1 Corinthians
Author: Paul
Paul writes to a gifted and divided church in Corinth about unity, holiness, worship, and the resurrection.
Outline
Divisions and wisdom (1–4)
Parties named after Paul, Apollos, and Cephas are answered by the cross, which overturns the city’s wisdom.
The body and its freedom (5–10)
Immorality, lawsuits, marriage, food offered to idols, and the Lord’s table are handled as one question of belonging.
Worship and love (11–14)
Head coverings, the supper, spiritual gifts, and a hymn to love correct a church that prized display.
The resurrection (15–16)
Christ died, was buried, and rose, and the collection and travel plans close the letter.
Key verses
1 Corinthians 1:18
The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing and the power of God to those who are saved.
1 Corinthians 12:27
The church is called the body of Christ, and each member is placed in it.
1 Corinthians 15:3–4
Paul delivers what he received: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose the third day, according to the scriptures.
Corinth was a Roman colony on the isthmus, rich, mixed, and proud of speech. Paul had planted a church there and then moved on. Reports and a letter from the church reached him while he was in Ephesus. The reports said the believers were dividing into parties, tolerating a kind of sexual sin even pagans named as shame, suing one another in the city courts, and unsure what to do with food that had been offered to idols. Their own letter asked about marriage, about gifts, and about the collection. First Corinthians is Paul’s answer, and it is more than a list of rulings. He keeps returning to the cross, to the body, and to the resurrection as the facts that decide the cases.
The parties are the first problem. Some say they are of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Cephas, some of Christ. Paul asks whether Christ is divided and whether he himself was crucified for them. He is glad he baptized only a few, so that no one can say he baptized in his own name. The deeper issue is what the church thinks wisdom is. Greeks seek it. Jews ask for a sign. Paul preaches Christ crucified, a stumbling block and foolishness, and to those who are called, the power and wisdom of God. God chose the weak things and the things that are not, so that no flesh should glory in his presence. Apollos and Paul are servants through whom the Corinthians believed. One plants, another waters, and God gives the increase. The apostles are last, a spectacle to the world. The sarcasm is sharp because the church is acting as if it already reigned, while the messengers are hungry and buffeted. The remedy is not a better leader to attach to. It is the mind of Christ, which the Spirit gives, and a willingness to be counted a fool for the gospel.
The moral cases follow from the same belonging. A man has his father’s wife, and the church is puffed up rather than mourning. Paul tells them to put the man out, not as a casual punishment but as a delivery to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved. A little leaven leavens the lump. Lawsuits are a defeat already, before the verdict, because brother goes to law with brother before unbelievers. The body is for the Lord. Food offered to idols is nothing in itself, but knowledge puffs up and love builds up. A believer may eat unless the eating wounds a brother. Do all to the glory of God.
Worship in Corinth had become a stage. Women and men were praying in ways that dishonored the created order Paul argues from. The Lord’s supper was divided between those who had plenty and those who were left hungry, and Paul says this is not the Lord’s supper at all. They proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes, and they eat and drink judgment if they do not discern the body. Spiritual gifts are real, and Paul does not tell them to stop. He tells them the gifts are given for profit, that the body has many members, and that the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. The more excellent way is love. Tongues, prophecy, and knowledge will cease. Love never fails. Prophecy is preferred to tongues in the assembly because it builds the church, and everything is to be done decently and in order. The God they worship is not the author of confusion.
The resurrection chapter is the foundation under the rest. If Christ is not risen, preaching is vain and faith is vain, and the dead in Christ have perished. Paul delivers what he received. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose the third day. He was seen by Cephas, by the twelve, by more than five hundred, by James, by all the apostles, and last of all by Paul, who calls himself one born out of due time. The resurrection of the dead follows from Christ’s. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, and the body that is sown is not the body that is raised. Death is swallowed up in victory. Therefore, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The last chapter is practical: the collection for the saints, travel, Timothy, Apollos, and a warning to stand in the faith. First Corinthians is a letter to a church that had gifts and had forgotten what the gifts were for. The cross, the body, and the resurrection are the memory Paul writes back into every dispute.