1 Corinthians 1
1
Paul Gives Thanks to God
1From Paul. I was called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus because that is what God wanted. Also from Sosthenes, our brother in Christ.
2To the church of God in Corinth, to those people who have been made holy in Christ Jesus. You were called to be God’s holy people with all people everywhere who trust in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I always thank my God for you because of the grace that God has given you in Christ Jesus. 5In Jesus you have been blessed in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge. 6The truth about Christ has been proved in you. 7So you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. 8Jesus will keep you strong until the end. He will keep you strong, so that there will be no wrong in you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 9God is faithful. He is the One who has called you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Problems in the Church
10I beg you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I beg that all of you agree with each other, so that you will not be divided into groups. I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose. 11My brothers, some people from Chloe’s family have told me that there are arguments among you. 12This is what I mean: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another says, “I follow Apollos”; another says, “I follow Peter”; and another says, “I follow Christ.” 13Christ cannot be divided into different groups! Did Paul die on the cross for you? No! Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No! 14I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15I am thankful, because now no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16(I also baptized the family of Stephanas. But I do not remember that I myself baptized any others.) 17Christ did not give me the work of baptizing people. He gave me the work of preaching the Good News, and he sent me to preach the Good News without using words of worldly wisdom. If I used worldly wisdom to tell the Good News, the cross# Paul uses the cross as a picture of the gospel, the story of Christ’s death and rising from death to pay for men’s sins. The cross, or Christ’s death, was God’s way to save men. of Christ would lose its power.
Christ Is God’s Power and Wisdom
18The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19It is written in the Scriptures:
“I will cause the wise men to lose their wisdom.
I will make the wise men unable to understand.” Isaiah 29:14
20Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the philosopher# Philosophers were those who searched for truth. of our times? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. 21The world did not know God through its own wisdom. So God chose to use the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe it. 22The Jews ask for miracles as proofs. The Greeks want wisdom. 23But we preach Christ on the cross. This is a big problem to the Jews. And it seems foolish to the non-Jews. 24But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people God has called—Jews and Greeks. 25Even the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Even the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26Brothers, look at what you were when God called you. Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence. Not many of you came from important families. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28And he chose what the world thinks is not important. He chose what the world hates and thinks is nothing. He chose these to destroy what the world thinks is important. 29God did this so that no man can brag before him. 30It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. Christ has become wisdom for us from God. Christ is the reason we are right with God and have freedom from sin; Christ is the reason we are holy. 31So, as the Scripture says, “If a person brags, he should brag only about the Lord.”# Quotation from Jeremiah 9:24.
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1 Corinthians 1
1
1 Corinthians 1
1¶ Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother,
2unto the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} of God which is at Corinth, to those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you in Christ Jesus,
5that in every thing ye are enriched in him in all word and in all knowledge,
6with which the testimony of the Christ was confirmed in you,
7so that ye lack nothing in any gift, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8who shall also confirm that ye shall remain unimpeachable unto the end, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10¶ Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfect, joined together in the same understanding and in the same perception.
11For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12In other words, that each one of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
13Is the Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?
14¶ I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius,
15lest any should say that ye were baptized into my name.
16And I baptized also the household of Stephanas; besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
17¶ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross {Gr. stauros – stake} of Christ should be made void.
18For the word of the cross {Gr. stauros – stake} is foolishness to those that perish, but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God.
19For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the philosopher of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21For in the wisdom of God, since the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe.
22For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom,
23but we preach Christ crucified, {Gr. Stauroo – hung on a stake} unto the Jews a stumblingblock and unto the Gentiles foolishness;
24but unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25For that which is foolish of God is wiser than men, and that which is weak of God is stronger than men.
26For look upon your vocation, brothers, that ye are not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble,
27but rather God has chosen that which is the foolishness of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen that which is the weakness of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28and that which is vile of the world and that which is despised God has chosen, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are,
29that no flesh should glory in his presence.
30But of him ye are reborn in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31that, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International