²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^{(A) 25} For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.^(B)

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness^(A) to those who are perishing,^(B) but to us who are being saved^(C) it is the power of God.^(D)

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

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh^(A) with its passions and desires.^(B)

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ^(A) and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.^(B) The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,^(C) who loved me^(D) and gave himself for me.^(E)

¹⁴ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,^(A) through which^[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.^(B)

¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,^(A) so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.^{(B) 11} For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake,^(C) so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.