²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: ^(A)not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[a] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But ^(B)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(C)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even ^(D)things that are not, to ^(E)bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so ^(F)that no human being^[b] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him^[c] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us ^(G)wisdom from God, ^(H)righteousness and ^(I)sanctification and ^(J)redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, ^(K)“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

⁸ For ^(A)by grace you have been saved ^(B)through faith. And this is ^(C)not your own doing; ^(D)it is the gift of God, ^9 (E)not a result of works, ^(F)so that no one may boast.

⁹ For ^(A)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(B)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(C)I worked harder than any of them, ^(D)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.