Paul's First Letter to the Church at Corinth
1Paul, called by God’s will to be an apostle of Jesus the Anointed One, and Brother Sosthenes, to God’s church that is in Corinth—those who have been sanctified in Jesus the Anointed and called to be holy, along with all people everywhere who call on the Master’s name (their Master and ours): Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Master, Jesus the Anointed One.
I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace that was given to you in Jesus the Anointed, because in every way you have been made wealthy in Him—in all speech and in all knowledge—just like the Anointed One’s testimony was confirmed in you. This happened so that you would not be lacking in any spiritual gift, since you received the revelation of our Master, Jesus the Anointed. Also, He will continue to confirm you until the end, when you are guiltless on the day of our Master, Jesus the Anointed. God is faithful, through Whom you were called into fellowship with His Son the Anointed Jesus, our Master.
Now, I beg you, brothers, by the name of our Master, Jesus the Anointed, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you. Rather, be restored—in the same attitude and the same mindset—because it has been explained to me by Chloe’s group about you, that there is strife among you. I’m telling you that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or I belong to the Anointed One.” Is the Anointed One divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Were you immersed in Paul’s name? I thank God that I did not immerse any of you except for Crispus and Gaius, or else someone might say that you were immersed in my name! Although, I did also immerse Stephanus’s household—however, I do not know that I immersed anyone else. The Anointed did not send me to immerse, but to announce the good news—not with wisdom of words, or else the cross of the Anointed One would be rendered void.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to those of us who are being saved, because it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will declare the intelligence of the intelligent to be invalid. Where is a wise person? Where is a scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the world’s wisdom foolish? For, because of God’s wisdom, the world did not know God by their wisdom; thus God consented to save the believers by the foolishness of preaching. And, since the Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, instead we preach the Anointed One as crucified, which is a scandal for the Jews and is foolish to other nations. However, for those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, He is the Anointed One: God’s power, and God’s wisdom; because God’s “foolishness” is wiser than men, and God’s “weakness” is stronger than men.
Observe your calling, brothers: not many of you are wise by worldly standards. Not many are powerful, and not many are of noble birth. However, God has chosen the “foolish” people of the world, so that he might shame the “wise.” God has chosen the “weak” people of the world, so that He might shame the “strong.” God has chosen the “insignificant” and “rejected” people of the world—so that those who are nobodies might destroy those who are somebodies! Therefore, no flesh can boast in God’s presence. You come from Him, in the Anointed Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that it might be like it was written: Whoever boasts must boast in the Master.
2And when I came to you, brothers, I did not come authoritatively in speech or wisdom when I proclaimed God’s testimony to you. For I decided not to know anything among you, except Jesus the Anointed and Him having been crucified. I came to you in timidity, fear, and a lot of quivering, and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with spiritual and powerful demonstration, so your faith might not be in man’s wisdom, but rather in God’s power.
Now, we speak wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of those who rule this age, who are coming to an end. On the other hand, we speak in secrecy God’s wisdom, which has been revealed, and which God appointed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age knew it, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Master of glory. However, it is written: Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what God has prepared for those who love Him has not entered into mankind’s mind. For God revealed it to us through the Spirit, because the Spirit investigates all things, even the depths of God! Who among men knew man’s business except that man’s spirit that is in him? So also, no one knew God’s business except for God’s Spirit! And we did not receive the world’s spirit, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may know the things that have been freely granted to us by God! We do not speak these things with words instructed by man’s wisdom, but with the Spirit’s instruction! We explain to spiritual people with spiritual words! Now, the worldly man does not receive these things from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand it, because it must be investigated spiritually. However, the spiritual investigates all things, and yet he is not investigated by anyone. For who knew the thoughts of the Master Who taught him? Yet, we have the Anointed’s thoughts!
3And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you like to spiritual people, but like to worldly people, like to infants in the Anointed One. You drank milk, not food, because you were not able to eat it. However, even now you are not able to eat it, because you are worldly! Because, where there is jealousy and strife in you, are you not worldly and walking like mere people? Whenever one person says, “I belong to Paul,” but another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not behaving like mere men? So who is Apollos? Who is Paul? They are but servants through whom you believed, like the Master granted to each of us. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So, whether someone is the planter or the one who waters, yet it is God who causes the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters are unified, and each will receive his own reward for his own toil. We are God’s fellow workers, and you are God’s field and God’s building.
In keeping with God’s gift which was given to me, I laid the foundation like a wise architect, but another builds on it. Each person must notice how he builds on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than what was laid, which was Jesus the Anointed. Now, if someone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, or straw, the work of each person will become clear. The day will demonstrate it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will prove what kind of work that each person has done. If someone’s work that he has built endures, he will receive a reward. If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer a loss, but he will be saved, and thus it is like being saved through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives within you? If someone ruins God’s temple, God will ruin him. God’s temple is holy, as some of you are.
Let no one be cheated—If someone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For this world’s wisdom is foolishness before God, because it is written: The one who traps the wise with their own cleverness, and again, The Master knows the arguments of the wise: that they are worthless. So, no one must boast in humans, because all of you are! Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or what is happening, or what will happen. As for All of you, you belong to the Anointed, and the Anointed belongs to God. In this way, a human must think of us as attendants to the Anointed One and managers of God’s secrets.
