1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

1:2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified, called saints, with all who call on the name of God in every place, both theirs and ours:

1:3 Grace to you and peace from God, your Lord.

1:4 I always thank my God concerning you for the grace of God which was given you,

1:5 that in everything you were enriched by him, in all speech and all knowledge—

1:6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you—

1:7 so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of the Day of the Lord,

1:8 who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the Day of the Lord.

1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of the believers.

1:10 Now I beg you, brothers, in the name of our Lord, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

1:11 For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

1:12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”

1:13 Is the faith divided? Is Paul your savior? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?

1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

1:15 so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.

1:16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)

1:17 For God sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the message wouldn’t be made void.

1:18 For the message is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”

1:20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1:21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

1:22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,

1:23 but we preach the Messiah, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks,

1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the message of the Messiah is the power of God and the wisdom of God;

1:25 because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1:26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;

1:27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.

1:28 God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist,

1:29 that no flesh should boast before God.

1:30 Because of him, you have wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

1:31 that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”