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1 COR. THE MESSAGE FROM THE ROSS. 1: 14.

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Yes, I Beside

thankful that not one of you did I purify except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one might say he was purified so as to partake of my nature. purified also the household of Stephanas. these I do not know that I purified any one else. For I was not sent by Christ to purify, but to tell the Good News. And that, too, not in a rhetorical

and speculative way.

For I was to do it so that

the cross of Christ should not be robbed of its meaning.

For the

message which comes from the cross

Is, indeed, foolishness to those who are perishing,

But to us, who are being saved, it is God's power,

For it is written :

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And the understanding of the knowing ones will I reject.

Where are the wise? Where are the religious teachers ?

Where are the critics of to-day?

Has not God once for all shown the world's wisdom to be folly ?

1:21.

For since the world, by means of its own

wisdom,

Did not come to a knowledge of God by the use of

the wisdom which he had displayed in his

works,

God saw fit, by the folly of our proclamation,

To save those who believe it,

For Jews keep asking for signs,

And Greeks keep seeking wisdom,

But we keep proclaiming Christ crucified, To Jews an offense,

And to Greeks foolishness.

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,

Christ, God's power and God's wisdom. For the foolishness of God, 、

Is wiser than men.

And the weakness of God,

Is stronger than men.

For look at the facts of your calling, brothers,
And you see that there are not many among you
Who are wise, as men consider wisdom,

Not many able men, not many well-born. On the contrary, God chose what the world calls foolish

To put its wise men to shame,

1 COR. 1:27.

CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.

And God chose what the world calls weak,

To put its strength to shame

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And God chose those whom the world considers Of no account, and beneath contempt-mere nobodies

To deprive its "somebodies" of power,

So that, in his presence, no one should boast. But you are his offering in Christ Jesus. And Christ became to us wisdom from God, And goodness, and devotion, and deliverance, So that, just as it is written :

Let him who boasts, boast in Jehovah.

And for my part, brothers, when I visited you, I did not come to tell you the secrets of God in the fine language of rhetoric, or of philosophy. For I decided to know nothing among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And while I was with you, I was weak and very distrustful of myself. And the style of my teaching and its subject matter were not made attractive by rhetorical devices, but, on the contrary, by manifestation of spiritual power, so that your faith should be based, not on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

And yet we talk about wisdom among those who have become matured, but wisdom, not of this world,

2: 6.

nor of the rulers of this world who are being put down. On the contrary, we talk about God's wisdom in a secret truth, the hidden wisdom which God decreed, before time began, so that it might bring us glory. And none of the rulers of this world were acquainted with it. For if they had been acquainted with it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But it is just as it is writ

ten:

What eye never saw and ear never heard,
And into the heart of man it never came-
All that God prepared for those who love him.

Yet to us did God reveal it by means of his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the profoundest secrets of God.

Again, who among men knows another man's inner life?

Only a man's spirit can do that.

It is the same also with God.

No one knows God's secrets, except God's
Spirit.

But we did not receive the spirit of the world. On the contrary, we received the Spirit which came from God, so that we might appreciate the favors bestowed on us by God. And in talking about these, we do not use words suggested by human

1 COR. 2:13.

BABES IN CHRIST.

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wisdom, but words suggested by the Spirit, and so we explain spiritual things in spiritual language. But the natural man does not receive the teachings of God's Spirit. For they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to appreciate them, because they are spiritually estimated. But a spiritual man estimates everything properly, and yet he himself is estimated properly by no one.

For who has known the mind of Jehovah

So that he can instruct him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

And, for my part, brothers, I was not able to talk to you as spiritual men, but only as to carnally minded men, as to mere babes in Christ. you with milk, not with solid food.

I fed For you were

not yet able to bear it. Yes, not even now are you able. For you are still carnally minded. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not really carnally minded, and behaving as a mere ordinary man? For when any one says: I am following Paul, and another, I, Apollos, are you not mere men?

What, then, is Apollos?

And what is Paul?

Servants, by whose means you believed,
And that, as the Lord gave to each of us,

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