1Corinthians:11-27.
Seeker Overlay ON
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Be imitators of me ,
as I am of Christ .
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I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you .
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But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ ,
the head of a woman is her husband ,
and the head of Christ is God .
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Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head ,
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but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head--it is the same as if her head were shaven .
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For if a woman will not veil herself ,
then she should cut off her hair ;
but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven ,
let her wear a veil .
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For a man ought not to cover his head ,
since he is the image and glory of God ;
but woman is the glory of man .
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For man was not made from woman ,
but woman from man .
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Neither was man created for woman ,
but woman for man .)
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That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head ,
because of the angels .
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Nevertheless ,
in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman ;
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for as woman was made from man ,
so man is now born of woman .
And all things are from God .)
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Judge for yourselves ;
is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered ?
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Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is degrading to him ,
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but if a woman has long hair ,
it is her pride ?
For her hair is given to her for a covering .
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If any one is disposed to be contentious ,
we recognize no other practice ,
nor do the churches of God .
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But in the following instructions I do not commend you ,
because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse .
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For ,
in the first place ,
when you assemble as a church ,
I hear that there are divisions among you ;
and I partly believe it ,
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for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized .
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When you meet together ,
it is not the Lord '
s supper that you eat .
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For in eating ,
each one goes ahead with his own meal ,
and one is hungry and another is drunk .
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What !
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 .
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For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you ,
that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread ,
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and when he had given thanks ,
he broke it ,
and said , "
This is my body which is for you .
Do this in remembrance of me ."
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In the same way also 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 ."
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For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup ,
you proclaim the Lord '
s death until he comes .
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Whoever ,
therefore ,
eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord .
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Let a man examine himself ,
and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup .
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For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself .
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That is why many of you are weak and ill ,
and some have died .
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But if we judged ourselves truly ,
we should not be judged .
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But when we are judged by the Lord ,
we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world .
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So then ,
my brethren ,
when you come together to eat ,
wait for one another --
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if any one is hungry ,
let him eat at home--lest you come together to be condemned .
About the other things I will give directions when I come .
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Now concerning spiritual gifts ,
brethren ,
I do not want you to be uninformed .
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You know that when you were heathen ,
you were led astray to dumb idols ,
however you may have been moved .
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Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "
Jesus be cursed !"
and no one can say "
Jesus is Lord "
except by the Holy Spirit .
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Now there are varieties of gifts ,
but the same Spirit ;
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and there are varieties of service ,
but the same Lord ;
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and there are varieties of working ,
but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one .
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To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good .
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To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom ,
and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit ,
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to another faith by the same Spirit ,
to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit ,
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to another the working of miracles ,
to another prophecy ,
to another the ability to distinguish between spirits ,
to another various kinds of tongues ,
to another the interpretation of tongues .
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All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit ,
who apportions to each one individually as he wills .
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For just as the body is one and has many members ,
and all the members of the body ,
though many ,
are one body ,
so it is with Christ .
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For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks ,
slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit .
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For the body does not consist of one member but of many .
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If the foot should say , "
Because I am not a hand ,
I do not belong to the body ,"
that would not make it any less a part of the body .
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And if the ear should say , "
Because I am not an eye ,
I do not belong to the body ,"
that would not make it any less a part of the body .
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If the whole body were an eye ,
where would be the hearing ?
If the whole body were an ear ,
where would be the sense of smell ?
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But as it is ,
God arranged the organs in the body ,
each one of them ,
as he chose .
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If all were a single organ ,
where would the body be ?
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As it is ,
there are many parts ,
yet one body .
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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 ."
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On the contrary ,
the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable ,
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and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor ,
and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty ,
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which our more presentable parts do not require .
But God has so composed the body ,
giving the greater honor to the inferior part ,
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that there may be no discord in the body ,
but that the members may have the same care for one another .
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If one member suffers ,
all suffer together ;
if one member is honored ,
all rejoice together .
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Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it .
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And God has appointed in the church first apostles ,
second prophets ,
third teachers ,
then workers of miracles ,
then healers ,
helpers ,
administrators ,
speakers in various kinds of tongues .
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Are all apostles ?
Are all prophets ?
Are all teachers ?
Do all work miracles ?
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Do all possess gifts of healing ?
Do all speak with tongues ?
Do all interpret ?
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But earnestly desire the higher gifts .
And I will show you a still more excellent way .
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If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels ,
but have not love ,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal .
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And if I have prophetic powers ,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge ,
and if I have all faith ,
so as to remove mountains ,
but have not love ,
I am nothing .
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If I give away all I have ,
and if I deliver my body to be burned ,
but have not love ,
I gain nothing .
*
Love is patient and kind ;
love is not jealous or boastful ;
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it is not arrogant or rude .
Love does not insist on its own way ;
it is not irritable or resentful ;
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it does not rejoice at wrong ,
but rejoices in the right .
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Love bears all things ,
believes all things ,
hopes all things ,
endures all things .
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Love never ends ;
as for prophecies ,
they will pass away ;
as for tongues ,
they will cease ;
as for knowledge ,
it will pass away .
