1 Corinthians 1

Greeting

1Paul, acalled bby the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

2To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those csanctified in Christ Jesus, dcalled to be saints together with all those who in every place ecall upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

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

Thanksgiving

4I ggive thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5that in every way hyou were enriched in him in all ispeech and all knowledge 6even as jthe testimony about Christ was confirmed among you 7so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you kwait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 lwho will sustain you to the end, mguiltless nin the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 oGod is faithful, by whom you were called into the pfellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

10I appeal to you, brothers,
Or  brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God’s family, the church; also verses 11, 26
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no rdivisions among you, but that you be united sin the same mind and the same judgment.
11For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is tquarreling among you, my brothers. 12What I mean is that ueach one of you says, “I follow Paul,” orI follow vApollos,” orI follow wCephas,” orI follow Christ.” 13 xIs Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ybaptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I baptized none of you except zCrispus and aaGaius, 15so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16(I did baptize also abthe household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and acnot with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

18For the word of the cross is adfolly to aethose who are perishing, but to us afwho are being saved it is agthe power of God. 19For it is written,

ah“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 aiWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ajHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach
Or  the folly of preaching
to save those who believe.
22For alJews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ amcrucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ anthe power of God and aothe wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26For consider your calling, brothers: apnot many of you were wise according to worldly standards,
Greek  according to the flesh
not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
27But arGod chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; asGod chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, even atthings that are not, to aubring to nothing things that are, 29so avthat no human being
Greek  no flesh
might boast in the presence of God.
30And because of him
Greek  And from him
you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us aywisdom from God, azrighteousness and basanctification and bbredemption,
31so that, as it is written, bc“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

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