1 Corinthians 1

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

2to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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

4I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.

5For in him you have been made rich in every way, in all speech and all knowledge,

6just as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you,

7so that you do not lack any gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

8He will also keep you firm to the end, blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9God is faithful, and through him you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be fully united in the same mind and the same judgment.

11For it has been made clear to me by Chloe’s people, my brothers and sisters, that there are quarrels among you.

12What I mean is this: each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

13Has Christ been 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 can say that you were baptized in my name.

16I did also baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.

17For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the good news—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ would not be emptied of its power.

18For 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.

19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish?

21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through its wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message we proclaim.

22For Jews ask for signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25For the foolishness of God is wiser than human beings, and the weakness of God is stronger than human beings.

26Consider your calling, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

28God chose what is lowborn in the world and what is despised, the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

29so that no human being might boast before God.

30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

31so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”