The First Epistle of Paul to the
CORINTHIANS
Opening Considerations
1
Greeting
1 Paul, a called apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and brother Sosthenes,* 2 to the church† of God that is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus,‡ called saints,§ along with all those everywhere* who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord —yes, theirs and yours:† 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Sovereign Jesus Christ.‡
A word of thanksgiving
4 Concerning you, I always thank my God because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus; 5 for in Him you were enriched in every way, in all speech and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,§ 7 so that you lack no spiritual gift as you expectantly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,* 8 who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the Day of our Lord, Jesus Christ.† 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship‡ with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.§
A word of exhortation
10 Now I appeal to you, brothers, by the name* of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing† and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be restored‡ to the same mind and to the same purpose. 11 You see, my brothers, it has been reported to me concerning you, by some from Chloe's household,§ that there are contentions among you. 12 What I mean is that you are individually saying: “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ!” 13 Has Christ been divided? It was not Paul who was crucified for you, was it? You were not baptized into the name of Paul, were you?
A disclaimer about baptism
14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized into my own name. 16 O yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanus; besides them I do not remember if I baptized anyone else. 17 Because Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel*—not with eloquent ‘wisdom’, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of power.†
The nature of the Gospel
Foolishness to the lost
18 The message of the cross, you see, is foolishness to those who are being wasted,‡ but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and confound the shrewdness of the intelligent.”§
20 Where is the wise one? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its ‘wisdom’ did not get to know God, it pleased God to save the believing ones through the ‘foolishness’ of what was preached— 22 since Jews request a sign while Greeks seek after wisdom, 23 but we proclaim a crucified Christ: an offense to Jews, foolishness to Greeks.* 24 Now to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 25 because the ‘foolishness’ of God is wiser than men, and the ‘weakness’ of God is stronger than men.†
God uses ‘nothings’
26 Just look at your calling, brothers: not many are wise, not many are powerful, not many are of noble birth, by human standards; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world that He might put the wise to shame, and God has chosen the weak things of the world that He might put the strong things to shame; 28 and God has chosen the lowly things of the world and the despised things—even the ‘nothings’—that He might nullify the ‘somethings’; 29 so that no flesh should boast in God's presence.‡ 30 It is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God—also righteousness and sanctification and redemption§— 31 so that, as it is written: “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”*
* 1:1 He acknowledges a junior partner. † 1:2 Since there were probably several local congregations meeting in homes in Corinth, not to mention “everywhere”, I have rendered ‘church’. Note that Paul obviously intended that his letter have a wide circulation, very wide. ‡ 1:2 If your life style is still that of the world, you have not been ‘sanctified’. § 1:2 Called by God. * 1:2 Clearly Paul knows that he is not writing just for the Corinthians. But just how is this letter going to get to believers “everywhere”? If Paul himself did not make copies, presumably the congregation that received the ‘original’ would set about making certified copies. † 1:2 “Yours” is the reading of the best line of transmission, as I see it, being part of 25% of the total of manuscripts. But the idea is a bit awkward, and the change of one letter solved the ‘problem’, as in the 75%—‘theirs and ours’ is straightforward. ‡ 1:3 Where ‘Lord’ occurs without the definite article, as here, I usually render ‘Sovereign’; with either ‘the’ or ‘our’ I usually render ‘Lord’. § 1:6 As the Message was progressively confirmed in them, they were progressively enriched with the things mentioned. * 1:7 It appears that the early Christians expected the Lord to return at any time, which would tend to have a sobering effect upon one's style of living. † 1:8 The “Day of our Lord Jesus Christ” includes the accounting for all those who are in Him. So the promise here is major, and verse 9 starts with ‘God is faithful’. ‡ 1:9 “Called into fellowship” sounds like an ongoing exchange. § 1:9 To the ‘Western’ mind it may seem like Paul was being a bit repetitious; but Paul was a Jew—he is making very sure that they know where he is coming from, and where he wants to take them. * 1:10 The name represents the person. † 1:10 They are not being told to repeat things like parrots, but to be in essential agreement about important points. ‡ 1:10 They have drifted. § 1:11 Paul cites his source. * 1:17 If water baptism were essential to salvation, I fail to see how Paul could have expressed himself in this way—he is clearly implying that water baptism is not an essential part of the Gospel. In the early Church people were baptized immediately, not after weeks of ‘preparation’, because the convert was publicly breaking with Satan and his kingdom and formally placing himself under Christ's protection. Such baptism is an important procedure, and its value should be explained to any new convert. † 1:17 Dear me, is eloquence the enemy of power? Does not eloquence give glory to the speaker rather than to Christ? Perhaps not inescapably, but the tendency is definitely there. ‡ 1:18 We are accustomed to ‘perishing’. The verb here has a considerable semantic area and can be rendered—destroy, kill, deprive, void, lose, perish—depending on the context, but I believe the root idea is ‘waste’. The only way to fulfill the purpose for which you were created, to realize your potential, is to turn your life over to Jesus. The alternative is to waste your life, both now and forever. Of course the enemy works to make people think the opposite. § 1:19 See Isaiah 29:14. * 1:23 To the Jews, their Messiah would be a conquering king, and since death on a cross was viewed as a curse (Deuteronomy 21:23, Galatians 3:13), a crucified Messiah was simply unthinkable. What did the Greeks want with someone else's Messiah, especially a dead one—sheer nonsense! † 1:25 We like to forget this, but it is best not to do so. Arrogant servants of Satan often use stronger terms than ‘foolishness’—they will use ‘repugnant’, ‘ridiculous’, ‘intolerable’, etc. ‡ 1:29 This is the bottom line. Several times the Text declares that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. “Flesh” here refers to human beings. § 1:30 We receive Christ's righteousness to get started; the sanctification is to keep us clean along the road; the redemption is the final victory. Now really, isn't that a wonderful salvation? Thank you, Jesus! * 1:31 See Jeremiah 9:24. Since God has given us all we have, to glory in self is wrong.