1 Corinthians 1:17 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁷ For Christ (the Messiah) sent me out not to baptize but [to evangelize by] preaching the glad tidings (the Gospel), and that not with verbal eloquence, lest the cross of Christ should be deprived of force and emptied of its power and rendered vain (fruitless, void of value, and of no effect).

American Standard Version (1901)

¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.

Common English Bible

¹⁷ Christ didn’t send me to baptize but to preach the good news. And Christ didn’t send me to preach the good news with clever words so that Christ’s cross won’t be emptied of its meaning.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize: not through the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ become empty.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

¹⁷ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.

1 Corinthians 1:17 Cross References

John 4:1

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John”

John 4:2

(although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized),

Acts 10:48

So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

1 Corinthians 2:1

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the testimony of God to you with superior speech or wisdom.

1 Corinthians 2:13

And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

2 Corinthians 1:12

Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with holiness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more toward you.

2 Corinthians 10:10

For someone says, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.”

2 Corinthians 11:6

Even if I am untrained in speech, I certainly am not with respect to knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.

2 Corinthians 4:2

We have renounced the shameful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

2 Peter 1:16

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.