1 Corinthians 1

1From Paul. God called me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus because that is what God wanted. Also from Sosthenes, our brother in Christ.

2To the church of God in Corinth, to you who have been made holy in Christ Jesus. You were called to be God’s holy people with all people everywhere who pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul Gives Thanks to God

4I always thank my God for you because of the grace God has given you in Christ Jesus. 5I thank God because in Christ you have been made rich in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge. 6Just as our witness about Christ has been guaranteed to you, 7so you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. 8Jesus will keep you strong until the end so that there will be no wrong in you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Problems in the Church

10I beg you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with each other and not be split into groups. I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose. 11My brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe’s family have told me quite plainly that there are quarrels among you. 12This is what I mean: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another says, “I follow Apollos”; another says, “I follow Peter”; and another says, “I follow Christ.” 13Christ has been divided up into different groups! Did Paul die on the cross for you? No! Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No! 14I thank God I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius 15so that now no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16(I also baptized the family of Stephanas, but I do not remember that I baptized anyone else.) 17Christ did not send me to baptize people but to preach the Good News. And he sent me to preach the Good News without using words of human wisdom so that the cross of Christ would not lose its power.

Christ Is God’s Power and Wisdom

18The teaching about the cross is foolishness to those who are being lost, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19It is written in the Scriptures:

“I will cause the wise to lose their wisdom;

I will make the wise unable to understand.”#Isaiah 29:14

20Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the skilled talker of this world? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. 21In the wisdom of God the world did not know God through its own wisdom. So God chose to use the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe. 22The Jews ask for miracles, and the Greeks want wisdom. 23But we preach a crucified Christ. This causes the Jews to stumble and is foolishness to non-Jews. 24But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people God has called—Jews and Greeks. 25Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26Brothers and sisters, look at what you were when God called you. Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence. Not many of you came from important families. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and he chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose what the world thinks is unimportant and what the world looks down on and thinks is nothing in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. 29God did this so that no one can brag in his presence. 30Because of God you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. In Christ we are put right with God, and have been made holy, and have been set free from sin. 31So, as the Scripture says, “If people want to brag, they should brag only about the Lord.”

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1 Corinthians 1

Greeting

1Paul, # Ac 13:9 called as an apostle # Rm 1:1 of Christ Jesus by God’s will, # 2Co 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 2Tm 1:1 and Sosthenes our brother: # Ac 18:17

2To God’s church at Corinth, # Ac 18:1; 19:1; 2Co 1:1,23; 2Tm 4:20 to those who are sanctified # Ac 20:32; 26:18; 1Co 6:11; Heb 10:10 in Christ Jesus and called # Rm 1:6-7 as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name # Gn 4:26; Ps 79:6; Jn 10:25; Ac 9:14; 15:14; Rv 14:1 of Jesus Christ our Lord — both their Lord and ours.

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father # Rm 1:7; 2Co 1:2; Gl 1:3; Eph 1:2; Php 1:2; 2Th 1:2; Ti 1:4 and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

4I always thank # Rm 1:8; Php 1:3; Col 1:3; 1Th 1:2; 2Th 1:3; 2Tm 1:3; Phm 4 my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus, 5that by Him you were enriched # 2Co 8:9; 9:11 in everything — in all speech and all knowledge. # Rm 15:14; 1Co 12:8; 2Co 8:7; 1Jn 2:20 6In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, # 2Th 1:10; 1Tm 2:6; 2Tm 1:8; Rv 1:2 7so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait # Lk 17:30; Rm 8:19; Php 3:20; Heb 9:28; 2Pt 3:12 for the revelation # 1Pt 4:13 of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8He will also strengthen you to the end, # Php 1:6; 1Th 3:13 so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. # Lk 17:24; 1Co 5:5; 2Co 1:14; Php 2:16; Col 1:22 9God is faithful; # Dt 7:9; Is 49:7; 1Co 10:13; 2Co 1:18 you were called by Him # Rm 8:28 into fellowship with His Son, # Jn 5:19; Heb 1:2; 1Jn 1:3 Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions at Corinth

10Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. 11For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there is rivalry # Ti 3:9 among you. 12What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” # Ti 3:13 or “I’m with Cephas,” # Jn 1:42 or “I’m with Christ.” # Mt 23:9-10 13Is Christ divided? # 1Co 12:5; 2Co 11:4; Eph 4:5 Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14I thank God # Other mss omit God # Or I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus # Ac 18:8 and Gaius, # Rm 16:23 15so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16I did, in fact, baptize the household # Rm 16:5 of Stephanas; # 1Co 16:15,17 beyond that, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else. 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize — not with clever words, so that the cross # Lk 23:26; Php 3:18 of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. # Ac 19:11; Rm 1:16; 2Co 13:4 19For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. # Is 29:14 # Is 29:14

20Where is the philosopher? # Or wise Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? # Lk 16:8 Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21For 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 message preached. 22For the Jews ask for signs # Mt 12:38 and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, # Lk 23:26; 1Co 2:2; Gl 3:1; 5:11 a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. # Other mss read Greeks 24Yet to those who are called, # Rm 1:6 both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, 25because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Boasting Only in the Lord

26Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, # Lit wise according to the flesh not many powerful, # Ac 25:5 not many of noble birth. 27Instead, God has chosen # Mt 24:22; Eph 1:4 what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world # Lk 18:9 — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29so that no one # Lit that not all flesh can boast in His presence. # Ac 7:46 30But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us — our righteousness, # Mt 6:33; Rm 1:17; 2Pt 1:1 sanctification, # 1Th 4:3 and redemption, # Eph 1:7 31in order that, as it is written: # Mk 1:2 The one who boasts must boast in the Lord. # Jr 9:23-24 # Jr 9:24

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