The Way of Love

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have ^aprophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^bso as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 ^cIf I give away all I have, and ^dif I deliver up my body to be burned,¹ but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 ^eLove is patient and ^fkind; love ^gdoes not envy or boast; it ^his not arrogant 5 or rude. It ⁱdoes not insist on its own way; it ^jis not irritable or resentful;² 6 it ^kdoes not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^lrejoices with the truth. 7 ^mLove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^eendures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For ⁿwe know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but ^owhen the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For ^pnow we see in a mirror dimly, but ^qthen face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^rI have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^acalled ^bby 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 ^csanctified in Christ Jesus, ^dcalled to be saints together with all those who in every place ^ecall upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

3 ^dGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

4 I ^fgive thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way ^gyou were enriched in him in all ^hspeech and all knowledge— 6 even as ⁱthe testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you ^jwait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 ^kwho will sustain you to the end, ^lguiltless ^min the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 ⁿGod is faithful, by whom you were called into the ^ofellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

10 I appeal to you, brothers,¹ by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no ^pdivisions among you, but that you be united ^qin the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is ^rquarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that ^seach one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow ^tApollos,” or “I follow ^uCephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 ^vIs Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^wbaptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except ^xCrispus and ^yGaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also ^zthe 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 ^anot 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 ^bfolly to ^cthose who are perishing, but to us ^dwho are being saved it is ^ethe power of God. 19 For it is written,

20 ^gWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^hHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach² to save those who believe. 22 For ⁱJews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ ^jcrucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^kthe power of God and ^lthe wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: ^mnot many of you were wise according to worldly standards,³ not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But ⁿGod chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^oGod chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even ^pthings that are not, to ^qbring to nothing things that are, 29 so ^rthat no human being⁴ might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him⁵ you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us ^swisdom from God, ^trighteousness and ^usanctification and ^vredemption, 31 so that, as it is written, ^w“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”