1 Corinthians 1:17-31

Holman Christian Standard Bible

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize—not with clever words, so that the cross^(A) of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.^(B) ¹⁹For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.^(C)^[a]

²⁰Where is the philosopher?^[b] Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age?^(D) Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? ²¹For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. ²²For the Jews ask for signs^(E) and the Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified,^(F) a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.^[c] ²⁴Yet to those who are called,^(G) both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, ²⁵because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Boasting Only in the Lord

²⁶Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective,^[d] not many powerful,^(H) not many of noble birth. ²⁷Instead, God has chosen^(I) what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. ²⁸God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world^(J)—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, ²⁹so that no one^[e] can boast in His presence.^(K) ³⁰But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness,^(L) sanctification,^(M) and redemption,^(N) ³¹in order that, as it is written:^(O) The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.^(P)^[f]