I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -- and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless.

For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.

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

For who concedes you any superiority? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not?

And you are proud! Shouldn't you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this from among you?

For even though I am absent physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present.

In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world.

These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did.

And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.

And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.

For man did not come from woman, but woman from man.

Did the word of God begin with you, or did it come to you alone?

Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.

If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.