A "Grain Of Wheat" Ministries publication

Translated by David W. Dyer

INDEX

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The first letter of Paul to the Corinthians

CORINTHIANS (1)

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 1

1:1Paul, called to be a sent one of Jesus the Anointed One, through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 1:2to the gathering of the called-out ones which is in Corinth, to those separated to the Anointed One, Jesus, and called by God to be holy, together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, both their Lord and ours:

1:3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. 1:4I always thank my God concerning you for the grace of God, which was given to you in the Anointed One, Jesus, 1:5that in everything you are being enriched in him, in all his word and in all understanding, 1:6to the degree that the evidence of the character of the Anointed One is being established in your lives.

1:7Consequently, you are not lacking in any gift while you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One. 1:8He is the One who will continue establishing you until the end so that there will be no accusation against you in the day of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. 1:9God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus the Anointed One, our Lord.

1:10Now I appeal to you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, that you all speak the same thing and that there would be no divisions among you, but that you would be adjusted together into the same understanding and the same opinions. 1:11For those who are of Cloe’s household have spoken to me about you, my brethren, saying that there are contentions among you.

1:12Now I mean this: that each one of you says, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of the Anointed One. 1:13Is the Anointed One divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? 1:14I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius 1:15so that no one would say that they were baptized into my name. 1:16I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides that, I don’t remember whether I baptized anyone else.

1:17For the Anointed One did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the good news message, not using words full of human wisdom which would take away the effectiveness of the cross of the Anointed One.

1:18For, on one hand, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are on the path of destruction, but, on the other hand, to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1:19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the intelligent I will bring to nothing” (Is 29:14).

1:20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this world? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of this world foolish? 1:21For God in his wisdom ordained that the world could not find him through its own wisdom. Instead, his well conceived plan is to be saving those who are believing through the foolishness of what we are proclaiming.

1:22The Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek after wisdom, 1:23but we announce the crucified Anointed One which is an offense to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 1:24But to those who are called – both Jews and Greeks – the Anointed One is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 1:25because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1:26Just look at how you were called brethren: not many wise humanly speaking, not many mighty, and not many noble are called. 1:27But God chose the foolish ones of the world in order to shame those who are wise, and God chose the weak ones of the world in order that the strong would be disgraced. 1:28And He chose the lowly ones of the world, the ones who are despised, yes and even the ones who are nothing, in order to inactivate {render unemployed} the ones that now exist [including the present evil, heavenly rulers], 1:29so that no flesh would be able to boast before God. 1:30And it is because of him that you are in the Anointed One, Jesus, who made available to us in himself wisdom from God, righteousness, holiness, and liberation. 1:31The result then is in agreement with what has been written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord” (Jer 9:24).

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 2

2:1And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with elevated speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2:2For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus the Anointed One and him crucified. 2:3And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 2:4And my speech and my proclaiming were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power 2:5so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

2:6We do speak wisdom, however, among those who are mature, yet it is not a wisdom of this age nor of the heavenly rulers of this age, who are being rendered powerless. 2:7But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom which has been hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory.

2:8This is a wisdom which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 2:9But as it is written, “Things which eyes have not seen nor ears heard and which have never entered into the heart of man – things which God is preparing for those who love him!” (Is 64:4).

2:10But God reveals them to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches out all things, even the profound things of God. 2:11For which man knows the hidden things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? In this same way, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

2:12But we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. 2:13These are the things about which we also speak, not in words which human wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches using spiritual words to describe spiritual things.

2:14Now the soulish man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him and he cannot comprehend them because they are spiritually discerned. 2:15But he who is spiritual understands all things, yet he himself is correctly understood by no one unspiritual. 2:16“For who has known the mind of the Lord so that he should instruct him?” (Is 40:13). But we are laying hold of the mind of the Anointed One through being transformed.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 3

3:1Brethren, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual individuals but as to fleshly, even as to infants in the Anointed One. 3:2I fed you with milk, not with meat, for you were not yet able to handle it. No, you are not even able now, 3:3for you are still carnal. For when there is jealousy and competition among you, aren’t you just fleshly? Aren’t you following the natural, human tendencies?

3:4For when one says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another, “But I am a follower of Apollos,” aren’t you just acting like mere carnal men? 3:5Who then is Apollos? And who is Paul? Just servants through whom you believed, receiving from each one according to what the Lord gave him.

3:6I planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the increase. 3:7So then neither is he who plants anything or he who waters anything, but God who gives the growth is everything. 3:8Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own work. 3:9For we are God’s co-workers. You are God’s planted fields and God’s building.

3:10According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and others build on it. But let each one be careful how he builds on it. 3:11For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus the Anointed One. 3:12But if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, or stubble – 3:13everyone’s work will be clearly seen, for the “day” will expose it because it will be revealed by the fire. The fire itself will test everyone’s work, thus revealing what kind it is. 3:14If anyone’s work which he built survives, he will receive a reward. 3:15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet only by passing through the fire himself.

