BIBLE BOOK GUIDE
1 Corinthians
16 chapters
In a Corinthian church torn by division, sin, and confusion, Paul centers everything on Christ and Him crucified, rebuilding the community's unity, holiness, and love.
1 Corinthians
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Why this book was written
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church from Ephesus during his third missionary journey. Reports and a letter from Corinth had revealed factions, moral disorders, misuse of the Lord's Supper, confusion over spiritual gifts, and doubts about the resurrection. His aim was to correct error, answer their questions, restore a Christ-centered unity, and strengthen the believers' faith and hope.
Structure
- 1–4The Cross and the Unity of the Church
- 5–7Holiness of Life and the Sanctification of Marriage
- 8–11Freedom, Love, and the Christian Conscience
- 12–14Spiritual Gifts and Love
- 15–16The Certainty of the Resurrection and Practical Exhortations
Major themes
Unity and Division in the Church
Paul exhorts the Corinthian church against factions and insists that everything be done for the edification of the church (1 Cor 1:10-17; 3:1-9; 12:12-27).
The Wisdom and Foolishness of the Cross
The message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved; God's weakness is stronger than human strength (1 Cor 1:18-25; 2:1-5).
Holiness and Spiritual Gifts
Believers' bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, to be kept holy and free from sexual immorality; spiritual gifts are given for building up the body (1 Cor 6:12-20; 12:1–14:40).
Love as the Supreme Way
Chapter 13 presents love as surpassing all gifts and knowledge, an everlasting way that never ends (1 Cor 13:1-13).
The Hope of Resurrection
If Christ has not been raised, faith is futile; but believers will be raised with Christ into glorified bodies (1 Cor 15:1-58).
Gospel and Daily Ethical Order
Paul addresses marriage, food, worship, money, and the Lord's Day gathering, doing all things for the glory of God (1 Cor 7:1-40; 10:23–11:34; 16:1-4).
How it points to Christ
1 Corinthians exalts Christ and Him crucified (1:23; 2:2), presenting Jesus as God's power and wisdom. He is the Passover lamb sacrificed for us (5:7), the firstfruits of the resurrection (15:20-23), and through His Spirit He indwells the church as His body and temple (3:16; 6:19), uniting believers to Himself and to one another.
Key verses
- 1:18The message of the cross is the power of God, overturning all human reliance on wisdom and strength.
- 6:19–20Believers' bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, calling them to glorify God in holiness.
- 10:31Whatever we do, do all to the glory of God—the supreme principle of the Christian life.
- 13:13Faith, hope, and love abide, and the greatest of these is love.
- 15:3–4Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised the third day—the heart of the gospel.
- 15:58Because of the resurrection, believers are urged to be steadfast, immovable, and abounding in the work of the Lord.
- 3:11No other foundation can be laid than Jesus Christ already laid.
- 12:27The church is the body of Christ, with believers as its members, revealing the truth of unity.
Reflections on 1 Corinthians
People in this book
Questions for reflection
- ·When I am tempted to elevate certain leaders or gifts above others, how do I return to the simplicity of the cross and the fact that Christ alone is the foundation?
- ·Chapter 13 describes love as patient and all-trusting—does my love still carry pride and self-righteousness?
- ·If Christ truly rose from the dead, how does this change the way I face suffering, death, and daily pressures?
- ·Is my body treated as a temple of the Holy Spirit—what areas of speech, desire, or habit need repentance?
- ·In exercising spiritual gifts, am I seeking self-display or the edification of the church and the manifestation of Christ's body?
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Chapter 1
1Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours:
3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
5that in everything ye were enriched in him, in all utterance and all knowledge;
6even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
8who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreproveable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them that are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos: and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
13Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?
14I thank God that I baptized none of you, save Crispus and Gaius;
15lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name.
16And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.
18For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.
19For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought.
20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.
22Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom:
23but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness;
24but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
28and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are:
29that no flesh should glory before God.
30But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
31that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.