1 Corinthians 1:21

Plain English Version

You see, God is properly wise. He knows that most people in this world want to be smart and think up their own ideas about God. But he blocks them, so they will never get to know him that way. Instead, God is happy to save everybody that believes his message. And we tell you that message, even though other people think we are stupid.

Cross References

Matthew 11:25

At that time, Jesus prayed to God. He said, “Father, you are the biggest boss. You are the boss over everything in the sky and everything on the earth. There are some people here that reckon they are smart, and they reckon they understand everything. And there are other people that are just like little kids. They know that they are not smart. Thank you for showing what your message means to those people that are like kids. And thank you for not showing it to those people that reckon they are smart.

John 12:31

Then Jesus told them how he was going to die. He said, “Soon my enemies are going to lift me up to die on a cross, and then I will call everyone to come to me. And when I die, God will judge everyone in the world. And you know, the boss over the bad spirits is the boss over this world too, but when I die, God will stop his power so he can’t be the boss over the world any more.”

Romans 1:28

You see, they didn’t like to even think about God, so he let them think about lots of bad things, and they did all sorts of wrong things.

1 Corinthians 1:18

We tell everybody the message that Jesus died on a cross to save them. Some people hear that message and think it is stupid. Those people’s spirits are finishing up, and they are lost. But other people hear that message and think it is good. You are like that mob, and so are we. We know that message is from God. It tells us that he is using his power to save us.

1 Corinthians 1:23

But we are not like those people. We tell people about Jesus Christ, and we tell them that he died for them on the cross. The Jewish people can’t understand that. It isn’t what they want, so they don’t believe it. And the other people that are not Jews, they reckon it is stupid, so they don’t believe it.

1 Corinthians 1:24

But we are different. God has picked us to save us. Some of us are Jews and some of us are not Jews, but when we listen to that message about Jesus Christ it is a powerful message for us. We believe it and God saves us. And we know that God is really wise because he sent Jesus to save us.

1 Corinthians 1:25

People might reckon that is a stupid thing for God to do, but God’s way is better than the best idea any person ever had. And people might reckon that God is weak, they might reckon that he just let his son die. But they are wrong. God did that to show us that he is stronger than anyone else.

1 Corinthians 1:27

You see, people in this world reckon you are stupid, but God picked you anyway. He did that to show that those smart people are wrong, and they have to feel shame. Yes, God picked the weak people in this world to show that the powerful people are useless, so they have to feel shame.

1 Corinthians 11:32

But if God does punish us, he does it to teach us to do good things. So later, when God judges everyone in the world and punishes all the bad people, he will not punish us too.

1 Corinthians 2:14

You see, if God’s spirit is not living inside people, they can’t believe any message from God. They can’t understand what God wants to teach them. They think it is all stupid. You see, the Holy Spirit is the only one that can help people understand the things of God.

1 Corinthians 4:10

They see that we work for Jesus Christ, and lots of people think we are fools. But you mob reckon you are different from us. You reckon you are really smart because you know Jesus Christ. Yes, everyone thinks we are weak, but you reckon you are strong. You reckon everyone has to respect you, but you don’t care if they respect us or not.

1 Corinthians 6:2

and one day God will get us Christians to be the judges of all the other people in the world. So, if you are going to be a judge of other people one day, why can’t you sort out your own little problems now?

Galatians 1:15

But God was good to me, and he picked me to be his worker even before I was born.

Galatians 4:8

At first you didn’t know God. Those other bad spirits were your bosses. Those spirits are not gods at all, but you couldn’t get free from them.

Ephesians 1:9

God planned it all a long time ago, and nobody knew about it. But now he let us know about it. He told us that he is using Jesus to do the things he planned, things that make him happy.

Ephesians 3:10

But now God wants everyone to hear that message. He wants to use his church people to show all the spirit bosses, everywhere, that God is really wise, and that he understands all about everything.

Colossians 1:19

At the time when God’s son became a man, God lived in him properly. God was happy to live in him.

James 4:4

If you are like that, it shows that you left God. You stopped following him and joined the other people in the world that hate God. They are God’s enemies. So if you join up with people like that, you make yourself God’s enemy. You ran away from God. You are just like a woman that leaves her husband and runs away with another man.

James 5:15

Whenever somebody prays and really trusts God to make a sick person better, God will do what they are asking him to do. Jesus, our leader, will make that sick person good again. And if they got sick because they did something wrong, God will not punish them any more for doing that bad thing.