And he who rises up to rule the Gentiles;
On him will Gentiles hope.
(13)And the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that ye may abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(14)And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also
yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also
to admonish one another. (15)But I wrote the more boldly to you,
brethren, in part as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is
given to me by God; (16)that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to
the Gentiles, ministering as a priest in the gospel of God, that the
offering up of the Gentiles may be acceptable, being sanctified by the
Holy Spirit. (17)I have therefore my glorying in Christ Jesus, as to
things pertaining to God. (18)For I will not dare to speak of any of
the things which Christ wrought not through me, to bring the Gentiles
to obedience, by word and deed, (19)in the power of signs and wonders,
in the power of the Holy Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as
far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the good news of Christ;
(20)being emulous so to preach the good news, not where Christ was
named, lest I should build upon another's foundation; (21)but as it is
written:
They to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see,
And they that have not heard shall understand.
(22)For which cause also, for the most part, I was hindered from
coming to you. (23)But now having no longer place in these regions,
and having a great desire these many years to come to you,
(24)whenever I go into Spain, I hope to see you in my journey, and to
be sent forward thither by you, if first I shall be satisfied in a
measure with your company.
(25)But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. (26)For
Macedonia and Achaia thought it good, to make a certain contribution
for the poor among the saints who were at Jerusalem. (27)For they
thought it good; and their debtors are they. For if the Gentiles
shared in their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them
in carnal things. (28)When therefore I have performed this, and have
sealed to them this fruit, I will go by you into Spain. (29)And I know
that, when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing
of Christ.
(30)And I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the
love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God
for me; (31)that I may be delivered from the unbelieving in Judaea,
and that my service which is for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the
saints; (32)that with joy I may come to you by the will of God, and
may with you be refreshed. (33)And the God of peace be with you all.
Amen.
XVI.
I COMMEND to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church
which is at Cenchraea; (2)that ye receive her in the Lord as becomes
saints, and assist her in whatever business she may have need of you;
for she has been a helper of many, and of myself.
(3)Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-laborers in Christ Jesus
(4)(who for my life laid down their own necks; to whom not only I give
thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles), (5)and salute the
church that is in their house.
Salute Epenetus, my beloved, who is the first-fruits of Asia unto
Christ.
(6)Salute Mary, who bestowed much labor on us[16:6].
(7)Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners,
who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
(8)Salute Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.
(9)Salute Urbanus, our fellow-laborer in Christ, and Stachys my
beloved.
(10)Salute Apelles, the approved in Christ.
Salute those of the household of Aristobulus.
(11)Salute Herodion my kinsman.
Salute those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.
(12)Salute Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord.
Salute Persis the beloved, who labored much in the Lord.
(13)Salute Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
(14)Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hernias, and the
brethren who are with them.
(15)Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas,
and all the saints who are with them.
(16)Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ
salute you.
(17)Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark those who cause divisions and
offenses, contrary to the teaching which ye learned, and avoid them.
(18)For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own
belly; and by their good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of
the simple. (19)For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I
rejoice therefore over you; but I would have you wise as to that which
is good, and simple as to that which is evil. (20)And the God of peace
will shortly bruise Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you. Amen.
(21)Timothy, my fellow-laborer, salutes you, and Lucius, and Jason,
and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
(22)I, Tertius, who wrote the letter, salute you in the Lord.
(23)Gaius my host, and of the whole church, salutes you.
Erastus the chamberlain of the city salutes you, and Quartus the
brother.
(24)The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (25)Now
to him who is able to establish you, according to my gospel and the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery
kept in silence during eternal ages (26)but now made manifest, and
through the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the eternal God, made known to all nations for obedience to the
faith, (27)to God only wise, through Jesus Christ, be the glory
forever. Amen.
THE FIRST LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS.
I.
PAUL, a called apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and
Sosthenes the brother, (2)to the church of God which is at Corinth,
those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that
in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both
theirs and ours: (3)Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ.
(4)I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which
was given you in Christ Jesus; (5)that in everything ye were made rich
in him, in all utterance and all knowledge; (6)according as the
testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; (7)so that ye are behind in
no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; (8)who
will also confirm you unto the end, unaccused in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ. (9)God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the
fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
(10)But I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among
you; but that ye be made complete in the same mind, and in the same
judgment. (11)For it was made known to me concerning you, my brethren;
by those of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
(12)And I mean this, that each of you says, I am of Paul; and I of
Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. (13)Is Christ divided? Was
Paul crucified for you? Or were ye immersed in the name of Paul? (14)I
thank God that I immersed none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; (15)that
no one may say that I immersed in my own name. (16)And I immersed also
the household of Stephanas; besides, I know not whether I immersed any
other.
(17)For Christ did not send me to immerse, but to preach the glad
tidings; not with wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of no effect. (18)For the preaching of the cross is to those who
perish, foolishness; but to us who are saved, it is the power of God.
(19)For it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And will bring to nothing the prudence of the prudent.
