christ (Dial. 137.2), although no ancient Jewish sources attest this practice. Origen attributed this curse to Jews who blasphemed Jesus to avoid anti-Christian persecution (Hom. Ps. 37 [36]). Medieval Jewish apostates may have proven their return to the fold by publicly repudiating their former beliefs with such a curse (ninth-century Geonic responsum in Haim Modaʿi, ed., Sefer shaʿarei tzedeq 2: part 6 [no. 11]; Agobard of Lyons, On the Insolence of the Jews to Louis the Pious). Alternatively, in the tradition of ancient malediction or curse formulae found in amulets and magical texts, the phrase could be translated, “May Jesus curse …,” which Paul cautions would only be efficacious if recited by the Holy Spirit (12.3) and not in the name of pagan deities. Paul advises the former pagan Corinthians to use the name “Jesus” in place of pagan divinities that are mere idols (12.2). Paul himself invokes a curse on opponents of the Lord (16.22).

Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor 12.8–10)

Paul lists nine activities manifesting the Spirit’s work: (1) utterance of wisdom (Gk sophia): pronouncements of God’s eschatological wisdom, as revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus (see 1.30; 2.7–10); (2) utterance of knowledge (Gk gnōsis): teachings, like those Paul has conveyed in this letter, and/or proclamations about the divine nature (see 1.5; 8.7,11; 13.2; Rom 15.14), such as found in early Jewish mysticism (Ezek 1; 1 En. 14.8; 4QShir Shabbb 4; t. Meg. 4.28; b. Meg. 24b; b. Hag. 12a–14b); (3) faith: trustworthy words as opposed to deceitful utterances (see LXX Prov 12.17), a cornerstone of Jewish ethics (Ex 20.13; Ps 120.2; m. Rosh Ha-Shanah 2.1; y. Demai 24b; b. Ber. 4a); (4) healing: Jewish traditions mention the healing powers of the patriarchs, Moses, Solomon, and various prophets and rabbis; the traditions also regarded healing as a manifestation of God’s power (Gen 20.17; Num 12.13; 2 Chr 30.20; Sir 38.4–8; 48.23; Philo, On Agriculture 95–8; Josephus, Ant. 8.42; T. Reuben 1.7; 4QPrayer of Nabonidus Aramaic [4Q242]; b. Ber. 34b); (5) miracles: attributed to the patriarchs, Solomon, various prophets and rabbis, e.g., ḤHoni the Circle Drawer who elicited rainfall [m. Taʾan. 3.8]; see “Jewish Miracle Workers,” p. 680; (6) prophecy: speech with eschatological, ethical, or mystical insight (see 12.1–11n.); (7) discernment of spirits: deciding whether a spirit manifested in gifts is demonic or angelic (5.12–6.11); (8) tongues: speaking in foreign languages, including the unintelligible language of angels, also found in Jewish literature (see 13.1,8; 14.2; Isa 28.11 [LXX xenolalia]; 2 Esd [4 Ezra] 14.40–41; Acts 2.4,11; Apoc. Abr. 17; T. Job 48–50; 1 En. 71.11; 10.46; Gen. Rab. 28.6; b. Sukk. 28a); (9) interpretation of tongues: found in Jewish, Greek, and Roman practice (Mek. Bahodesh 9 on Ex 20.15; Plutarch, Pyth. orac. 24–25; Virgil, Aeneid 6.44–49, 97–99; Iambl., Myst. 1.7).

12

Now concerning spiritual gifts,a brothers and sisters,b I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3Therefore 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.

4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to 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. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

12For 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. 13For 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.

14Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If 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. 16And 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. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21The 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.” 22On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and 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; 24whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28And 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. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Jewish Views of Love

Love of God and neighbor have been central to Judaism since the Bible, as affirmed by Jesus and Rabbi Akiba, who considered love of neighbor to be “a great rule in the Torah” (Lev 19.18; Deut 6.5; Mt 22.36-40; Sifre Deut. 32 on Deut 6.5; Mk 12.28–34; m. Avot 1.12; y. Ber. 67a; y. Ned. 30b; S. Eli. Rab. 15). The Bible extends love to include the stranger (Lev 19.34), which commentators like Moses Luzzatto [eighteenth century] construed as referring to all human beings. The majority of rabbinic texts about love concern love between God and Israel. The modern Eastern European Jewish ethical movement known as Musar considers selfless love the most important attribute to cultivate (Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler [twentieth century], Michtav me-Eliyahu, “Discourse on Lovingkindness”). Hebrew has only one word, ʾahava, for all types of love, unlike Greek, which distinguishes agapē (spiritual and romantic love) from philia (fondness), epithumia (longing or desire), storgē (affection), and eros (sensual love, sexual attraction or lust); the terms are not mutually exclusive, and only the first three are found in the New Testament. Agapē is the Greek translation of Heb ʾahava in LXX Lev 19.18 and Deut 6.5, but also in the Song of Songs for romantic love (LXX Song 1.4; 3.5). Similarly, philia expresses favor (LXX 2 Chr 19.2) and fondness (LXX Prov 8.17; 17.17; LXX Eccl 3.8) as well as human appetites for food and sleep (LXX Gen 27.4; LXX Isa 56.10). Epithumia can refer to desire of a romantic or non-romantic nature (LXX Deut 14.26; LXX Prov 23.3; LXX Song 2.3; Wis 6.11), while eros is used, rarely, for passion, whether sexual or not (LXX Esth 2.17; LXX Prov 4.6; 30.16). Many Jewish scholars assert that love as a feeling is not adequate, and it is demonstrated properly through action (e.g., Abraham Isaac Kook [1865–1935], Middot ha-Rayah [“The Moral Principles”], “Love” 2). This view may already be found in Deut 6.5–9, where v 5 mandates loving God, and vv 6–9 illustrate various actions that express such love.

13

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. 2And 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. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,a but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love 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. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When 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. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly,b 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. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

14Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 2For 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. 3On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church. 5Now 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.

6Now, brothers and sisters,a 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? 7It 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? 8And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9So 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. 10There are doubtless many different kinds of sounds in the world, and nothing is without sound. 11If 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. 12So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.

13Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. 14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. 15What 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. 16Otherwise, 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? 17For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. 18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; 19nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

20Brothers and sisters,a do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults. 21In 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. 22Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23If, 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? 24But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. 25After 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.”

26What should be done then, my friends?a 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. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret. 28But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God. 29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30If a revelation is made to someone else sitting nearby, let the first person be silent. 31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged. 32And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, 33for God is a God not of disorder but of peace.

(As in all the churches of the saints, 34women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. 35If 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.b 36Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?)

37Anyone 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. 38Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized. 39So, my friends,c be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; 40but all things should be done decently and in order.

15Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters,a of the good newsd that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through 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.

3For 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, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sistersa at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.b 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But 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. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

12Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say 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, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15We 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. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have diedb in Christ have perished. 19If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.b 21For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24Then comes the end,c when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For “Godd 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. 28When 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.

29Otherwise, 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?

30And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? 31I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters,a as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If 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.”

33Do not be deceived:

“Bad company ruins good morals.”

34Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37And 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. 38But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41There 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.

42So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man isa from heaven. 48As 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. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we willb also bear the image of the man of heaven.

50What I am saying, brothers and sisters,c is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,d but we will all be changed, 52in 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. 53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When 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?”

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

58Therefore, my beloved,e be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

16Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. 2On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. 3And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. 4If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

5I will visit you after passing through Macedonia—for I intend to pass through Macedonia— 6and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. 7I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

10If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am; 11therefore let no one despise him. Send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I am expecting him with the brothers.

12Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but he was not at all willinga to come now. He will come when he has the opportunity.

13Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. 14Let all that you do be done in love.

15Now, brothers and sisters,b you know that members of the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints; 16I urge you to put yourselves at the service of such people, and of everyone who works and toils with them. 17I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence; 18for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such persons.

19The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord. 20All the brothers and sistersb send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

21I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Our Lord, come!c 23The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.d