3:16Don’t you know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 3:17If any man dishonors the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God – which is you – is holy.

3:18Let no one deceive himself. If any man thinks that he is wise among you in this age, he should become foolish so that he may become wise. 3:19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written that “He catches the wise in their own craftiness” (Job 5:13). 3:20And again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”

3:21Therefore let no one glorify certain men [special leaders, etc.]. For all things are yours, 3:22whether Paul; or Apollos; or Cephas; or the world; or life; or death; or present things; or things in the future: all are yours, 3:23and you are the Anointed One’s, and the Anointed One is God’s.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 4

4:1This is how people should think of us: as lower-ranking servants* of the Anointed One and caretakers of the mysteries of God.

*The Greek word is literally, “under rower” which was a lower order of seaman, possibly the slaves which labored on the lower deck of oarsmen in a Roman galley ship. There is no doubt that this “under rower” was not the captain of the ship

4:2Speaking of this subject, it is required of caretakers that they are found to be faithful. 4:3And yet I give very little importance to how I might be judged by you or by any human judgment. In fact, I don’t even judge myself. 4:4For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not even justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.

4:5Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will both shine his light on the things hidden in the darkness and expose the secret meditations of our hearts. Then each one will have his praise from God.

4:6Now these things, brethren, I have applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes so that in our case you would learn not to think more highly of us than the things which I have written so that no one would try to make one of us seem greater than the other. 4:7For who makes people different? And what does anyone have that they didn’t receive? But if you have received something, why do you brag about it as if it hadn’t been given to you by someone else?

4:8You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have started to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you actually did reign [in the coming millennial kingdom] so that we also could reign with you.

4:9For I think God has designated us, the sent ones, to be like the disgraced ones at the end of the parade of those condemned to die in the arena; as a spectacle to the cosmos, both to angels and to men. 4:10We are fools for the Anointed One’s sake, but you are wise in the Anointed One. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor.

4:11Even to this present time we both hunger and thirst; we are poorly clothed, are beaten, and have no fixed residence. 4:12We labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure it; 4:13being slandered by others, we appeal to them. We are like the rubbish of the world; we are like all the floor sweepings until this time.

4:14I don’t write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children, I say this as a warning to you. 4:15For though you have ten thousand instructors in the Anointed One, yet you don’t have many fathers. For in the Anointed One, Jesus, I begot you through the message of good news. 4:16I beg you, therefore, to become imitators of me! [Instead of being “filled, rich, reigning,” etc.]

4:17For this reason I sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord and who will remind you of the way I walk in the Anointed One, just as I teach everywhere in every gathering of the called-out ones. 4:18Now some have become proud, as though I were not coming to you. 4:19But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills. And I will not assess the words of those who are self-important, but the power. 4:20For the kingdom of God is not in words but in power. 4:21What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 5

5:1It is actually reported that there is sex outside of the marriage union among you and such impure sex that even the Gentiles don’t practice it, i.e. that one of you has had sex with his father’s wife. 5:2And you are proud and did not mourn instead so that he who has done this act might be taken away from among you.

5:3For although I am physically absent, yet I am present in spirit and have already judged him who has done this thing as if I were present. 5:4In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are gathered together and my spirit is with you with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5:5deliver such a person to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

5:6Your proud boasting is not approved. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump of dough? 5:7Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new, unmixed batch since you should be unleavened. For our passover lamb has been sacrificed, even the Anointed One.

5:8Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of depraved behavior and sin, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth.

5:9When I wrote to you in my letter not to have fellowship with those who practice sex outside of the marriage bond, 5:10I did not mean with the sexually immoral of this world, or with those who are eager for wealth, or with those who take advantage of others, or with those who worship something other than God, for then you would need to leave this world.

5:11But as it is, I wrote to you not to have fellowship with anyone who is called a brother but who is practicing sex outside of the marriage union, or is eager for wealth, or is someone who worships something other than God, or is someone who speaks badly about others, or is a drunkard, or is a person who takes advantage of others. Don’t even share a meal with someone like that.

5:12For what business do I have judging those who are outside in the world? Don’t you judge those who are within? 5:13But those who are outside God will judge. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 6

6:1Do any of you having a dispute with his neighbor dare to go to court before the unrighteous instead of before those who have been set apart for God? 6:2Or don’t you know that those who have been set apart for God will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 6:3Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more should we be able to judge the things that belong to this life?

6:4If, then, you need to decide a legal dispute about things belonging to this life, would you set someone to judge who is looked down on in the gathering of the called-out ones? 6:5I say this to shame you. What? Can’t you find among yourselves even one wise man who would be able to decide between his brethren? 6:6But, instead, a brother goes to court against another brother to have his case decided by unbelievers.

6:7Now it is already a serious failure among you that you even have lawsuits against each other! Why not instead let yourselves be wronged? Why not instead let yourselves be defrauded? 6:8Instead, you yourselves act unjustly and defraud and do it to your brethren!

