The Letter to the Christians

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in Atlanta
[1 Corinthians]
Cotton Patch Version
    

Introduction

1.             Paul, summoned into the ministry of Jesus Christ by God’s will, and Brother Sam, to God’s people in Atlanta — those whom Jesus Christ has set apart by calling them together — who under all circumstances identify themselves with Jesus Christ as their Lord — yes, theirs and ours too — grace and peace to you from our Father-God and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

4.             I am continually thanking God for the wonderful thing he did for you in giving you Christ Jesus, who has enriched you in so many ways. This is evident in both your conversation and your understanding. As a matter of fact, the Christian testimony has been thoroughly implanted in you so that you might not lack any spiritual gift and may be really eager for a clearer view of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, he will stand by you, come what may. Furthermore, you won’t have a guilty feeling in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can truly rely upon God, who has called you together into the community (koinonia) of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10.             Now brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon every one of you to be in unity with the rest of your brothers. Let there be no splits in your ranks, but rather be knit together in singleness of mind and purpose. I’m saying this, my brothers, because some friends of Clara’s reported to me that there were factions springing up among you. To be specific, various ones of you are saying, "I’m on Paul’s side," "I’m on Oliver’s side," "I’m on Rock’s side," "I’m on Jesus’ side." Tell me this, since when did Christ get so split up? And was Paul lynched for you? Or were you given Paul’s name when you were initiated? I’m really thankful that I didn’t initiate a single one of you — except Cris and Garry — so no one has a right to claim that he was given my name at his initiation. (Oh, yes, I forgot, I did initiate Stephen’s family, but other than that I don’t recall initiating anyone else.) The fact is, Christ didn’t appoint me merely to initiate converts, but to tell the great story, simply and without display of learning, lest the noose of Christ become something to be toyed with.

18.             To the so-called "practical" people, the idea of the noose is a lot of silly talk, but to those of us who have been let in on its meaning, it is the source of divine power. It’s just like the Scripture says:

            I will tear to bits the dissertations of the Ph.D’s;
            I will pull the rug from under those who have all the answers.

Then what becomes of the "bright" boy? What does this do to the "egghead"? Where does the worldly-wise professor wind up? Hasn’t God made human reasoning appear utterly ridiculous? Therefore, since the world with all of its learning was unable to understand God, God in his own wisdom decided to save, through the "folly" of the Christian message, all those who put their trust in it. So, while the church people are always demanding some miraculous display and the scientists are looking for intellectual answers, we go right on proclaiming a lynched Christ. ¹   To be sure, this is an insult to some churchmen, and so much bunk to the non-Christians, but to those in the fellowship, whether they are churchmen or scientists, white or black, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. And bear in mind that God’s "foolishness" is far superior to human wisdom, and that God’s "weakness" is stronger than man’s might.

26.             Now take a look at your fellowship, brothers. Very few of your members are highly educated, not many are influential or from the upper crust. It appears as though God deliberately selected the world’s "morons" to show up the wise guys, and the world’s weaklings to show up the high and mighty, and the world’s lowly and rejected - the nobodies - to put the heat on the somebodies. So then no human being should puff himself up in the presence of God. Actually, it is for him that you yourselves are in Christ Jesus, who for us is wisdom and righteousness and dedication and redemption — all of it straight from God. That’s why the Scripture says, "If you simply must brag, give the credit to the Lord."

1.             Now brothers, while I was with you, I did not go around preaching God’s word with a lot of fancy sermons or learned discourses. For I had decided to concentrate all my attention on Jesus Christ (and a lynched man at that!). You know how weak I was, how fearful (often I actually trembled), and that my talks and sermons did not consist of witty, captivating phrases, but of an actual demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not be grounded in human reasoning but in God’s strength.

6.             On the other hand, the more mature ones among us do discuss education, or "wisdom," but it is not the kind which is being presently emphasized or which is so valued in the higher circles of superficial learning. Rather, we refer to God’s wisdom as a kind of mystery, or secret, which God has kept since the beginning of time for our enlightenment. It is something which the present-day officials never seemed to grasp, for if they had, they obviously would not have permitted such a wonderful fellow to be lynched. Here is what the Scriptures say:

                        No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
                        No human heart has grasped
                        The wondrous things which God himself
                        Has shown to those who love him.

10.             Now it was through the Spirit that God made these things known to us. For the Spirit penetrates everything, even to the very depths of God. Let’s look at it this way: Can anybody else really know your own heart like your own spirit? All right, then, can anybody else know God’s own heart like his own Spirit? Certainly not, and that’s why we were not given the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God to help us understand the things which he has so freely turned over to us.

13.             What I’m trying to say is that this instruction is not the result of education on the human level, but rather it comes from the Spirit’s teaching; that is, we use spiritual insights to ascertain spiritual truths. For example, a man with a secular background finds it difficult to understand things from a spiritual point of view, for it is all foolishness to him. He just can’t grasp it, because it is in spiritual language. On the other hand, the man with a spiritual experience grasps it readily without help from anyone. But even so, who ever fully knows the Lord’s mind? Who can really carry on a conversation with him? Yet, we have Christ’s mind!

