< 1 Corinthians 1 >
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace 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;
5 that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;
6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed;
8 who will also strengthen you to the end, blameless in 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.
10 Now I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement, so that there may be no divisions among you, and to be united by the same mind and conviction.
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.
12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," "I follow Apollos," "I follow Cephas," and, "I follow Christ."
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one should say that you had been baptized into my own name.
16 (Now I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.)
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of the Christ would not be made void.
18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will nullify."
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (aiōn )
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.
22 For Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the non-Jews,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than man's, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's.
26 For consider your calling, brothers, that not many were wise from a human perspective, not many mighty, not many of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise. And God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong.
28 And God chose the lowly of the world, and the despised, what is considered to be nothing, to bring to nothing what is considered to be something,
29 that no flesh might boast before God.
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31 so that, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."
