Chronological Plan

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

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

³My defense to those who examine me is this:

⁴Do we not have a right to eat and drink?

⁵Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

⁶Or do only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working?

⁷Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not consume some of the milk of the flock?

⁸I am not just asserting these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does the Law not say these things as well?

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE IT IS THRESHING.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He?

¹⁰Or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops.

¹¹If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

¹²If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

¹³Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar?

¹⁴So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have used none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make my boast an empty one!

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

¹⁷For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a commission nonetheless.

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

¹⁹For though I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may gain more.

²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the Law, I became as one under the Law, though not being under the Law myself, so that I might gain those who are under the Law;

²¹to those who are without the Law, I became as one without the Law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might gain those who are without the Law.

²²To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.

²³I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

²⁴Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

²⁵Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

²⁶Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air;

²⁷but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

¹For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea;

²and they all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

³and they all ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased; for their dead bodies were spread out in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they indeed craved them.

⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND TO DRINK, AND ROSE UP TO PLAY.”

⁸Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.

⁹Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes.

¹⁰Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

¹²Therefore let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall.

¹³No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak as to wise people; you then, judge what I say.

¹⁶Is the cup of blessing which we bless not a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

¹⁸Look at the people of Israel; are those who eat the sacrifices not partners in the altar?

¹⁹What do I mean then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, but I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become partners with demons.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

²²Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

²³All things are permitted, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted, but not all things build people up.

²⁴No one is to seek his own advantage, but rather that of his neighbor.

²⁵Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions, for the sake of conscience;

²⁶FOR THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND ALL IT CONTAINS.

²⁷If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions, for the sake of conscience.

²⁸But if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of that one who informed you and for the sake of conscience;

²⁹Now by “conscience” I do not mean your own, but the other person’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered about that for which I give thanks?

³¹Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.

³²Do not offend Jews or Greeks, or the church of God;

³³just as I also please everyone in all things, not seeking my own benefit but the benefit of the many, so that they may be saved.

¹Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

²Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I handed them down to you.

³But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.

⁴Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.

⁵But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for it is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved.

⁶For if a woman does not cover her head, have her also cut her hair off; however, if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, have her cover her head.

⁷For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

⁸For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;

⁹for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.

¹⁰Therefore the woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

¹²For as the woman originated from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

¹⁴Does even nature itself not teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him,

¹⁵but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her as a covering.

¹⁶But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor have the churches of God.

¹⁷Now in giving this next instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse.

¹⁸For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.

¹⁹For there also have to be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.

²⁰Therefore when you come together it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper,

²¹for when you eat, each one takes his own supper first; and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.

²²What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What am I to say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you.

²³For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread;

²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

²⁵In the same way He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

²⁷Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy way, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

²⁸But a person must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

²⁹For the one who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not properly recognize the body.

³⁰For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number are asleep.

³¹But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

³²But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

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

³⁴If anyone is hungry, have him eat at home, so that you do not come together for judgment. As to the remaining matters, I will give instructions when I come.