Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sosthenes the brother:

To the church of God in Corinth, to those who are sanctified through Christ Jesus, called and holy, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours:

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

I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given to you by Christ Jesus, that in every thing you all are enriched through him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you. So, you all are not lacking in any good gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end that you all may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you all were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now I exhort you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you, but that you all be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. It has been declared to me of you, my brethren, by those of the family of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. I mean this: that some say, 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas,' or 'I am of Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. I baptized also the house of Stephanas. I know not that I baptized any other.

Do not you all know that unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor rapacious, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you. But you all are washed, but you all are sanctified, but you all are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not necessary. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under bondage by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, yet God will destroy both. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God has both raised up the Lord and will raise us up by his power. Do not you all know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid. Do not you all know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two - He said - become one flesh. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. Do you all not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you all have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God with your body and your spirit, which are God's.

Now concerning the things of which you all wrote to me.

It is good for a man to not touch a woman. Yet to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband give due affection to the wife, and in like manner the wife to the husband. The wife has not authority over her own body, but the husband; in like manner the husband also has not authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive each other, unless by consent for a time, that you all give yourselves to fasting and prayer, but then come together again in the same place, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control. I say this by suggestion and not command, because I would that all were even as myself.... but every one has his own gift from God - one after one type and another of another type.

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them if they remain even as I. But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.

The married I command - yet not I, but the Lord - that the wife leave not her husband. Yet if she leaves, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband....and the husband must not put away his wife. To the rest I say - not the Lord - that if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, he should not put her away. The wife who has an unbelieving husband who consents to live with her should not put him away. The unbelieving husband has been sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let them leave: a brother or a sister is not enslaved in such cases; because God has called us to peace. How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Regarding virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my evaluation as one who has obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. In view of the present distress, I discern that it is good for a man to continue as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife. Yet if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries she hath not sinned. Nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh, and would spare you that. This I say, brothers, the time is short, so those who have wives live as though they had none, because the fashion of this world is passing away. I want you to be without anxiety. The unmarried man cares for the things of the Lord, how he might please the Lord, but the married man cares for the things of the world, how he might please his wife. There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she might be holy both in body and spirit: but the married woman cares for the things of the world, how she might please her husband. This I say for your own profit, not to inhibit you, but that you all devote yourselves to the Lord without distraction. But if any thinks he is acting indecently toward his virgin, if she be of age and it needs to be, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry. Nevertheless, he who is resolute in his heart, having no necessity, but having power over his own will, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her his virgin, does well. So then, he who gives in marriage does well, but he who does not, does better.

The wife is bound to her husband as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to marry whomever she will - only in the Lord. But she is happier if she continues as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I have the Spirit of God.

You all be followers of me, as I also am of Christ. I praise you, brothers, that you all remember me in all things, and keep orders I gave to you. I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of a woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head; it is the same as if she were shaved. Therefore if a woman is not covered, let her also be shaved, but if it be shameful for a woman to have her hair shaved off or cut short, let her be covered. A man indeed ought not to have his head covered, being the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man, because man is not of woman, but woman of man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this cause also the woman ought to have a veil upon her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord. And as the woman was of man, so also the man is by woman; all things are of God. Judge of yourselves: is it decent for a woman to pray to God uncovered? Doth not nature itself teach you, that for a man to have long hair is a disgrace to him....whereas for a woman to have long hair, is a glory to her, because her hair was given her instead of a veil. If any one is determined to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

The body has indeed many members, yet is one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Yes, the members of the body which appear to be weaker are much more necessary. Those which we think to be the less honorable parts of the body we surround with more abundant honor, and our unpresentable parts have more abundant attractiveness, while our presentable parts have no need. But God hath tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that which had less, that there be no schism in the body, but that the members might have the same care for each other. If one member suffers, all members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you all are the body of Christ, and members of such.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.