Book of Common Prayer

He recalls God’s grace to the Corinthians, exhorts them to be of one mind, and rebukes the division that was among them. The wisdom of the world is foolishness before God; yea, there is no wisdom but in the despised cross of God.

1 Paul, by calling an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and brother Sosthenes.

² To the congregation of God which is at Corinth. To those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

³ Grace be with you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I thank my God always in your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ – ⁵ that in all things you are made rich by him, in all learning and in all knowledge, ⁶ even as the testimony of Jesus Christ was confirmed in you, ⁷ so that you are behind in no gift, and wait for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸ He will strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For God is faithful, by whom you are called to the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰ I beseech you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to all speak one thing, and that there be no dissension among you, but be knit together in one mind and in one purpose. ¹¹ It is reported to me about you, my brethren, by those who are of the house of Chloe, that there is strife among you. ¹² And this is what I mean: that commonly among you one says, I hold to Paul; another, I hold to Apollos; the third, I hold to Cephas; the fourth, I hold to Christ. ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I christened none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. ¹⁶ (I baptized also the household of Stephanas. Beyond this, I do not remember if I baptized anyone or not.)

¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should have been made of no effect. ¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will cast away the understanding of the learned.

The office of John the Baptist. The baptism of Christ, his fasting, his preaching, and the calling of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Christ heals the man with the unclean spirit, helps Peter’s mother-in-law, and cleanses the leper.

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, ² as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way before you. ³ The voice of a crier in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight!

⁴ John baptized in the wilderness, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. ⁵ And all the countryside of Judea and the people of Jerusalem went out to him, and were all baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁶ John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of skin about his loins. And he ate locusts and wild honey, ⁷ and preached, saying, One mightier than I comes after me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. ⁸ I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

⁹ And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth, a town of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. ¹⁰ And as soon as Jesus came out of the water, John saw heaven open, and the Holy Spirit descending upon him like a dove. ¹¹ And there came a voice from heaven: You are my dear Son, in whom I delight.

¹² And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. ¹³ And he was there in the wilderness forty days, and was tried by Satan, and was with wild creatures. And the angels ministered to him.