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Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
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To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
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For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—
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Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
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He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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A Church Divided Over Leaders
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
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My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.
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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.”
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so no one can say that you were baptized in my name.
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(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
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but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
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For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
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Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
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But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
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so that no one may boast before him.
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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.
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My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
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so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
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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.
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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—
