1 Corinthians 1

1 I, Paul, [am writing this letter]. Sosthenes, our fellow believer, is with [me as I write it]. [God] appointed me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus because that is what God desired.

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

2 [I am sending this letter] to all you who are God’s believers in Corinth [city]. You have been set apart [by God] {[God] has set you apart} for himself because (of your close relationship with/you belong to) Christ Jesus. God has appointed you to be his people and to live in a morally pure way, just like he has appointed all the people everywhere who belong to him to live in a morally pure way. You and they have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ [MTY]. He is their sovereign Lord as well as the sovereign Lord of all of us [(inc)] who have trusted in him.

to the church of God at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, who are called to be holy people. We are also writing to all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours.

3 We [(exc)] desire that God, who is our [heavenly] Father, and Jesus Christ, who is our sovereign Lord, will continue to act kindly toward you and cause you to experience [inner] peace.

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

4 I very often [HYP] thank God for you because he has acted toward you kindly, acting in ways that you do not deserve. He has done this because of your (having a close relationship with/being united to) Christ Jesus.

I always give thanks to my God for you because of the grace of God that Christ Jesus gave to you.

5 That is, [God] has [HYP] helped you spiritually very much because of your (having a close relationship with/being united to) Christ. Specifically, God has very much [HYP] enabled you to speak messages [that his Spirit revealed to you], and he has very much enabled you to know many things [HYP] that his Spirit revealed to you.

He has made you rich in every way, in all speech and with all knowledge,

6 In that way, [he] confirmed to you that what we [(exc)] proclaimed about Christ is true.

just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed as true among you.

7 As a result, while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to return, within your group you truly have [LIT] every ability that [God’s] Spirit gives [to believers].

Therefore you lack no spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

8 God will also cause you to steadfastly [trust Christ to the very end of your lives] [EUP]. The result will be that God will not consider you guilty [of any sin] when our Lord Jesus Christ returns to earth [MTY].

He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 You can depend on God to do that. He is the one who chose you to become intimately associated with his Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Lord.

God is faithful, who called you into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 My fellow believers, by the authority of [MTY] our Lord Jesus Christ, I urgently appeal to all of you to agree with one another. What I mean is, stop dividing into groups. Instead, be united [MET] concerning what you understand [about spiritual matters], and be united in what you decide.

Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you. I urge that you be joined together with the same mind and by the same purpose.

11 My fellow believers, [I urge this] because some members of Chloe’s household have told me that you are quarreling among yourselves.

For it has been made clear to me, my brothers, by Chloe's people that there are factions among you.

12 That is, some of you say, “Paul is the one to whom we [are loyal],” and others say, “Peter is the one to whom we [are loyal],” and still others say, “Christ is the one to whom we [are loyal].”

I mean this: Each one of you says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.”

13 [It is ridiculous that] [RHQ] [you are quarreling and] dividing up [into groups instead of being loyal to] Christ alone. Christ certainly has not divided himself into parts and distributed those parts out [to groups of people who oppose each other]! [MET, RHQ] I, Paul, certainly did not die on the cross for you! [RHQ] When you were baptized {When someone baptized you}, you certainly did not promise that you were submitting to me! [RHQ]

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I thank [God] that Crispus and Gaius were the only ones from among you whom I baptized.

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

15 As a result, no one [there in Corinth except those two] can say, “Paul baptized me so that I would become (his disciple/submissive to him).”

This was so that no one would say that you were baptized into my name.

16 [Now I remember that] I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I do not remember baptizing anyone else [there].

(I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know if I baptized any others.)

17 Christ sent me not [primarily] to baptize people but to preach the good message about him. When I do that, he does not want me to use words that human philosophers [consider] wise [IRO]. I do not want the message about [what] he [accomplished when he was nailed to] the cross [MTY] to lose its power.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. He did not send me to preach with words of human wisdom, so that the cross of Christ should not be emptied of its power.

18 Those who are perishing spiritually [because they do not believe that message consider] that the message [about what Christ accomplished when he was nailed to the] cross [MTY] [is] foolish. But to us who are being saved {whom [God] is saving} [spiritually because we believe that message], it [demonstrates that] God acts powerfully [in order to save us].

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are dying. But among those whom God is saving, it is the power of God.

19 [It is like what God said that] a prophet wrote long ago, [By the things that I will do], I will show that the ideas of those who [think] [IRO] they are wise are completely useless. I will ignore the ideas that they think are [IRO] so smart.

For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will frustrate the understanding of the intelligent.”

20 So, do you know [what God thinks] about what [RHQ] people who [IRO] consider themselves to be wise and scholars and philosophers say? [He does not pay attention to what they say, because] [RHQ] he has shown clearly that what unbelievers [think is] [IRO] wise is [not wise at all], but is really foolish. (aiōn g165)

Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this world? Has not God turned the wisdom of the world into foolishness? (aiōn g165)

21 God, acting very wisely, made it impossible for unbelievers to know God by doing what they thought was [IRO] wise. Instead, he was happy to save those who trust [in Christ] as the result of their hearing [the message that] was proclaimed to them, a message that others consider to be foolish.

Since the world in its wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.

22 The Jews want [people to prove, by performing] miracles, [that their message is true]. The non-Jews want to hear only messages consisting of talk that they consider to be very wise.

For Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks seek wisdom.

23 As for us, we proclaim [the message about what] Christ [accomplished for us when] he was nailed {[when they] nailed him} to the cross. That message offends Jews [because they do not think that the Messiah will die, and] non-Jews think it is [IRO] a foolish message.

But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks.

24 But to us whom God has chosen to belong to himself, both Jews and non-Jews, that message shows that God acted powerfully and wisely [by sending] Christ [to die] for us.

But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, we preach Christ as the power and the wisdom of God.

25 [Unbelievers may think] [IRO] [that] God was [acting] foolishly [by doing that], but [the truth is that] he was acting more wisely than unbelievers who [just think that] [IRO] they are wise. And unbelievers may think that God was [acting] weakly [by sending his son to die], but he was acting more powerfully than unbelievers who [just think] [IRO] [that they] act powerfully.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than people, and the weakness of God is stronger than people.

26 My fellow believers, remember what [kind of people you] were when God chose you. [Not many of you] whom he chose are people whom [unbelievers considered to be] wise. Very few of you were considered to be important. Very few of you came from families with a high social standing.

Look at your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth.

27 Instead, it was [usually] those whom [unbelievers considered to be] foolish whom God chose. He did that in order to shame/discredit those whom [unbelievers consider] [IRO] wise. It was [usually] those [whom unbelievers] considered [IRO] unimportant whom God chose, in order to shame/discredit those whom unbelievers consider important.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame what is strong.

28 It was usually those who are despised and considered {whom [unbelievers] despise and consider} worthless whom God chose, in order to make completely ineffective [what unbelievers consider to be important].

God chose what is low and despised in the world. He even chose things that are regarded as nothing, to bring to nothing things that are held as valuable.

29 [He did that] in order that no one could boast to God about being wise or important.

He did this so that no one would have a reason to boast before him.

30 It is because of what God [has done] that you (have a close relationship with/belong to) Christ Jesus. God [put into effect] his wise [plan to save us] by what Christ did for us. As a result of what Christ did, God erases the record of our sins, sets us apart for himself, and frees us from our being guilty [for our sins].

Because of what God did, now you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. He became our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

31 So, it is the Lord whom we should boast about, [not about one spiritual leader being better than another]. We should do as ([a prophet/Jeremiah]) wrote [in the Scriptures that we should do]: Those who boast should boast [only] about what the Lord [has done].

As a result, as scripture says, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”