6:9Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the coming kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived: neither those who have sex outside of marriage, nor those who worship something besides God; nor adulterers, nor cross dressers, nor homosexuals, 6:10nor thieves, nor those who are eager for wealth, nor drunkards; nor slanderers, nor those who take advantage of others will inherit the kingdom of God [the millennial kingdom].

6:11And some of you were like this, but you are being washed, but you are being made holy, but you are being made righteous through the name of the Lord Jesus the Anointed One – namely by the Spirit of our God.

6:12It is possible for me to do anything, but not all things are beneficial. It is possible for me to do anything, but I will not be brought under the control of any of them.

6:13Foods are for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. But the body is not for sex outside of the marriage bond but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. 6:14And God, who raised up the Lord, will also raise us up through his power.

6:15Don’t you realize that your bodies are members of the Anointed One? Should I take the members of the Anointed One and make them members of an immoral woman?* God forbid! 6:16Or don’t you know that he who is joined to an immoral woman* is one body with her? For, “The two,” says he, “will become one flesh” (Gn 2:24). 6:17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord.

*The Greek word here is literally “prostitute” but I have used “immoral woman” instead. This phrase was chosen because the sex act, which results in the “one flesh” condition, is not limited only to prostitutes. Today, immoral sex is so rampant, that very few need to seek prostitutes to sin against their own bodies. Sex with an “immoral woman” brings the same spiritual results as sex with a professional prostitute. 6:18Flee sex outside of the marriage bond. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who has sex outside of the marriage covenant sins against his own body. 6:19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you? This is something which you have received from God. You are no longer your own master 6:20because you have been purchased with a high price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 7

7:1Now concerning the things about which you wrote, about whether it is morally right for a man to have sex with a woman, I say: 7:2because of the temptation of sexual sins, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband. 7:3Let the husband meet his wife’s sexual needs and likewise also the wife meet her husband’s sexual needs. 7:4The wife does not have rights over her own body, but the husband does. In the same way also the husband does not have rights over his own body, but the wife does.

7:5Don’t deprive each other of this privilege, except by mutual consent for a time so that you may spend undistracted time in fasting and prayer. Then you should come together again so that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self control.

7:6I say this by way of concession, not as a commandment. 7:7I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, some in this area and someone else in another area. 7:8But I say to the unmarried and to the widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I am. 7:9But if they do not have control over themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

7:10But to the married ones I give this advice, yet not I, but the Lord: that the wife should not separate from her husband. 7:11But if she separates, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And the husband should not separate from his wife.

7:12But to the rest I say (not the Lord): If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is content to live with him, he should not leave her. 7:13And if the woman has an unbelieving husband who is content to live with her, she should not leave her husband. 7:14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the brother; otherwise your children would be considered unclean, but now they are holy.

7:15Yet if the unbeliever wants to separate, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not bound as a slave in such cases. For God has called us to peace. 7:16For how do you know, oh wife, whether you will rescue your husband from destruction? Or how do you know, oh husband, whether you will rescue your wife?

7:17Only as the Lord has distributed a portion to each one, as God has called each one, let him walk in it. This is what I recommend in all the gatherings of the called-out ones.

7:18Was any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. 7:19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but obeying what God tells us to do is what matters. 7:20Let each man remain in that situation in which he was when he was called.

7:21Were you called being a bondslave? Don’t let it hinder you. But if you can become free, use it instead. 7:22For he who was called in the Lord being a bondslave is the Lord’s free man. Likewise, he who was called being free is the Anointed One’s slave. 7:23You were bought with a price; don’t become slaves of men. 7:24Brethren, let each man remain with God in the situation in which he was called.

7:25Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my advice as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy. 7:26I think, therefore, because of the present distressing circumstances, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

7:27Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Don’t seek a wife. 7:28But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have affliction in the flesh from which I would prefer to spare you.

7:29But I say this: brethren, the time is growing ever shorter. Therefore, from now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none; 7:30those who weep, as though they did not weep; those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; those who buy, as though they did not have possessions and 7:31those who use the world, as not overindulging themselves in it, for the form of this world will disappear.

7:32But I would like you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried cares about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. 7:33But he who is married cares about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and so his attention is divided. 7:34So also the woman who is unmarried and the virgin care about the things of the Lord, so that they may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

7:35I say this for your own benefit, not to put restraints on you, but for something beautiful, i.e. that you may devote your attention to the Lord without distraction.

7:36But if any man thinks that he is behaving himself improperly with respect to his virginity, and if she [the one he is desiring to marry] is past puberty {the flower of her age, Gk}, as she must be in order to marry, let him do what he wishes. He does not sin. Let them marry. 7:37But he who stands firm in his heart, not having strong passions, but has control over his own desires, having decided in his heart to keep his own virginity; he does well. 7:38So then, he who gives up his virginity by getting married does well and he who does not marry does even better.

7:39A wife is bound to her husband for as long as her husband is alive. But if the husband dies, she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, only in the Lord. 7:40But in my opinion, she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 8

8:1Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge inflates the ego, but love builds up. 8:2If any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he needs to know. 8:3But if any man loves God, this one understands that which is from him.