1.             Now my brothers, I was unable to speak to you as spiritually mature persons, but rather I had to think of you as quite ordinary people - babies in Christ. I gave you a bottle, not solid food. That’s all you could take. And you still don’t seem to be doing much better, because you are just as material-minded as ever. For when there is jealousy and bickering among you, aren’t you behaving like any ordinary human beings? And when you start crowing, "I’m a Paul man," and somebody else yells, "I’m for Oliver!" aren’t you pathetically human. Wait a minute. Who is Oliver anyway? And who is Paul? Both are simply the servants who brought the gospel to you, who performed each his duty in his own way as the Lord wished it. I planted, Oliver cultivated, but God made the crop grow. So it makes little difference who plants or who cultivates, but who makes it grow. Both the planter and the cultivator are the same, and each shall be paid on the basis of his work. Oliver and I are God’s hired hands and you all are his farm, his "mansion," so to speak. Like a skilled craftsman, and using all my God-given insights, I laid out the foundation, and then left it to others to put up the building. Now let everybody be careful how he builds, for he cannot redo the existing foundation, which is Jesus Christ. So if anyone puts up a building on this foundation, whether it be of gold, silver, expensive stone, lumber, straw or twigs, it shall obviously be his own work, standing out as clear as day, as though it were spotlighted. And the test of every man’s work will be whether or not it can stand the spotlight. If it can, then of course he ll be "paid off." But if it can’t then he ll lose everything he has in it, even though he himself might manage to scrape by. Aren’t you all aware that you are God’s "mansion" in which God’s spirit lives? And if anybody messes up God’s house, God will mess him up. For God’s house (and that includes every one of you) is indeed a sacred thing.

18.             Let nobody kid himself; if anyone gets the idea that he is worldly-wise let him become an idiot so that he might be truly wise. For worldly wisdom is idiocy before God, just as it is written, "He caught the intellectuals in their own trap." And again, "The Lord knows that intellectual discussions are vain." So, let nobody brag about human accomplishments. In reality, you own everything — Paul, Oliver, Rock, the world, life, death, the present, the future — everything. And you belong to Christ, and Christ to God.

1.             Please consider us as Christ’s assistants and as trustees of God’s secrets. (In our work, as in any business, one of the chief requirements of a trustee is honesty.) It doesn’t make any difference to me whether I’m sized up by you or some other personnel committee; in fact, I can’t even size up myself! I know next to nothing about myself, but that doesn’t excuse me. The one who finally passes on me is the Lord himself. So don t jump to conclusions ahead of time. For the Lord himself comes and illuminates the dark secrets and makes clear the intent of our hearts. At that time God will give each man his proper credit.

6.             Now brothers, I’ve applied all this to myself and Oliver so as to help you see in us that one should not go beyond what has been spelled out, and that one should not vie with another in puffing himself up. After all, who put you on a pedestal? What have you got that was not given to you? Well then, if it’s a gift, why do you brag as though you earned it? Yeah, you’re rich all right. You’ve piled it sky-high. You can even rule the roost without any help from us. Indeed! How I wish that you did rule, so we could share your throne!

9.             You know, I think God has made us preachers the bottom men on the totem pole, like men on death row, because we’ve become a morbid curiosity to the men and women of the world. For Christ’s sake we are fools, but you, you are doctors of divinity. We are the nobodies, while you belong to the establishment. You are the elite, while we’re scum. Even at this very moment we’re hungry and thirsty and ragged. We get our heads cracked, we’re shoved and pushed around, and work like dogs to make a living with our own hands. Though cussed out, we bless. Though persecuted, we restrain ourselves. Though lied about, we reply gently. We have become like a garbage dump for the world, being right now a place for everybody’s dirty dishwater.

14.             I’m not writing like this to make you ashamed of yourselves; I m doing it to correct you as though you were my own dear children. For even though you may have countless teachers in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For it was I who sired you in Christ by the gospel. Now I beg you to act like me. This is exactly why I sent to you Timothy, my dear and loyal son in the Lord, that he might refresh your memory concerning the ways I follow Christ, exactly as I teach in every church everywhere. When I did not personally come to you some of you acted smart. All right, the Lord willing, I shall come to you very shortly, and I’ll look, not for the talk of the smart fellows, but for their commitment. For the God movement is not a way of talking glibly but of living powerfully. So how do you want it? Shall I come to you. with my belt, or with a spirit of loving persuasion?

1.             It is heard all over that there is sex sin among you, and of a kind that not even non-church-members practice, such as a man sleeping with his stepmother. And instead of going around with your head up in the air, shouldn’t you have been concerned enough to remove from your midst one who does such a thing? Though I m not there physically, I am present in the spirit. Being thus in your midst, I’ve already decided what should be done about the man doing this thing. All of us (I’ll be there in the spirit) should get together in the name of the Lord Jesus, and acting under the authority of our Lord Jesus, we should surrender this person to Satan to finish wrecking his appetite so that his soul might be saved on the day of the Lord.

6.             There’s nothing good about your bragging. Don’t you know that even a few germs will contaminate the whole dish? Clean up the source of infection, so that you might be a wholesome dish, uncontaminated, just as you are supposed to be. Since the "meat" of our meal — Christ — has already been prepared, let us feast, not on the old contaminated food nor on the germ-laden dish of evil and wickedness, but on the pure food of honesty and truth.

