1 Corinthians 1:17–2:16

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel, not with clever speech^d, lest the cross of Christ be emptied.

Christ Crucified, the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸For the message about 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 intelligence of the intelligent I will confound.”^e

²⁰Where is the wise person? 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 know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. ²²For indeed, Jews ask for sign miracles and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a cause for stumbling, but to the Gentiles foolishness, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,^f and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.^g

Boast in the Lord

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers, that not many were wise according to human standards,^h not many were powerful, not many were well born. ²⁷But the foolish things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world God chose in order that he might put to shame the strong, ²⁸and the insignificant of the world, and the despised, God chose, the things that are not, in order that he might abolish the things that are, ²⁹so that all flesh may not boast before God. ³⁰But from him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹so that, just as it is written, “The one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”ⁱ

Paul’s Approach to Ministry in Corinth

2And I, when I^* came to you, brothers, did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony^a of God. ²For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³And I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling, ⁴and my speech and my preaching were not with the persuasiveness^b of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, ⁵in order that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

⁶Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but wisdom not of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing, ⁷but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory, ⁸which none of the rulers of this age knew. For if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹But just as it is written,

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,

and have not entered into the heart of man,

all that^c God has prepared for those who love him.”^d

¹⁰For^e to us God has revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that is in him? Thus also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order that we may know the things freely given to us by God, ¹³things which we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.^{f 14}But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵Now the spiritual person discerns all things, but he himself is judged by no one. ¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord; who has advised him?”^g But we have the mind of Christ.