1 Corinthians 1

Appeal to Unity

1Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by 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, saints by calling, with all who in every place 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 thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

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

6even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,

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

8who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

10Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you.

12Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”

13Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? 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 would say you were baptized in my name.

16Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

The Wisdom of God

18For the word 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 cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

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

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

22For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

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

24but to those who are the 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 consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

27but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

28and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

29so that no man may boast before God.

30But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

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