1 Corinthians 1 - 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

Christ Is Undivided

1Paul, ^acalled as an apostle of Jesus Christ ¹by ^bthe will of God, and ^cSosthenes our ^dbrother,

²To ^athe church of God which is at ^bCorinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, ^ccalled as ¹saints, with all who in every place ^dcall on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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

⁴^aI thank ¹my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵that in everything you were ^aenriched in Him, in all ^bword and ^call knowledge, ⁶even as ^athe witness about Christ was confirmed ¹in you, ⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, ^aeagerly awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸^awho will also confirm you to the end, beyond reproach in ^bthe day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹^aGod is faithful, through whom you were ^bcalled into ^cfellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now ^aI exhort you, ^bbrothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all ¹agree and that there be no ²^,^cdivisions among you, but that you be ³made complete in ^dthe same mind and in the same judgment. ¹¹For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. ¹²Now I mean this, that ^aeach one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of ^bApollos,” and “I of ^cCephas,” and “I of Christ.” ¹³¹Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^abaptized ²in the name of Paul? ¹⁴¹I thank God that I ^abaptized none of you except ^bCrispus and ^cGaius, ¹⁵so that no one would say you were baptized ¹in my name. ¹⁶Now I did baptize also the ^ahousehold of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. ¹⁷^aFor Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel, ^bnot in wisdom of word, so that the cross of Christ will not be made empty.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸For the word of the cross is ^afoolishness to ^bthose who ¹are perishing, but to us who ²are being saved, it is ^cthe power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, “^aI will destroy the wisdom of the wise,And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

²⁰^aWhere is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of ^bthis age? Has not God ^cmade foolish the wisdom of ^dthe world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, ^athe world through its wisdom did not come to know God, ^bGod was well-pleased, through the ^cfoolishness of the ¹message preached, to ^dsave those who believe. ²²For indeed ^aJews ask for ¹signs and Greeks search for wisdom, ²³but we preach ¹^,^aChrist crucified, ^bto Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles ^cfoolishness, ²⁴but to those who are ^athe called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^bthe power of God and ^cthe wisdom of God. ²⁵Because the ^afoolishness of God is wiser than men, and ^bthe weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For ¹consider your ^acalling, brothers, that there were ^bnot many wise according to ²the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. ²⁷But ^aGod has chosen the foolish things of ^bthe world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of ^cthe world to shame the things which are strong, ²⁸and the base things of ^athe world and the despised God has chosen, ^bthe things that are not, so that He may ^cabolish the things that are, ²⁹so that ^ano flesh may boast before God. ³⁰But by His doing you are in ^aChrist Jesus, who became to us ^bwisdom from God, ¹and ^crighteousness and ^dsanctification, and ^eredemption, ³¹so that, just as it is written, “^aLet him who boasts, boast in the ¹Lord.”

Paul’s Reliance upon the Spirit

2And when I came to you, brothers, I ^adid not come with superiority of word or of wisdom, proclaiming to you ^bthe ¹witness of God. ²For I determined to know nothing among you except ^aJesus Christ, and Him crucified. ³And I was with you in ^aweakness and in ^bfear and in much trembling, ⁴and my word and my preaching were ^anot in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of ^bthe Spirit and of power, ⁵so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in ^athe power of God.

⁶Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are ^amature, a wisdom, however, not of ^bthis age nor of the rulers of ^cthis age, who are ^dbeing abolished. ⁷But we speak God’s wisdom in a ^amystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God ^bpredestined before the ^cages to our glory, ⁸^awhich none of the rulers of ^bthis age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified ^cthe Lord of glory. ⁹But just as it is written, “^aThings which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,And which have not entered the heart of man,All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

¹⁰¹^,^aBut to us God revealed them ^bthrough the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the ^cdepths of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the depths of a man except the ^aspirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we ^ahave received, not the spirit of ^bthe world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, ¹³of which depths we also speak, ^anot in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, ¹combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.

¹⁴But ¹a ^anatural man ^bdoes not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are ^cfoolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because ^dthey are spiritually examined. ¹⁵But he who is ^aspiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. ¹⁶For ^awho has known the mind of the ¹Lord, that he will direct Him? But ^bwe have the mind of Christ.