For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News — not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.
- KJV 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.
- BSB For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
- NKJV For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
- NASB For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul's primary commission was to preach the gospel, not to baptize, and to do so plainly so the cross would not be emptied of power. The message of the cross, not eloquent rhetoric, is central.
Overview
Paul clarifies that his calling centered on proclaiming the Good News, with baptism being secondary, not unimportant. He deliberately avoided 'wisdom of words,' the polished rhetoric prized in Corinth, lest human eloquence overshadow the cross. This launches the letter's great theme: the crucified Christ, not human cleverness, is the power of salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Cor 2:1When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
- 1 Cor 2:13Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.
- 2 Pet 1:16For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
- 1 Cor 2:4–5My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
- 2 Cor 10:10For, “His letters”, they say, “are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised.”
- 2 Cor 4:2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
- John 4:2(although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),
- 2 Cor 11:6But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.
- 2 Cor 10:3–4For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;
- Acts 26:17–18delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,
- Acts 10:48He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 1:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.