1 Corinthians

¹Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, ²to the Church of God which is at Corinth. [You are] those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all those who call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours: ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I always give thanks to my God concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus; ⁵that in everything you have been enriched in him, in all [manner of] speech and knowledge; ⁶even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷And so, you lack no gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; ⁸who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship¹⁷²⁷ of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

¹⁰Now I beg you, brethren, through the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you. Instead, may you be perfected together in the same mind and opinion.^{1728 11}As it is, those who are from Chloe’s household have informed me concerning you my brethren, that there are quarrels among you. ¹²Now I mean this: that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Kephas,” or, “I follow Christ.” ¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so that no one should say that I baptized you into my own name. ¹⁶(I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I do not know whether I baptized any other.)

The cross of Christ—No boasting

¹⁷Indeed, Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. ¹⁸For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹As it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.¹⁷²⁹

²⁰Where is the wise? Where is the expert of the law? Where is the debater of this world? Has not God ridiculed the wisdom of this world? ²¹Since in God’s wisdom, the world through its ‘wisdom’ did not know God, it was God’s good pleasure (through the foolishness of this proclamation) to save those who believe. ²²Jews ask for a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks. ²⁴However, to those who are called, (both Jews and Greeks), Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, ²⁵because God’s ‘foolishness’ is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. ²⁶Consider your calling, brethren, that not many [among you] were wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, and not [many] of noble birth. ²⁷Nevertheless, God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame those who are ‘wise.’ [Yes], God chose the weak things of the world in order to put to shame the things that are strong. ²⁸God also chose the lowly things of the world, the things that are despised and even the things that are ‘nothing,’ so that he might bring to nothing the things that are {thought to be important}, ²⁹so that no flesh should boast before God. ³⁰But by God’s doing,¹⁷³⁰ you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; ³¹so that as it is written, “Whoever boasts should boast in the Lord.”¹⁷³¹

God’s Wisdom—The Spirit of God

1727. Greek koinwni,an (communion, partnership, a close mutual relationship)
1728. Or “judgment/decision”
1729. Isaias (Isaiah) 29:14. NT agrees with LXX against MT.
1730. Greek “him”
1731. Jeremiah 9:24