1 Corinthians 1

The divine calling

1I Paul was divinely chosen to be the Apostle of Jesus Christ. In my calling the will of God was made manifest, and in this high office and appointment I now address you who are in Corinth, and with me Sosthenes, brother in the faith. 2We speak to you who have also been sharers in this divine calling, whose lives have been enlarged and purified in Christ Jesus, who have received the holiness that comes from faith — and with you in this appeal I associate all who, in whatever place they may be, wherever we may be, do together with us invoke his name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 3May grace come to you, may peace abide with you from God, who is the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

4Because of the grace that has come to you I feel incessant gratitude to God. 5You have found the riches of the Christ; the word and the knowledge of God are spoken and fulfilled in your midst; 6the witness of the Christ is there; it is unassailable evidence; 7and the full measure of His gifts is counted in you, nothing is wanting for your completion, whilst you wait for that unveiling and revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8Yes, there will be no faltering, no failure in his support of you, till you are made perfect, in the “end,” “the day” of our Lord Jesus Christ, the day of perfect revelation. 9For God, through whom this calling, this share in His son Jesus Christ our Lord has come to you, is faithful in all His ways.

No room for disunity in Christ

10Through this name of Jesus Christ our Lord, I urge you — for that is the secret of his name — to have one mind, one persuasion and precept amongst you, to be all of one mind with one idea. O let schisms and divisions be unknown to you, for your perfection is in unity. 11Strifes there are amongst you, it has come to my knowledge through the members who meet in Chloe’s house. 12They tell me some describe themselves as disciples of Paul, others of Apollos, others of Cephas, others of Christ — 13but Christ is not divided. I was not crucified for you, nor were you baptised into my name. 14-15For this very reason I was careful not to baptise disciples personally amongst you. It is to me a cause of gratitude to God that I baptised only Crispus and Gaius, 16and also the household of Stephanas — not another soul, I think, did I baptise, and purposely, that it might not seem that I was making disciples. 17Christ Jesus sent me not to baptise, but to make known the word of joy, not intellectually, not with the persuasive brilliance of personality and personal influence, lest the cross of the Christ should be obliterated and ruled out.

The foolishness of worldly knowledge

18Cleverness, human wisdom, intellectual strength do not accomplish the mighty works of the Gospel. Ours is the word of the cross; it saves us; there is in it the power of God; but to those who are in the power of death and subject to its ever-increasing dominion, this word appears as folly, as an impertinence. 19And so the word of the Bible comes true:— “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will make nothing of the intelligence of those who profess to know.” (Isa 29:14.) 20Where is the wise, the scribe, the learned investigator of material things? God makes the wisdom of the world foolishness, 21forasmuch as it was in that wisdom that the world lost the knowledge of God, it was by reason of that that its eyes were closed, and lo! the wisdom of God now appearing is proclaimed as a thing foolish in the sight of that old wisdom; but the preaching of this heavenly word saves, it saves all who have faith in it, who accept it spiritually. It does not commend itself to the old thought. 22The Jews demand miracles and signs, the Greeks ask first and last for wisdom, 23but it is the crucified Christ that we preach, and that appears a fool’s message to the Greeks, and a scandal to the Jews. 24Think of it! God’s power, God’s wisdom, the Christ, takes on that semblance in the sight of men. 25But there is more wisdom in God’s foolishness than in men’s cleverness, more strength in God’s weakness than in human power. 26Not many wise, powerful, highly placed are found in our number. 27Why? Because this calling of God is not on the lines of anything which the world sets up as important. 28God would not have anything of the flesh to plume itself on a value of its own. Thus it was that He chose that which was weak, despised, unsupported by birth and tradition, that which in the eyes of the world had no existence at all. 29This He chose and by its means He dismantles all the world’s glory, leaving us faith alone. 30For in Christ Jesus your being comes from him, not from the world, and he is your wisdom, your righteousness, your cleansing and your redemption coming to you from God alone, from Him apart from all else, 31in order that as Jeremiah says, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (Jer. 9:24.) By that saying the prophet referred to the distinction between the talents and qualities that are believed to belong to the flesh and the personal self, and the grace and power that flow from the Spirit only.

1 Corinthians 1

1From Sha'ul, given the kri'ah (call) of Hashem and summoned to be a Shliach of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach birtzon Hashem; and from Sosthenes#1:1 Ac 18:17 the Ach b'Moshiach.

2To the Kehillah (congregation) of Hashem existing in Corinth, to the ones having been set apart unto kedushah (holiness) in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, given the kri'ah to be Kedoshim, with all the ones who in every place call on the name of Adoneinu, theirs and ours, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.

3Chen v'Chesed Hashem and Shalom from Elohim Avinu and Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.

4Modeh Ani (I give thanks) to my G-d always concerning you for the Chen v'Chesed Hashem having been given to you in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua,

5That in everything you were enriched in Moshiach in all expression and kol da'as (all knowledge),

6Even as the edut (testimony) of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was confirmed in you,

7So that you are not lacking in any matnat Elohim, awaiting the hisgalus (revelation) of Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua,

8Who also with chizzuk (strengthening) will confirm you ad es Ketz (until the time of the End),#1:8 Dan 11:35 unreprovable in the Yom Hashem, the Yom Adoneinu, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.#1:8 Am 5:18

9Ne'eman (faithful) is Hashem through whom you were called into the chavurah (company, fellowship, society) of His Zun fun der Oybershter Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua Adoneinu.

