1 Corinthians 1:17–2:16

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize,^f but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom^g and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness^h to those who are perishing,ⁱ but to us who are being saved^j it is the power of God.^{k 19}For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”^cl

²⁰Where is the wise person?^m Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age?ⁿ Has not God made foolish^o the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world^p through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save^q those who believe.^{r 22}Jews demand signs^s and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified:^t a stumbling block^u to Jews and foolishness^v to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called,^w both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God^x and the wisdom of God.^{y 25}For the foolishness^z of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness^a of God is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.^b Not many of you were wise^c by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But God chose^d the foolish^e things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not^f—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him.^{g 30}It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus,^h who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness,ⁱ holiness^j and redemption.^{k 31}Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”^dl

2And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom^m as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^{a 2}For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.^{n 3}I came to you^o in weakness^p with great fear and trembling.^{q 4}My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,^r but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,^{s 5}so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.^t

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,^u but not the wisdom of this age^v or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.^{w 7}No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery^x that has been hidden^y and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age^z understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.^{a 9}However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,

what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived”^b—

the things God has prepared for those who love him—^b

¹⁰these are the things God has revealed^c to us by his Spirit.^d

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts^e except their own spirit^f within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²What we have received is not the spirit^g of the world,^h but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdomⁱ but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^{c 14}The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God^j but considers them foolishness,^k and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵The person with the Spirit^l makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord

so as to instruct him?”^dm

But we have the mind of Christ.ⁿ