Revised Version 1885 (RV1885)

1 This is the third time I am coming to you. At the mouth of two witnesses or three shall every word be established.

2 I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, to them that have sinned heretofore, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare;

3 seeing that ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me; who to you-ward is not weak, but is powerful in you:

4 for he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him through the power of God toward you.

5 Try your own selves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed ye be reprobate.

6 But I hope that ye shall know that we are not reprobate.

7 Now we pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do that which is honourable, though we be as reprobate.

8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

9 For we rejoice, when we are weak, and ye are strong: this we also pray for, even your perfecting.

10 For this cause I write these things while absent, that I may not when present deal sharply, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for casting down.

11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfected; be comforted; be of the same mind; live in peace: and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

12 Salute one another with a holy kiss.

13 All the saints salute you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

1 Paul, calledto bean apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

2 unto the church of God which is at Corinth,eventhem that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, calledto besaints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirLordand ours:

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

4 I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;

5 that in everything ye were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge;

6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

7 so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;

8 who shall also confirm you unto the end,that ye beunreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, andthatthere be no divisions among you; butthatye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11 For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by themwhich are of the householdof Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, 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 baptized into the name of Paul?

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, save Crispus and Gaius;

15 lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name.

16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.

18 For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but unto us which are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the prudence of the prudent will I reject.

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.

22 Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom:

23 but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness;

24 but unto them that are 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 behold your calling, brethren, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,are called:

27 but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;

28 and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose,yeaand the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are:

29 that no flesh should glory before God.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:

31 that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

1 And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery 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 in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

5 that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, which are coming to nought:

7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery,eventhewisdomthat hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:

8 which none of the rulers of this world knoweth: 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, and ear heard not, Andwhichentered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.

10 But unto us God revealedthemthrough the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.

12 But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.

2 I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet ableto bear it: nay, not even now are ye able;

3 for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk after the manner of men?

4 For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men?

5 What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him.

6 I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

9 For we are God’s fellow-workers: ye are God’s husbandry, God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is.

14 If any man’s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward.

15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire.

16 Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, andthatthe Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17 If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, whichtempleye are.

18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is 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 taketh the wise in their craftiness:

20 and again, The Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain.

21 Wherefore 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.

1 It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that oneof youhath his father’s wife.

2 And ye are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you.

3 For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him that hath so wrought this thing,

4 in the name of our Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

5 to deliver such a one unto 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 leaveneth the whole lump?

7 Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed,evenChrist:

8 wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with fornicators;

10 not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world:

11 but now I write unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat.

12 For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within,

13 whereas them that are without God judgeth? Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.

1 Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbour, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

2 Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life?

4 If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this life, do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church?

5 I saythisto move you to shame. Is it so, that there cannot befoundamong you one wise man, who shall be able to decide between his brethren,

6 but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?

7 Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded?

8 Nay, but ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and thatyourbrethren.

9 Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men,

10 nor thieves, nor 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 Christ, and in 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 any.

13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall bring to nought 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 raise up us through his power.

15 Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid.

16 Or know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? for, The twain, saith he, shall become one flesh.

17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

19 Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own;

20 for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body.

1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

2 But, because of fornications, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

3 Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

4 The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife.

5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be by consent for a season, that ye may give yourselves unto prayer, and may be together again, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency.

6 But this I say by way of permission, not of commandment.

7 Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. Howbeit each man hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.

9 But if they have not continency, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

10 But unto the married I give charge,yeanot I, but the Lord, That the wife depart not from her husband

11 (but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband); and that the husband leave not his wife.

12 But to the rest say I, not the Lord: If any brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she is content to dwell with him, let him not leave her.

13 And the woman which hath an unbelieving husband, and he is content 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 brother: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

15 Yet if the unbelieving departeth, let him depart: the brother or the sister is not under bondage in suchcases: but God hath called us in peace.

16 For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O husband, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

17 Only, as the Lord hath distributed to each man, as God hath called each, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all the churches.

18 Was any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Hath any 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 man abide in that calling wherein he was called.

21 Wast thou called being a bondservant? care not for it: but if thou canst become free, useitrather.

22 For he that was called in the Lord, being a bondservant, is the Lord’s freedman: likewise he that was called, being free, is Christ’s bondservant.

23 Ye were bought with a price; become not bondservants of men.

24 Brethren, let each 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 hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

26 I think therefore that this is good by reason of the present distress,namely, that it is good for a man to be as he is.

27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Yet such shall have tribulation in the flesh: and I would spare you.

29 But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none;

30 and those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not;

31 and those that use the world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

32 But I would have you to be free from cares. He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

33 but he that is married is careful for the things of the world, how he may please his wife.

34 And there is a difference also between the wife and the virgin. She that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married is careful for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

35 And this I say for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is seemly, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

36 But if any man thinketh that he behaveth himself unseemly toward his virgindaughter, if she be past the flower of her age, and if need so requireth, let him do what he will; he sinneth not; let them marry.

37 But he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power as touching his own will, and hath determined this in his own heart, to keep his own virgindaughter, shall do well.

38 So then both he that giveth his own virgindaughterin marriage doeth well; and he that giveth her not in marriage shall do better.

39 A wife is bound for so long time as her husband liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is free to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.

40 But she is happier if she abide as she is, after my judgment: and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.

2 If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth not yet as he ought to know;

3 but if any man loveth God, the same is known of him.

4 Concerning therefore the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol isanythingin the world, and that there is no God but one.

5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are gods many, and lords many;

6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.

7 Howbeit in all men there is not that knowledge: but some, being used until now to the idol, eat asofa thing sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.

8 But meat will not commend us to God: neither, if we eat not, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.

9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to the weak.

10 For if a man see thee which hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

11 For through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

12 And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ.

13 Wherefore, if meat maketh my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I make not my brother to stumble.

1 Am I not free? am I not an apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

2 If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

3 My defence to them that examine me is this.

4 Have we no right to eat and to drink?

5 Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

6 Or I only and Barnabas, have we not a right to forbear working?

7 What soldier ever serveth at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

8 Do I speak these things after the manner of men? or saith not the law also the same?

9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. Is it for the oxen that God careth,

10 or saith he it altogether for our sake? Yea, for our sake it was written: because he that ploweth ought to plow in hope, and he that thresheth,to threshin hope of partaking.

11 If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?

12 If others partake ofthisright over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

13 Know ye not that they which minister about sacred things eatofthe things of the temple,andthey which wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar?

14 Even so did the Lord ordain that they which proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel.

15 But I have used none of these things: and I write not these things that it may be so done in my case: forit weregood for me rather to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.

16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.

17 For if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not of mine own will, I have a stewardship intrusted to me.

18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.

19 For though I was free from allmen, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.

20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;

21 to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.

22 To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.

23 And I do all things for the gospel’s sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof.

24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run, that ye may attain.

25 And every man that striveth in the games is temperate in all things. Now theydo itto receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

26 I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air:

27 but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.