1 Corinthians 1

Chapter 1

Appeal to Unity

¹Paul, ^acalled as an apostle of Jesus Christ ¹by ^bthe will of God, and ^cSosthenes our ^dbrother,

²To ^athe church of God which is at ^bCorinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, ¹saints ^cby calling, with all who in every place ^dcall on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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

^4aI thank ¹my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵that in everything you were ^aenriched in Him, in all ^bspeech and all knowledge,

⁶even as ^athe testimony concerning Christ was confirmed ¹in you,

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

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

^9aGod is faithful, through whom you were ^bcalled into ^cfellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now ^aI exhort you, ^bbrethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all ¹agree and that there be no ^2cdivisions among you, but that you be ³made complete in ^dthe 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 ^aeach one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of ^bApollos,” and “I of ^cCephas,” and “I of Christ.”

¹³¹Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you ^abaptized ²in the name of Paul?

¹⁴¹I thank God that I ^abaptized none of you except Crispus and ^bGaius,

¹⁵so that no one would say you were baptized ¹in my name.

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

^17aFor Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, ^bnot in ¹cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

The Wisdom of God

¹⁸For the word of the cross is ^afoolishness to ^bthose who ¹are perishing, but to us who ²are being saved it is ^cthe power of God.

¹⁹For it is written,

“^aI will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

^20aWhere is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of ^bthis age? Has not God ^cmade foolish the wisdom of ^dthe world?

²¹For since in the wisdom of God ^athe world through its wisdom did not come to know God, ^bGod was well-pleased through the ^cfoolishness of the ¹message preached to ^dsave those who believe.

²²For indeed ^aJews ask for ¹signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

²³but we preach ^1aChrist crucified, ^bto Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles ^cfoolishness,

²⁴but to those who are ^athe called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^bthe power of God and ^cthe wisdom of God.

²⁵Because the ^afoolishness of God is wiser than men, and ^bthe weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For ¹consider your ^acalling, brethren, that there were ^bnot many wise according to ²the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

²⁷but ^aGod has chosen the foolish things of ^bthe 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 ^athe world and the despised God has chosen, ^bthe things that are not, so that He may ^cnullify the things that are,

²⁹so that ^ano ¹man may boast before God.

³⁰But ¹by His doing you are in ^aChrist Jesus, who became to us ^bwisdom from God, ²and ^crighteousness and ^dsanctification, and ^eredemption,

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