18 For 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.
19 The
scripture says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the scholars.
20 So
then, where does that leave the wise? or the scholars? or the skillful debaters
of this world? God has shown that this world's wisdom is foolishness!
21 For
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.
22 Jews want miracles for proof, and Greeks look for
wisdom.
23 As for us, we proclaim the
crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the
Gentiles;
24 but 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.
25 For 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.
26 Now remember what you were, my
friends, when God called you. From the human point of view few of you were wise
or powerful or of high social standing.
27 God 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.
28 He chose what
the world looks down on and despises and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy
what the world thinks is important.
29 This means that no one can boast in God's presence.
30 But 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.
31 So
then, as the scripture says, Whoever wants to boast must boast of
what the Lord has done.
No comments:
Post a Comment