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For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect ;
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but when the perfect comes ,
the imperfect will pass away .
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When I was a child ,
I spoke like a child ,
I thought like a child ,
I reasoned like a child ;
when I became a man ,
I gave up childish ways .
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For now we see in a mirror dimly ,
but then face to face .
Now I know in part ;
then I shall understand fully ,
even as I have been fully understood .
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So faith ,
hope ,
love abide ,
these three ;
but the greatest of these is love .
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Make love your aim ,
and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts ,
especially that you may prophesy .
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For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God ;
for no one understands him ,
but he utters mysteries in the Spirit .
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On the other hand ,
he who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation .
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He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself ,
but he who prophesies edifies the church .
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Now I want you all to speak in tongues ,
but even more to prophesy .
He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues ,
unless some one interprets ,
so that the church may be edified .
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Now ,
brethren ,
if I come to you speaking in tongues ,
how shall I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching ?
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If even lifeless instruments ,
such as the flute or the harp ,
do not give distinct notes ,
how will any one know what is played ?
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And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound ,
who will get ready for battle ?
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So with yourselves ;
if you in a tongue utter speech that is not intelligible ,
how will any one know what is said ?
For you will be speaking into the air .
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There are doubtless many different languages in the world ,
and none is without meaning ;
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but if I do not know the meaning of the language ,
I shall be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me .
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So with yourselves ;
since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit ,
strive to excel in building up the church .
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Therefore ,
he who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret .
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For if I pray in a tongue ,
my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful .
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What am I to do ?
I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also ;
I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also .
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Otherwise ,
if you bless with the spirit ,
how can any one in the position of an outsider say the "
Amen "
to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying ?
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For you may give thanks well enough ,
but the other man is not edified .
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I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all ;
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nevertheless ,
in church I would rather speak five words with my mind ,
in order to instruct others ,
than ten thousand words in a tongue .
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Brethren ,
do not be children in your thinking ;
be babes in evil ,
but in thinking be mature .
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In the law it is written , "
By men of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people ,
and even then they will not listen to me ,
says the Lord ."
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Thus ,
tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers ,
while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers .
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If ,
therefore ,
the whole church assembles and all speak in tongues ,
and outsiders or unbelievers enter ,
will they not say that you are mad ?
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But if all prophesy ,
and an unbeliever or outsider enters ,
he is convicted by all ,
he is called to account by all ,
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the secrets of his heart are disclosed ;
and so ,
falling on his face ,
he will worship God and declare that God is really among you .
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What then ,
brethren ?
When you come together ,
each one has a hymn ,
a lesson ,
a revelation ,
a tongue ,
or an interpretation .
Let all things be done for edification .
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If any speak in a tongue ,
let there be only two or at most three ,
and each in turn ;
and let one interpret .
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But if there is no one to interpret ,
let each of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to God .
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Let two or three prophets speak ,
and let the others weigh what is said .
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If a revelation is made to another sitting by ,
let the first be silent .
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For you can all prophesy one by one ,
so that all may learn and all be encouraged ;
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and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets .
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For God is not a God of confusion but of peace .
As in all the churches of the saints ,
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the women should keep silence in the churches .
For they are not permitted to speak ,
but should be subordinate ,
as even the law says .
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If there is anything they desire to know ,
let them ask their husbands at home .
For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church .
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What !
Did the word of God originate with you ,
or are you the only ones it has reached ?
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If any one thinks that he is a prophet ,
or spiritual ,
he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord .
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If any one does not recognize this ,
he is not recognized .
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So ,
my brethren ,
earnestly desire to prophesy ,
and do not forbid speaking in tongues ;
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but all things should be done decently and in order .
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Now I would remind you ,
brethren ,
in what terms I preached to you the gospel ,
which you received ,
in which you stand ,
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by which you are saved ,
if you hold it fast--unless you believed in vain .
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For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received ,
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures ,
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that he was buried ,
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures ,
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and that he appeared to Cephas ,
then to the twelve .
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Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time ,
most of whom are still alive ,
though some have fallen asleep .
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Then he appeared to James ,
then to all the apostles .
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Last of all ,
as to one untimely born ,
he appeared also to me .
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For I am the least of the apostles ,
unfit to be called an apostle ,
because I persecuted the church of God .
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But by the grace of God I am what I am ,
and his grace toward me was not in vain .
On the contrary ,
I worked harder than any of them ,
though it was not I ,
but the grace of God which is with me .
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Whether then it was I or they ,
so we preach and so you believed .
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Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead ,
how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead ?
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But if there is no resurrection of the dead ,
then Christ has not been raised ;
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if Christ has not been raised ,
then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain .
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We are even found to be misrepresenting God ,
because we testified of God that he raised Christ ,
whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised .
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For if the dead are not raised ,
then Christ has not been raised .
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If Christ has not been raised ,
your faith is futile and you are still in your sins .
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Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished .
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If for this life only we have hoped in Christ ,
we are of all men most to be pitied .
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But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead ,
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep .
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For as by a man came death ,
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead .
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For as in Adam all die ,
so also in Christ shall all be made alive .
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But each in his own order :
Christ the first fruits ,
then at his coming those who belong to Christ .
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Then comes the end ,
when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power .
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For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet .
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The last enemy to be destroyed is death .
* "
For God has put all things in subjection under his feet ."
But when it says , "
All things are put in subjection under him ,"
it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him .
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When all things are subjected to him ,
then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him ,
that God may be everything to every one .
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Otherwise ,
what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead ?
If the dead are not raised at all ,
why are people baptized on their behalf ?
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Why am I in peril every hour ?
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I protest ,
brethren ,
by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord ,
I die every day !
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What do I gain if ,
humanly speaking ,
I fought with beasts at Ephesus ?
If the dead are not raised , "
Let us eat and drink ,
for tomorrow we die ."
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Do not be deceived : "
Bad company ruins good morals ."
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Come to your right mind ,
and sin no more .
For some have no knowledge of God .
I say this to your shame .
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But some one will ask , "
How are the dead raised ?
With what kind of body do they come ?"
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You foolish man !
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies .
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And what you sow is not the body which is to be ,
but a bare kernel ,
perhaps of wheat or of some other grain .
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But God gives it a body as he has chosen ,
and to each kind of seed its own body .
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For not all flesh is alike ,
but there is one kind for men ,
another for animals ,
another for birds ,
and another for fish .
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There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies ;
but the glory of the celestial is one ,
and the glory of the terrestrial is another .
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There is one glory of the sun ,
and another glory of the moon ,
and another glory of the stars ;
for star differs from star in glory .
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So is it with the resurrection of the dead .
What is sown is perishable ,
what is raised is imperishable .
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It is sown in dishonor ,
it is raised in glory .
It is sown in weakness ,
it is raised in power .
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It is sown a physical body ,
it is raised a spiritual body .
If there is a physical body ,
there is also a spiritual body .
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Thus it is written , "
The first man Adam became a living being ";
the last Adam became a life-giving spirit .
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But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical ,
and then the spiritual .
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The first man was from the earth ,
a man of dust ;
the second man is from heaven .
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As was the man of dust ,
so are those who are of the dust ;
and as is the man of heaven ,
so are those who are of heaven .
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Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust ,
we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven .
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I tell you this ,
brethren :
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ,
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable .
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Lo !
I tell you a mystery .
We shall not all sleep ,
but we shall all be changed ,
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in a moment ,
in the twinkling of an eye ,
at the last trumpet .
For the trumpet will sound ,
and the dead will be raised imperishable ,
and we shall be changed .
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For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable ,
and this mortal nature must put on immortality .
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When the perishable puts on the imperishable ,
and the mortal puts on immortality ,
then shall come to pass the saying that is written : "
Death is swallowed up in victory ."
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O death ,
where is thy victory ?
O death ,
where is thy sting ?"
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The sting of death is sin ,
and the power of sin is the law .
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But thanks be to God ,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ .
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Therefore ,
my beloved brethren ,
be steadfast ,
immovable ,
always abounding in the work of the Lord ,
knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain .
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Now concerning the contribution for the saints :
as I directed the churches of Galatia ,
so you also are to do .
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On the first day of every week ,
each of you is to put something aside and store it up ,
as he may prosper ,
so that contributions need not be made when I come .
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And when I arrive ,
I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem .
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If it seems advisable that I should go also ,
they will accompany me .
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I will visit you after passing through Macedo '
nia ,
for I intend to pass through Macedo '
nia ,
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and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter ,
so that you may speed me on my journey ,
wherever I go .
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For I do not want to see you now just in passing ;
I hope to spend some time with you ,
if the Lord permits .
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But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost ,
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for a wide door for effective work has opened to me ,
and there are many adversaries .
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When Timothy comes ,
see that you put him at ease among you ,
for he is doing the work of the Lord ,
as I am .
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So let no one despise him .
Speed him on his way in peace ,
that he may return to me ;
for I am expecting him with the brethren .
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As for our brother Apol '
los ,
I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brethren ,
but it was not at all his will to come now .
He will come when he has opportunity .
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Be watchful ,
stand firm in your faith ,
be courageous ,
be strong .
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Let all that you do be done in love .
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Now ,
brethren ,
you know that the household of Steph '
anas were the first converts in Acha '
ia ,
and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints ;
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I urge you to be subject to such men and to every fellow worker and laborer .
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I rejoice at the coming of Steph '
anas and Fortuna '
tus and Acha '
icus ,
because they have made up for your absence ;
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for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours .
Give recognition to such men .
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The churches of Asia send greetings .
Aq '
uila and Prisca ,
together with the church in their house ,
send you hearty greetings in the Lord .
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All the brethren send greetings .
Greet one another with a holy kiss .
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I ,
Paul ,
write this greeting with my own hand .
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If any one has no love for the Lord ,
let him be accursed .
Our Lord ,
come !
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The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you .
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My love be with you all in Christ Jesus .
Amen .
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