1Paul, 1called as an apostle of JesusChrist[a]by 2the will of God, and 3Sosthenes our 4brother,
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To 5the church of God which is at 6Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in ChristJesus, [b]saints7by calling, with all who in everyplace8call on the name of our LordJesusChrist, their Lord and ours:
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9Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the LordJesusChrist.
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10I thank[c]my Godalwaysconcerning you for the grace of God which was given you in ChristJesus,
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that in everything you were 11enriched in Him, in all12speech and 13allknowledge,
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even as 14the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed[d]in you,
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so that you are not lacking in anygift, 15awaitingeagerly the revelation of our LordJesusChrist,
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16who will alsoconfirm you to the end, blameless in 17the day of our LordJesusChrist.
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18God is faithful, throughwhom you were 19called into 20fellowship with His Son, JesusChrist our Lord.
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Now21I exhort you, 22brethren, by the name of our LordJesusChrist, that you all[e]agree* and that there be no[f]23divisionsamong you, but that you be [g]madecomplete in 24the samemind and in the samejudgment.
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For I have been informedconcerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrelsamong you.
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Now I meanthis, that 25eachone of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of 26Apollos," and "I of 27Cephas," and "I of Christ."
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[h]Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you 28baptized[i]in the name of Paul?
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[j]I thankGod that I 29baptizednone of you except30Crispus and 31Gaius,
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so that noone would say you were baptized[k]in my name.
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Now I did baptizealso the 32household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not knowwhether I baptizedanyother.
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33For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, 34not in [l]cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be madevoid.
The Wisdom of God
18 For the word of the cross is 35foolishness to 36those who [m]are perishing, but to us who [n]are being saved it is 37the power of God.
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For it is written, "38I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SETASIDE."
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39Where is the wiseman? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of 40thisage? Has not God41madefoolish the wisdom of 42the world?
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For since in the wisdom of God43the worldthrough its wisdom did not come to knowGod, 44God was well-pleasedthrough the 45foolishness of the [o]messagepreached to 46savethose who believe.
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For indeed47Jewsask for [p]signs and Greekssearch for wisdom;
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but we preach[q]48Christcrucified, 49to Jews a stumblingblock and to Gentiles50foolishness,
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but to those who are 51the called, bothJews and Greeks, Christ52the power of God and 53the wisdom of God.
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Because the 54foolishness of God is wiser than men, and 55the weakness of God is stronger than men.
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For [r]consider your 56calling, brethren, that there were 57not manywiseaccording to [s]the flesh, not manymighty, not manynoble;
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but 58God has chosen the foolishthings of 59the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weakthings of 60the world to shame the things which are strong,
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and the basethings of 61the world and the despisedGod has chosen, 62the things that are not, so that He may 63nullify the things that are,