(20)Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of
this world? Did not God make foolish the wisdom of the world? (21)For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom knew not
God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save
those who believe; (22)since Jews require signs, and Greeks seek after
wisdom, (23)but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling-block,
and to Gentiles foolishness, (24)but to those who are the called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
(25)Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness
of God is stronger than men.
(26)For see your calling, brethren, that not many are wise after the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; (27)but God chose the foolish
things of the world, that he might put to shame the wise; and God
chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the
things which are strong; (28)and the base things of the world, and the
things which are despised, did God choose, and the things which are
not, that he might bring to naught things that are; (29)that no flesh
should glory before God. (30)But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who
from God was made wisdom to us, both righteousness and sanctification,
and redemption; (31)that, according as it is written: He that glories,
let him glory in the Lord.
II.
I ALSO, when I came to you, brethren, came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. (2)For I
determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him
crucified. (3)And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much
trembling. (4)And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive
words of man's wisdom, but with demonstration of the Spirit and of
power; (5)that your faith might not stand in the wisdom of men, but in
the power of God.
(6)But we speak wisdom among those who are perfect; but a wisdom not
of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who come to naught.
(7)But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God
predestined before the worlds unto our glory; (8)which no one of the
rulers of this world has known; for had they known it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory; (9)but (as it is written) things
which eye saw not, nor ear heard, and which entered not into the heart
of man, which God prepared for those who love him; (10)but to us God
revealed them by his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even
the deep things of God. (11)For who among men knows the things of a
man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? So also the things
of God no one knows, but the Spirit of God. (12)And we received, not
the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might
know the things that were freely given to us by God. (13)Which things
also we speak, not in words taught by man's wisdom, but in those
taught by the Spirit; comparing spiritual things with spiritual[2:13].
(14)But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him; and he can not know them, because
they are spiritually judged. (15)But he that is spiritual judges all
things; but he himself is judged by no one. (16)For who knew the mind
of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
III.
I ALSO, brethren, was not able to speak to you as spiritual, but as
carnal, as babes in Christ. (2)I fed you with milk, and not with meat;
for ye were not yet able to bear it; nay, nor even now are ye able.
(3)For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk as men?
(4)For when one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are
ye not carnal? (5)Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers
through whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to each one? (6)I
planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (7)So then
neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters; but God that
gives the increase. (8)And he that plants and he that waters are one;
and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
(9)For we are God's fellow-laborers; ye are God's field, God's
building. (10)According to the grace of God which was given to me, as
a wise master-builder I laid a foundation, and another builds thereon.
But let each one take heed how he builds thereon. (11)For other
foundation can no one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ. (12)And if any one builds on this foundation gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; (13)the work of each one will be
made manifest; for the day will show it, because it is revealed in
fire, and the fire itself will prove of what sort is each one's work.
(14)If any one's work which he built thereon remains, he will receive
reward. (15)If any one's work shall be burned up, he will suffer loss;
but he himself will be saved; yet so as through fire.
(16)Know ye not that ye are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you? (17)If any one defiles[3:17] the temple of God, him
will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, the which are ye.
(18)Let no one deceive himself. If any one seems to be wise among you
in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. (19)For
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written:
He that takes the wise in their craftiness. (20)And again:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
That they are vain.
(21)So then, let no one glory in men. For all things are yours;
(22)whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or
death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours; (23)and ye
are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
IV.
SO let a man account us, as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God. (2)Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man
be found faithful. (3)But with me it is a very small thing that I
should be judged by you, or by man's day[4:3]; nay, neither do I judge
myself. (4)For I am conscious to myself of nothing; yet am I not
hereby justified, but he that judges me is the Lord. (5)So then judge
not anything before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring
to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels
of the hearts; and then shall each one have his praise of God.
(6)And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to
myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye may learn not to go
beyond that which is written, that ye be not puffed up each for one
against another. (7)For who makes thee to differ? And what hast thou,
that thou didst not receive? But if thou didst receive it, why dost
thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (8)Already ye are filled
full, already ye became rich, without us ye reigned as kings; and I
would ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.
(9)For I think that God set forth us the apostles last, as condemned
to death; for we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels
and to men. (10)We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in
Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honorable, but we are
despised. (11)Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst,
and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place;
(12)and labor, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless;
being persecuted, we suffer it; (13)being defamed, we entreat; we have
become as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things unto
this day.
(14)I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I
admonish you. (15)For though ye have ten thousand instructors in
Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you
through the gospel. (16)I beseech you therefore, be followers of
me[4:16].
(17)For this cause I sent to you Timothy, who is my child, beloved and
faithful in the Lord, who will bring to your remembrance my ways in
Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
(18)Now some were puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.
(19)But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know,
not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. (20)For the
kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. (21)What will ye? Shall I
come to you with a rod, or in love, and the spirit of meekness?
V.
