1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Holman Christian Standard Bible

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.^(A) ¹⁹For it is written:

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

²⁰Where is the philosopher?^[b] Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age?^(C) 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^(D) and the Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified,^(E) a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.^[c] ²⁴Yet to those who are called,^(F) 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.