1 Corinthians
Chapter 1
Bible TextNotes and Thoughts
1 ¶ Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 that in every thing ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge,
6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
7 so that ye fall behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 He shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 ¶ Now I beseech you, brethren, by 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 perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been reported unto me about you, my brethren, by those who are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now this I say, when every one of you saith, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ":
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
14 ¶ I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius,
15 lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
17 ¶ For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
18 For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,
24 but unto those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For ye see in your calling, brethren, how not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But because of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who from God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption,
31 that according as it is written: "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
  v1-9 Introduction, greetings .
Though this letter was to correct the problems in the Corinthian church Paul does not mention the problems initially, instead his letter starts off immediately with a reminder of the believers position in Jesus.
v1-9 Paul describes how God see’s the church at Corinth but in v10-31 he describes how man see’s the church.
Look at the marks of a Christian.
a) v1-3 "Set apart by God." The ‘church’ (which means "a called-out people").
b) "Living saints," a true believer lives for God’s pleasure and enjoyment.
c) v4-6 The riches of God’s Grace. Salvation is a gift of God given through the sacrifice of Jesus, and confirmed.
d) v7 Looking for the return of Jesus. Paul speaks more on this subject in 1 Cor 15.
e) v8-9 God’s promises and Faithfulness. God’s promises confirmed through Jesus, v6 and through His Word.
f) v9 Call into fellowship with and by Jesus Christ the Lord.
v10-25 Fellowship.
Paul now looks at the splits and divisions that were in the church. This problem still exists in today’s church. Even the 12 disciples did not get on well together sometimes.
1:10-17 The problems.
v10 ‘In the Name of Jesus stop this, be of the same mind’. Satan loves a split church, they cannot be spreading the Gospel if they are busy arguing.
v12 It appears there was "Speaker worship" a ‘personality cult’, this is so visible in today’s church, it is a direct disobedience to the Word which tells us that only Christ should be preeminent (the only one to worship) Col 1:18.
The Corinthians were putting emphasis on the ‘messenger’, they took their eye’s off of Jesus. 1 Cor 3:3-8.
Paul was the initial founder of the church, Apollos must have followed. Acts 18:24-28. Cephas(Peter) is only mentioned in 1 Cor 9:5. There is no record of him visiting the Corinth church. v13 Paul asks three questions.
1) is Christ divided (split)? Did Paul, Apollos or Cephas (Peter) preach different Christ’s? There is only one Christ and one Gospel. See Gal 1:6-9
2) v13-17 Were you baptized in the name of Paul? In the New Testament Church it was an important statement to be baptized, it was probably done in the open, in the local river and all people knew they had become a believer, this indicated a change of life and probably lost friends and family.
It appears that Paul only baptized the initial converts.
See the following for details on the names. Crispus Acts 18:8, Gaius Rom 16:23; Stephanas 1 Cor 16:15-18.
3) v18-25 Was Paul crucified for you? No.
Crucifixion was a very painful, horrible and shameful death. It would not have been the way Man would have done it and this caused problems. v19,20.
v18-31 The Cross corrects.
v18,23 Foolishness: they laughed at the cross, they could see no wisdom in the cross, what it was for and did.
v21 All the wisdom of the world could not show them God, it was by God’s grace, the "foolishness of preaching" the message of the cross, that gave the answer to those who were seeking God, they found Him in faith. 2 Thess 2:13-14.
v23 Stumbled at the cross: The Jews were looking for a Messiah, Acts 1:6 but could not see, from the scriptures, that He had to suffer and die first. They wanted power and glory, how can anyone believe a carpenter from Nazareth. Luke 24:13-35.
v25 But the cross is a tremendous power, the weakness of God (the cross) is stronger than all man can give.
v25-28 God chose to use foolish things to show His love. The Corinthians were full of pride, but the Gospel of Grace does not leave room for pride. Paul reminded them of what they were v26, 1 Cor 6:9-11 shows that they had no reason for pride.
v27-29 Paul reminds them why God called them. This "foolishness" was of Grace and was made to Glorify God.
v30-31 What they had in Jesus. Believers have all they need in Christ, why fight for more? They had been made right through Jesus, made sanctified (set apart) to serve God only, and had been redeemed, all had been paid for on the cross by Jesus. Why glory in man? They were pleasing themselves, they should just Glory in God.
How’s your life?

Easy English Translation




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The 1st Letter to Corinthians
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5
Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15
Chapter 16       Intro.
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