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1 Corinthians

About this book
Chapter 1

1 From Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, 2 to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,⁠ their Lord and ours. 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! 4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus. 5 For you were made rich in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge— 6 just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you— 7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.⁠ 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose. 11 For members of Chloe’s household have made it clear to me, my brothers and sisters, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,”⁠ or “I am with Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name! 16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Otherwise, I do not remember whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age?⁠ Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish?⁠ 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.⁠ 22 For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, 23 but we preach about a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 24 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 26 Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. 27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, 29 so that no one can boast in his presence. 30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Corinthians 1:12 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 47:3

New Testament · Early Christian

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Summary

In 1 Clement, the author tells the church in Corinth to reread the first letter Paul sent to them, where he criticized their divisions, showing how Clement used the text of 1 Corinthians as authoritative scripture.

Passages

1 Corinthians 1:12

New Testament
10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose. 11 For members of Chloe’s household have made it clear to me, my brothers and sisters, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul?
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 47:3

Early Christian · First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
1 Take up the epistle of the blessed Paul the Apostle. 2 What did he write first to you in the beginning of the Gospel? 3 Truly he instructed you in the Spirit concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos, because even then you had formed factions. 4 Yet that forming of factions brought less sin on you; for you were partisans of highly reputed Apostles, and of a man approved in their sight. 5 But now note who they are that have led you astray and diminished the glory of your renowned love for the brotherhood. 6 It is shameful, dear friends, yes, utterly shameful and unworthy of your conduct in Christ, that it should be reported that the very steadfast and ancient Church of the Corinthians, for the sake of one or two persons, is rebelling against its presbyters.
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Clement of Rome, 1 Clement

References

“... That text includes an invitation to its implied audience to “take up the letter of the blessed apostle Paul” (1 Clem 47.1). “What did [Paul] write to you first in the beginning of the gospel?” Clements then asks. “Truly he wrote to you in a spiritual manner concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos, since even at that time you had divided yourselves into factions.” Here Clement apparently was referring to 1 Cor 1:12, where the apostle Paul described how each of the Corinthians had identified themselves with either him or Apollos or Cephas or Christ. This reference clearly indicates that Clement assumed that his Corinthian audience both knew at least one of Paul’s letters and recognized his and its authority, even decades after Paul’s death. ...”
Jonathan E. Soyars, The Shepherd of Hermas and the Pauline Legacy, NovTSup 176 (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 46.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Corinthians 1:12 and Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 47:3

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