If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, ¹  but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

So then, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, ¹  what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. ² 

If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,

If there is any question ¹  about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; if there is any question about our brothers, they are messengers ²  of the churches, a glory to Christ.

Have you been thinking all this time ¹  that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ² 

You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, ¹  that it may give grace to those who hear.

For they disciplined us for a little while as seemed good to them, but he does so for our benefit, that we may share his holiness.

Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. ¹  For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, ²  which have never benefited those who participated in them.

When you look up ¹  to the sky ²  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ³  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ⁴  for the Lord your God has assigned ⁵  them to all the people ⁶  of the world. ⁷ 

When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate ¹  this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” ² 

Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their royal robes, at the threshing floor at ¹  the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

This is what the Lord says: “When ¹  juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes, someone says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for it contains juice.’ ²  So I will do for the sake of my servants – I will not destroy everyone. ³ 

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. ¹  Then ²  your reward will be great, and you will be sons ³  of the Most High, ⁴  because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people. ⁵ 

But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. ¹  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, ²  how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be strengthened.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. ¹  Let them do this ²  with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.