New Testament Plan

¹I recommend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea,

²that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she herself has also been a helper of many, and of myself as well.

³Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,

⁴who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles;

⁵also greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.

⁶Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsfolk and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding in the view of the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

⁸Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.

¹⁰Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

¹²Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has worked hard in the Lord.

¹³Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.

¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters with them.

¹⁵Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.

¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

¹⁷Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.

¹⁸For such people are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

¹⁹For the report of your obedience has reached everyone; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil.

²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, and so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

²²I, Tertius, who have written this letter, greet you in the Lord.

²³Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, greets you, and Quartus, the brother.

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²⁵Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,

²⁶but now has been disclosed, and through the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;

²⁷to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.

¹Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

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

⁴I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,

⁶just as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,

⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

⁸who will also confirm you to the end, blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

¹¹For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers and sisters, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.

¹²Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.”

¹³Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

¹⁴I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

¹⁵so that no one would say you were baptized in my name!

¹⁶But I did baptize the household of Stephanas also; beyond that, I do not know if I baptized anyone else.

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.

¹⁸For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

¹⁹For it is written: “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF THOSE WHO HAVE UNDERSTANDING, I WILL CONFOUND.”

²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?

²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

²²For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

²³but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,

²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind.

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

²⁷but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

²⁸and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,

²⁹so that no human may boast before God.

³⁰But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

³¹so that, just as it is written: “LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

¹And when I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come as someone superior in speaking ability or wisdom, as I proclaimed to you the testimony of God.

²For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

³I also was with you in weakness and fear, and in great trembling,

⁴and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

⁵so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of mankind, but on the power of God.

⁶Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;

⁷but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

⁸the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

⁹but just as it is written: “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which have not entered the human heart, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

¹⁰For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

¹¹For who among people knows the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the person that is in him? So also the thoughts of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God.

¹²Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.

¹³We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

¹⁴But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

¹⁵But the one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is discerned by no one.

¹⁶For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.