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called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sothenes our brother:
2 To the church of God at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints, together with all those who in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that has been given to you in Christ Jesus. 5 For by him you have been enriched in every way—in all speech and in all knowledge— 6 just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, and by Him you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I plead with you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree with one another so there be no divisions among you and that you be perfectly united in mind and in thought. 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul,” another says, “I follow Apollos,” another says, “I follow Cephas,” while still another says, “I follow Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptised in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptise any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptised in my name. 16 (I did also baptise the household of Stephanas ; beyond that, I not know if baptised anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel—and not with clever words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the understanding of the discerning I will frustrate.”
20 Where are the wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 22 For the Jews demand miraculous signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers, consider what you were at the time of your calling: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen the lowly things and the despised things of this world—things that are not—to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 But because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord”.