8:4Therefore, concerning eating things which have been sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in this world and that there is no God but one. 8:5For though there are things which are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth – as there are many gods and many lords – 8:6yet for us there is only one God, the Father, of whom are all things and into whom we have come, and one Lord, Jesus the Anointed One, through whom are all things, including ourselves.

8:7However, not all men have that knowledge. Some are still used to thinking of the idol as being something real. So when they eat something sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is contaminated. 8:8But food does not gain us God’s approval. Neither if we don’t eat are we worse off, nor if we do eat are we better off.

8:9But be careful so that this liberty of yours doesn’t become a stumbling block to the weak ones. 8:10If, for example, someone sees you who have knowledge, sitting in an idol’s temple eating meat, if he is weak, won’t his conscience be emboldened to partake of [participate in] idolatrous sacrifices [rituals often involving prostitution]? 8:11In this way, through your “knowledge,” the weak brother for whom the Anointed One died is destroyed. 8:12And thus, sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against the Anointed One.

8:13Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again so that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 9

9:1Am I not free? Am I not a sent one? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 9:2If I am not a sent one to others, yet at least I am to you, for the seal of my having been sent is you in the Lord. 9:3My defense to those who examine me is this:

9:4Don’t we have the right to eat and to drink? 9:5Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a wife who is a believer, just like the rest of the sent ones, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 9:6Or myself and Bar-Nabas, don’t we have a right to not work secularly? 9:7What soldier ever serves paying his own expenses? Who is it who plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat the fruit from it? Or who shepherds a flock and doesn’t drink the milk of the flock?

9:8Do I just say these things humanly speaking or doesn’t the law say the same thing also? 9:9For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while threshing grain” (Deut 25:4). Is it simply that God cares for the oxen 9:10or does he principally say it for our benefit?

Yes, it was written for our sake because he who plows ought to plow in hope and he who threshes, to thresh in the hope of partaking. 9:11If we sowed into you spiritual things, is it a great problem if we reap natural things from you? 9:12If others partake of this privilege concerning you, how much more could we? Nevertheless we did not use this privilege. Instead, we put up with all things so that we would not present an obstacle for anyone to the message of good news about the Anointed One.

9:13Don’t you know that those who work with the sacred things eat of the things of the temple and those who attend the altar have their portion from the altar? 9:14In a similar way, the Lord has ordained that those who proclaim the good news should live from the good news message. 9:15But I have used none of these things nor am I writing this to insist that it should be done for me. For it would be better for me to die rather than that anyone would make my boasting void.

9:16For if I announce the good news, I have nothing to boast about. It is a necessity which has been laid upon me. Woe to me if I don’t proclaim the good news message. 9:17For if I do it willingly I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I still have had a stewardship entrusted to me.

9:18What is my reward then? That, when I proclaim the good news, I present the good news without financial cost so as not to use my full right in the good news message. 9:19For though I was free from all men, I made myself a slave to all so that I might gain more of them.

9:20So to the Jews I became as a Jew so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, I became as if I were under the law – not being myself actually under the law – so that I might gain those who are under the law. 9:21To those who don’t have the law, I became as if I didn’t have the law – not being without law with respect to God, but under the law of the Anointed One – so that I might gain those who don’t have the law.

9:22To the weak I became weak so that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men so that I, by using all legitimate means, might save some. 9:23And I do all things for the sake of the good news message so that I may be a joint partaker in the rewards of it.

9:24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the prize? You should run in the same way so that you may obtain it. 9:25And everyone who strives to excel in sports exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.

9:26Therefore, I run in this way, not with uncertainty. I fight in this way, not as if I were just beating the air. 9:27But I treat my body severely and bring it into subjection unless after I have preached to others, I myself would be rejected.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 10

10:1For I don’t want you to be unaware brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea 10:2and were all “baptized” into Moses [into that which Moses received] in the cloud and in the sea. 10:3They all ate the same spiritual food 10:4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock which followed them – and that rock was the Anointed One.

10:5However, God was not pleased with most of them, for their corpses were scattered in the wilderness. 10:6Now these things are examples for us so that we should not long after sinful things, as they also longed. 10:7Neither should we worship anything other than God as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” [in an idolatrous, drunken orgy] (Ex 32:6,18,19,25).

10:8Neither let us have sex outside of the marriage bond, as some of them did and in one day twenty-three thousand of them were killed. 10:9Neither let us try the Lord’s patience too much, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents. 10:10Neither should we complain as some of them complained and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

10:11Now these things which happened to them were written as a warning to us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come! 10:12Therefore, let him who thinks he stands be careful so that he doesn’t fall. 10:13There is no test of your faithfulness {temptation} which you experience which is not common to all humans. But God, who is faithful, will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able to bear but will with the test also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

10:14Furthermore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 10:15I speak to you as to wise men. Consider carefully what I say. 10:16The cup of blessing which we celebrate, isn’t it our fellowship together in the blood of the Anointed One? The bread which we break, isn’t it our fellowship together in the body of the Anointed One? 10:17This is because we who are many are one bread and one body, since we all partake of the one bread. 10:18Consider Israel, humanly speaking. Aren’t they companions since they eat the sacrifices that come from the altar together?

