1 Corinthians 1

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,

to the church of God that is at Corinth, to those who have been made holy in Christ Jesus, called ones, holy ones, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—theirs and ours:

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

I thank my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in union with Christ Jesus,

because in union with him you were enriched in everything, in all speech and all knowledge,

(just as the testimony about the Christ was confirmed in you),

so that you are not trailing behind the others in any gift, as you are eagerly awaiting the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete by having the same mind and by the same judgment.

For I have been informed about you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s followers, that there are quarrels among you.

What I mean is this: that each one of you says, “I am of Paul,” “But I of Apollos,” “But I of Cephas,” “But I of Christ.”

Has the Christ been divided up? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

(But I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other).

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the good news—not with clever words, lest the cross of Christ should be emptied of its power.

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.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will bring to nothing.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the expert in the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God by its wisdom, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

but we preach Christ crucified, which is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

but to the called ones (both Jews and Greeks), Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many of noble birth, are called,

but God chose the no-good things of the world to put to shame those who are wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are strong,

and the low-born things of the world, and the things that are treated with contempt—God has chosen these—and the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

so that no flesh can boast in the presence of God.

And it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God—and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption,

so that, as it is written, The one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.