¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, ^(A)not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God^(B)

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

^20 (H)Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the ^[b]disputer of this age? ^(I)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For since, in the ^(J)wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. ²² For ^(K)Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, ^(L)to the Jews a ^[c]stumbling block and to the ^[d]Greeks ^(M)foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^(N)the power of God and ^(O)the wisdom of God. ²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Glory Only in the Lord

²⁶ For ^[e]you see your calling, brethren, ^(P)that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many ^[f]noble, are called. ²⁷ But ^(Q)God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the ^[g]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence. ³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and ^(R)righteousness and sanctification and redemption— ³¹ that, as it is written, ^(S)“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Christ Crucified

2 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the ^[h]testimony of God. ² For I determined not to know anything among you ^(T)except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ^3 (U)I was with you ^(V)in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ And my speech and my preaching ^(W)were not with persuasive words of ^[i]human wisdom, ^(X)but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the ^(Y)power of God.

Spiritual Wisdom

⁶ However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

Ministering at Berea

¹⁰ Then ^(A)the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹ These were more ^[a]fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and ^(B)searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. ¹² Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. ¹³ But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. ^14 (C)Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. ¹⁵ So those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and ^(D)receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

The Philosophers at Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, ^(E)his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was ^[b]given over to idols. ¹⁷ Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. ^18 [c]Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this ^[d]babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them ^(F)Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the ^[e]Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? ²⁰ For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Addressing the Areopagus

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of the ^[f]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: ^24 (G)God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is ^(H)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(I)does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He ^(J)gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one ^[g]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and ^(K)the boundaries of their dwellings, ^27 (L)so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, ^(M)though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for ^(N)in Him we live and move and have our being, ^(O)as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, ^(P)we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, ^(Q)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but ^(R)now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which ^(S)He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by ^(T)raising Him from the dead.”

³² And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” ³³ So Paul departed from among them. ³⁴ However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.