Bible Reading Plan – Day 317

₁From Paul, who was called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes —

₂To the church of God which is in Corinth, to all who are called to be God's holy people, who belong to him in union with Christ Jesus, together with all people everywhere who worship our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

₃May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

₄I always give thanks to my God for you because of the grace he has given you through Christ Jesus. ₅For in union with Christ you have become rich in all things, including all speech and all knowledge. ₆The message about Christ has become so firmly established in you ₇that you have not failed to receive a single blessing, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ₈He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be faultless on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ₉God is to be trusted, the God who called you to have fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

₁₀By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my brothers and sisters, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose. ₁₁For some people from Chloe's family have told me quite plainly, my friends, that there are quarrels among you. ₁₂Let me put it this way: each one of you says something different. One says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Peter”; and another, “I follow Christ”. ₁₃Christ has been divided into groups! Was it Paul who died on the cross for you? Were you baptized as Paul's disciples?

₁₄I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. ₁₅No one can say, then, that you were baptized as my disciples. ₁₆(Oh yes, I also baptized Stephanas and his family; but I can't remember whether I baptized anyone else.) ₁₇Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the Good News, and to tell it without using the language of human wisdom, in order to make sure that Christ's death on the cross is not robbed of its power.

₁₈For the message about Christ's death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's power. ₁₉The scripture says:

₂₁For God in his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him by means of their own wisdom. Instead, by means of the so-called “foolish” message we preach, God decided to save those who believe. ₂₂Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for wisdom. ₂₃As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles; ₂₄but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. ₂₅For what seems to be God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

₂₆Now remember what you were, my brothers and sisters, when God called you. From the human point of view few of you were wise or powerful or of high social standing. ₂₇God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful. ₂₈He chose what the world looks down on and despises, and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. ₂₉This means that no one can boast in God's presence. ₃₀But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free. ₃₁So then, as the scripture says, “Whoever wants to boast must boast of what the Lord has done.”

₁When I came to you, my brothers and sisters, to preach God's secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning. ₂For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross. ₃So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear, ₄and my teaching and message were not delivered with skilful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God's Spirit. ₅Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God's power.

₆Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world or to the powers that rule this world — powers that are losing their power. ₇The wisdom I proclaim is God's hidden wisdom, which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made. ₈None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ₉However, as the scripture says:

₁₃So then, we do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit. ₁₄Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Such people really do not understand them; they are nonsense to them, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis. ₁₅Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge him. ₁₆As the scripture says:

₁As a matter of fact, my brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as I talk to people who have the Spirit; I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world, as children in the Christian faith. ₂I had to feed you with milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for it, ₃because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards? ₄When one of you says, “I follow Paul”, and another, “I follow Apollos” — aren't you acting like worldly people?

₅After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do: ₆I sowed the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow. ₇The one who sows and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow. ₈There is no difference between the one who sows and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done. ₉For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field.

You are also God's building. ₁₀Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. ₁₁For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid. ₁₂Some will use gold or silver or precious stones in building on the foundation; others will use wood or grass or straw. ₁₃And the quality of each person's work will be seen when the Day of Christ exposes it. For on that Day fire will reveal everyone's work; the fire will test it and show its real quality. ₁₄If what was built on the foundation survives the fire, the builder will receive a reward. ₁₅But if anyone's work is burnt up, then he will lose it; but he himself will be saved, as if he had escaped through the fire.

₁₆Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you! ₁₇So if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.

₁₈No one should fool himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise by this world's standards, he should become a fool, in order to be really wise. ₁₉For what this world considers to be wisdom is nonsense in God's sight. As the scripture says, “God traps the wise in their cleverness”; ₂₀and another scripture says, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.” ₂₁No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you: ₂₂Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future — all these are yours, ₂₃and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

₁You should think of us as Christ's servants, who have been put in charge of God's secret truths. ₂The one thing required of such servants is that they be faithful to their master. ₃Now, I am not at all concerned about being judged by you or by any human standard; I don't even pass judgement on myself. ₄My conscience is clear, but that does not prove that I am really innocent. The Lord is the one who passes judgement on me. ₅So you should not pass judgement on anyone before the right time comes. Final judgement must wait until the Lord comes; he will bring to light the dark secrets and expose the hidden purposes of people's minds. And then all will receive from God the praise they deserve.

₆For your sake, my brothers and sisters, I have applied all this to Apollos and me, using the two of us as an example, so that you may learn what the saying means, “Observe the proper rules.” None of you should be proud of one person and despise another. ₇Who made you superior to others? Didn't God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?

₈Do you already have everything you need? Are you already rich? Have you become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we could be kings together with you. ₉For it seems to me that God has given the very last place to us apostles, like people condemned to die in public as a spectacle for the whole world of angels and of humanity. ₁₀For Christ's sake we are fools; but you are wise in union with Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! We are despised, but you are honoured! ₁₁To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place; ₁₂we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; ₁₃when we are insulted, we answer with kind words. We are no more than this world's refuse; we are the scum of the earth to this very moment!

₁₄I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children. ₁₅For even if you have 10,000 guardians in your Christian life, you have only one father. For in your life in union with Christ Jesus I have become your father by bringing the Good News to you. ₁₆I beg you, then, to follow my example. ₁₇For this purpose I am sending to you Timothy, who is my own dear and faithful son in the Christian life. He will remind you of the principles which I follow in the new life in union with Christ Jesus and which I teach in all the churches everywhere.

₁₈Some of you have become proud because you have thought that I would not be coming to visit you. ₁₉If the Lord is willing, however, I will come to you soon, and then I will find out for myself the power which these proud people have, and not just what they say. ₂₀For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of words but of power. ₂₁Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in a spirit of love and gentleness?