For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. | The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. |
But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. | But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. |
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So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. | Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. |
Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. | Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong! |
And do everything with love. | Let all that you do be done in love. |
God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. | God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. |
I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. | Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. |
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. | For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. |
God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. | God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, that no flesh should boast before God. |
For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. | For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. |
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” | But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” |
But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. | But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. |
No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. | For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit. |
For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. | For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building. |
Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? | Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? |
God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. | If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are. |
Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. | Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool that he may become wise. |
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. | Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. |
You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. | “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. |
Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. | Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. |
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. | Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. |