¹⁰By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my brothers and sisters, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose. ¹¹For some people from Chloe’s family have told me quite plainly, my friends, that there are quarrels among you. ¹²^*Let me put it this way: each one of you says something different. One says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Peter”; and another, “I follow Christ”. ¹³Christ has been divided^a into groups! Was it Paul who died on the cross for you? Were you baptized as Paul’s disciples?

¹⁴^*I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. ¹⁵No one can say, then, that you were baptized as my disciples. ¹⁶^*(Oh yes, I also baptized Stephanas and his family; but I can’t remember whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the Good News, and to tell it without using the language of human wisdom, in order to make sure that Christ’s death on the cross is not robbed of its power.

Christ the Power and the Wisdom of God

¹⁸For the message about Christ’s death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God’s power.

Read in Logos

1 Corinthians 1:17: For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Footnotes

aChrist has been divided; some manuscripts have Christ cannot be divided.

Cross references

*1.12: Ac 18:24
*1.14 a: Ac 18:8 1.14 b: Ac 19:29; Ro 16:23
*1.16: 1 Co 16:15