⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,^(A) but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,^{(B) 5} so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.^(C)

¹⁹ But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it.^(A) At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰ for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father^(B) speaking through you.

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize,^(A) but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom^(B) and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness^(C) to those who are perishing,^(D) but to us who are being saved^(E) it is the power of God.^{(F) 19} For it is written:

²⁰ Where is the wise person?^(H) Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age?^(I) Has not God made foolish^(J) the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world^(K) through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save^(L) those who believe.^{(M) 22} Jews demand signs^(N) and Greeks look for wisdom,

¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility^(A) and the worship of angels disqualify you.^(B) Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.

¹⁹ They have lost connection with the head,^(A) from whom the whole body,^(B) supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.^(C)