1 Corinthians 1

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

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

2 To the church of God that is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in every place of 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 from the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

4 I give thanks to my God always for you, for the grace of God that is 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 all things you are made rich in him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

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

6 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 nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation 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 also will confirm you unto the end without crime, in the day of the coming 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: by whom you are called unto 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 beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect 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 hath been signified unto me, my brethren, of you, by them that are of the house of Chloe, 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 this I say, that every one of you saith: I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I am of Cephas; and I of 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 then crucified for you? or were you baptized in 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 give God thanks, that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Caius;

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

15 Lest any should say that you were baptized in my name.

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

16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanus; besides, I know not 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 gospel: not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should 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, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, 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, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject.

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 disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (aiōn g165)

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, by wisdom, knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of our preaching, to save them that 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 both the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

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

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness:

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

24 But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ 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 For 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 see your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, 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 the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the 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 And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are:

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 glory in his sight.

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

30 But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and justice, 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 that glorieth, may glory in the Lord.

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