Book of Common Prayer
Thankful for God’s grace
1 Paul, called by God’s will to be an apostle of Messiah Jesus, and Sosthenes our brother; 2 to God’s assembly at Corinth, made holy in Messiah Jesus, called to be holy, with everyone who calls on the name of our Lord, Messiah Jesus, in every place—their Lord, indeed, as well as ours! 3 Grace to you and peace from God our father and Messiah Jesus the Lord.
4 I always thank my God for you, for the grace of God that was given to you in Messiah Jesus. 5 You were enriched in him in everything, in every kind of speech and knowledge, 6 just as the messianic message was established among you, 7 so that you aren’t missing out on any spiritual gift as you wait eagerly for our Lord, Messiah Jesus, to be revealed. 8 He will establish you right through to the end, so that you are blameless on the day of our Lord, Messiah Jesus. 9 God is faithful! And it is through God that you have been called into the fellowship of his son, Messiah Jesus, our Lord.
Beware of divisions!
10 Now I must appeal to you, my brothers and sisters, through the name of Messiah Jesus our Lord, that you should all be in agreement, and that there should be no divisions among you. Instead, you should be fully equipped with the same mind and the same opinion.
11 You see, my dear family, Chloe’s people have put me in the picture about you—about the fact that you are having quarrels. 12 What I’m talking about is this. Each one of you is saying, “I’m with Paul!” “I’m with Apollos!” “I’m with Cephas!” “I’m with the Messiah!”
13 Well! Has the Messiah been cut up into pieces? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into Paul’s name?! 14 I’m grateful to God that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that none of you could say that you were baptized into my name. 16 (All right, I did baptize Stephanas and his household as well. Apart from that, I don’t know if I baptized anybody else.) 17 This is the point, you see: the Messiah didn’t send me to baptize; he sent me to announce the gospel! Not with words of wisdom, either, otherwise the Messiah’s cross would lose its power.
God’s folly
18 The word of the cross, you see, is madness to people who are being destroyed. But to us—those who are being saved—it is God’s power. 19 This is what the Bible says, after all:
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the shrewdness of the clever I’ll abolish.
Temptation in the wilderness
4 Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the spirit to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and at the end of it was famished. 3 Then the tempter approached him.
“If you really are God’s son,” he said, “tell these stones to become bread!”
4 “The Bible says,” replied Jesus, “that it takes more than bread to keep you alive. You actually live on every word that comes out of God’s mouth.”
5 Then the devil took him off to the holy city, and stood him on a pinnacle of the Temple.
6 “If you really are God’s son,” he said, “throw yourself down. The Bible does say, after all, that ‘God will give his angels a command about you’; and ‘they will carry you in their hands, so that you won’t hurt your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 “But the Bible also says,” replied Jesus, “that you mustn’t put the Lord your God to the test!”
8 Then the devil took him off again, this time to a very high mountain. There he showed him all the magnificent kingdoms of the world.
9 “I’ll give the whole lot to you,” he said, “if you will fall down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of it, satan!” replied Jesus. “The Bible says, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone!’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and looked after him.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.