9.             I wrote in my other letter to you that you should not mix with tom-catters. I did not mean the tom-tatters, the profiteers, the exploiters and the money-mad who are a part of this world, since you would then have to withdraw entirely from the world. Now what I meant was that if he is a member of the church and is a tom-catter or a profiteer or a money addict or a character-assassin or a drunk or an exploiteer, then you should not have fellowship with him. In fact, you shouldn’t even eat with him. For what right do I have to judge those outside the church? It’s the church members you are to discipline, isn’t it? God will tend to the outsiders; you clean up the mess in your own ranks.

1.             How dare you take your complaints against one another to pagan law courts and not before your fellow believers! Or are you unaware that the believers will eventually try the world? Now if the world is to be tried by you, aren’t you qualified to hear trivial misdemeanors? And you know, don’t you, that we shall sit on cases involving not only affairs of the world but of angels. Then why in the world do you take cases between you, involving mere temporal affairs, before people who have not even been accepted into the church? I say, "Shame on you!" Surely it can’t be that you don’t have among you a single person wise enough to decide cases among brothers, can it? Yet brother goes to court against brother, and — of all things — before outsiders! Already you’ve lost stature by having lawsuits at all against one another. Why not rather accept injustice? Why not rather be cheated? But instead, you yourselves practice injustice and fraud, and even worse, on your own brothers! Or maybe you didn’t know, huh, that the unjust will have no part in the God movement? Well, don’t kid yourselves. No tom-catters, nor money addicts, nor wife-swappers, nor the idle rich, nor homosexuals, nor crooks, nor profiteers, nor drunks, nor character-assassins, nor exploiters will have any part in the God movement. Some of you used to do these things, but you were cleaned up and given a fresh start; you were made morally sensitive by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

12.             All things might be legal for me but not beneficial. All things might be legal, but I don’t have to let anything make me addicted to it. One man "lives to eat" and another "eats to live," but God controls the destiny of both. The body is not for tom-catting around, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. It was God’s power that raised the Lord and will raise us too. Aren’t you aware that your bodies are Christ’s limbs? Then shall I take the arms and legs of Christ and make them the arms and legs of a whore? Of course not! Don’t you also know that whoever joins up with a whore has one and the same body with her, because it says that "the two shall be the same flesh." It’s also true that whoever joins up with the Lord has one and the same spirit with him. So stay away from whoring. Any other sin that a man commits is against someone else, but whoring is a sin against himself. Don’t you know too that your body is a shrine for the indwelling Holy Spirit which you received from God? You don’t own yourselves; someone paid dearly for you. Let your body be a credit to him.

1.             Now concerning the items in your letter, it is best for a man to stay away from a woman entirely. But because of the prevalence of extramarital intercourse, let each man keep to his own wife, and each woman to her own husband. The husband should completely satisfy his wife, and the wife should do the same for her husband. For the wife is powerless over her own body and must depend on the man to satisfy her. Likewise, the man is powerless over his own body and must depend on the woman to satisfy him. Don’t hold yourselves back from one another, unless possibly when both of you have agreed to abstain for a while in order to have more time for prayer. Then come together again, so Satan won’t use your abstinence as a means of tempting you. (I’m saying this by the way of permission - not command. For I’d like all men to be single like me; yet each has his own assignment from God, one this, another that.)

8.             Let me say this to the unmarried and the widowed: It’s best for them to stay single, as I am. But if they can’t control their passions, they should get married. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with desire.

10.             And for the married I have this command, not from me but from the Lord, that a woman should not separate from her husband (if she does separate, she should either remain unmarried or make up with her husband) and that a man should not leave his wife. Speaking personally, and not for the Lord, I say to the rest of you that if a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and she is willing to stay with him, he should not divorce her. And if a sister has a husband who is not a Christian, and he is content to live with her, she should not divorce the man.

14.             For the non-Christian husband is identified with us through his wife, and the non-Christian woman through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be mixed up, but as it is they too are identified with the movement.

15.             However, if the non-Christian wants to separate, let him separate. In such instances the brother or sister is not obligated to stay with the partner, since God has called us to a life of peace. Besides, how do you know, dear lady, but that this will win over your husband? And how can you be sure, sir, but that this might win over your wife?

17.             However, each person should accept the situation to which the Lord has assigned him and the responsibility God has laid on him. This is what I instruct all the churches. Were you a white man when you responded to God’s call? Don’t black your face. Were you a Negro when you were converted? Don’t try to be a white man. For the thing that really matters is not that you’re white or black, but your obedience to God’s commands. Let every man press on as he was when God converted him. Were you a slave when you were converted? Don’t be ashamed of it. But just the same, if you can get your freedom, do so. For in the Lord’s fellowship a converted slave is the Lord’s freedman. By the same token, a converted freedman is Christ’s slave. You have been bought and paid for. Don’t, then, hire out to men. I repeat, brothers, let each man press on as he was when God converted him.

25.             I do not have any specific instructions from the Lord for those who have never married. However, as one who, by the Lord’s mercy, is reliable, I venture my personal opinion. I sincerely believe that, due to the present unsettled conditions, it is best for a person to stay as he is. Are you married? Don’t seek a divorce. Are you single? Don’t try to get a partner. But even if you should marry, you haven’t sinned, nor has the girl you marry sinned. It’s just that I would spare you all the physical difficulties that those who do get married will have. I’m telling you this, my brothers, we don’t have much time left. During what little there is, people who have wives are in the same boat as those who don’t, and those who cry are the same as those who smile, those who laugh as those who frown, those who buy are the same as the ones who didn’t bid, and they who make room for the world are in the same boat as those who never had any use for it. For the whole structure of the world is collapsing. How I wish you might be free from such worries!

