Greeting

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

2To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all those who in every place are calling on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

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

Spiritual Gifts at Corinth

4I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus,

5that in everything you were enriched by Him in all speech and all knowledge,

6just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,

7so that you are not lacking in any gift, eagerly awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8who will also confirm you until the end, that you may be unimpeachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

10Now I beseech you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no dissension among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same opinion.

11For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of Chloe's household, that there is quarreling among you.

12Now this I say, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of 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 but Crispus and Gaius,

15lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.

16Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Other than that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.

17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ should be deprived of its power.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18For the preaching 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 understanding of the prudent I will invalidate.”

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

21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, God was well pleased, through the foolishness of preaching, to save those that believe.

22For the Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom;

23but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness,

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

25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble, are called.

27But God chose the foolish things of the world in order that He might humiliate the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world in order that He might humiliate the mighty.

28And the lowly things of the world, and the despised things God has chosen, and the things which are not, in order that He might nullify the things that are,

29so that no man may boast before God.

30But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

31that, as it is written, “He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”