“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”Read the surrounding chapter
Time, place, and setting
- Time
- Paul wrote from Ephesus, probably in AD 54 or 55; the exact year is reconstructed. 5
- Place
- The letter addresses Corinth in Achaia. Ephesus, Macedonia and Jerusalem belong to its network of ministry, travel and relief. 1
- Setting
- Reports of division and a letter of questions prompt instruction about Christ, holiness, marriage, meals, worship, spiritual gifts and resurrection. 1
A gifted church called back to Christ
Paul opens by thanking God for grace given to the Corinthians in Jesus Christ. They have been enriched in utterance and knowledge and lack no gift while waiting for the Lord. The thanksgiving is followed by an appeal for unity, because Chloe’s people have reported quarrels. Some identify themselves with Paul, Apollos or Cephas, and others claim Christ in a divisive way. Paul asks whether Christ has been divided and whether Paul was crucified for them. Those questions establish the letter’s centre: the congregation belongs to the crucified and risen Lord rather than to competing personalities. 1
The correspondence includes earlier instructions that had been misunderstood. 6 In 5:9 to 10 Paul clarifies a previous letter, and 7:1 introduces matters the Corinthians wrote about. These contacts explain why the subjects change while the pastoral concern continues. The letter’s paternal voice complicates sweeping opponent reconstructions. 7 Paul corrects people whom he also calls beloved children and fellow members of Christ. Roman father imagery illuminates the force of his admonition. 10 His own hunger, labour and mistreatment give that authority a strikingly humble form. 1
The cross reshapes wisdom and leadership
In chapters 1 and 2, the word of the cross challenges the standards by which people boast in wisdom, status and power. Christ is God’s wisdom and power, yet the message concerns a crucified Messiah. Paul recalls his weakness and his reliance on the Spirit, directing their faith toward God. Chapter 3 then calls envy and strife signs of immaturity. Planting and watering are different tasks, but God gives growth. Christ is the foundation; the work built upon it will be tested. The church is God’s temple, and those who damage it are accountable to him. 1
The cross exposes cultural elitism and teaches generous regard for others. 17 The temple image also joins unity with holiness. 19 Paul’s later appeal to imitate him connects ministry with Christ’s pattern. The leader and food disputes share a concern about self exaltation. 15 Knowledge, freedom and leadership therefore find their proper use when they serve people for whom Christ died. The letters’ strong corrections belong beside patient care, truthful conduct and the gospel of grace, rather than becoming a reason for a teacher to cultivate a personal following. 1
Bodies, relationships and Christian freedom
Chapters 5 and 6 address a sexual relationship with a father’s wife, the congregation’s complacency, lawsuits between believers and the misuse of the body. Paul distinguishes the church’s responsibility for its own conduct from judging everyone outside. He also reminds the Corinthians that they have been washed, sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit. The body belongs to the Lord, who will raise it. Its union with Christ and its value as the Spirit’s temple make bodily conduct a matter of worship and care. 1
Chapter 7 takes up marriage, singleness, separation and mixed marriages. Mutual marital obligation stands against treating a bond lightly. 20 Paul recognises differing gifts in marriage and singleness. 8 He gives both commands and carefully identified counsel, with the present distress affecting his advice. These distinctions help readers hear the conditions attached to each instruction. Neither marital status supplies a higher class of Christian. Chapters 8 to 10 then place food and conscience within allegiance to Christ and concern for a weaker fellow believer. Latin inscriptions support a meat market in Roman Corinth. 11 The question concerns food bought and shared within real social relationships. 1
A shared table and a diverse body
The meal discussion reaches the Lord’s Supper in chapter 11. Some eat well and become drunk while others go hungry and are humiliated. Paul repeats the received tradition of Jesus’ body and cup, proclaiming his death until he comes. Self examination and discernment of the body belong in that setting of fractured fellowship. The passage’s severe judgment concerns these abuses; it should be read with the concrete problem Paul names. The remedy includes receiving one another at the meal and honouring the people who have been shamed. 1
Corinthian housing suggests differing resources even among nonelite residents. 16 Such distinctions help make the meal’s inequalities intelligible without furnishing a precise seating plan. Chapter 12 answers status seeking with the body image: one Spirit gives diverse gifts for the common good, and apparently weaker members are necessary. The Spirit’s power is joined with ethical transformation. 9 Healing, miracles, prophecy, tongues and interpretation belong with the confession that Jesus is Lord and with shared care. In Pentecostal ministry, seeking the Spirit’s gifts and praying for healing therefore accompany the patient support of people who suffer. 1
Love gives gifts their purpose
Chapter 13 belongs between the description of gifts and instructions for their use. Paul imagines remarkable speech, knowledge, faith and costly giving without love, and declares their emptiness. Love is patient, kind, truthful and free of boasting. Charity describes more than giving possessions away. 3 Its endurance and hope do not delight in wrongdoing. Paul contrasts present partial knowing with the fullness of seeing face to face. That movement gives humility to present spiritual experience while affirming love’s enduring place. 1
Love is an exhortation within the gifts argument. 14 Chapter 14 continues by urging readers to pursue love and desire spiritual gifts. Prophecy brings edification, exhortation and comfort; a public tongue needs interpretation so others can understand and say Amen. Ordered contributions allow people to learn and be encouraged. 4 The discussion of women’s speech must also hear chapter 11’s praying and prophesying. Marital context is one proposed explanation of the speaking restrictions. 13 The difficult details deserve careful reading within the whole worship argument, whose recurring purpose is the strengthening of the church. 1
Resurrection and work that matters
Chapter 15 recalls the gospel Paul received: Christ died for sins, was buried, rose and appeared to witnesses. Paul then argues that denying the resurrection of the dead undermines the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection. Christ is the firstfruits; death is the last enemy to be destroyed. The seed and body comparisons explain continuity with transformation, leading to incorruptibility and victory. Paul’s hope rests on Christ and God’s unfolding saving work. 12 Its conclusion is steadfast service because labour in the Lord is not in vain. 1
The firstfruits language carries Israel’s festival associations. 18 Chapter 16 gives that hopeful service a material form in help for Jerusalem’s believers. Approved representatives are to carry the collection, and Paul’s travel remains subject to the Lord’s permission. Timothy, Apollos, Stephanas, Aquila and Priscilla appear within this network of work and refreshment. The final call that everything be done in love gathers the letter’s practical themes. Christ’s grace, the Spirit’s gifts, the shared table and bodily resurrection sustain a community learning to belong to one another under one Lord. 1
Sources
Numbered references support the material above. Scripture quotations use the KJV.