32.             The single man’s primary concern is for spiritual matters - how he might please the Lord. But the married man’s chief worry is how to make a living for his family, and so he is inwardly torn. It’s the same with women - the elderly maid and the eligible maiden can devote themselves to spiritual affairs, so as to be dedicated in both body and soul. But the married woman is constantly worrying about her husband and house. I’m saying this not to bridle you but for your own good, so that you can give yourselves without reservation to a well-arranged and determined Christian life.

36.             Now if anyone feels that he hasn’t done quite right by his marriageable daughter, and if she is already of age (and this she most certainly should be), let her do as she wishes: she isn’t sinning; let them marry. However, he who has firmly made up his own mind, being under no pressure but having the right to keep his marriageable daughter, he is doing nothing wrong. So, whoever marries off his daughter does all right, but he who does not marry her off will do better.

39.             A wife is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. If he dies, she is free to remarry, but only to a Christian. In my judgment, though - and I think I speak as one who has God’s Spirit - she would be far happier if she remained a widow.

1.             Now about working on Sunday, ²   we know that we all have been "enlightened." But "enlightenment" is inflating, while love makes a man truly great. If someone thinks he knows it all, he hasn’t begun to learn the first lesson. Yet if one really loves God, God then opens himself up to him. So back to this working on Sunday, we know that a day means nothing whatsoever, and that God alone really matters. Even though there are also many special days on both Catholic and Protestant calendars, such as those to saints and special events, still for us God alone is supreme, our Father, the source of all things. We are his, and so is the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, including ourselves. But not everybody has this insight. Some people, because of their traditional background, still think of working on Sunday as sinful, and their sense of right, limited as it is, is offended by it. Well, work of itself doesn’t make us spiritually presentable. So if we don’t work we are no worse off, and if we do work, we are no better off. Just be careful that in the exercise of this freedom you do not trip up your weaker brothers. For suppose one of them sees you, an enlightened man, working on Sunday, won’t it be too much for his limited understanding and cause him, against his better judgment, to work too? In this way the weaker brother is torn apart by your enlightenment. And since he too is a brother for whom Christ died, when you sin against such brothers and offend their limited understanding, you also sin against Christ. That’s why, if working on Sunday spiritually wounds my brother, I’ll never work on Sunday as long as I live — but only to keep from spiritually wounding my brother.

1.             Who says I’m not "emancipated," that I’m not a qualified preacher? Haven’t I seen our Lord Jesus? Aren’t you yourselves evidence of my work for Christ? Even though some others don’t regard me as an ordained minister, you should, for you all make my Christian ordination authentic. My answer to those who question my integrity in this: Now isn’t it true that all of us ministers have the right to bed and board from our congregations? Don’t we have the right to have our wife or a sister accompany us, as do the other ministers and the brothers of the Lord and Rock? All right, is it just Barnabas and I who don’t have the right to give up making our own living? What soldier ever goes to war at his own expense? What farmer sets out an orchard and doesn’t eat of the fruit? In saying this am I guided by human reasoning, or does the Bible itself say the same thing? It says in the Old Testament, "You shall not muzzle a mule while he is plowing corn." Was this said because a mule matters that much to God, or was it entirely for our benefit? It was written for our benefit, of course, because a farmer should be assured of his share of his products, and the hired hand that he has a right to the food he helps produce. If we, then, planted spiritual seeds among you, why the big fuss if we harvest mere material things from you? If others have this right over you, don’t we even more? Yet we never did use this right, and we supported ourselves all the way through so as to give no one a chance to bellyache about the gospel of Christ.

13.             You know, don’t you, that religious workers get their living from donations, and any others connected with the organization share in the contributions. Likewise, the Lord also instructed that they who preach the gospel should get their living from it. But as for myself, I have never made use of any of these privileges. Nor have I written in this vein that it might be so with me now. For I’d much rather die than - no one is going to rob me of that of which I’m so proud.³   If I merely preach the gospel, that’s nothing to brag about, because I’m under compulsion to do that! I’d catch it if I didn’t preach the gospel! Now if I do something voluntarily, I get paid for it. But if I’m conscripted, I am bound by superior orders. What then is my "pay"? Being able to preach and establish the gospel free of charge, so as not to exercise in the least my right to sustenance from the gospel.

19.             Being thus independent of everyone, I became a slave to everybody in order to reach more people. I related to white people as a white man in order to reach white people; to members of the established church as a church member (though I myself don’t belong to one) that I might reach church members; to the uncommitted people I related as an uncommitted man — I was never uncommitted to God but fully committed to Christ — so as to reach uncommitted people. To the powerless people I became a powerless man, to reach people who have no power. In every way I have related to those in all walks of life, if somehow, some way, I might get through to them. Everything I do is for the gospel, that I may be a full partner in it.

24.             You don’t need to be reminded that while many may compete in a racing event, only one wins first prize, so go all out for top place. Every serious contestant puts himself through rigorous discipline — they to win a tarnishable trophy, but we an enduring life. So I don’t want to run like a guy who is unsure of himself or like a boxer flailing the air. Instead, I put my body through terrific workouts and thoroughly master it, because I don’t want to preach to others and wind up a dismal failure myself.

