---
title: 1 Corinthians 1:18
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-1-18/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-1-18.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 1:18
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 1:18

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

## JW Usage

The NWT renders 1 Corinthians 1:18 "the speech about the torture stake is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is God's power." JW readers largely pass over this as a generic statement about gospel preaching. Where it is cited, the focus tends to be the "foolishness / power" contrast in isolation rather than the uncomfortable implication for the Watchtower's own position — namely, that Paul calls preaching about the stake "God's power" while the organisation teaches that cherishing the stake (or remembering it in any cross-shaped form) is pagan.

## Protestant Usage

Two angles at the door, usually worth taking in this order. First, the gospel angle: Paul pairs 1 Cor 1:18 with 1 Cor 2:14 — the natural man finds the cross foolish precisely because spiritual things require spiritual discernment. This is the epistemological counter to "you can research your way to truth." Second, the Watchtower-specific angle: read the verse in the Witness's own NWT. "The speech about the torture stake is... God's power." Paul says preaching about the stake is God's power. The Watchtower says cherishing the stake is pagan. If Paul calls it God's power and the Watchtower calls it a pagan symbol, Paul and the Watchtower are not on the same page. Which one has the apostolic pattern? Pair with Galatians 6:14 (Paul boasts in the stake) and Colossians 2:14 (our sin nailed to it). Paul is not ashamed of the instrument — he preaches it as the place where God's love met God's justice.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Cross Is Not Pagan — And Paul Boasted In It](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/cross-pagan-symbol-rebuttal.md) — Galatians 6:14 / 1 Corinthians 1:18 / Colossians 2:14 [Practice]
- [The Natural Man Cannot Discern Spiritual Things](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1cor2-14-natural-man.md) — 1 Corinthians 2:14 — Why Research Alone Won't Save You [Salvation]
- [Was God Ever Without His Wisdom?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/wisdom-and-power-of-god.md) — 1 Corinthians 1:24 — Christ is God's power and God's wisdom, so Proverbs 8 cannot make him a creature [Deity of Christ]