The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(A)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(B)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (C)If I give away all I have, and ^(D)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

^4 (E)Love is patient and ^(F)kind; love ^(G)does not envy or boast; it ^(H)is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It ^(I)does not insist on its own way; it ^(J)is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it ^(K)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^(L)rejoices with the truth. ^7 (M)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^(N)endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For ^(O)we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but ^(P)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ 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. ¹² For ^(Q)now we see in a mirror dimly, but ^(R)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^(S)I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel ^(A)I preached to you, which you received, ^(B)in which you stand, ² and by which ^(C)you are being saved, if you ^(D)hold fast to the word I preached to you—^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³ For ^(F)I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised ^(I)on the third day ^(J)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that ^(K)he appeared to Cephas, then ^(L)to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to ^(M)James, then ^(N)to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, ^(O)he appeared also to me. ⁹ For ^(P)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(Q)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(R)I worked harder than any of them, ^(S)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, ^(T)how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, ^(U)then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that ^(V)he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and ^(W)you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who ^(X)have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹ If in Christ we have hope^[b] in this life only, ^(Y)we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But in fact ^(Z)Christ has been raised from the dead, ^(AA)the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For as ^(AB)by a man came death, ^(AC)by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For ^(AD)as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then ^(AE)at his coming ^(AF)those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers ^(AG)the kingdom to God the Father after destroying ^(AH)every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign ^(AI)until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be ^(AJ)destroyed is death. ²⁷ For ^(AK)“God^[c] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸ When ^(AL)all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that ^(AM)God may be all in all.

²⁹ 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? ³⁰ Why are we ^(AN)in danger every hour? ³¹ I protest, brothers, by ^(AO)my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, ^(AP)I die every day! ³² What do I gain if, humanly speaking, ^(AQ)I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ^(AR)“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ^33 (AS)Do not be deceived: ^(AT)“Bad company ruins good morals.”^{[d] 34 (AU)}Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For ^(AV)some have no knowledge of God. ^(AW)I say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

³⁵ But someone will ask, ^(AX)“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” ³⁶ You foolish person! ^(AY)What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. ³⁹ For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. ⁴⁰ There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. ⁴¹ 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.

^42 (AZ)So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; ^(BA)it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. ⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ Thus it is written, ^(BB)“The first man Adam became a living being”;^{[e] (BC)}the last Adam became a ^(BD)life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ^47 (BE)The first man was from the earth, ^(BF)a man of dust; ^(BG)the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, ^(BH)so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just ^(BI)as we have borne the image of the man of dust, ^(BJ)we shall^[f] also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: ^(BK)flesh and blood ^(BL)cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. ^(BM)We shall not all sleep, ^(BN)but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For ^(BO)the trumpet will sound, and ^(BP)the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and ^(BQ)this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and ^(BT)the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, ^(BU)who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

^58 (BV)Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in ^(BW)the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord ^(BX)your labor is not in vain.

3 See ^(A)what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called ^(B)children of God; and so we are. The reason why ^(C)the world does not know us is that ^(D)it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are ^(E)God's children ^(F)now, and what we will be ^(G)has not yet appeared; but we know that ^(H)when he appears^{[a] (I)}we shall be like him, because ^(J)we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who ^(K)thus hopes in him ^(L)purifies himself as he is pure.

⁴ Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; ^(M)sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that ^(N)he appeared in order to ^(O)take away sins, and ^(P)in him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; ^(Q)no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. ⁷ Little children, ^(R)let no one deceive you. ^(S)Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ^8 (T)Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was ^(U)to destroy the works of the devil. ^9 (V)No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's^[b] seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, ^(W)nor is the one who ^(X)does not love his brother.

Love One Another

¹¹ For ^(Y)this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, ^(Z)that we should love one another. ¹² We should not be like ^(AA)Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? ^(AB)Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers,^{[c] (AC)}that the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that ^(AD)we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ^15 (AE)Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^(AF)no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶ By this we know love, that ^(AG)he laid down his life for us, and ^(AH)we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But ^(AI)if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet ^(AJ)closes his heart against him, ^(AK)how does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not ^(AL)love in word or talk but in deed and ^(AM)in truth.

¹⁹ By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰ for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹ Beloved, ^(AN)if our heart does not condemn us, ^(AO)we have confidence before God; ²² and ^(AP)whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and ^(AQ)do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his commandment, ^(AR)that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and ^(AS)love one another, ^(AT)just as he has commanded us. ^24 (AU)Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God,^[d] and God^[e] in him. And ^(AV)by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.