IT is commonly reported that there is fornication among you, and such
fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one should have
his father's wife. (2)And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn,
that he who did this deed might be taken away from among you. (3)For I
verily, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged,
as though I were present, concerning him who has so done this; (4)in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ye being gathered together, and my
spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (5)to deliver such a
one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
(6)Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leavens
the whole lump? (7)Cleanse out therefore the old leaven, that ye may
be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened. For our passover,
Christ, was sacrificed for us; (8)therefore let us keep the feast, not
with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
(9)I wrote to you, in my letter, not to keep company with fornicators;
(10)yet not, altogether, with the fornicators of this world, or with
the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters; for then ye must needs go
out of the world. (11)But as it is, I wrote to you not to keep
company, if any one called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or
an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such
a one not even to eat.
(12)For what have I to do with judging those also who are without? Do
not ye judge those who are within? (13)But those who are without God
judges. Therefore put away that wicked man from among yourselves.
VI.
DARE any one of you, having a matter against another, go to law before
the unjust, and not before the saints? (2)Do ye not know that the
saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (3)Know ye not that we
shall judge angels? How much more the things of this life? (4)If then
ye have judgments about things of this life, set those to judge who
are of no esteem in the church.
(5)I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among
you, not even one that shall be able to judge between his brethren;
(6)but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
(7)Now therefore, it is altogether a fault among you, because ye go to
law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not
rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? (8)Nay, ye do wrong, and
defraud, and that your brethren. (9)Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, (10)nor thieves, nor the covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. (11)And such were some of you; but ye were washed, but
ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
(12)All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient;
all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the
power of anything. (13)Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats;
but God will destroy both it and them. But the body is not for
fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. (14)And God
both raised the Lord, and will also raise up us by his power.
(15)Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then
take the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? Far be
it! (16)Know ye not that he who is joined to a harlot is one body? For
the two, says he, shall be one flesh. (17)But he that is joined to the
Lord is one spirit. (18)Flee fornication. Every sin that a man commits
is without the body; but he that commits fornication, sins against his
own body. (19)Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit, who is in you, whom ye have from God, and ye are not your own?
(20)For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your
body.
VII.
NOW concerning the things whereof ye wrote to me: It is good for a man
not to touch a woman; (2)but because of fornication, let each man have
his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. (3)Let the
husband render to the wife her due; and in like manner the wife also
to the husband. (4)The wife has not power over her own body, but the
husband; and in like manner the husband also has not power over his
own body, but the wife. (5)Defraud not one the other, except it be
with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and
prayer, and come again together, that Satan may not tempt you on
account of your incontinency.
(6)But this I say by way of permission, not of command. (7)But I would
that all men were as myself. But each one has his own gift from God,
one after this manner, and another after that.
(8)And I say to the unmarried and the widows, it is good for them if
they remain as I also am. (9)But if they have not self-control, let
them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.
(10)And the married not I command, but the Lord, that the wife depart
not from the husband. (11)But if she have departed, let her remain
unmarried, or let her be reconciled to her husband; and let the
husband not put away his wife.
(12)But to the rest say I, not the Lord: If any brother has a wife
that believes not, and she is pleased to dwell with him, let him not
put her away. (13)And a woman who has a husband that believes not, and
he is pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave her husband.
(14)For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the
unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband; else your children are
unclean; but now they are holy.
(15)But if the unbelieving departs, let him depart. The brother or the
sister is not under bondage in such cases; but God has called us to
peace. (16)For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy
husband? Or what knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy
wife? (17)Only, as the Lord apportioned to each one, as God has called
each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.
(18)Was any one called being circumcised? Let him not become
uncircumcised. Has any one been called in uncircumcision? Let him not
be circumcised. (19)Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is
nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God.
(20)Let each one abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
(21)Wast thou called being a servant? Care not for it; but if thou
canst become free, use it rather. (22)For he that was called in the
Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freedman; in like manner also the
freeman, being called, is Christ's servant. (23)Ye were bought with a
price; become not servants of men. (24)Brethren, let every man,
wherein he was called, therein abide with God.
(25)Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord; but I
give my judgment, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be
faithful. (26)I consider therefore that this is good on account of the
present necessity, that it is good for a man so to be. (27)Art thou
bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife?
Seek not a wife. (28)But if also thou marry, thou sinnedst not; and if
a virgin marry, she sinned not. But such shall have affliction in the
flesh; but I spare you[7:28].
(29)But this I say, brethren, the time that remains is short; that
both they who have wives may be as though they had none; (30)and they
that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though
they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
(31)and they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion
of this world is passing away.
(32)But I would have you without cares. He that is unmarried cares for
the things of the Lord, how he shall please the Lord; (33)but he that
is married cares for the things of the world, how he shall please his
wife. (34)There is a difference also between the wife and the virgin.
The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be
holy both in body and spirit; but she that is married cares for the
things of the world, how she shall please her husband.