Christ Has Set Us Free

1 For freedom Christ has set us ^tfree; ^ustand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a ^vyoke of ^wslavery.

2 ^xLook: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to ^yevery man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified¹ by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by ^zfaith, we ourselves eagerly ^await for the ^bhope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus ^cneither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

7 You were ^drunning well. ^eWho hindered you from obeying the ^ftruth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 ^gA little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 ^hI have confidence in the Lord that ⁱyou will take no other view, and the one who is ^jtroubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers,² still preach³ circumcision, ^kwhy am I still being persecuted? In that case the ^loffense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would ^memasculate themselves!

13 For you were called to ⁿfreedom, brothers. ^oOnly do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love ^pserve one another. 14 For ^qthe whole law is fulfilled in one word: ^r“You shall ^slove your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

16 But I say, ^twalk by the Spirit, and you will ^unot gratify the ^vdesires of the flesh. 17 For ^wthe desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^xto keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are ^yled by the ^zSpirit, you are ^anot under the law. 19 Now ^bthe works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,⁴ drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that ^cthose who do⁵ such things ^dwill not ^einherit the kingdom of God. 22 But ^fthe fruit of the Spirit is ^glove, ^hjoy, ⁱpeace, ^jpatience, ^kkindness, ^lgoodness, ^mfaithfulness, 23 ⁿgentleness, ^oself-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And ^pthose who ^qbelong to Christ Jesus have ^rcrucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become ^sconceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Bear One Another’s Burdens

1 Brothers,^{6 t}if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him ^uin a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 ^vBear one another’s burdens, ^wand so fulfill the ^xlaw of Christ. 3 ^yFor if anyone ^zthinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But ^alet each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.

6 ^bLet the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for ^cwhatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And ^dlet us not grow weary ^eof doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not ^fgive up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, ^glet us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the ^hhousehold of faith.

Final Warning and Benediction

11 ⁱSee with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would ^jforce you to be circumcised, and only ^kin order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised ^ldo not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But far be it from me to boast ^mexcept in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which⁷ the world has been crucified to me, and ⁿI to the world. 15 ^oFor neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a ^pnew creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon ^qthe Israel of God.

17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^acalled ^bby the will of God to be an ^capostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those ^dsanctified in Christ Jesus, ^ecalled to be ^fsaints together with all those who in every place ^gcall upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

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

Thanksgiving

4 ^hI give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were ⁱenriched in him in ^jall ^kspeech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any ^lgift, as you ^mwait for the ⁿrevealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 ^owho will sustain you to the end, ^pguiltless in the ^qday of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the ^rfellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

10 I appeal to you, brothers,¹ by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no ^sdivisions among you, but that you be united ^tin the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is ^uquarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow ^vApollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the ^wname of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except ^xCrispus and ^yGaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did ^zbaptize also the household of ^aStephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with ^bwords of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

18 For the word of the cross is ^cfolly ^dto those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the ^epower of God. 19 For it is written,

20 ^hWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ⁱHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach² to save those who believe. 22 For ^jJews demand signs and ^kGreeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach ^lChrist crucified, a ^mstumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the ⁿwisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise ^oaccording to worldly standards,³ not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose ^pwhat is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 ^qso that no human being⁴ might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him⁵ you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, ^rrighteousness and ^ssanctification and ^tredemption, 31 so that, as it is written, ^u“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers,⁶ did not come proclaiming to you the testimony⁷ of God with ^vlofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you ^wexcept Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in ^xweakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were ^ynot in plausible words of wisdom, but ^zin demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men⁸ but in the ^apower of God.

Wisdom from the Spirit

6 Yet among the ^bmature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a ^csecret and hidden wisdom of God, which God ^ddecreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the ^eLord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,

10 these things ^hGod has ⁱrevealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For ^jwho knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have ^kreceived ^lnot the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, ^mthat we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.⁹

14 ⁿThe natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are ^ofolly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The ^pspiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 ^q“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Divisions in the Church

1 But I, brothers,¹⁰ could not address you as spiritual people, but as people ^rof the flesh, as ^sinfants in Christ. 2 I fed you with ^tmilk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and ^ustrife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only ^vin a human way? 4 For ^wwhen one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 ^xI planted, ^yApollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s ^zfield, God’s ^abuilding.

10 According to ^bthe grace of God given to me, like a skilled¹¹ master builder I laid a foundation, and ^csomeone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation ^dother than that which is laid, ^ewhich is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the ^fDay will ^gdisclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you¹² are ^hGod’s temple and that ⁱGod’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For ^jthe wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ^k“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, ^l“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether ^mPaul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or ⁿlife or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are ^oChrist’s, and ^pChrist is God’s.