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1 Corinthians 1
1Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are in Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
3 to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus .
4I always thank my God concerning you for the of God which was given you in Jesus,
5that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge—
6even as the testimony of was confirmed in you—
7so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus ,
8who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus .
9God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus our Lord.
10Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus , that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.
12Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow .”
13Is divided? Was Paul for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
14I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.
16(I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)
17For sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that of Christ wouldn’t be made void.
18For of is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being it is the power of God.
19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who .
22For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,
23but we preach , a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks,
24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, is the power of God and the wisdom of God;
25because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
27but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.
28God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist,
29that no flesh should boast before God.
30Because of him, you are in Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and and , and ,
31that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
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Questions this passage answers
Can the Bible be trusted?
Scripture claims to be true and invites examination rather than avoiding it. It says God's word is truth and that it stands when everything else fades, and the New Testament writers appeal to eyewitnesses, named places and public events rather than to private experience. Trust in Scripture is finally trust in the God who speaks in it, and the clearest reason a Christian gives for that trust is that Jesus treated these writings as God's own word.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit as a person rather than a force. Jesus calls him another Counselor whom the Father sends, and says he teaches, reminds, guides, convicts and speaks. Peter calls lying to the Holy Spirit lying to God. He is the one who gives new birth, dwells in believers, produces Christlike character, and always points to Christ rather than to himself.
How do I resist temptation?
Scripture says God always provides a way of escape, that temptation begins with desire inside us rather than with God, and that the ordinary means of resisting are watching, praying, walking by the Spirit, hiding God's word in the heart, and fleeing rather than negotiating. It does not promise that temptation stops, and it sends the tempted person to a High Priest who was tempted himself and can be approached for help.
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
The New Testament says yes and puts the claim in a form that can be tested rather than admired. Paul lists named witnesses and a group of over five hundred still living when he wrote. The accounts describe a body that could be touched and that ate, not a vision. They also record the first alternative explanation, that the disciples stole him, and record who paid for it. Scripture treats the resurrection as the point on which everything stands or falls, and says so in those words.