For Christ did not send me to immerse people, but to preach the good news. [Note: Christ specifically commissioned Paul to preach; most of the immersing was done by his attendants]. It was not to be done with words of [human] wisdom, so that the [message of the] cross of Christ would not have its power taken away.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human [wisdom], and the weakness of God [is] stronger than human [strength].

Just look at your own calling, believers; not many [of you were considered] wise according to human standards, not many powerful or influential, not many of high and noble birth.

This was all done so that no human being could boast in front of God.

And when I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming to you the testimony of God [concerning salvation through Christ], I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom [no lofty words of eloquence or of philosophy as a Greek orator might do];

and my word and my preaching was not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power --

so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom and rhetoric of men, but on the power of God.

but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom once hidden [from man, but now revealed to us by God, that wisdom] which God predestined before the ages to our glory [to lift us into the glory of His presence].

But, as the Scripture says, there are things "Which no eye ever saw and no ear ever heard, And never occurred to the human mind, Which God has provided for those who love him."

For, among human beings, who knows a man's inner thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? In the same way, also, only God's Spirit is acquainted with God's inner thoughts.

But we [apostles] did not receive the spirit of the world [i.e., human wisdom. See verse 6], but the Holy Spirit from God, so that we could understand what was freely given to us from God [i.e., the gift of inspiration. See verses 9-10].

which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.

So I myself, brothers, could not deal with you as spiritual persons, but as creatures of human clay, as merely baby Christians.

You are still worldly [controlled by ordinary impulses, the sinful capacity]. For as long as there is jealousy and strife and discord among you, are you not unspiritual, and are you not walking like ordinary men [unchanged by faith]?

For whenever anyone says, "I am with Paul," and another, "I [am] with Apollos," are you not [merely] human?

No one should fool himself. If any person among you thinks he is smart, by human standards, he should become a "fool," so that he can become [really] wise.

Therefore let no one boast about his human teachers.

But [as for me personally] it matters very little to me that I may be judged by you or any human court [on this point]; in fact, I do not even judge myself.

not meaning the immoral people of this world, or the greedy ones and swindlers, or idolaters, for then you would have to get out of the world and human society altogether!

Flee from fornication. Any other sin that a human being commits lies outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.

Do I say these things only from a man’s perspective? Does the Law not endorse the same principles?

Though free from all human control, I have made myself the slave of all in the hope of winning as many converts as possible.

No temptation hath taken you -- except human; and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able, but He will make, with the temptation, also the outlet, for your being able to bear it.

Look at the Israelis from a human point of view. Those who eat the sacrifices share in what is on the altar, don't they?

For just as the human body is one and yet has many parts, and all its parts, many as they are, constitute but one body, so it is with the Church of Christ.

For the human body does not consist of one part, but of many.

But the way it is, God has placed each individual part in the human body just as it pleased Him.

If I have the ability to speak in the languages of human beings and angels [Note: Perhaps the idea is supernaturally and eloquently], but do not have love [for people], I have become [no more than] a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

what then is to be done? why, I will pray by the spirit, but my prayer shall be intelligible: I will sing by the spirit, but my hymn shall be intelligible.

What then is the right course, believers? When you meet together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation (disclosure of special knowledge), a tongue, or an interpretation. Let everything be constructive and edifying and done for the good of all the church.

What good has it done me if, [merely] from a human point of view, I fought with wild animals at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised [at all], let us eat and drink [enjoying ourselves now], for tomorrow we die.

Not all flesh [is] the same, but [there is] one flesh of human beings, and another flesh of animals, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish,

Sown weak, it rises strong; sown a human body, it rises a spiritual body.

As surely as there is a human body, there is also a spiritual body.

That is what is meant by the words-'Adam, the first man, became a human being'; the last Adam became a Life-giving spirit.

That which comes first is not the spiritual, but the human; afterwards comes the spiritual;