The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 I, Paul, have been called and sent by Jesus, the Messiah, according to God's plan, along with my friend Sosthenes.
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Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 I send this letter to you in God's church at Corinth, Christians cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life. I include in my greeting all who call out to Jesus, wherever they live. He's their Master as well as ours!
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Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father, and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours.
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Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 Every time I think of you - and I think of you often! - I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus.
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I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 There's no end to what has happened in you - it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge.
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That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.
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Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 Just think - you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale.
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So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus.
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Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that. The Cross: The Irony of God's Wisdom
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God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.
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Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 I bring this up because some from Chloe's family brought a most disturbing report to my attention - that you're fighting among yourselves!
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For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 I'll tell you exactly what I was told: You're all picking sides, going around saying, "I'm on Paul's side," or "I'm for Apollos," or "Peter is my man," or "I'm in the Messiah group."
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Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13 I ask you, "Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul's name?"
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Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I was not involved with any of your baptisms - except for Crispus and Gaius - and on getting this report, I'm sure glad I wasn't.
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I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
15 At least no one can go around saying he was baptized in my name.
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Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
16 (Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephanas's family, but as far as I can recall, that's it.)
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And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
17 God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center - Christ on the Cross - be trivialized into mere words.
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For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
18 The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out.
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For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
19 It's written, I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots.
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For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense?
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Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb - preaching, of all things! - to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.
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For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
22 While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom,
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For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle - and Greeks pass it off as absurd.
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But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24 But to us who are personally called by God himself - both Jews and Greeks - Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one.
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But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness."
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Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families.
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For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses,
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But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"?
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And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God.
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That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 Everything that we have - right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start - comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
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But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."
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That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.