1.             I don’t want you to forget, brothers, that all our ancestors were guided by the cloud, and all of them made it through the sea. (This cloud and sea experience was, in a sense, an initiation into the Moses movement.) They all ate the same miraculous food and they all drank the same miraculous water, for they were drinking from a miraculous, ever-present rock, which was a symbol of Christ. But even so, God wasn’t particularly fond of them, for they were discarded in the wilderness. These people became our "lighthouses," to warn us against following their example of hankering for wickedness. Never make a god of your possessions as some of them did. For we are told that "The people sat down to eat and drink the sacrificial meal, and then got right up and started carousing around." Don’t go back on God, as some of them did one time when twenty-three thousand came down with disease and died. Let’s never try to argue with the Lord, as some of them did and died from snakebite. Never bellyache, like some of them did and were visited by the Death Angel. These things happened to them as sort of a symbol, and were written down for the guidance of us for whom the end of an age has arrived.

12.             Let the man who thinks he has his feet on the ground be careful lest he slip and fall. Yet only temptation of a human sort ever overtakes you, and God can be trusted not to let you be tempted beyond your capacities, always providing along with the temptation a way out, so you can be victorious.

14.             So then, my loved ones, shun the worship of things with all you’ve got. I’m talking to intelligent people, so decide for yourselves on what I’m saying. Isn’t the blessed cup we reverence a "community" (a koinonia) of Christ’s blood? Isn’t the loaf we break a "community" (a koinonia) of Christ’s body? Just as the loaf is a whole, so we, though many, are a whole body, for we all took a part of the whole loaf. Take an example from the Jewish ritual: It’s true, isn’t it, that they who eat the sacrifices are knit together around the altar? So what am I saying? That merely taking part in a ceremony means anything? Or that there’s something holy about a ritual? Not at all. I mean simply that worldly people are drawn together in their allegiance to wickedness, not to God. And I don’t want you to be their partners in their evil. You cannot drink from the Lord’s cup and the world’s mug at the same time. You can’t feel equally welcome at the communion table and at a nightclub. Do we want to get the Lord all riled up? Do you think we can outdo him?

23.             Sure, sure, "everything is legal," but that does not mean that everything is beneficial. Sure, "everything is legal," but that doesn’t make it right. The best guide is to seek, not your own welfare, but the good of your neighbor. So eat whatever comes from the supermarket — kosher or not — without raising questions of conscience. For after all, everything — the earth and all that’s in it — belongs to the Lord. If a non-church-member invites you for a meal, and you wish to accept, go ahead and eat whatever he puts in front of you without raising conscience questions. But if he tells you outright, "This isn’t, kosher," don’t eat it for the sake of your host and his scruples - his scruples, I remind you, not your own. And why should I let my freedom be pushed around by another’s scruples? Or if I’ve said grace, why should I let myself be embarrassed over food for which I’ve already given thanks? Simply this: Whether you’re eating or drinking or whatever, make sure it is to God’s credit. Set a good example for both whites and Negroes — for God’s whole church — just as I myself favor others in every way possible. I’m not out to have my own way, but to do what’s best for others, so they can be saved. Imitate me in this, even as I imitate Christ.

1.             Let me commend you for remembering all my lectures and for carrying out the instructions I gave you. Now I don’t want you to forget that the head of every man is Christ; that the head of the woman is the man; and that the head of Christ is God. Any man who prays or preaches with his head (Christ) obscured is a shame and a disgrace to his head. On the other hand, a woman who prays or preaches without obscuring her head (or husband) is a shame and disgrace to him. It is the same as though she herself were a man. Now if a woman isn’t going to act like a lady, then let her get a man’s haircut. But if she is ashamed to get clipped and shaved like a man, then she should act like a lady. Indeed, since a man bears the image and honor of God, he should not, like a woman whose "honor" comes through her husband, veil his face. For the man, you know, was not formed from a woman, but the woman from a man. Also, it was the woman who was created to be man’s helper, not vice versa. That’s why a woman needs someone to exercise authority over her the same as other "angels." But really, in the Christian fellowship a woman is no different from a man, and a man no different from woman. For even though the woman was formed from the man, it’s the woman who gives birth to a man, and God is the creator of both.

13.             You all consider this very carefully: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God while vainly exposing her face? Doesn’t nature herself teach you that it’s a disgrace for a man to let his hair grow; while for a woman long hair is attractive. And besides, it makes a very convenient veil! Now if anybody wants to argue this point, let me simply say that this is standard policy throughout the churches.

17.             Now let me lay this on your heart, for I surely don’t praise you when your meetings turn out to be not a help but a hindrance. In the first place, I hear that when you assemble as a church you are split this way and that, and I am inclined to believe it. And it’s necessary, huh, to have conflicting points of view so that the real truth might come to light? So when you come together it isn’t to eat the supper the Lord’s way. For each one takes his own private basket to eat from, and some wind up hungry and some stuffed. Couldn’t you have stayed at home and eaten like that? Or do you actually have contempt for God’s church and embarrass the have-nots among you? What can I possibly say to you? Shall I praise you? I’d never praise you for something like this.

23.             Now I myself got it straight from the Lord, and transmitted it to you, that on the night he was turned in, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread and after giving thanks he broke it and said, "This is my body, which represents you all; make this into my memorial." For every time you eat this loaf and share this cup, you clearly declare the Lord’s death - until he returns.

