So let him who speaks with tongues pray that he may be able to translate it. If I pray speaking with tongues, my spirit prays but my mind adds nothing. What then? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray also with my mind. I will sing praises with my spirit, but I will sing praises also with my mind. Since if you give thanks and praise in the spirit only, how will one who is in the position of an uninitiate add his amen to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? You give thanks very well, but the other ^^ is not edified. I thank God that I speak with tongues more than all the rest of you; but in the church, I would rather say five words rationally and so commrmicate with others, than ten thousand words with speaking with tongues.
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; in evil- doing be like little innocents, but in thinking be grownup. in the law it is written: In strangers' tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and not even so will they listen to me, says the Lord. Thus speaking in tongues is portentous not for believers but only for unbelievers; but prophecy is not for unbelievers, but only for believers. If, then, the whole congregation assembles in one place, and all speak with tongues, and uninstructed persons or unbelievers come in, will they not say you are mad? But if all are prophesying, and an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in, he is examined by all, and questioned by all, and the secrets of his heart are laid open; and thus he will fling himself down on his face and worship God, announcing: God is really among you.
What then, brothers? When you meet together, each has a song of praise, or a lesson, or a revelation, or speech with tongues, or interpretation. Let all be for edification. If there is speaking with tongues, let it be two at a time or at most three, and in tum, and let one person interpret it. And if there is none who can interpret, let each man be silent in church, and talk to himself and to God. And let two or three speak as prophets, and the rest pass judgment; and if a revelation comes to someone else who is sitting there, let the first speaker be silent. For you can all prophesy, one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged; and the spirits of prophets are under the control of the prophets, for God is not the God of disorder but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints, women must be silent in church meetings; they are not allowed to speak, so let them submit as the law dictates. If they wish to le^n about something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to talk in church.
Did the word of God originate from you? Or did it come to you alone? If any one of you t^^s that he is a prophet or gifted with spirit, let him understand that what I write you is the commandment of God; one who disregards this is himself disregarded.
So, my brothers, strive to be prophets, and do not oppose speaking with tongues; but let everything be done properly, in an orderly way.
1 remind you, brothers, of the gospel which I brought to you, which you accepted, on which you have stood fast, by which you are saved; what I said when I brought the gospel to you, if you retain it still, if you did not become believers frivolously. To you I handed on what I had been given to believe which was of the highest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as in the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose on the third day, as in the scriptures, and that he was seen by Peter, and then by the twelve. Then he was seen by more than five hundred brothers all at once, and most of them are still with us, but some have died. And then he was seen by James, and then by all the apostles; and last of all, as to an aborted child, he appeared also to me. For I ^ the least of the apostles, who ^ not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by grace of God I ^ what I and his gift of grace to me has not been vain, but I, not I but the grace of God which is with me, have worked harder than all of them.
But whether it is I or they, thus we preach and thus you believed.
But if it is preached that Christ rose from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither was Christ raised. But if Christ was not raised, then our preaching is empty, and your belief is empty, and we are found out as false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if, that is, the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then neither has Christ risen; and if Christ has not risen, your faith is vain, you are still in your sins. And then also those who went to their rest in Christ are lost. If by this life in Christ we are no more than hopeful, then we are the most pitiful of all people.
But in truth, Christ has risen from the dead, the first of the sleepers to rise. For since death came through man, so also resurrection is through man; just as all die in Adam, so in the Christ all will be brought to life. Each in his own appointed place: first Christ, then the Christ's own, at his coming; and then the end, when he hands over his kingdom to his God and Father, when he abolishes every realm and authority and power, for he must be King until he places all his enemies beneath his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death, for: He has set all things beneath his feet. But when it says that all has been subjected, it means all except the one who subjected all things to him. But when all things are subjected to him, then the son himself will be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the sake of their dead bodies? If the dead bodies do not rise at all, why are they baptized for their sake? And why do we too go in danger every hour? I die every day; I swear it by the pride I have in you, brothers, through Christ Jesus our Lord. If as a man I fought with beasts in Ephesus, what use is that to me? If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived; bad associations corrupt good characters; be justly sober and sin no more, for there are some who have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
But some one will ask: In what way are the dead raised and with what kind of body do they appear? Foolish man; the seed you sow does not germinate unless it dies. And when you sow it is not the body to come that you are sowing, but the bare seed, whether it be of wheat or any other grain; and God gives it a body according to his will, and to each of the seeds its own body. Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is one of human beings, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fishes. And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; and the glory of the heavenly bodies is one thing, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory for the sun, and another glory for the moon, and another glory for the stars; star differs from star in glory.