1 Corinthians 1:1-31
1 Paul, called to be an apostle+ of Jesus Christ through God’s will,+ and Sosʹthe·nes+ our brother
2 to the congregation of God that is in Corinth,+ to YOU who have been sanctified+ in union with Christ Jesus, called to be holy ones,+ together with all who everywhere are calling upon the name+ of our Lord, Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:+
3 May YOU have undeserved kindness+ and peace+ from God our Father and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.+
4 I always thank God for YOU in view of the undeserved kindness+ of God given to YOU in Christ Jesus;+
5 that in everything YOU have been enriched+ in him, in full ability to speak and in full knowledge,+
6 even as the witness* about the Christ+ has been rendered firm among YOU,
7 so that YOU do not fall short in any gift+ at all, while YOU are eagerly waiting for the revelation+ of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 He will also make YOU firm+ to the end,* that YOU may be open to no accusation+ in the day*+ of our Lord Jesus Christ.*+
9 God is faithful,+ by whom YOU were called into a sharing+ with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I exhort+ YOU, brothers, through the name+ of our Lord Jesus Christ that YOU should all speak in agreement,+ and that there should not be divisions*+ among YOU, but that YOU may be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought.+
11 For the disclosure+ was made to me about YOU, my brothers, by those of [the house of] Chloʹe, that dissensions exist among YOU.
12 What I mean is this, that each one of YOU says: “I belong to Paul,” “But I to A·polʹlos,”+ “But I to Ceʹphas,” “But I to Christ.”
13 The Christ exists divided.+ Paul was not impaled* for YOU, was he? Or were YOU baptized+ in the name of Paul?
14 I am thankful I baptized none of YOU except Crisʹpus+ and Gaʹius,+
15 so that no one may say that YOU were baptized in my name.
16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephʹa·nas.+ As for the rest, I do not know whether I baptized anybody else.
17 For Christ dispatched me,+ not to go baptizing, but to go declaring the good news, not with wisdom of speech,+ that the torture stake* of the Christ should not be made useless.
18 For the speech about the torture stake is foolishness+ to those who are perishing,+ but to us who are being saved+ it is God’s power.+
19 For it is written: “I will make the wisdom of the wise [men] perish,+ and the intelligence of the intellectual+ [men] I will shove aside.”+
20 Where is the wise man? Where the scribe?+ Where the debater+ of this system of things?*+ Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish?+
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom+ did not get to know God,+ God saw good through the foolishness+ of what is preached to save those believing.
22 For both the Jews ask for signs+ and the Greeks look for wisdom;+
23 but we preach Christ impaled,+ to the Jews a cause for stumbling+ but to the nations foolishness;+
24 however, to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power+ of God and the wisdom+ of God.
25 Because a foolish thing* of God is wiser than men, and a weak thing* of God is stronger than men.+
26 For YOU behold his calling of YOU, brothers, that not many wise+ in a fleshly way were called,+ not many powerful,+ not many of noble birth;
27 but God chose the foolish things of the world,+ that he might put the wise men to shame; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put the strong things to shame;+
28 and God chose the ignoble things of the world and the things looked down upon, the things that are not,+ that he might bring to nothing+ the things that are,
29 in order that no flesh might boast+ in the sight of God.
30 But it is due to him that YOU are in union with Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom+ from God, also righteousness+ and sanctification+ and release by ransom;+
31 that it may be just as it is written: “He that boasts, let him boast in Jehovah.”*+
Footnotes
^ “Witness.” Gr., mar·tyʹri·on; Lat., te·sti·moʹni·um.
^ “Christ,” אACDVgSyh,hi,p; P46B omit.
^ “Day,” אAB; D, “presence”; Vg, “day of the advent.”
^ Or, “finish.” Gr., teʹlous.
^ Or, “splits.” Gr., skhiʹsma·ta, “schisms”; Lat., sciʹsma·ta.
^ Or, “fastened on a stake (pole).” See App 5C.
^ See App 5C.
^ Or, “order of things.” Gr., ai·oʹnos; Lat., saeʹcu·li; J17,22(Heb.), ha·ʽoh·lamʹ haz·zehʹ, “this order of things.”
^ Or, “the foolishness.”
^ Or, “the weakness.”
^ See App 1D.