27.             So then whoever disrespectfully eats the loaf and drinks the cup is actually showing disrespect for the body and blood of the Lord. Let every man carefully examine his own heart, and in the light of this let him eat from the loaf and drink from the cup. For he who eats and drinks without being fully aware of the body idea, eats and drinks a sentence on himself. This is why quite a few of you are weak and sickly and some are just plain dead. If we carefully examined our own hearts, we wouldn’t come under judgment. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are punished to keep us from being damned along with the world. So then, my brothers when you get together to eat, be considerate of one another. If somebody is so hungry he can’t wait, let him eat at home, lest your meeting become a time for judgment. I’ll tend to the other matters when I get there.

1.             Now brothers, I don’t want you to be in the dark on spiritual matters. You are aware that before you were converted your lives were completely dominated by false gods. So I’m making it plain to you that nobody speaking under the influence of God’s Spirit ever says, "Jesus be damned." And nobody has the power to say "Jesus is Lord," except through the Holy Spirit.

4.             Though there is a difference in what we receive from the Spirit, it is one and the same spirit. Though there are different forms of service, the Master is the same. And though God uses different means of empowering us, it is one and the same God who energizes everybody in every way.

7.             To each has been given that aspect of the Spirit which is beneficial to all. To one the Spirit has given a keen mind. To another has been given the capacity for faith, to another a talent for healing, to another the ability to work miracles, to another to preach, to another a sensitive spiritual insight, to another a catalog of tongues and to still another the ability to interpret the tongues — all these prompted by one and the same Spirit, who distributes them to each person as he thinks best.

12.             It’s just like the body, which is entire within itself, even though it has many parts. With all its parts, it is still only one body. That’s the way it is with Christ. For through one Spirit we all — whether whites or Negroes, laborers or white-collar workers — were initiated into one Body, and all of us had one Spirit breathed into us. For the body does not consist of just one part but many. If the foot should say, "Since I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body," would this make it so? Or if the ear should say, "Since I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body," would this make it so? If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? Or if it were an ear, how could it smell? But as it is, God has arranged every single part of the body according to his own design. If everything consisted of just one part, how could it be a body? Now indeed the parts are many but the body is a unit. So then, the eye can’t say to the hand, "I don’t need you," nor again, can the head say to the foot, "I don’t need you." But rather, those parts of the body which seem to be most insignificant are extremely important And those parts of the body which are seemingly the least prized turn out to be quite valuable, and our inconspicuous parts are all the more conspicuous when the conspicuous parts can’t meet the same needs. God has delicately balanced the body by giving greater preference to the weaker part so as to avoid discord in the body. In this way the members must exercise the same concern for each other. So if one part suffers, all parts suffer together; if one part gets glory, all the parts share the joy together. Now you all are Christ’s body; each one is a part of a larger whole.

28.             And God has arranged it in the church that some should be (1) apostles, (2) preachers, (3) teachers, then specialists, then talents for healing, interns, administrators, and a whole slew of talkers. They can’t all be apostles, can they? Or preachers? Or teachers, or specialists, or doctors, or talkers in tongues, or interpreters for the tongue-talkers? Yearn for the superior talents. And I want to show you the greatest way of all:

1.             Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have no love, I am a hollow-sounding horn or a nerve-wracking rattle. And though I have the ability to preach, and know all the secrets and all the slogans, and though I have sufficient faith to move a mountain, but have no love, I am nothing. Even though I renounce all my possessions, and give my body as a flaming sacrifice, but have no love, I accomplish exactly nothing. Love is long-suffering and kind. Love is not envious, nor does it strut and brag. It does not act up, nor try to get things for itself. It pitches no tantrums, keeps no books on insults or injuries, sees no fun in wickedness, but rejoices when truth prevails. Love is all-embracing, all-trusting, all-hoping, all-enduring. Love never quits. As for sermons, they shall be silenced; as for oratory, it shall cease; as for knowledge, it will vanish. For our knowledge is immature, and our preaching is immature; but when that which is mature arrives, it supersedes the immature. For example, when 1 was a child, I was talking like a child, thinking like a child, acting like a child, but when I became an adult, I outgrew my childish ways. So, on the childish level [i.e., without love] we look at one another in a trick mirror, but on the adult level [i.e., with love] we see face to face; as a child [i.e., without love] I understand immaturely, but as an adult [i.e., with love] I’ll understand just as I’ll be understood. Now these three things endure: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of all is love. Seek diligently for love.

1.             Yearn for the spiritual gifts, too, especially in your preaching. For when one speaks while in a trance, he is not addressing men but God, and nobody catches on to what he is saying, for by means of a Spirit he is talking about hidden things. But when one preaches, he is speaking to men for their encouragement and inspiration and enlightenment. He who speaks in a trance benefits only himself, but he who preaches benefits the whole congregation. I’d like for all of you to be able to speak in a trance, but I’d much rather you’d simply preach. For preaching is much better than speaking in a trance, except perhaps when someone can interpret so the whole congregation might be benefited. Now brothers, suppose I come to you speaking in a trance. Would it do you any good unless what I had to say were in the form of an insight or instruction or a sermon or a lesson? Why, even lifeless things, such as a trombone or a violin, make a sound, but unless it produces clearly discernible notes nobody recognizes the tune. Or if a bugle blows an unrecognizable call, who will know to prepare for battle? Well, that’s the way it is with you too. If in a trance you say something unintelligible, how can anyone catch on to what you’re saying? You’ll Just be batting the breeze.

