Chronological Plan

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

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

³This is my defense to those who would examine me.

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

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

⁶Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

⁸Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same?

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?

¹⁰Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

¹¹If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

¹²If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

¹³Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?

¹⁴In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

¹⁵But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.

¹⁸What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.

²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

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

²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

²⁵Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

²⁶So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

²⁷But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

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

²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

³and all ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

⁷Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

⁸We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

⁹We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,

¹⁰nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

¹²Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

¹³No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?

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

²⁰No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants 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.

²²Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

²³“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.

²⁴Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

²⁵Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

²⁶For “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.”

²⁷If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

²⁸But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience —

²⁹I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

³²Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,

³³just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

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

²Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.

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

⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head,

⁵but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.

⁶For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head.

⁷For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.

⁸For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.

⁹Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

¹⁰That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman;

¹²for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

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

¹⁴Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him,

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

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

¹⁷But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.

¹⁸For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,

¹⁹for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

²⁰When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat.

²¹For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.

²²What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

²³For I received from the Lord what 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 also he 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.

²⁷Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

²⁹For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

³⁰That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

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

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

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

³⁴if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home — so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.