10Now I exhort you, Achim b'Moshiach, b'Shem Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, that you all speak the same thing and that there not be among you machlokot (divisions of dissension),#1:10 Ro 11:18 but that you may have achdus (unity) in the same mind and in the same way of thinking.

11For it was made clear to me about you, Achim b'Moshiach of mine, by the ones of Chloe, that there is merivah (strife) among you.

12Now I say this, because each of you says, “I am of Sha'ul,” or, “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Kefa,” or “I am of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach!”

13Has Moshiach been divided? Surely Sha'ul was not for you the one talui al HaEtz (being hanged on the Tree)?#1:13 Dt 21:23 Surely it was not in the name of Sha'ul that the Moshiachʼs tevilah in the mikveh mayim was given to you?

14Modeh Ani Hashem that to not one of you I gave Moshiachʼs tevilah, except Crispus and Gaius,#1:14 Ro 16:23

15Lest anyone should say that in my name you were given the Moshiachʼs tevilah.

16Now I gave Moshiachʼs tevilah also to Stephanasʼ household; as to the rest, I do not know if I gave Moshiachʼs tevilah to anyone else.

17For Moshiach did not send me to give Moshiachʼs tevilah in the mikveh mayim, but to preach the Besuras HaGeulah, not by means of the lomdes (cleverness, erudition) of the rhetoric of Bnei Adam, lest the gevurah (power) of HaEtz HaKelalat Hashem (the Tree of the Curse of G-d)#1:17 Dt 21:23 of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach be buttel (cancelled out).

18For the darshenen of HaEtz HaKelalat Hashem (the Tree of the Curse of G-d)#1:18 Dt 21:23 is narrishkait to the ones perishing. But to us who are being delivered in Yeshu'at Eloheinu, it is the gevurat Hashem (the power of G-d).

19For it has been written, I will destroy CHOCHMAT CHACHAMAV (the wisdom of the wise ones) U'VINAT NEVONAV (and the intelligence of the intelligent) I will set aside.#1:19 Isa 29:14

20Where is the chacham (wise man)? Where is the sofer (scribe) of the yeshiva, where is the talmid chacham? Where is the philosophical debater of the Olam Hazeh? Did not Hashem make the so-called chochmah (wisdom) of the Olam Hazeh to look like narrishkait?#1:20 Isa 19:11,12; Job 12:17; Isa 44:25; Jer 8:9

21For, als (since) — and this was by the chochmah of Hashem — the Olam Hazeh did not by its chochmah have da'as of Hashem, G-d was pleased through the “sichlut” (foolishness) of the Hachrazah (Proclamation, Kerygma, Preaching) of the Besuras HaGeulah to save the ma'aminim (believers).

22Yehudim ask for otot (signs)#1:22 Ex 7:3 and Yevanim (Greeks) seek chochmah,

23But, we proclaim Moshiach and nivlato al haEtz (his body on the Tree):#1:23 Dt 21:23 to Jews, a michshol;#1:23 Isa 8:14 to Goyim, narrishkait (foolishness).

24Yet, to those whom Hashem has given the kri'ah#1:24 1C 1:1-2 and summoned, to HaKeru'im (to the Called Ones), both to Yehudim and to Yevanim Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, the Gevurat Hashem and the Chochmat Hashem.

25For the so-called “sichlut” (foolishness) of Hashem has more chochmah than Bnei Adam, and the “weakness” of G-d has more koach (power) than Bnei Adam.#1:25 1C 1:18

26For you see your kri'ah (call), Achim b'Moshiach, what you were, that not many of you were chachamim (wise ones) by the standards of Bnei Adam, not many ba'alei hashpa'ah (people of influence), not many ba'alei zchus (privileged).

27But Hashem in His bechirah (selection) chose the things of sichlut (foolishness), that He might bring the chachamim to bushah (shame); and Hashem in His bechirah (selection) chose the things of weakness that He might bring the strong to bushah (shame).

28And those of the Olam Hazeh without mishpochah atzilah (noble birth) and those which are hanivzim#1:28 Isa 53:3 (the despised) Hashem chose, choosing the things that are not, in order to bring to naught the things that are.

29His tachlis (purpose) is that no basar (fallen humanity sold under the power of slave master Chet Kadmon, Original Sin)#1:29 Ro 7:14 may boast before Hashem.

30But you are of Hashem in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua who became to us chochmah (wisdom) from Hashem, our Tzidkanut (Righteousness) and our Kedushah (Holiness) and our Geulah LaOlam (Redemption to the world),#1:30 Jer 23:5,6; 33:16

31Al menat (in order that), as it has been written, YITHALLEL HAMITHALLEL B'HASHEM#1:31 Jer 9:23 (The one boasting let him boast in the L-rd).#1:31 Ps 34:2; 44:8

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1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians 1