<h3><span id="en-ESV-28365" class="text 1Cor-1-18">1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5</span></h3> <h3><span id="en-ESV-28365" class="text 1Cor-1-18">Christ the Wisdom and Power of God</span></h3> <span class="text 1Cor-1-18"><sup class="versenum">18 </sup>For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.</span> <span id="en-ESV-28366" class="text 1Cor-1-19"><sup class="versenum">19 </sup>For it is written,</span> <div class="poetry top-1"> <p class="line"><span class="text 1Cor-1-19">“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,</span> <span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks">    </span><span class="text 1Cor-1-19">and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”</span></span></p> </div> <p class="first-line-none top-1"><span id="en-ESV-28367" class="text 1Cor-1-20"><sup class="versenum">20 </sup>Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?</span> <span id="en-ESV-28368" class="text 1Cor-1-21"><sup class="versenum">21 </sup>For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.</span> <span id="en-ESV-28369" class="text 1Cor-1-22"><sup class="versenum">22 </sup>For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,</span> <span id="en-ESV-28370" class="text 1Cor-1-23"><sup class="versenum">23 </sup>but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,</span> <span id="en-ESV-28371" class="text 1Cor-1-24"><sup class="versenum">24 </sup>but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.</span> <span id="en-ESV-28372" class="text 1Cor-1-25"><sup class="versenum">25 </sup>For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.</span></p> <span id="en-ESV-28373" class="text 1Cor-1-26"><sup class="versenum">26 </sup>For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.</span> <span id="en-ESV-28374" class="text 1Cor-1-27"><sup class="versenum">27 </sup>But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;</span> <span id="en-ESV-28375" class="text 1Cor-1-28"><sup class="versenum">28 </sup>God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,</span> <span id="en-ESV-28376" class="text 1Cor-1-29"><sup class="versenum">29 </sup>so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.</span> <span id="en-ESV-28377" class="text 1Cor-1-30"><sup class="versenum">30 </sup>And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,</span> <span id="en-ESV-28378" class="text 1Cor-1-31"><sup class="versenum">31 </sup>so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”</span> <h3><span id="en-ESV-28379" class="text 1Cor-2-1">Proclaiming Christ Crucified</span></h3> <p class="chapter-1"><span class="text 1Cor-2-1"><span class="chapternum">2 </span>And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.</span> <span id="en-ESV-28380" class="text 1Cor-2-2"><sup class="versenum">2 </sup>For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.</span> <span id="en-ESV-28381" class="text 1Cor-2-3"><sup class="versenum">3 </sup>And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,</span> <span id="en-ESV-28382" class="text 1Cor-2-4"><sup class="versenum">4 </sup>and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,</span> <span id="en-ESV-28383" class="text 1Cor-2-5"><sup class="versenum">5 </sup>so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.</span></p>