10.             There are all kinds of words in the world, and not one of them is without meaning. But if I don’t know the content of a word, I’ll be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

12.             In the same way, you too, since you are eager for spiritual gifts, should try to build up the church so it will prosper. Therefore, let him who talks in a trance pray that he may be able to explain it. For if I pray in a trance, my spirit no doubt prays, but my mind is a blank. What good is that? So when I pray with my spirit, I’ll pray also with my mind; when I sing with my spirit, I’ll sing also with my mind. Now suppose you give a prayer with only your spirit, how will an untutored deacon know when to come in with the "Amen" during your thanksgiving if he doesn’t know what in the world you’re saying? Your prayer of thanks might be quite all right, but nobody else is benefited by it.

18.             I thank God that I can outdo any of you in speaking in a trance. But I’d rather speak five intelligent words in church for the instruction of others than a whole dictionary full of words in a trance.

20.             Brothers, don’t be intellectual runts. Be a harmless baby as far as evil is concerned, but intellectually you should be mature adults. It is written in the Bible, "I will speak to this nation through foreigners speaking a different language, but even so it won’t pay any attention, says the Lord." So then the "different language" (trance-talking) has no significance for loyal church members, but for the disobedient. On the other hand, a clear-cut sermon is not so much for the outsiders as for the members.

23.             Suppose that when the whole church comes together everybody is talking gibberish, and then some outsiders or others unacquainted with Christianity come in, won’t they think you’re off your rocker? But if everyone is speaking God’s word clearly and to the point when such an outsider or unacquainted person drops in, then he will be deeply moved and convicted by all that’s going on; he will speak openly about his inner feelings, and will burst forth in praise to God, shouting, "God is surely among you people!"

26.             So what’s this all about, brothers? Just this: When you all get together and one has a song, another has a Scripture verse, another an experience or some trance-talk and another has the explanation, then organize it so everybody can be benefited. If anybody starts trance-talking, say two or at the most three, let them take turns while one explains what each says. If there’s nobody around to explain it, let him be quiet in church and pray silently between himself and God.

29.             Let two or three preachers talk, and the others evaluate it. If a thought strikes a seated minister, let the first one yield the floor. In this way everybody can do a little preaching one at a time, and all will be instructed and encouraged. But do let the preachers try to control themselves, for God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

34.             As in all loyal churches, women should stop talking when they get to church. They just plain aren’t allowed to do their talking there, but should give their husbands a chance, as the law says. If they want to learn the latest, let them ask their husbands at home. For it’s a disgrace to have a woman talking in church.

36.             Say, did the word of God originate with you all? Or are you the only ones in whom it has been established? Listen here, if any guy considers himself a preacher or other religious worker, let him get it straight that what I’m writing to you is a commandment of the Lord himself. If he ignores this, you ignore him.

39.             And so, my brothers, when you preach, put all you’ve got into it. And don’t discourage those who talk in a trance. Let everything be done properly and orderly.

1.             Now brothers, let me make clear to you the good news which I originally brought to you and which you received, and in which you’ve taken your stand, and by which you’re finding your way out - that is, if you’re still holding on to the word as I gave it to you. If you’re not, then your "faith" isn’t worth a hill of beans.

3.             For among the most important things I turned over to you was that which I myself received - that Christ died for our sins, just like the Bible said, and that he was buried, and that on the third day he was raised, again just as the Bible said. As I got it, he was seen by Rock, then by the twelve. Later he was seen by more than five hundred brothers at the same time. (Most of these brothers are still alive, although some of them have since died.) After this he was seen by James, and then by all the apostles. Last of all, like a baby who was born almost too late, I saw him — I, I who am the least of the apostles — I who am not even worthy to be called an apostle because I tormented God’s dedicated people. Only by God’s grace I am what I now am! And the favor he showed me was not wasted, for I worked harder than all the rest - not I really, but God’s goodness that had hold of me.

11.             So what difference does it make whether you get it from me or others — this is what we preach and this is what you believed. And if it is clearly taught that Christ was raised from the dead, how is it that now some of you are saying, "There’s no such thing as life after death"? Well, if there’s no life after death, then Christ himself is still dead! And if Christ is dead, then our message has no meaning, and your faith also has no meaning. On top of this, we turn out to be untruthful witnesses about God, because we solemnly testified that God did make Christ alive, which would be impossible if there’s no life after death. For if the dead are not made alive, neither has Christ been made alive. And if Christ hasn’t been made to live, your faith is a hollow shell and you’re still a bunch of sinners. Moreover, all those who died for Christ died for nothing. If our hope in Christ covers only this life, we of all people are the most to be pitied.

20.             But now the fact is that Christ was made alive. He is the forerunner of those who have passed on. For since death came through a human being, life after death also came through a human being. Just as everybody inherits physical death through Adam, so do all find newness of life in Christ.

23.             Each one has his own turn: First is Christ the forerunner, then those who are bound to him in his movement, and then the climax, when he hands over the New Order to the Father-God, at which time all other rule and authority and power will be superseded. For it is necessary for him to continue in power until he has subdued all his enemies, the last of which is death. For the Bible says, "He put everything under Christ s rule." (But when it says that everything has been put under Christ, it is obvious that this does not include God himself.) So, when everything has been brought under his rule, then the Son himself shall be under the sway of him who put everything in the hands of the Son, in order that God alone might be supreme.