10:19What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything or that an idol is anything? No! 10:20But I do say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to become participants with demons.

10:21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons. 10:22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?

10:23Everything is possible, but not all things are beneficial. Everything is possible, but not all things build up yourself or others. 10:24Let no one seek his own interests, but each one should seek his neighbor’s well-being.

10:25Whatever is sold in the marketplace, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake, 10:26for, “The earth is the Lord’s and all the abundance of it” (Ps 24:1).

10:27If an unbeliever invites you to a feast and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set in front of you, asking no question for conscience’ sake. 10:28But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in an idolatrous sacrifice,” don’t eat it, for his sake who disclosed it and for conscience’ sake. 10:29When I say conscience, I don’t mean your own, but the other’s. For why should my liberty be judged by someone else’s conscience? 10:30If I partake with thankfulness, why am I spoken against for that for which I give thanks?

10:31Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 10:32Don’t do anything which is offensive, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the gathering of the called-out ones of God, 10:33just as I also seek to be inoffensive to all men in all things, not seeking my own advantage, but the benefit of the many so that they may be being saved.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 11

11:1Be imitating me in the way that I follow the Anointed One. 11:2Now I praise you that you remember everything about the way I lived and you hold tightly onto the instructions which I delivered to you.

11:3But I want you to know, that the head of every man is the Anointed One, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of the Anointed One is God. 11:4Every man when praying or prophesying, having his head down {or, lowered},* disgraces his true head: the Anointed One.

* This posture signals an attitude of submission to another man or men.

11:5And every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head: the man. For it is the same as if she were shaved bald. 11:6For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shaved. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or to be shaved, let her be covered.

11:7For a man is obligated not to have his head covered (signaling submission to human authority) because he possesses the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of man. 11:8You see, the man was not taken out of the woman, but the woman was taken out of the man.

11:9Therefore, the man was not made for the woman, but the woman was made for the man. 11:10For this reason, the woman should have a sign of her submission to authority on her head for the sake of the angels. 11:11Nevertheless, in the Lord neither is the woman complete without the man nor the man complete without the woman. 11:12For as the woman was taken out from the man, so the man also comes out from the woman. But all things are from God.

11:13Make this judgment for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God uncovered? 11:14Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 11:15But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her. For her hair is given her as a covering.

11:16But if anyone has a strong disagreement about this, we have no such custom, neither do the gatherings of the called-out ones of God.

11:17But in giving you the following instructions, I do not praise you. You are not coming together for the better but for the worse. 11:18For first of all, when you come together in the gathering of the called-out ones, I hear that divisions exist among you and I partly believe it. 11:19For it is inevitable that separations occur among you so that it can be clear who those are who are approved by God.

11:20When, therefore, you assemble yourselves together, the supper you eat is not of the Lord. 11:21For in your eating, each one takes his own meal before the other. One goes hungry and another is drunk. 11:22What? Don’t you have houses in which to eat and drink? Or don’t you value the gathering of the called-out ones of God and so shame those who don’t have much? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I don’t praise you in this matter!

11:23For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed, during the meal took bread, 11:24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Remember me when you do this.”

11:25In the same way also he took the cup after they had eaten their meal, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it together, remember me.” 11:26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup together, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

11:27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord being unworthy* will be liable for the body and the blood of the Lord. 11:28But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 11:29For whoever still eats and drinks but does not discern the Lord’s body* eats and drinks in an irreverent manner and so eats and drinks judgment upon himself.

*This “unworthiness” must be linked to “not discerning the Lord’s body” in verse 29. In fact, following the context of the entire passage, the judgments described seem to be intimately linked to how we treat other members of the body rather than to other kinds of sins. (See chapter 10:16,17).

11:30This is the reason that many among you are weak and sick and some have even died.** 11:31But if we rightly discern our own responsibility with respect to the other members, we will not be judged. 11:32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

**This could mean physical and/or spiritual death.

11:33Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 11:34If anyone is too hungry to wait for the others, let him eat at home so that your coming together is not for judgment. And the remaining matters I will arrange when I come.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 12

12:1Now, brethren, I don’t want you to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. 12:2You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led by those voiceless idols, being carried away by various impulses. 12:3Therefore, I want to make it clear to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no man can truly declare that Jesus is his Master, but by the Holy Spirit.

12:4Now there are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. 12:5And there are various kinds of ministries yet the same Lord. 12:6And there are different ways of working but it is the same God who is operating in and through all things.

12:7But to each one is given an expression of the Spirit for the benefit of all. 12:8For to one is given the “word of wisdom” through the Spirit, and to another the “word of knowledge” according to the same Spirit; 12:9to another faith in the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing in the one Spirit; 12:10to another workings of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; to another the interpretation of such languages.

