Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)called ^(B)by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those ^(C)sanctified in Christ Jesus, ^(D)called to be saints together with all those who in every place ^(E)call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(A)not to associate with sexually immoral people— ^10 (B)not at all meaning ^(C)the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, ^(D)since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone ^(E)who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

^13 (A)Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^(B)baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except ^(C)Crispus and ^(D)Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also ^(E)the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and ^(F)not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is ^(A)folly to ^(B)those who are perishing, but to us ^(C)who are being saved it is ^(D)the power of God.