1 CorinthiansChapter 1
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1This letter is from Paul, who was called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It is also from our brother Sosthenes. 2We are writing to the church of God in Corinth. You have been made holy in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people. We also write to all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is their Lord and ours. 3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4I always thank my God for you. I thank him for the grace he has given you in Christ Jesus. 5In him you have been made rich in every way. You have been given all kinds of speech and all kinds of knowledge. 6This is because what we told you about Christ was proven true among you. 7So you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait eagerly for our Lord Jesus Christ to be shown. 8He will keep you strong to the end. Then no one will be able to blame you on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful. He has called you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 10Brothers and sisters, I beg you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to agree with each other. Don't let there be splits among you. Be joined together in the same mind and the same purpose. 11My brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe's household have told me that you are arguing with each other. 12Here is what I mean. Some of you are saying, "I follow Paul." Others say, "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." 13Has Christ been split into parts? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15So no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides them, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else. 17For Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to preach the good news. And he did not send me to use wise and clever words, so that the cross of Christ would not lose its power. 18The message of the cross seems foolish to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 19For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will block the plans of the smart." 20Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the great thinker of this age? Hasn't God made the wisdom of the world look foolish? 21In God's wisdom, the world did not know him by using its own wisdom. So God was pleased to save those who believe. He did it through the message we preach, which seems foolish. 22Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom. 23But we preach Christ, who was crucified. This makes Jews stumble, and to Gentiles it sounds foolish. 24But to those God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For what seems foolish about God is wiser than human wisdom. And what seems weak about God is stronger than human strength. 26Brothers and sisters, think about who you were when God called you. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were powerful. Not many came from important families. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of the world, the things people look down on. He chose the things that are nothing, to bring to nothing the things that are something. 29He did this so that no one can brag in front of him. 30It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus. Christ has become God's wisdom for us. Through him we are made right with God, made holy, and redeemed. 31So, as it is written, "Let the one who brags, brag about the Lord."