12:11But through all these things, One – even the Spirit himself – works, distributing to each one individually according to his purposes.

12:12For as the physical body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, being many, are one – so also is the Anointed One. 12:13For in one Spirit we are all immersed {baptized} into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free. And one Spirit was provided for us to drink.

12:14Yet the body is not one member but many. 12:15If the foot were to say, “Because I am not the hand, I am not part of the body,” is it, therefore, not part of the body? 12:16Or if the ear were to say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” is it, therefore, not part of the body? 12:17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?

12:18But now God has set each one of the members in the body just as it pleased him. 12:19And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 12:20But now they are many members, but one body. 12:21And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or, again, the head to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

12:22Instead, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 12:23Those parts of the body, which we think are less honorable, to these we give more abundant honor and our less beautiful parts we beautify even more, 12:24whereas our attractive parts have no need.

But God joined the members of the body together, giving greater honor to the part which is lacking 12:25so that there would be no separations in the body but that each of the members of the body would care for each other. 12:26The result should be that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or if one member is honored, all the members will rejoice with it.

12:27Now you are the body of the Anointed One and each member is assigned a “part” to fulfill. 12:28And, indeed, this is how God has arranged things in the gathering of the called-out ones: first he placed sent ones, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then gifts of healing, helping others, guidance and various types of languages. 12:29Are all sent ones? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 12:30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak with different languages? Do all interpret? 12:31But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you an even more excellent way.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 13

13:1If I speak in the languages of men and of angels but don’t have love, I have become like a sounding brass instrument or a clanging cymbal. 13:2And if I have the gift of prophecy, understand the mysteries, have every last bit of knowledge and if I have all faith – enough to remove mountains – but don’t have love, I am nothing. 13:3And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it doesn’t benefit me at all.

13:4Love is patient in all situations and is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not show itself off; is not proud; 13:5does not behave itself inappropriately; is not self-seeking; is not quick to take offense; does not keep track of wrongs against it; 13:6does not rejoice because of other’s sins but rejoices with the truth; 13:7covers all negative things; believes all things; hopes all things; endures all things.

13:8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be rendered useless; where there are different languages, they will cease; where there is knowledge, it will disappear. 13:9For now we understand only partially and we prophesy imperfectly. 13:10But when that which is perfect has come, that which is only partial will be superseded.

13:11When I was a child, my speech was childish, my feelings were childish, my thoughts were childish. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. 13:12For now we see in a mirror, obscurely,* but then face to face. Now I understand partially, but then I will know him completely, just as I also am thoroughly known by him right now. 13:13But these things are enduring: faith, hope and love, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

*The mirrors of those times, usually a polished metal, did not give a very good reflection as our glass ones do today. Perhaps their reflection was very fuzzy and imperfect. Therefore, “seeing as in a mirror” would be to see imperfectly or “obscurely.”

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 14

14:1Follow after love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you might prophesy. 14:2For he who speaks in a unknown language does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him. But in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 14:3But he who prophesies, speaks edification, exhortation, and consolation to men. 14:4He who speaks in an unknown language edifies himself but he who prophesies builds up the gathering of the called-out ones.

14:5Now my desire is that you all speak with different languages but even more that you would prophesy. He who prophesies is “greater” than he who speaks with different languages, unless he interprets what is said so that the gathering of the called-out ones may receive edification.

14:6But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with unknown languages, how will it benefit you if I don’t speak to you either through revelation, knowledge, prophesying, or teaching? 14:7Even things without life when making a sound, whether a flute or harp, if they don’t give a distinctive sound, how will it be known what is being played? 14:8For example, if the trumpet makes an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for war?

14:9So you also, unless you speak with your tongue, speech which is easy to understand, how will anyone know what is being spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.

14:10For example, there are many kinds of languages in the world and no language is without its own meaning. 14:11But if I don’t know the meaning of the words, I will appear to be a foreigner to him who speaks and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. 14:12So you also, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek them in a way which will result in the abundant edifying of the called-out ones.

14:13Therefore, let him who speaks in a different language pray that he may interpret it. 14:14For if I pray in an unknown language, my spirit prays, but I don’t understand the words. 14:15What is better then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also.

14:16Or else if you bless with the spirit, how will someone who does not know that language say “Amen” at your giving thanks, since he doesn’t know what you said? 14:17For you really do give thanks well, but the other is not built up. 14:18I thank God that I speak in unknown languages more than all of you. 14:19However, in the gathering of the called-out ones I would rather speak five words with my understanding so that I might instruct others also than ten thousand words in an unknown language.

14:20Brethren, don’t have the mentality of children. Yet with respect to meanness you should be like babies, but in understanding be like men. 14:21In the law it is written, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, yet even then they will not hear me, says the Lord” (Is 28:11,12). 14:22Therefore, these different languages are a sign not to those who believe but to the unbelieving. But prophesying is a sign not only to the unbelieving but to those who believe also.

