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

¹⁹ For it is written,

²¹ For 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.

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

2 And I, when I came to you, brothers,^{[a] (A)}did not come proclaiming to you ^(B)the testimony^[b] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except ^(C)Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And ^(D)I was with you ^(E)in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of ^(F)the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men^[c] but ^(G)in the power of God.

¹³ And we impart this ^(A)in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, ^(B)interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.^[a]