- The Holy Bible, King James VersionKing James translators · 1611
1 Corinthians 1 to 16; Genesis 1, 2, 3; Exodus 12, 14, 16, 17, 32; Numbers 14, 16, 21, 25; Deuteronomy 22, 24, 25, 32; Job 5; Psalms 8, 24, 94, 110; Isaiah 25, 28, 29, 40, 64; Jeremiah 9; Hosea 13; Matthew 19, 26, 28; Mark 10, 14; Luke 22, 24; John 14, 15, 16, 20; Acts 2, 10, 15, 18, 19, 20; Romans 6, 8, 12, 14, 15; 2 Corinthians 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9; Galatians 3, 5; Ephesians 2, 4; 1 Thessalonians 4, 5; James 2, 5; Greek 1 Corinthians 14:3 and 14:26
View the source - A Greek English Lexicon of the New TestamentJoseph Henry Thayer
Complete historical entry 3619, edification and contextual uses in 1 Corinthians 14:3 and 14:26
View the source - The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesJ. J. Lias · 1896
Complete historical chapter 13 notes and host displayed stereotyped edition title 1896
View the source - Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New TestamentHeinrich August Wilhelm Meyer
Complete historical notes 1 Corinthians 14:26 to 33
View the source - Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Volume 15, 1 and 2 CorinthiansWilliam Baker; Ralph P. Martin with Carl N. Toney · 2009
Printed pages 3 to 7, introduction, author, dating and occasion; title and copyright, PDF pages 4 to 5, 2009 edition.
View the source - Paul, the Corinthians and the Birth of Christian HermeneuticsMargaret M. Mitchell · 2010
Printed 5 to 8 official licensed excerpt
View the source - Wisdom and Knowledge in 1 CorinthiansE. Earle Ellis · 1974
Printed 83 to 85
View the source - Secular and Christian Responses to Corinthian Famines; 1 Corinthians 7:6 to 7: A Caveat and a Framework for the Sayings in 7:8 to 24Bruce W. Winter · 1989
Printed 94 to 96 and 99 to 102; Printed 62 to 65 (1997)
View the source - The Spirit of Prophecy and Pauline PneumatologyArchie Hui · 1999
Printed 108 to 110
View the source - The Use of the Father Image in Imperial Propaganda and 1 Corinthians 4:14 to 21Eva Maria Lassen · 1991
Printed 131 to 136
View the source - The Meat Market at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 10:25David W. J. Gill · 1992
Printed 390 to 393
View the source - On Raising Osiris in 1 Corinthians 15Nicholas Perrin · 2007
Printed 125 to 127
View the source - Gender Versus Marital Concerns: Does 1 Corinthians 11:2 to 16 Address the Issues of Male Female or Husband Wife?Preston T. Massey · 2013
Printed 252 to 255
View the source - Insights from Cicero on Paul’s Reasoning in 1 Corinthians 12 to 14: Love Sandwich or Five Course Meal?James Patrick · 2004
Printed 57 to 60
View the source - Divisions Over Leaders and Food Offered to Idols: The Parallel Thematic Structures of 1 Corinthians 4:6 to 21 and 8:1 to 11:1E. Coye Still III · 2004
Printed 36 to 39
View the source - Corinth in the First Century AD: The Search for Another ClassDirk Jongkind · 2001
Printed 145 to 147
View the source - Triune Beauty and the Ugly Cross: Towards a Theological AestheticJohn Mark Hart · 2015
Printed 297 to 299 and 302 to 304
View the source - Jewish Pilgrim Festivals and Calendar in Paul’s Ministry with the Gentile ChurchesJin K. Hwang · 2013
Printed 103 to 106
View the source - Temple and Holiness in 1 Corinthians 5Brian S. Rosner · 1991
Printed 141 to 144
View the source - 1 Corinthians 7 in the Light of the Graeco Roman Marriage and Divorce Papyri; 1 Corinthians 7 in the Light of the Jewish Greek and Aramaic Marriage and Divorce PapyriDavid Instone Brewer · 2001
Printed 103 to 105 and 113 to 115; Printed 240 to 242 (2001)
View the source