14:23If then the whole group of called-out ones is assembled together and everyone speaks with an unknown language and some people who are uneducated or unbelieving come in, won’t they say that you are crazy? 14:24But if everyone prophesies and someone unbelieving or uneducated enters, he is reproved by all and he is judged by all 14:25since the secrets of his heart are being revealed. And so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.

14:26What is the proper way to conduct your meetings then, brethren? When you come together, each one has a psalm; has a teaching; has a revelation; has a message in an unknown language; has an interpretation. Let everything be done for building up the others.*

*In church meetings, everything spoken should have the purpose of edifying others, not glorifying or calling attention to the speaker.

*14:27If anyone speaks in an unknown language, it should be done by two, or at the most three people, with each taking their turn. And someone should interpret. 14:28But if there is no interpreter, let him keep quiet in the gathering of the called-out ones. Let him speak to himself and to God.

14:29And let two or three of the prophets speak and let the others discern if what they say is from God. 14:30But if a revelation comes to another sitting nearby, let the one speaking be quiet. 14:31For you all can prophesy one by one

so that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 14:32And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets,* 14:33for God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

*Paul is teaching us that in true prophesying, the prophet does not lose control of himself. He is not possessed by or taken over by a spirit or the Holy Spirit. His spirit is always under his own control, i.e. “subject” to himself.

As it is whenever the called-out ones – the ones who have been set apart for God – get together, 14:34the women should be quiet, [not loud and pushy] in the gatherings. For it is not permitted for them to speak disruptively, but let them be in subjection as the law also teaches. 14:35And if they wish to learn more about anything, let them ask their own husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak disruptively in the assembly.**

**In chapter 11, verse 5, Paul mentions women praying or prophesying when they are submissive, i.e. with their head covered. Without a doubt, this is something which happened in gatherings of the called-out ones. Thus, they were “speaking” in the meetings. These women surely were not prophesying to themselves. Once two or three people get together, whether they are men or women, this already constitutes a “church” meeting (Mt 18:20). Therefore, this passage cannot be understood as a total prohibition on women speaking in meetings. I have offered the above translation as a way which seems to harmonize with the rest of Paul’s teaching.

14:36What? Did the word of God come forth from you? Or did it come to you alone? 14:37If any man thinks of himself as a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 14:38But if any man is without understanding, he won’t understand this. 14:39Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy and don’t forbid to speak with other languages. 14:40But let all things be done decently and in order.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15

15:1Now I reaffirm to you, brethren, the good news that I announced to you, which you also received, in which also you stand, 15:2by which you also are being saved, if you are holding tightly onto the word which I proclaimed to you, unless you believed insincerely.

15:3For I delivered to you truths from among the primary ones which I also received, i.e. that the Anointed One died for our sins according to the scriptures; 15:4and that he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 15:5and that he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve. 15:6After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive until today, but some of whom have fallen asleep {died}; 15:7then he appeared to James; then to all the sent ones.

15:8Then – being the least important of them all, like a child born as a miscarriage – he appeared to me also. 15:9For I am the least of the sent ones, one who is not worthy to be called a sent one because I persecuted the called-out ones of God. 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was given to me was not ineffective, but I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet it wasn’t I, but the grace of God which was with me. 15:11Whether then it was I or they – we proclaimed and you believed.

15:12Now if the Anointed One is proclaimed as having been raised from the dead, how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 15:13For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Anointed One has not been raised either. 15:14And if the Anointed One has not been raised, then our proclaiming is in vain and your faith is also useless.

15:15Furthermore, we would be found to be false witnesses of God if we testified concerning God that he raised up the Anointed One, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is true that the dead are not raised. 15:16For if the dead are not raised, neither has the Anointed One been raised. 15:17And if the Anointed One has not been raised, your faith has no benefit for you. You are still in your sins.

15:18Then too those who have fallen asleep {died} in the Anointed One have perished. 15:19If then we have placed our only hope in the Anointed One’s resurrected life (and he has not resurrected), we are the most to be pitied of all men.

15:20But actually the Anointed One has been raised from the dead, thus becoming the firstfruits of those who are asleep. 15:21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.

15:22For as in Adam all die, so also all who are in the Anointed One will be made alive. 15:23But each in his own order: the Anointed One the firstfruits; then those that are the Anointed One’s at his coming. 15:24Then the culmination {fulfillment} comes when he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, as soon as he has rendered inoperative all other rule, all other authority, and other power. 15:25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

15:26The last enemy to be rendered inoperative is death, 15:27for he will surely put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he said, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that he who subjected all things to him is excepted. 15:28And when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who subjected all things to him so that God the Father may be all in all.

15:29Otherwise what will they do who are immersed {baptized} to identify with the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they immersed {baptized} to identify with the dead? 15:30Why also are we in danger all the time? 15:31I die daily – which corresponds to your boasting about me, brethren, which boasting I understand to be in the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord.**

**This is a particularly difficult sentence to translate. The Greek is not at all clear. There are very many different translations of this verse, some of which are pure gibberish. This translation is offered as an attempt to make sense of what Paul is trying to say.

