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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Corinthians 1 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Greetings from Paul
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:1 - This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:2 - I am writing to God’s church in Corinth,[fn] to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus,[fn] just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:3 - May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Paul Gives Thanks to God
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:4 - I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:5 - Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:6 - This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:7 - Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:8 - He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:9 - God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions in the Church
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:10 - I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters,[fn] by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:11 - For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:12 - Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,[fn]” or “I follow only Christ.”
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:13 - Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:14 - I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:15 - for now no one can say they were baptized in my name.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:16 - (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.)
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:17 - For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
The Wisdom of God
(cf. Isa 29:14 )
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:18 - The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:19 - As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:20 - So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:21 - Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:22 - It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:23 - So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:24 - But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles,[fn] Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:25 - This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:26 - Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy[fn] when God called you.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:27 - Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:28 - God chose things despised by the world,[fn] things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:29 - As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:30 - God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
Unchecked Copy Box1Co 1:31 - Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.”[fn]
NLT Footnotes
Corinth was the capital city of Achaia, the southern region of the Greek peninsula.
Or because you belong to Christ Jesus.
Greek brothers; also in 1:11, 26.
Greek Cephas.
Isa 29:14.
Greek and Greeks.
Or high born.
Or God chose those who are low born.
Jer 9:24.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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1 Corinthians Chapter 1 — Additional Translations: