1በእግዚአብሔር ፈቃድ የክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ሐዋርያ እንዲሆን ከተጠራው ከጳውሎስ፣ ከወንድማችንም ከሶስቴንስ፤
2በቆሮንቶስ ላለችው የእግዚአብሔር ቤተ ክርስቲያን፤ በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ተቀድሰው፣ የእነርሱና የእኛ ጌታ የሆነውን የጌታችንን የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን ስም በየስፍራው ሆነው ከሚጠሩት ሁሉ ጋር ቅዱሳን ለመሆን ለተጠሩት፤
3ከእግዚአብሔር ከአባታችን፣ ከጌታም ከኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ጸጋና ሰላም ለእናንተ ይሁን።
ምስጋና
4በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ስለ ተሰጣችሁ ጸጋ ዘወትር ስለ እናንተ እግዚአብሔርን አመሰግናለሁ። 5ምክንያቱም በማናቸውም ነገር ይኸውም በንግግር ሁሉ፣ በዕውቀትም ሁሉ በእርሱ በልጽጋችኋል፤ 6ስለ ክርስቶስ የመሰከርንላችሁም በእናንተ ዘንድ ጸንቷል። 7ስለዚህ የጌታችንን የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን መገለጥ በጕጕት በመጠባበቅ ላይ ሳላችሁ፣ ማንኛውም መንፈሳዊ ስጦታ አይጐድልባችሁም። 8በጌታችን በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ቀን ያለ ነቀፋ እንድትገኙ እርሱ እስከ መጨረሻው ድረስ አጽንቶ ይጠብቃችኋል። 9ወደ ልጁ፣ ወደ ጌታችን ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ኅብረት የጠራችሁ እግዚአብሔር የታመነ ነው።
በቆሮንቶስ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ውስጥ የተከሠተ መለያየት
10ወንድሞች ሆይ፤ በመካከላችሁ መለያየት እንዳይኖር፣ አንድ ልብ፣ አንድ ሐሳብ እንዲኖራችሁ፣ እርስ በርሳችሁም እንድትስማሙ በጌታችን በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ስም እለምናችኋለሁ። 11ወንድሞች ሆይ፤ በመካከላችሁ ክርክር እንዳለ ከቀሎዔ ቤተ ሰብ ሰምቻለሁ፤ 12ነገሩም እንዲህ ነው፤ ከእናንተ አንዱ፣ “እኔ የጳውሎስ ነኝ” ሲል፣ ሌላው፣ “እኔ የአጵሎስ ነኝ” ይላል፤ ደግሞም አንዱ፣ “እኔ የኬፋ1፥12 ጴጥሮስ ማለት ነው ነኝ” ሲል፣ ሌላው ደግሞ፣ “እኔስ የክርስቶስ ነኝ” ይላል።
13ለመሆኑ ክርስቶስ ተከፍሏልን? ጳውሎስስ ለእናንተ ተሰቅሏልን? ወይስ በጳውሎስ1፥13 ወይም ወደ ጳውሎስ፤ እንዲሁም 15 ይመ ስም ተጠምቃችኋልን? 14ከቀርስጶስና ከጋይዮስ በስተቀር ከእናንተ ማንንም ስላላጠመቅሁ እግዚአብሔርን አመሰግናለሁ፤ 15ስለዚህ በስሜ መጠመቁን የሚናገር ማንም የለም። 16በርግጥ የእስጢፋኖስንም ቤተ ሰው አጥምቄአለሁ፤ ከእነዚህ ሌላ ግን ማጥመቄ ትዝ አይለኝም። 17ክርስቶስ የላከኝ ወንጌልን እንድሰብክ እንጂ እንዳጠምቅ አይደለም፤ የክርስቶስም መስቀል ከንቱ እንዳይሆን፣ በሰዎች የንግግር ጥበብ አልሰብክም።
ክርስቶስ የእግዚአብሔር ኀይልና ጥበብ
18የመስቀሉ ቃል ለሚጠፉ ሞኝነት ነው፤ ለእኛ ለምንድን ግን የእግዚአብሔር ኀይል ነው፤ 19እንዲህ ተብሎ ተጽፏልና፤
“የጥበበኞችን ጥበብ አጠፋለሁ፤
የዐዋቂዎችንም ዕውቀት ከንቱ አደርጋለሁ።”
20ጠቢብ የት አለ? ሊቅስ የት አለ? የዘመኑስ ፈላስፋ የት አለ? እግዚአብሔር የዓለምን ጥበብ ሞኝነት አላደረገምን? 21ከእግዚአብሔር ጥበብ የተነሣ ዓለም በገዛ ጥበቧ እግዚአብሔርን ማወቅ ስለ ተሳናት፣ በስብከት ሞኝነት የሚያምኑትን ያድን ዘንድ የእግዚአብሔር በጎ ፈቃድ ሆኗል። 22መቼም አይሁድ ታምራዊ ምልክትን ይፈልጋሉ፤ የግሪክ ሰዎችም ጥበብን ይሻሉ፤ 23እኛ ግን የተሰቀለውን ክርስቶስን እንሰብካለን፤ ይህም ለአይሁድ መሰናክል፣ ለአሕዛብ ደግሞ ሞኝነት ነው። 24እግዚአብሔር ለጠራቸው ግን፣ አይሁድም ሆኑ ግሪኮች፣ ክርስቶስ የእግዚአብሔር ኀይል፣ የእግዚአብሔርም ጥበብ ነው። 25ምክንያቱም ከሰው ጥበብ ይልቅ የእግዚአብሔር ሞኝነት ይጠበባል፤ ከሰውም ብርታት ይልቅ የእግዚአብሔር ድካም ይበረታል።
26ወንድሞች ሆይ፤ በተጠራችሁ ጊዜ ምን እንደ ነበራችሁ እስቲ አስቡ። በሰው መስፈርት ከእናንተ ብዙዎቻችሁ ዐዋቂዎች አልነበራችሁም፤ ብዙዎቻችሁም ኀያላን አልነበራችሁም፤ ብዙዎቻችሁም ከትልቅ ቤተ ሰብ አልተወለዳችሁም። 27ነገር ግን እግዚአብሔር ጥበበኞችን ያሳፍር ዘንድ የዓለምን ሞኝ ነገር መረጠ፤ እግዚአብሔር ብርቱዎችን ያሳፍር ዘንድ የዓለምን ደካማ ነገር መረጠ። 28እግዚአብሔር የተከበረውን እንደሌለ ለማድረግ፣ በዚህ ዓለም ዝቅ ያለውንና የተናቀውን ነገር፣ ቦታም ያልተሰጠውን ነገር መረጠ፤ 29ይኸውም ማንም ሰው በእርሱ ፊት እንዳይመካ ነው። 30በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ለመሆን የበቃችሁት ከእርሱ የተነሣ ነው፤ እርሱ ከእግዚአብሔር ዘንድ ጥበባችን፣ ጽድቃችንና ቅድስናችን፣ ቤዛችንም ሆኗል። 31እንግዲህ፣ እንዲህ ተብሎ እንደ ተጻፈ ነው፤ “የሚመካ በጌታ ይመካ።”
1I, Paul, am writing this letter. I have been chosen to be an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. Our brother Sosthenes joins me in writing.
2We are sending this letter to you, the members of God’s church in Corinth. You have been made holy because you belong to Christ Jesus. God has chosen you to be his holy people. He has done the same for all people everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is their Lord and ours.
3May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Paul Gives Thanks
4I always thank my God for you. I thank him because of the grace he has given to you who belong to Christ Jesus. 5You have been blessed in every way because of him. You have been blessed in all your speech and knowledge. 6God has shown that what we have spoken to you about Christ is true. 7There is no gift of the Holy Spirit that you don’t have. You are full of hope as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. 8God will also keep you strong in faith to the very end. Then you will be without blame on the day our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 9God is faithful. He has chosen you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Taking Sides in the Church
10Brothers and sisters, I make my appeal to you. I do this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I ask that all of you agree with one another in what you say. I ask that you don’t take sides. I ask that you are in complete agreement in all that you think. 11My brothers and sisters, I have been told you are arguing with one another. Some people from Chloe’s house have told me this. 12Here is what I mean. One of you says, “I follow Paul.” Another says, “I follow Apollos.” Another says, “I follow Peter.” And still another says, “I follow Christ.”
13Does Christ take sides? Did Paul die on the cross for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 15No one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16It’s true that I also baptized those who live in the house of Stephanas. Besides that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else. 17Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to preach the good news. He commanded me not to preach with wisdom and fancy words. That would take all the power away from the cross of Christ.
Christ Is God’s Power and Wisdom
18The message of the cross seems foolish to those who are lost and dying. But it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19It is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of those who are wise.
I will do away with the cleverness of those who think they are so smart.” (Isaiah 29:14)
20Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where are the great thinkers of our time? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish? 21God wisely planned that the world would not know him through its own wisdom. It pleased God to use the foolish things we preach to save those who believe. 22Jews require signs. Greeks look for wisdom. 23But we preach about Christ and his death on the cross. That is very hard for Jews to accept. And everyone else thinks it’s foolish. 24But there are those God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks. To them Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25The foolish things of God are wiser than human wisdom. The weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when God chose you. Not many of you were considered wise by human standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you belonged to important families. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28God chose the things of this world that are common and looked down on. God chose things considered unimportant to do away with things considered important. 29So no one can boast to God. 30Because of what God has done, you belong to Christ Jesus. He has become God’s wisdom for us. He makes us right with God. He makes us holy and sets us free. 31It is written, “The one who boasts should boast about what the Lord has done.” (Jeremiah 9:24)