1 Corinthians 1:10-4:21
New Catholic Bible
Divisions in the Church of Corinth[a]
10 The Existence of Factions. Brethren, I exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be in full agreement with one another and not permit any divisions to arise among you. Be perfectly united in mind and purpose. 11 For I have heard reports from Chloe’s people, brethren, that there are quarrels among you.[b]
12 What I mean is that each of you is asserting, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,”[c] or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ now been divided? Did Paul die on the cross for you? Was it in Paul’s name that you were baptized?
14 I am thankful that I never baptized any of you, aside from Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. ( 16 I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Aside from those I do not know if I baptized anyone else.)
17 The Message of the Cross and Human Wisdom.[d] For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel—and to do so without words of human wisdom lest the cross of Christ be devoid of its meaning. 18 Indeed, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the understanding of the learned I will bring to naught.”[e]
20 Where now are the wise ones? Where are the men of learning? Where are the debaters of this present age? Has God not shown the wisdom of the world to be foolish? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world was unable to come to know him through wisdom, he chose, through the folly of preaching, to save those who have faith.
22 Jews demand signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified. This is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles;[f] 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 God Has Chosen Those Who Count for Nothing. Consider, brethren, your calling. Not many of you were wise by human standards,[g] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 Rather, God chose those who were regarded as foolish by the world to shame the wise; God chose those in the world who were weak to shame the strong. 28 God chose those in the world who were lowly and despised, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who were regarded as worthy, 29 [h]so that no one could boast in the presence of God.
30 It is through him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom of God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written, “If anyone wishes to boast, let him boast in the Lord.”
Chapter 2
Jesus Christ—and Him Crucified. 1 When I came to you, brethren, I did not proclaim to you the mystery of God[i] with words of eloquence or wisdom. 2 For I resolved that, while I was with you, I would know nothing except Jesus Christ—and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in great trepidation. 4 My message and my proclamation were not made with persuasive words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,[j] 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
The Mysterious Wisdom of God
The Plan of God, True Wisdom. 6 However, to those who are mature, we do speak of wisdom, although not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age[k] whose end is not far distant. 7 Rather, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age comprehended it. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.[l] 9 For as it is written,
“Eye has not seen, ear has not heard,
nor has the human heart imagined
what God has prepared for those who love him.”
10 The Spirit Enables Faith To Mature. However, God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit explores everything, even the depths of God. 11 And just as no human being comprehends any person’s innermost being except the person’s own spirit within him, so also no one comprehends what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed upon us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words taught to us not by human wisdom but by the Spirit, expressing spiritual things in spiritual words.[m]
14 An unspiritual person refuses to accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him such things are foolish. He is unable to understand them because they can be discerned only in a spiritual way. 15 A spiritual person[n] discerns all things, and he is himself subject to no one else’s judgment:
16 “For who has ever known the mind of the Lord?
Who has ever been his instructor?”
But we possess the mind of Christ.
Chapter 3
You Are Still Infants in Christ. 1 Brethren, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as worldly, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, rather than with solid food that you were not ready to digest. Indeed, even now you are still not ready to receive it, 3 for you are still of the flesh.
As long as jealousy and rivalry continue among you, are you not of the flesh and acting as mere mortals? 4 Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another asserts, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting in a merely human fashion?
Missionaries and Servants of Christ[o]
God’s Coworkers. 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? We are only servants through whom you have come to believe, as the Lord assigned each to accomplish. 6 I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it, but God caused it to grow.
7 Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is of any importance but only God who causes the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common end, and each will be rewarded in accordance with his labor. 9 For we are God’s coworkers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 By the grace that God has given to me, I laid a foundation like a skilled master builder, and someone else is building on that foundation. But each one must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has already been laid, namely, Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, or with wood, hay, and straw, 13 the work of each person will come to light. For the Day[p] will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the worth of each person’s work 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will be rewarded. 15 If it burns down, that person will suffer loss. The person will be saved, though only by passing through fire.[q]
16 You Belong to Christ. Do you not realize that you are God’s temple, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one delude himself. If anyone among you considers himself to be wise by worldly standards, he must become a fool in order to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It is written,
“He catches the wise in their own craftiness,”
20 and again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile.”
21 And so, let no one boast about human beings. For everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, the world or life or death, the present or the future. All belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Chapter 4
Do Not Judge before the Appointed Time. 1 People should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Now it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 It is of no importance to me if I am to be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.
4 I personally have nothing on my conscience, but that does not mean that I am innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will disclose the motives of all hearts. Then each one will receive the proper praise from God.
Fools for Christ. 6 Brethren, I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what has been written.”[r] None of you should become inflated with pride against anyone else. 7 Who made you so important? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you have received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?
8 You already have everything! You have already become rich! You have become kings without our help! How I wish that you truly reigned so that we might reign with you![s]
9 It seems to me that God has designated us apostles as the last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we are in disrepute.
