1 Corinthians 1:18-31

For the message of the cross is nonsense to those who are lost, but it's the power of God to those of us who are saved. As Scripture says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will wipe out the cleverness of the clever.” So how about the wise, the writers, and the philosophers of this age? Hasn't God turned the wisdom of this world into foolishness? Since God in his wisdom allowed the world in its wisdom not to know God, it was God's gracious plan that by the foolishness of the good news those who trusted in him would be saved. The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but our message is of Christ killed on a cross—offensive to the Jews, and foolishness to the foreigners. However, for those who are called by God, both Jews and foreigners, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than we are; and the weakness of God is stronger than we are. Brothers and sisters, remember your calling—and that this did not include many who are wise, humanly speaking; not many who are powerful; not many who are important. Instead God chose the things the world considers foolish to humiliate those who think they are wise. He chose the things the world considers weak to humiliate those who think they are strong. He chose the things that are unimportant and despised by the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that nobody should boast in God's presence. It's because of him that you live in Christ Jesus, who God made to be wisdom for us. He sets us right, keeps us right, and frees us. So as Scripture says, “Whoever wants to boast, let them boast in the Lord.”