Please be united as one church, be of the same mind and judgement! Chloe told me that a few of you were arguing: don't. You are all followers of Jesus.
God will destroy the wisdom of the world. The wise God decided that God could not be known through wisdom, but only through the folly which we preach to save the believers. Jews demand signs; Greeks seek wisdom; our faith is a stumbling block to both, but it is power and wisdom to those who are called. The foolishness of God is wiser than men! The weakness of God is stronger than men!
Consider: not many of you were wise by worldly standards; not many were powerful or of noble birth. God chose the foolish to shame the wise! God chose the weak to shame the strong! This is all so that no human may boast in the presence of God! I did not come to you with words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith lies not with the wisdom of men, but in the power of God!
Yet we do have wisdom! It is not the wisdom of this world or its rulers, but the secret and hidden wisdom of God! The rulers of this world do not understand! If they did, they wouldn't have crucified Jesus! These things have been revealed to us by the Spirit! And we impart this knowledge not by words taught by human wisdom but words taught by the Spirit! Let no one deceive himself! If anyone among you thinks that he is wise, let him become a fool that he may become wise!
We are servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. I consider it a very small thing to be judged by humans; in fact, I don't even judge myself! It is the Lord who judges me! Therefore do not pronounce judgement before the Lord comes! Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
It has been reported that there is sexual immorality amongst you, and of a kind not even tolerated among the pagans. A man has had his father's wife?! Let him who has done this be removed from among you!
Although absent in body, I am present in spirit and have already pronounced judgement on the one who did this!
(Literally a few paragraphs ago he told everyone to leave the judging to God on Judgement Day.)
When you are assembled in the name of Lord Jesus you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord!
(So now it's OK to judge people before Judgement Day as long as they are within the church; leave judging outsiders to God.)
If any of you have a disagreement, resolve it yourselves. Don't go to the law. If anything arises, deal with it within the church. There must be someone wise enough among you to settle disputes. Don't go to the unbelievers.
The following people will not inherit the kingdom of God: the unrighteous, the greedy, the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers. Such were some of you, but you were washed and sanctified in the name of Lord Jesus!
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord! Your bodies are members of Christ! Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin is committed outside the body, but the sexually immoral sin against their own bodies, and those bodies are supposed to be temples to the Holy Spirit and to God! You are not your own; you were bought with a price; glorify God with your body!
Because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. They should have sex with each other whenever one of them feels like it. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time so that you can devote yourselves to prayer.
I wish that all were as I myself am. It is good for the unmarried and the widowed to remain single, but they should marry if they cannot exercise self-control. It is better to marry than burn with passion. The married should never divorce.
Let each person lead the life that the Lord assigned to him, and to which God called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Each person should remain in the condition in which he was called. It is good for a person to remain as he is in view of the present distress. If you are married, stay married. If you are unmarried, stay single. Time is growing short. The present form of this world is passing away. I want you to be free from anxieties; devote yourselves to the Lord.
Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you!
Don't be an idolater! Do not indulge in sexual immorality! Don't grumble! God will not tempt you beyond your ability to resist, so resist!
All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. Seek not your own good, but the good of your neighbour. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, eat what they set before you. If someone tells you that meat came from a sacrifice, don't eat it.
Do everything for the glory of God! Give no offence to Jews or Greeks or Christians. Try to please everyone as I do. Imitate me, as I imitate Christ.
A man must have his head uncovered when praying. A woman should cover her head when praying. A man doesn't need to cover up because he is the image and glory of God, while a woman is just the glory of man: woman was made from man, for man. That is why a wife should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels!
(Paul was a fan of the Book of Enoch, which relates the story of fallen angels having sex with female humans to produce a hybrid race of giants which destroy everything. Here he wants to protect the Christian women from these horny angels)
Nevertheless, a woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; as woman was made from man, now man is born from woman! And all things are from God!
Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair is it a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? Her hair is given as a covering.
On the night before he was betrayed, Lord Jesus took some bread and wine and told his disciples that it was his body and blood. So, do not eat the bread or drink the wine in an unworthy manner! Be disciplined so that, when we are judged by the Lord, we will not be condemned along with the world!
As the body is one and has many members, so it is with Christ. We have all been baptised into one body. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together.
If one talks without love one is a clanging symbol; if one has prophetic powers and all the faith, but no love, one is nothing; if one gives everything away, but lacks love, one gains nothing.
Love is patient & kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. Prophecies pass, knowledge fades. Faith, Hope and Love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is Love.
Pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially the power of prophesy. One who speaks in tongue speaks not to men but to God; noone understands him, but he utters mysteries to the spirit. The prophet speaks to the people. The tongue-speaker builds himself; the prophet builds the church. I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more I want you to prophecy!
In all the churches of the saints, the women should be kept silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. It is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
If you disagree, please note that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If you don't recognise this, you are not recognised.
Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, he was buried and raised on the 3rd day, in accordance with the scriptures, and then he appeared to Cephas & the Twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 people, most of whom are still alive. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, he appeared to me.
If Christ raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no such thing as resurrection! If there is no resurrection, then Christ was not raised! If Christ has not been raised then our preaching and your faith is in vain! We would then be misrepresenting God by saying he raised Christ! If Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
But in fact Christ was raised from the dead. For as by a man came death, by a man has come resurrection. In Adam we die, in Christ shall we be made alive. Christ was the first to resurrect, then, at his coming, so will those who belong to Christ. Then it's the end, and he will destroy every rule and authority and power. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
What you have now is not the body to be, but a bare kernel. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. So it is with resurrection: what is is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
I will visit you after passing through Macedonia. I hope to spend some time with you. When Timothy visits, make sure you put him at ease.
Be watchful; stand firm in faith; act like men; be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
Yours faithfully,
Paul, who was called by God to be an apostle of Jesus, and Sosthenes
P.S. Aquila, Prisca, and the churches of Asia say 'Hello'.
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