For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—

My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

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

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

so that no one may boast before him.

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—

The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,

for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

The Church and Its Leaders

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings.

Therefore I urge you to imitate me.

not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.