1 PAUL called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Sosthenes our brother,

2 to the Church of God in Corinth, made holy in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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

4 I am always thanking God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus,

5 that you are rich in him in everything, in readiness of speech and in all knowledge,

6 so that my testimony to Christ has been confirmed among you

7 and so that you are not lacking in any gift while waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

8 He will keep you strong to the end and free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, and it is by him that you have been called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 I beg you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, all to say the same thing and not to have divisions among you, but to be united in the same mind and in the same opinion.

11 For it has been told me regarding you, brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.

12 I mean that each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," "I belong to Apollos," "I belong to Cephas," or, "I belong to Christ."

13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I am thankful that I baptized no one of you except Crispus and Gaius,

15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

16 I baptized also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that I do not know that I baptized any one else.

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the good news \'97 not in wisdom of words, that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of meaning.

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

19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and I will bring to nought the prudence of the prudent."

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21 For when in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased to save through the foolishness of our proclamation those who believe.

22 Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek for wisdom,

23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, to Gentiles folly,

24 but to those who are called, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 For God's foolishness is wiser than men and God's weakness is stronger than men.

26 Consider your own call, brethren, that not many wise, humanly speaking, not many powerful, not many high-born have been called.

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong,

28 and God has chosen the low-born things and the things of no account, the things that are not, to defeat the things that are,

29 that no human being may boast in God's presence.

30 By God's act you are in Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God and righteousness and holiness and deliverance,

31 so that, as it is written, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."