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 in Corinth, those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place—their Lord and ours.
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank God for you, because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus.
5 For in him you have been enriched in every way, in all speaking and all knowledge.
6 In this way the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you.
7 As a result, you lack no gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 He will also keep you firm to the end, blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful; through him you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to speak in agreement, so that there may be no divisions among you, but that you may be united in the same way of thinking and the same judgment.
11 For I have been told about you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Apollos,” “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.
16 I also baptized the household of Stephanas. As for anyone else, I don’t know whether I baptized them.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to announce the good news—and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be emptied of its power.
18 For the message of 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 reject the understanding of the intelligent.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish?
21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the proclamation.
22 For Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we proclaim Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the nations.
24 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than people, and God’s weakness is stronger than people.
26 Look at your calling, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, and not many came from noble families.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 God also chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things—the things that are not—to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 so that no one may boast before God.
30 But because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
31 So, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
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