I Corinthians 1
1 I, Paul, [a] called apostle of Christ Jesus through [the] will of God, and Sosthenes [my] brother, 2 to the assembly1 of God that is in Corinth, to those made holy in Christ Jesus, to the called holy [ones], with all those in every place calling upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, theirs and ours, 3 grace to you and peace from God our father and Jesus Christ [our] Lord.4 I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in everything you are made rich in him, in every word and every knowledge, 6 just as the testimony of Christ was reinforced in you, 7 so that you do not come short in any gift2, awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who shall also reinforce you until [the] end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God [is] trustworthy through whom you were called into [the] fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 I call upon you, brothers, through the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same [thing], and may there not be schisms among you, but may you be made complete in the same mind and in the same opinion. 11 For it has been revealed to me concerning you, my brothers, from Cloe, that there is strife among you. 12 And this [one] says that each [of you] says: I [am of] Paul, or: I [am of] Apollo, or: I [am of] Cephas, or: I [am of] Christ. 13 Was Paul crucified in your behalf, or were you baptized into the name of Paul?3 14 I thank God that I baptized none [of you] except Crispus and Gaius, 15 in order that no one say that they were baptized into my name. 16 Thus I did also baptize the house of Stephen; besides [these] I do not know if I baptized any others. 17 For Christ did not send me to be baptizing but to be good-newsing, not in wisdom of word, in order that the cross of Christ not be emptied.
18 For the word of the cross to those perishing is foolishness, but to us being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
I will ruin the wisdom of the wise,
And will set aside the insight of the intelligent.
20 Where [is the] wise? Where [is the] scribe? Where [is the] disputer of this eternity? Won't God make foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God to save those believing through the foolishness of proclamation. 22 For [the] Jews request4 [a] sign and [the] Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, to the Jews [a] stumbling, and to the nations foolishness. 24 But to those called, to both Jews and Greeks, Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 Be looking, therefore, to your calling, brothers, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many strong, not many well-born [are chosen]. 27 But God has chosen the foolish [things] of the world in order that he shame the wise, and has chosen the weak [things] of the world in order that he shame the strong, 28 and has chosen the not-[well]-born [things] of the world and the contemptuous [things], and the [things] that are not, in order that he nullify the [things] that are, 29 So that every flesh will not boast before God. 30 But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God, and justness and holyfication and redemption, 31 in order that just as it is written:
The [one] boasting,
Let5 him be boasting in the Lord.
1EKKLESIA (εκκλησια) from "called out". Appears 114 times in the N.T., but only in two places in the Gospels ( Matt.16:18 (twice) and Matt.18:17 (twice)). It's worth noting that when Jesus uses the term EKKLESIA, Christian community as we know it didn't yet exist—there were only the disciples. EKKLESIA is apparently different from 'synagogue' (SYNAGOGE (συναγωγη) which occurs 56 times in the N.T.) EKKLESIA is used in secular Greek literature of a popular assembly 'called to assemble', and also of those 'called' to a cult. EKKLESIA is used frequently in the N.T. outside of the Gospels to refer to Christian communities, but in Acts.7:38 it is used of the people of Israel led through the desert by Moses, and in Acts.19:32 ff. of a secular assembly. Thus, all told, the common translation of EKKLESIA as 'church' doesn't really reflect 1st century usage—it seems to mean more like 'a group of people assembled for some specific purpose'.
2from [GRACE]
3Grammar indicates "no" answer expected or expresses uncertainty
4AITEO "ay-TEH-oh" (αιτεω) "request", "demand", "beg" something for oneself. Far from humbly requesting—it's more like 'demanding'. Jesus uses AITEO only of the prayer of others, not of His own (cf. John.16:26)—and not requesting things for Himself, only for others. AITEO seems to suppose a lesser degree of intimacy than EROTAO (ερωταω), hence AITEO is used of the requests of the disciples to God, but EROTAO of the requests of the disciples to Jesus, and of those of Jesus to the Father ( John.14:16). AITEO is demanding/begging/pleading, EROTAO is polite and friendlier. Both AITEO and EROTAO occur in John.16:26.
5imperative