1 Corinthians 1

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God--and our brother Sosthenes:

2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:

To the Church of God in Corinth, men and women consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-- their Lord as well as ours.

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I always thank my God concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

I thank my God continually on your behalf for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus--

5 that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge—

that you have been so richly blessed in Him, with readiness of speech and fulness of knowledge.

6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you—

Thus my testimony as to the Christ has been confirmed in your experience,

7 so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

so that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8 who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is ever true to His promises, and it was by Him that you were, one and all, called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

10 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.

Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.

11 For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

For I have been distinctly informed, my brethren, about you by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.

12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”

What I mean is that each of you is a partisan. One man says "I belong to Paul;" another "I belong to Apollos;" a third "I belong to Peter;" a fourth "I belong to Christ."

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?

Is the Christ in fragments? Is it Paul who was crucified on your behalf? Or were you baptized to be Paul's adherents?

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius--

15 so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.

for fear people should say that you were baptized to be my adherents.

16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I do not know whether I baptized any other.)

I did, however, baptize Stephanas' household also: but I do not think that I baptized any one else.

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the Good News; and not in merely wise words--lest the Cross of Christ should be deprived of its power.

18 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.

For the Message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.

19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”

For so it stands written, "I will exhibit the nothingness of the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought."

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age (aiōn g165)? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

Where is your wise man? Where your expounder of the Law? Where your investigator of the questions of this present age? Has not God shown the world's wisdom to be utter foolishness? (aiōn g165)

21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

For after the world by its wisdom--as God in His wisdom had ordained--had failed to gain the knowledge of God, God was pleased, by the apparent foolishness of the Message which we preach, to save those who accepted it.

22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,

Seeing that Jews demand miracles, and Greeks go in search of wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks,

while we proclaim a Christ who has been crucified--to the Jews a stumbling-block, to Gentiles foolishness,

24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God;

but to those who have received the Call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Because that which the world deems foolish in God is wiser than men's wisdom, and that which it deems feeble in God is mightier than men's might.

26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;

For consider, brethren, God's call to you. Not many who are wise with merely human wisdom, not many of position and influence, not many of noble birth have been called.

27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.

But God has chosen the things which the world regards as foolish, in order to put its wise men to shame; and God has chosen the things which the world regards as destitute of influence, in order to put its powerful things to shame;

28 God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that do not exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist,

and the things which the world regards as base, and those which it sets utterly at nought--things that have no existence--God has chosen in order to reduce to nothing things that do exist;

29 that no flesh should boast before God.

to prevent any mortal man from boasting in the presence of God.

30 Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

But you--and it is all God's doing--are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance;

31 that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”

in order that it may be as Scripture says, "He who boasts--let his boast be in the Lord."