15:32When I fought with beasts at Ephesus, from a man’s point of view, how did it profit me if the dead are not raised? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. 15:33Don’t be deceived. Bad friendships corrupt good morals. 15:34Be righteously sober and do not sin, for some are ignorant concerning God. I say this to your own shame.

15:35But some will ask, “How are the dead raised?” And, “What kind of body will they have?” 15:36You foolish one, that which you sow doesn’t sprout unless it first “dies.” 15:37And when you sow, you don’t sow the physical form that will come from it, but bare grain, which might be of wheat or of some other kind. 15:38But God gives it a physical form according to his pleasure and to each kind of seed a “body” of its own. 15:39Furthermore, all flesh is not the same kind of flesh. But there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another flesh of birds, and another of fish.

15:40There are also celestial bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the celestial is one type and the glory of the earthly is another. 15:41There is one type of glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.

Just as one star differs from another star in degree of glory, 15:42this is how it will also be in the resurrection of the dead.

The physical body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. 15:43It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 15:44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. Since there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

15:45So also it is written, “The first man Adam was made as a living soul – the last Adam became the Spirit which imparts God’s own life.” 15:46However, that which is spiritual doesn’t come first but that which is natural and then that which is spiritual. 15:47The first man was made out of the earth and, therefore, is earthly. The second man is of the Lord from heaven.

15:48Those who are earthly, follow the pattern of the earthly man. Those who are heavenly exhibit the pattern of the heavenly One. 15:49And as we have been clothed with the image of the earthly man, we will also be clothed with the image of the heavenly man.

15:50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does that which is corruptible inherit incorruption.

15:51Look, I will tell you a secret. We will not all sleep {die}, but we will all be changed 15:52in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the sounding of the final trumpet. For that trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible and we will be changed together with them.

15:53For this corruptible being must be clothed with incorruption and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality.

15:54But when that which is corruptible will have been clothed with incorruption and this mortal body will have been clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (Is 25:8). 15:55Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting? 15:56The “sting” which causes death is sin and it is the law which gives “force” to sin.* 15:57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Anointed One. 15:58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not futile.

*The law gives “force” to sin by exposing sins of which we were previously unconscious and reinforcing the knowledge of God’s displeasure concerning those already known.

FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 16

16:1Now concerning the collection for those who have been set apart for God, you should follow the same instructions which I gave to the gatherings of the called-out ones in Galatia. 16:2On the first day of the week let each one of you set aside something according to how he has prospered so that no collections will be made when I come. 16:3And when I arrive, I will send whomever you approve with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 16:4And if it seems good for me to go also, they will go with me.

16:5But I will come to you after I have passed through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia. 16:6But perhaps I will stay there with you for a while or even spend the winter there so that you may send me out on my journey wherever I go. 16:7For I do not wish to see you now, when I am just quickly passing through, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits it.

16:8But I will remain at Ephesus until Pentecost, 16:9for a great door of effective service has been opened for me. But there are many adversaries.

16:10Now if Timothy comes, see to it that he is well received, thus having no reason to be anxious while he is with you, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do. 16:11Therefore, let no one look down on him. But send him forward on his journey in peace so that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brethren.

16:12But concerning Apollos, the brother, I pleaded with him to come to you with the brethren, but he was not at all willing to come at this time. But he will come when he has an opportunity.

16:13Be watchful. Stand firmly in the faith. Behave like men. Be strong. 16:14Let everything you do be done in love. 16:15Now I plead with you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have agreed among themselves to serve those who have been set apart for God), 16:16that you also be yielding with them and with everyone who helps in the work and labors.

16:17I rejoiced at the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for that which was lacking on your part they supplied. 16:18For they refreshed my spirit and yours. Consequently, be able to recognize ones such as these.

16:19The gatherings of the called-out ones in Asia send you salutations. Aquila and Priscilla send you fond greetings in the Lord, along with the gathering of the called-out ones which is in their house.

16:20All the brethren greet you. Greet each other with a holy kiss. 16:21I, Paul, send my greetings written by my own hand. 16:22If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be anathema {cursed}. Maranatha {Come Lord Jesus}. 16:23The grace of the Lord Jesus the Anointed One be with you. 16:24My love is with you all in the Anointed One, Jesus.

Words in this translation found in italics are words which are implied by the Greek text but do not represent actual words in the Greek text. This practice is common in almost all modern translations. Occasionally, this translator has added words to the translation which represent his own ideas and opinions which, although they are based on his own biblical understanding, are not part of the actual Greek text. Such words are enclosed in brackets like this [ ]. The reader should understand these words as being the opinion of the translator. In contrast to this, the words in these braces { } indicate legitimate, alternative translations or explanations. Words within parentheses () are part of the original Greek text. Such parentheses are often used in other New Testament translations also.

End of The First letter of Paul to the Corinthians

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