Bible Academy Start free trial

Paul's letters · New Testament · 16 chapters

The book of 1 Corinthians

A church full of gifts, brought back to the cross and to love

Author
The apostle Paul, with our brother Sosthenes (1:1)
Written
About AD 55
Time covered
Written from Ephesus (16:8), during the three years Paul spends there on his third missionary journey (Acts 19-20)
Key word
Love

The Corinthians line up behind Paul, Apollos or Cephas: Paul reminds them that the cross, foolishness to the world, is the wisdom of God, and that servants are nothing without God who gives the growth. He demands the exclusion of a man living in incest, condemns lawsuits between believers and reminds them that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He then answers the church’s questions: marriage and singleness, meat sacrificed to idols, conduct in worship, abuses of the Lord’s Supper, spiritual gifts. At the center shines the hymn to love. Chapter 15 defends the resurrection of Christ and of believers, and the letter ends with the collection for Jerusalem.

Main theme

Facing the divisions, pride and immorality of a highly gifted church, Paul brings everything back to Christ crucified, to the holiness of the body, to love that builds up, and to the hope of the resurrection.

Outline

  1. 1 Corinthians 1-4 — Divisions and the wisdom of the cross

    Against the spirit of faction, Paul sets Christ crucified and the true role of God’s servants.

  2. 1 Corinthians 5-6 — Reported moral disorders

    A tolerated case of incest, lawsuits before pagans, sexual immorality: the body belongs to the Lord.

  3. 1 Corinthians 7-10 — Marriage, freedom and idols

    Answers on marriage and singleness, then on meat sacrificed to idols: freedom must yield to love.

  4. 1 Corinthians 11-14 — Worship, the Lord’s Supper and spiritual gifts

    Order in the assemblies, the holiness of the Lord’s Supper, the unity of the body and the primacy of love.

  5. 1 Corinthians 15-16 — The resurrection and final instructions

    Christ’s resurrection guarantees that of believers; the collection, plans and greetings.

Key points

  • The factions around Paul, Apollos or Cephas betray the gospel: Christ is not divided (1:12-13).
  • The cross is foolishness to the world but the power and wisdom of God to those who are called (1:18, 23-24).
  • Paul plants, Apollos waters, but it is God who gives the growth, on the one foundation: Jesus Christ (3:6, 11).
  • The believer’s body, bought with a price, is the temple of the Holy Spirit: flee sexual immorality (6:18-20).
  • Knowledge puffs up, love builds up: Christian freedom must yield to the conscience of the weaker brother (8:1, 13).
  • The Lord’s Supper proclaims the Lord’s death till he comes; taking it unworthily brings judgment (11:23-29).
  • One Spirit, one body, varied gifts for the common good, and above all, love (12:4-13; 13:13).
  • The resurrection of Christ, attested by hundreds of witnesses, guarantees that of believers (15:3-8, 20-22).
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18 — The central paradox: the cross, foolishness to the world, is the power of God to those who are saved.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 — The foundation of Christian purity: the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, bought with a price.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 — A precious promise: God, who is faithful, does not allow a temptation beyond our strength and provides a way out.

Jesus in 1 Corinthians

First Corinthians presents Christ crucified as the wisdom and the power of God (1:23-24), the only foundation of the church (3:11) and “our passover” sacrificed for us (5:7). He is the Rock that followed Israel in the wilderness (10:4), the Lord whose death the Supper proclaims until he comes (11:26), and the last Adam, risen, the firstfruits of the resurrection of all who belong to him (15:20-22, 45).

Did you know?

  • The question “Know ye not” (or “Do ye not know”) recurs ten times in the letter, six of them in chapter 6 alone: Paul reminds the Corinthians, so proud of their knowledge, of what they ought already to know.
  • The letter preserves an Aramaic word of the first Christians: “Maranatha,” written at the end in Paul’s own hand (16:21-22).
  • The account of the Lord’s Supper in 11:23-26 is among the oldest written testimonies to that meal: Paul passes it on just as he “received of the Lord,” with the words “this do in remembrance of me.”

Quiz on 1 Corinthians

From whom did Paul learn that there were quarrels in the church at Corinth?

According to chapter 13, which is the greatest of the three things that abide?

Complete: “I have planted, Apollos watered, but…”

There are many more questions like these in Bible Academy, each with its explanation and verse. Start your free trial.