1 Corinthians 1:3-17

Expanded Bible

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul Gives Thanks to God

⁴ I always thank my God for you because of the ·grace [gift; favor] God has given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ I thank God because in Christ you have been ·made rich [enriched] in every way, in all your ·speaking [or spiritual gifts of speaking] and in all your ·knowledge [or gifts of spiritual knowledge]. ⁶ Just as our ·witness [testimony; message] about Christ has been ·guaranteed to [or confirmed among] you, ⁷ so you ·have every [^Ldo not lack any] ·gift from God [spiritual gift; ^Lgift] while you wait for the ·return [^Lrevelation] of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸ ·Jesus [^L…who] will keep you strong until the end so that ·there will be no wrong in you [you will be blameless/faultless] on the day ·our Lord Jesus Christ comes again [^Lof our Lord Jesus Christ; ^Cthe final day of judgment, known in the OT as “the Day of the Lord”]. ⁹ God, who has called you into ·fellowship [partnership; relationship] with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Problems in the Church

¹⁰ I ·beg [urge; appeal to] you, brothers and sisters, ·by the name [or by the authority; or as followers] of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree with each other and not be ·split into groups [divided into factions]. I beg that you be ·completely joined together [fully united; or made complete] by having the same ·kind of thinking [^Lmind] and the same ·purpose [intention; conviction]. ¹¹ My brothers and sisters, some people from Chloe’s ·family [household; ^Cthese could be family members, servants, or business agents] have ·told me quite plainly [reported to me] that there are ·quarrels [conflicts; rivalries] among you. ¹² This is what I mean: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another says, “I follow Apollos”; another says, “I follow ·Peter [^LCephas; ^CPeter’s name in Aramaic; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5; Mark 1:30; John 1:42]”; and another says, “I follow Christ.” ¹³ ·Christ has been divided up into different groups! [or Is Christ divided?] Did Paul die on the cross for you? No! Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No! [^C“No!” is implied but not stated in the Greek.] ¹⁴ I thank God I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius ¹⁵ so that now no one can say you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I also baptized the ·family [household] of Stephanas, but I do not remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ [^LFor] Christ did not send me to baptize people but to preach the ·Good News [Gospel], and not using ·words of human wisdom [or eloquent language; clever speech] so that the cross of Christ [^Cthe message of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross] would not ·lose its power [or become meaningless; ^Lbe emptied].