1 PAUL, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sóstenes the brother,
2 To the church of God in Corinth, sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, and to all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ anywhere, their Lord and ours:
3 Grace and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 Thank you to my God always for you, for the grace of God that is given to you in Christ Jesus;
5 That in all things you are enriched in him, in every language and in every science;
6 Just as the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in you:
7 So that nothing is missing in any gift, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 Which will also confirm you to the end, that you may be without fail in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 Faithful is God, by which you are called to the participation of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 I pray therefore, brothers, for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no dissension among you, first be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion.
11 For it has been declared to me of you, my brethren, by those of Chloe, that there are strife among you;
12 I mean, each one of you says: I am true of Paul; then I of Apollos; and I from Cefas; and I of Christ.
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or have you been baptized in Paul's name?
14 I thank God that I have baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
15 So that no one says that you have been baptized in my name.
16 And I also baptized the family of Estéfanas: but I don't know if I have baptized someone else.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in the wisdom of words, because the cross of Christ is not made futile.
18 For the word of the cross is madness to those who are lost; But to those who are saved, it is to know, to us, it is God's power.
19 For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will cast off the intelligence of the wise.
20 What is wise? What of the scribe? What of the scrutiny of this century? Has not God made the wisdom of the world mad?
21 For for not having the world known in God's wisdom to God by wisdom, it pleased God to save believers by the madness of preaching.
22 For the Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom:
23 But we preach to the crucified Christ, to the certainly stumbling Jews, and to the Gentiles madness;
24 But to those called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ empowers God, and wisdom of God.
25 For the madness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For look, brethren, your vocation, that you are not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble;
27 Before the foolish of the world God chose to shame the wise; and the skinny of the world God chose, to shame the strong;
28 And the vile of the world and the least precious chose God, and what is not, to undo what is:
29 So that no flesh boast in his presence.
30 But it is you in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us by God wisdom, and justification, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 So that, as it is written: He who glories, boast in the Lord.
Biblia Reina Valera 1602 (Public domain)
Comments
To contextualize I must tell you that, at the time that St. Paul wrote this letter, Corinth was a Greek city that had been destroyed by Roman troops and had been rebuilt by the Romans, for its importance as a port, which had brought prosperity to this city, which had contributed to many of its inhabitants presenting totally immoral and scandalous customs.
Paul had visited this province, achieving through his apostolate, establishing a Christian community that presented the enthusiasm and fervor of the recent discovery of Christian doctrine (facts 18,1-18), all this in a pagan environment that hindered the strengthening of the faith among the members of the community, which was reflected, because as Paul continued his apostolic journey, a confrontation began regarding the interpretation of the teachings that the Apostle had left, which began serious conflicts between the members of the nascent Christian community.
The divisions deepened even more by the arrival of Christian preachers who presented themselves as envoys of the Apostle Peter, which further divided the community, forming rival factions, in addition to which, the survival of pagan customs, which led to many members of the community will abandon themselves to debauchery and depraved customs, all this in which in the assemblies they were questioned, teachings of the Gospel and given a very relative interpretation,
Informed of this situation, the Apostle Paul sent the First Letter to the Corinthians, in order to restore harmony in Christian belief and clarify the doubts that were threatening the nascent Christian community.
These doubts that are clarified, do not cease to have relevance in the modern world, even now, where even the Ordination of Married Priests in remote areas is discussed in the Vatican; the relationship between believers with non-believers and the resurrection of the dead.
As we have seen the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians is a document that presents great news, which shows us that the human being will always seek to adapt his beliefs to his life, when rather, he should adapt his life to his beliefs, the only thing that is indisputable is that we must always follow the steps of Jesus Christ to achieve eternal life.