1 Corinthians 1:15-23

English Standard Version

¹⁵so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(I did baptize also ^(A)the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and ^(B)not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

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

^(G)“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰^(H)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^(I)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[a] to save those who believe. ²²For ^(J)Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ ^(K)crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,