Greeting
1
Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Sosthenes our brother:
2
To God's church at Corinth, to those who are
•sanctified
in Christ Jesus and called as
•saints
, with all those 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.
Thanksgiving
4
I always thank my God for you because of God's grace given to you in Christ Jesus,
5
that by Him you were enriched in everything — in all speech and all knowledge.
6
In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you,
7
so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8
He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9
God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions at Corinth
10
Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.
11
For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe's household, that there is rivalry among you.
12
What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I'm with Paul,” or “I'm with Apollos,” or “I'm with
•Cephas
,” or “I'm with Christ.”
13
Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul's name?
14
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15
so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.
16
I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't know if I baptized anyone else.
17
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize — not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God's power to us who are being saved.
19
For it is written:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.
20
Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made the world's wisdom foolish?
21
For since, in God's wisdom, 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 ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom,
23
but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.
24
Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God's power and God's wisdom,
25
because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
Boasting Only in the Lord
26
Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.
27
Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
28
God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world — what is viewed as nothing — to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,
29
so that no one can boast in His presence.
30
But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us — our righteousness, sanctification, and
•redemption
,
31
in order that, as it is written:
The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.
1 Corinthians
Paul's Proclamation
2
When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom.
2
For I didn't think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
3
I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
4
My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit,
5
so that your faith might not be based on men's wisdom but on God's power.
Spiritual Wisdom
6
However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7
On the contrary, we speak God's hidden wisdom in a
•mystery
, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.
8
None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9
But as it is written:
What eye did not see and ear did not hear,
and what never entered the human mind —
God prepared this for those who love Him.
10
Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
11
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12
Now we have not received the spirit of the
•world
, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.
13
We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
14
But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
15
The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.
16
For
who has known the Lord's mind,
that he may instruct Him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians
The Problem of Immaturity
3
Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.
2
I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready,
3
because you are still fleshly. For since there is envy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and living like unbelievers?
4
For whenever someone says, “I'm with Paul,” and another, “I'm with Apollos,” are you not unspiritual people?
The Role of God's Servants
5
What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.
6
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
7
So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
8
Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9
For we are God's coworkers. You are God's field, God's building.
10
According to God's grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it.
11
For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.
12
If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,
13
each one's work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one's work.
14
If anyone's work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.
15
If anyone's work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.
16
Don't you yourselves know that you are God's sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
17
If anyone destroys God's sanctuary, God will destroy him; for God's sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are.
The Folly of Human Wisdom
18
No one should deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise.
19
For the wisdom of this
•world
is foolishness with God, since it is written:
He catches the wise in their craftiness
;
20
and again,
The Lord knows that the reasonings
of the wise are meaningless.
21
So no one should boast in human leaders, for everything is yours —
22
whether Paul or Apollos or
•Cephas
or the world or life or death or things present or things to come — everything is yours,
23
and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
1 Corinthians
The Faithful Manager
4
A person should consider us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of God's
•mysteries
.
2
In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one of them be found faithful.
3
It is of little importance to me that I should be evaluated by you or by any human court. In fact, I don't even evaluate myself.
4
For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord.
5
Therefore don't judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.
The Apostles' Example of Humility
6
Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the saying: “Nothing beyond what is written.” The purpose is that none of you will be inflated with pride in favor of one person over another.
7
For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn't receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn't received it?
8
You are already full! You are already rich! You have begun to reign as kings without us — and I wish you did reign, so that we could also reign with you!
9
For I think God has displayed us, the apostles, in last place, like men condemned to die: We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.
10
We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored!
11
Up to the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless;
12
we labor, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
13
when we are slandered, we respond graciously. Even now, we are like the world's garbage, like the dirt everyone scrapes off their sandals.
Paul's Fatherly Care
14
I'm not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children.
15
For you can have 10,000 instructors in Christ, but you can't have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
16
Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
17
This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
18
Now some are inflated with pride, as though I were not coming to you.
19
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will know not the talk but the power of those who are inflated with pride.
20
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
21
What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?
1 Corinthians
Immoral Church Members
5
It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles — a man is living with his father's wife.
2
And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with grief so that he who has committed this act might be removed from your congregation.
3
For though I am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present.
4
When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5
turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.
6
Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?
7
•Clean
out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our
•Passover
has been sacrificed.
8
Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.