29.             Now another thing: If there’s no life after death, what about those people who are being consecrated in behalf of their departed loved ones? What’s the point of doing such a thing? Indeed, if there’s no life after death, why should we also stand in hourly peril of our lives? Brothers, to keep alive our confidence which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I live every day on death row. If from a purely human standpoint I fought the police dogs at Birmingham, what good did it do me? If there’s no life after death, then let’s rev it up, because when it’s over we’re just dead ducks.

33.             Don’t make an ass of yourself. Such shoddy thinking destroys decent conduct. Sober up and quit your sinning. I'm ashamed to say it to your face, but some of you have an abysmal ignorance of God!

35.             Now someone will ask: "How do the dead live again? What kind of body do they have?" Listen, silly, when you plant something, it won’t come up unless it dies. And what you plant is not the new stalk but just a plain seed of, say, wheat or some other plant. Then God gives to it the form that he thinks best, and to each kind of seed its own particular form. Or take flesh — it isn’t all the same. Some of it is in human form, some in the form of animals, some of birds and some of fish. Likewise, there are forms, or bodies, for the afterlife as well as forms or bodies for life on the earth, and each form has its own appearance as does the moon and even the stars, for one star differs from another in appearance. And that’s the way it is with the afterlife. Something perishable is planted, and it comes up imperishable. Something weak is planted, and it comes up powerful. A vessel of the mind is planted, and a vessel of the spirit comes up. There’s a Scripture which says, "The first man Adam became a rational being." The last Adam (Christ) became a life-creating spirit. Note that the spiritual does not precede the rational, but vice versa. The first man sprang from earth, a lump of clay. The second man sprang from the spiritual realm. Just as the descendants of the lump of clay are themselves lumps of clay, so the descendants of the Immortal One are themselves immortal. And as the lump of clay gave form to us, even so shall the Immortal One give form to us.

50.             I’m saying simply this, brothers: Skin and bones just aren’t able to get into God’s realm of spirit, nor can that which is subject to decay take part in that which is immortal. Listen, I’ll let you in on a secret: Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changed. It’ll happen in a flash, like the batting of an eye, at the last bugle call. For indeed the bugle will blow, and the dead will live again — eternally — and we shall be changed. For this decaying body has to be outfitted with immortality. When this outfitting takes place, then the Bible verse will come true when it says: "Death sure took a licking. Say, Death, what have you won? And Death, what happened to your stinger?" Sin is death’s stinger, and sin’s power is the law. Thank you, God, for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58.             And so, my much-loved brothers, stand your ground and don’t let anybody shove you around. Always keep up the good work for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for him is ever wasted.

1.             Now a few words about that fund for sharing with church members. I’d like for you all to follow the same plan I recommended to the Alabama churches, namely, that each of you, at the first of the week, set aside in a special fund an amount in keeping with your income. Then when I come, there’ll be no need for a fund-raising campaign. Upon my arrival, I’ll give the proper letters to the committee you’ve selected to carry your gift to Charleston and send them on their way. If it seems wise that I should go too, we’ll go together.

5.             I’ll get by your way when I pass through Georgia. For I’ll be going through Georgia, and will possibly stay a while with you, or even spend the winter with you. Then you might help me on to my next destination. I don’t want to just pay you a pop call, because I’m hoping to spend quite a while with you, the Lord willing. More than likely I’ll stay in Birmingham until Thanksgiving, for a great and vital door of opportunity has opened up for me — and a lot of folks are after my hide, too.

10.             Should Timothy get by there, see to it that he is relieved of all worries while with you, because he is carrying on the work of the Lord the same as I. Let no one snub him, and when he leaves to come to me, you all give him a warm send-off, for I’m expecting him here with the other brothers.

12.             Now about Brother Oliver, I frequently urged him to visit you all with the brothers but he just plain didn’t want to right now. But he will come when he feels the time is ripe.

13.             Keep your eyes open, hold on to the faith with all you’ve got, stand up like a man, develop your muscles. Let your every act be an expression of love.

15.             You remember, don’t you, that the Stephen family were the first converts in Georgia and that they so arranged their lives as to be at the disposal of the church members. Now I want to lay it on your hearts, brothers, to give yourselves over completely to such leaders and to anyone else who takes hold with us and puts in an honest day’s work.

17.             It sure is good to see Steve, Lucky, and "Big Barn." They sorta make up for your not being here. They’re a big boost to both me and you all. Let’s give them a big hand.

19.             All the congregations in this area send you their warm greetings. Adrian and Prissy, with the fellowship which meets in their home, send special greetings in the Lord. In fact, all the brothers here send you their best wishes. Give everybody a big hug for me.

With kindest regards,
Paul

P.S. If a man is not sincere in his discipleship, let him be damned. Come on, Lord! May the Lord Jesus’ unmerited favor be with you. My love is with you all in Christ Jesus.

footnotes

¹  It may be that "lynched" is not a good translation of the Greek word which means "crucified." Christ was legally tried, if we may call it that, and officially condemned to death. So, technically speaking, it was not a lynching. But anyone who has watched the operation of Southern justice at times knows that more men have been lynched by "legal" action than by night-riding mobs. Pilate publicly admitted that his prisoner was being lynched when he called for a basin and washed his hands of official responsibility. If modern judges were as honest, then "lynching" would be an appropriate translation of "crucifixion."