Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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1 From Paul, who was called by
the will of God to be an apostle
of Christ Jesus, and from our
brother Sosthenes—
2 To the church of God which is in
Corinth, to all who are called to be
God's holy people, who belong to
him in union with Christ Jesus, together
with all people everywhere
who worship our Lord Jesus Christ,
their Lord and ours: note
3 May God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and
peace.
Blessings in Christ
4 I always give thanks to my God
for you because of the grace he has
given you through Christ Jesus.
5 For
in union with Christ you have become
rich in all things, including all
speech and all knowledge.
6 The
message about Christ has become so
firmly established in you
7 that you
have not failed to receive a single
blessing, as you wait for our Lord
Jesus Christ to be revealed.
8 He will
also keep you firm to the end, so that
-- --
you will be faultless on the Day of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is to be
trusted, the God who called you to
have fellowship with his Son Jesus
Christ, our Lord.
Divisions in the Church
10 By the authority of our Lord
Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you,
my brothers, to agree in what you
say, so that there will be no divisions
among you. Be completely united,
with only one thought and one purpose.
11 For some people from
Chloe's family have told me quite
plainly, my brothers, that there are
quarrels among you.
12 Let me put it
this way: each one of you says something
different. One says, “I follow
Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”;
another, “I follow Peter”; and another,
“I follow Christ.” note
13 Christ has
been divided note into groups! Was it
Paul who died on the cross for you?
Were you baptized as Paul's disciples?
14 I thank God that I did not baptize
any of you except Crispus and
Gaius. note
15 No one can say, then, that
you were baptized as my disciples.
16 (Oh yes, I also baptized Stephanas
and his family; but I can't remember
whether I baptized anyone else.) note
17 Christ did not send me to baptize.
He sent me to tell the Good News,
and to tell it without using the language
of human wisdom, in order to
make sure that Christ's death on the
cross is not robbed of its power.
Christ the Power and the Wisdom
of God
18 For the message about Christ's
death on the cross is nonsense to
those who are being lost; but for us
who are being saved it is God's
power.
19 The scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and set aside the understanding of the scholars.” note
20 So then, where does that leave the
wise? or the scholars? or the skillful
debaters of this world? God has
shown that this world's wisdom is
foolishness! note
21 For God in his wisdom made it
impossible for people to know him
by means of their own wisdom. Instead,
by means of the so-called
“foolish” message we preach, God
decided to save those who believe. note
22 Jews want miracles for proof, and
Greeks look for wisdom.
23 As for us,
we proclaim the crucified Christ, a
message that is offensive to the Jews
and nonsense to the Gentiles;
24 but
for those whom God has called, both
Jews and Gentiles, this message is
Christ, who is the power of God and
the wisdom of God.
25 For what
seems to be God's foolishness is wiser
than human wisdom, and what
seems to be God's weakness is
stronger than human strength.
26 Now remember what you were,
my brothers, when God called you.
From the human point of view few
of you were wise or powerful or of
high social standing.
27 God purposely
chose what the world considers
nonsense in order to shame the
wise, and he chose what the world
considers weak in order to shame
the powerful.
28 He chose what the
world looks down on and despises
and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy
what the world thinks is important.
29 This means that no one
can boast in God's presence.
30 But
God has brought you into union with
Christ Jesus, and God has made
Christ to be our wisdom. By him
we are put right with God; we become
God's holy people and are set
free.
31 So then, as the scripture
says, “Whoever wants to boast
must boast of what the Lord has
done.” note
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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