1 Corinthians 1
1
Paul's greeting and prayer
1From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from Sosthenes, who is also a follower.
2To God's church in Corinth. Christ Jesus chose you to be his very own people, and you worship in his name, as we and all others do who call him Lord.#Ac 18.1.
3My prayer is that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!
4I never stop thanking my God for being kind enough to give you Christ Jesus, 5who helps you speak and understand so well. 6Now you are certain that everything we told you about our Lord Christ Jesus is true. 7You are not missing out on any blessings, as you wait for him to return. 8And until the day Christ does return, he will keep you completely innocent. 9God can be trusted, and he chose you to be partners with his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
A call for unity
Taking sides
10My dear friends, as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you to get along with each other. Don't take sides. Always try to agree in what you think. 11Several people from Chloe's family#1.11 family: Family members and possibly slaves and others who may have lived in the house. have already reported to me that you keep arguing with each other. 12They have said that some of you claim to follow me, while others claim to follow Apollos or Peter#1.12 Peter: The Greek text has “Cephas”, which is an Aramaic name meaning “rock”. Peter is the Greek name with the same meaning. or Christ.#Ac 18.24.
13Has Christ been divided up? Was I nailed to a cross for you? Were you baptized in my name? 14I thank God#1.14 I thank God: Some manuscripts have “I thank my God”. that I didn't baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius.#Ac 18.8; Ac 19.29; Ro 16.23. 15Not one of you can say that you were baptized in my name. 16I did baptize the family#1.16 family: See the note at 1.11. of Stephanas, but I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.#1 Co 16.15. 17Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the good news without using big words that would make the cross of Christ lose its power.
Christ is God's power and wisdom
18The message about the cross doesn't make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God's power at work. 19As God says in the Scriptures,#Is 29.14 (LXX).
“I will destroy the wisdom
of all who claim
to be wise.
I will confuse those
who think they know
so much.”
20What happened to those wise people? What happened to those experts in the Scriptures? What happened to the ones who think they have all the answers? Didn't God show that the wisdom of this world is foolish?#Job 12.17; Is 19.12; 33.18; Is 44.25. 21God was wise and decided not to let the people of this world use their wisdom to learn about him.
Instead, God chose to save only those who believe the foolish message we preach. 22Jews ask for miracles, and Greeks want something that sounds wise. 23But we preach that Christ was nailed to a cross. Most Jews have problems with this, and most Gentiles think it is foolish. 24Our message is God's power and wisdom for the Jews and the Greeks that he has chosen. 25Even when God is foolish, he is wiser than everyone else, and even when God is weak, he is stronger than everyone else.
26My dear friends, remember what you were when God chose you. The people of this world didn't think that many of you were wise. Only a few of you were in places of power, and not many of you came from important families. 27But God chose the foolish things of this world to put the wise to shame. He chose the weak things of this world to put the powerful to shame.
28What the world thinks is worthless, useless, and nothing at all is what God has used to destroy what the world considers important. 29God did all this to keep anyone from boasting to him. 30You are God's children. He sent Christ Jesus to save us and to make us wise, acceptable, and holy. 31So if you want to boast, do what the Scriptures say and boast about the Lord.#Jr 9.24.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Corinthians 1
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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