1 Corinthians 1:17–2:16

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, ^znot with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸For the ⁷message of the cross is ^afoolishness to ^bthose who are perishing, but to us ^cwho are being saved it is the ^dpower of God. ¹⁹For it is written:

^e“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

^20fWhere is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the ⁸disputer of this age? ^gHas not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹For since, in the ^hwisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. ²²For ⁱJews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; ²³but we preach Christ crucified, ^jto the Jews a ⁹stumbling block and to the ¹Greeks ^kfoolishness, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^lthe power of God and ^mthe wisdom of God. ²⁵Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Glory Only in the Lord

²⁶For ²you see your calling, brethren, ⁿthat not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many ³noble, are called. ²⁷But ^oGod has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸and the ⁴base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹that no flesh should glory in His presence. ³⁰But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and ^prighteousness and sanctification and redemption—³¹that, as it is written, ^q“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Christ Crucified

2And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the ¹testimony of God. ²For I determined not to know anything among you ^aexcept Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ^3bI was with you ^cin weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴And my speech and my preaching ^dwere not with persuasive words of ²human wisdom, ^ebut in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the ^fpower of God.

Spiritual Wisdom

⁶However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ³ordained before the ages for our glory, ⁸which none of the rulers of this age knew; for ^ghad they known, they would not have ^hcrucified the Lord of glory.

⁹But as it is written:

ⁱ“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

¹⁰But ^jGod has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. ¹¹For what man knows the things of a man except the ^kspirit of the man which is in him? ^lEven so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but ^mthe Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

¹³These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the ⁴Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴ⁿBut the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. ¹⁶For ^o“who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” ^pBut we have the mind of Christ.