1. From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from Sosthenes, who is also a follower.
2. To God's church in Corinth. Christ Jesus chose you to be his very own people, and you worship in his name, as we and all others do who call him Lord.
3. My prayer is that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!
4. I never stop thanking my God for being kind enough to give you Christ Jesus,
5. who helps you speak and understand so well.
6. Now you are certain that everything we told you about our Lord Christ Jesus is true.
7. You are not missing out on any blessings, as you wait for him to return.
8. And until the day Christ does return, he will keep you completely innocent.
9. God can be trusted, and he chose you to be partners with his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
10. My dear friends, as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you to get along with each other. Don't take sides. Always try to agree in what you think.
11. Several people from Chloe's family have already reported to me that you keep arguing with each other.
12. They have said that some of you claim to follow me, while others claim to follow Apollos or Peter or Christ.
13. Has Christ been divided up? Was I nailed to a cross for you? Were you baptized in my name?
14. I thank God that I didn't baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius.
15. Not one of you can say that you were baptized in my name.
16. I did baptize the family of Stephanas, but I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.
17. Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the good news without using big words that would make the cross of Christ lose its power.
18. The message about the cross doesn't make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God's power at work.
19. As God says in the Scriptures,“I will destroy the wisdomof all who claimto be wise.I will confuse thosewho think they knowso much.”
20. What happened to those wise people? What happened to those experts in the Scriptures? What happened to the ones who think they have all the answers? Didn't God show that the wisdom of this world is foolish?