11 To this very hour, we endure hunger and thirst. We are poorly clad and beaten and homeless, 12 and we exhaust ourselves working with our hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we suffer persecution, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we respond gently. We are regarded as the rubbish of the world, the dregs of humanity, to this very day.
14 The Authority of a Father in Christ. I am writing all this not to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 Even though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
16 I appeal to you then to be imitators of me. 17 For this reason I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every Church.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, on the assumption that I am not coming to you. 19 However, I will come to you soon, if it is the Lord’s will, and then I will ascertain the actual power of these arrogant people as opposed to their words. 20 For the kingdom of God[t] is not a matter of words but of power. 21 What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a whip or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 1:10 The divisions in the Church cannot be regarded simply as a phenomenon inevitable in any form of communal life. The divisions here bear on essentials; they show that the Gospel has not been understood and that people had an erroneous idea of the role of the apostles.
- 1 Corinthians 1:11 The name Chloe probably identifies a Christian woman of Corinth, some members of whose household have brought the news to Paul.
- 1 Corinthians 1:12 Apollos: one of the important figures in the beginnings of Christianity, and Paul speaks more than once of his sincerity (see Acts 18:24-28; 1 Cor 3:4-5, 22; 16:12). Some scholars think he may be the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. Cephas: the apostle Peter (see Jn 1:42), who may have paid a visit to Corinth.
- 1 Corinthians 1:17 The most beautiful construction of the human spirit cannot by itself bring salvation to the human race. This section does not oppose faith and philosophy to one another. It affirms above all that people are saved not by an intellectual theory but by God’s intervention in Jesus Christ. Faith does not consist in an ideology.
- 1 Corinthians 1:19 The citation is from Isa 29:14, where the Lord denounces the “wise” for their policy of seeking an alliance with Egypt against King Sennacherib of Assyria. The wise: the 6th-century B.C. Athenian statesman Aristedes remarked that every street in Corinth had its own so-called wise man, who claimed to have a solution to all the problems of the world.
- 1 Corinthians 1:23 Jesus was a stumbling block for the Jews, because they were expecting a Messiah who would perform sensational wonders (see Mt 12:38; Jn 4:48); he was foolishness to Gentiles, because he did not act in accordance with human wisdom.
- 1 Corinthians 1:26 Wise by human standards: literally, “wise according to the flesh,” that is, in the eyes of human beings.
- 1 Corinthians 1:29 “Boasting” refers to a person’s sin in thinking that one is saved by oneself. The truth is that we live only from God and for God. Hence, the only “boasting” possible is “boasting in the Lord.”
- 1 Corinthians 2:1 Mystery of God: God’s plan of salvation, which involves Jesus and the cross (see 1 Cor 1:18-25; 2:2, 8-10). Some manuscripts have “testimony” in place of “mystery.”
- 1 Corinthians 2:4 Paul is not downgrading study and preparation for preachers. He is simply stressing that in addition to such things they also need the Holy Spirit working in their hearts in order for their words to bear fruit.
- 1 Corinthians 2:6 Rulers of this age: not only the Jewish and Roman leaders under whom Jesus was crucified (see Acts 4:25-28) but also the cosmic powers that were in league with them (see Eph 1:20-23; 3:10).
- 1 Corinthians 2:8 Here the Lord of glory is Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, it is a title of God (see Ex 24:16; Pss 24:7; 29:9); Paul is therefore asserting here the divinity of Jesus.
- 1 Corinthians 2:13 Expressing spiritual things in spiritual words: another possible translation is: “expressing spiritual realities to spiritual people.”
- 1 Corinthians 2:15 Unspiritual person . . . spiritual person: an unspiritual person is one who follows mere natural human instincts (see Rom 8:9; Jude 19); a spiritual person is one who follows the Spirit of God. The former lives according to the “natural” order and the latter according to the “supernatural” order.
- 1 Corinthians 3:5 The apostles are not inventors of foreign mysteries and strange secrets. They are sent to build up the community of God, and are therefore subject to the Lord’s judgment. This is one of the main texts in which Paul gives a glimpse of how he understood his personal mission.
- 1 Corinthians 3:13 The Day: the day of judgment—to the joy of the righteous and the gloom of the wicked. Fire: an element that destroys but also purifies.
- 1 Corinthians 3:15 Many theologians see in this verse an implicit reference to purgatory.
- 1 Corinthians 4:6 Do not go beyond what has been written: this proverbial saying was perhaps current in Corinth; there are those, however, who think that this was originally a marginal note and was later inserted into the text. In any case, the meaning seems to be: Do not exaggerate, do not make things complicated.
- 1 Corinthians 4:8 Although the Corinthians are only beginners in faith, they act as if they have already reached the level of mature Christians. Paul shows how ludicrous this attitude is in the face of the hardships that the very preachers of the faith encounter and endure day after day.
- 1 Corinthians 4:20 Kingdom of God: the reign of God in the lives of his people, consisting of a new birth (Jn 3:3-8) and new life in Christ (2 Cor 5:17), which is evinced by dedicated membership in the Church and service to others (Mt 25:40ff).
