And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, he should acknowledge that what I write to you is the Lord’s command.

Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.

For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.

But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

But God gives it a body just as he planned, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

For this reason also I wrote you: to test you to see if you are obedient in everything.

For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison

But as God’s servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses,

by truthful teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left,

begging us with great earnestness for the blessing and fellowship of helping the saints.

I am not saying this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparison with the eagerness of others.

as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

For it is not necessary for me to write you about this service to the saints,

Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.