1 Corinthians 1

1 Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the purpose of God, and Sosthenes the brother,

Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God--and our brother Sosthenes:

2 To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been made holy in Christ Jesus, saints by the selection of God, with all those who in every place give honour to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

To the Church of God in Corinth, men and women consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-- their Lord as well as ours.

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I give praise to my God for you at all times, because of the grace of God which has been given to you in Christ Jesus;

I thank my God continually on your behalf for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus--

5 So that in him you have wealth in all things, in word and in knowledge of every sort;

that you have been so richly blessed in Him, with readiness of speech and fulness of knowledge.

6 Even as the witness of the Christ has been made certain among you:

Thus my testimony as to the Christ has been confirmed in your experience,

7 So that having every grace you are living in the hope of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;

so that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8 Who will give you strength to the end, to be free from all sin in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is true, through whom you have been given a part with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is ever true to His promises, and it was by Him that you were, one and all, called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

10 Now I make request to you, my brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you will all say the same thing, and that there may be no divisions among you, so that you may be in complete agreement, in the same mind and in the same opinion.

Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.

11 Because it has come to my knowledge, through those of the house of Chloe, that there are divisions among you, my brothers.

For I have been distinctly informed, my brethren, about you by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.

12 That is, that some of you say, I am of Paul; some say, I am of Apollos; some say, I am of Cephas; and some say, I am Christ's.

What I mean is that each of you is a partisan. One man says "I belong to Paul;" another "I belong to Apollos;" a third "I belong to Peter;" a fourth "I belong to Christ."

13 Is there a division in Christ? was Paul nailed to the cross for you? or were you given baptism in the name of Paul?

Is the Christ in fragments? Is it Paul who was crucified on your behalf? Or were you baptized to be Paul's adherents?

14 I give praise to God that not one of you had baptism from me, but Crispus and Gaius;

I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius--

15 So that no one may be able to say that you had baptism in my name.

for fear people should say that you were baptized to be my adherents.

16 And I gave baptism to the house of Stephanas; but I am not certain that any others had baptism from me.

I did, however, baptize Stephanas' household also: but I do not think that I baptized any one else.

17 For Christ sent me, not to give baptism, but to be a preacher of the good news: not with wise words, for fear that the cross of Christ might be made of no value.

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the Good News; and not in merely wise words--lest the Cross of Christ should be deprived of its power.

18 For the word of the cross seems foolish to those who are on the way to destruction; but to us who are on the way to salvation it is the power of God.

For the Message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.

19 As it says in the holy Writings, I will put an end to the wisdom of the wise, and will put on one side the designs of those who have knowledge.

For so it stands written, "I will exhibit the nothingness of the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought."

20 Where is the wise? where is he who has knowledge of the law? where is the man of this world who has a love of discussion? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (aiōn g165)

Where is your wise man? Where your expounder of the Law? Where your investigator of the questions of this present age? Has not God shown the world's wisdom to be utter foolishness? (aiōn g165)

21 For because, by the purpose of God, the world, with all its wisdom, had not the knowledge of God, it was God's pleasure, by so foolish a thing as preaching, to give salvation to those who had faith in him.

For after the world by its wisdom--as God in His wisdom had ordained--had failed to gain the knowledge of God, God was pleased, by the apparent foolishness of the Message which we preach, to save those who accepted it.

22 Seeing that the Jews make request for signs, and the Greeks are looking for knowledge:

Seeing that Jews demand miracles, and Greeks go in search of wisdom,

23 But we give the good news of Christ on the cross, a hard thing to the Jews, and a foolish thing to the Gentiles;

while we proclaim a Christ who has been crucified--to the Jews a stumbling-block, to Gentiles foolishness,

24 But to those of God's selection, Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God.

but to those who have received the Call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men.

Because that which the world deems foolish in God is wiser than men's wisdom, and that which it deems feeble in God is mightier than men's might.

26 For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble:

For consider, brethren, God's call to you. Not many who are wise with merely human wisdom, not many of position and influence, not many of noble birth have been called.

27 But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong;

But God has chosen the things which the world regards as foolish, in order to put its wise men to shame; and God has chosen the things which the world regards as destitute of influence, in order to put its powerful things to shame;

28 And the low things of the world, and the things without honour, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are:

and the things which the world regards as base, and those which it sets utterly at nought--things that have no existence--God has chosen in order to reduce to nothing things that do exist;

29 So that no flesh might have glory before God.

to prevent any mortal man from boasting in the presence of God.

30 But God has given you a place in Christ Jesus, through whom God has given us wisdom and righteousness and salvation, and made us holy:

But you--and it is all God's doing--are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance;

31 So that, as it is said in the holy Writings, Whoever has a desire for glory, let his glory be in the Lord.

in order that it may be as Scripture says, "He who boasts--let his boast be in the Lord."