Christ Is God’s Power and Wisdom

[^LFor] The ·teaching [message; word] about the cross is ·foolishness [folly] to those who are ·being lost [headed for destruction; perishing], but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The Message of Christ’s Death

Dear brothers and sisters, when I came to you, I did not come preaching God’s ·secret [mystery; ^Csomething God had not previously disclosed; Eph. 1:9] with ·fancy [superior; eloquent] words or a show of human wisdom.

It is written in the ·Scriptures [^LLaw; ^Creferring here to all of Scripture]: “With people who use ·strange words [^Ldifferent tongues/languages] and ·foreign languages [^Ldifferent lips] I will speak to these people. But even then they will not ·listen to [or obey] me [Is. 28:11–12; see also Deut. 28:49],” says the Lord. [^CIsrael didn’t listen when God used foreign-speaking Assyrians to punish them; similarly people won’t benefit from hearing tongues they don’t understand.]

Did ·God’s teaching [the word of God] ·come from [originate with] you? Or are you the only ones to whom it has come? [^CApparently, some women were being disruptive during meetings.]