Books of the Bible

The Book of 1 Corinthians

New Testament · Pauline Epistles · Genre: Epistle · Author: The apostle Paul · Chapters: 16

First Corinthians is Paul's pastoral letter to a gifted but troubled church, addressing divisions, immorality, disputes, and confusion about worship and the resurrection. Through it all he calls them to the way of love and to lives shaped by the cross.

Start reading: 1 Corinthians chapter 1

A key verse

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,1 Corinthians 13:4 (KJV)

The setting and background of 1 Corinthians

First Corinthians is one of Paul's most practical letters, written to the church he had founded in Corinth, a wealthy and cosmopolitan port city notorious for its immorality. The church there was rich in spiritual gifts and enthusiasm but torn by divisions and scandals, and Paul wrote in response to reports he had received and a letter of questions the church had sent him.

The letter works through one issue after another with a mix of firmness and love: divisions over leaders, a case of immorality, lawsuits, marriage, food offered to idols, disorder in worship, the abuse of spiritual gifts, and confusion about the resurrection. At its center Paul sets his soaring hymn to love, and he closes with a magnificent defense of the resurrection.

First Corinthians was written to bring a troubled church back to the message of the cross and the way of love. In the sweep of Scripture it offers an unmatched window into the life of an early congregation, and its teaching on the cross, on love, on the Lord's Supper, and on the resurrection has shaped Christian worship, ethics, and hope down to the present day.

The story and structure of 1 Corinthians

Corinth was a wealthy, cosmopolitan port city, and the church Paul had founded there was rich in gifts and enthusiasm but torn by problems. News of divisions and scandals, along with a letter of questions from the church, prompted Paul to write this deeply pastoral letter addressing one issue after another with both firmness and love.

Paul begins with the divisions that were fracturing the church, as believers rallied around rival leaders and boasted in human wisdom and eloquence. He points them back to the message of the cross, which looks like foolishness to the world but is the wisdom and power of God, and reminds them that they belong not to any human teacher but to Christ.

He then confronts a series of practical and moral problems: a case of scandalous immorality, lawsuits between believers, questions about marriage and singleness, and disputes over food that had been offered to idols. Through each he steers the church away from selfish freedom and toward love that builds others up and honors God.

Addressing disorder in worship and the abuse of spiritual gifts, Paul sets in the very center of the letter his soaring hymn to love, declaring that without love even the greatest gifts are nothing, and that love is patient and kind, never failing, the greatest of all things that endure. Love is the more excellent way that must govern the whole life of the church.

Paul closes with the resurrection, the ground of all Christian hope. Because Christ is risen, the dead will rise, death is swallowed up in victory, and the labor of believers is never in vain. The letter that began among quarrels and scandals ends on the sure hope of resurrection and the call to stand firm and abound in the work of the Lord.

The great themes of 1 Corinthians

Key passages in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians in the sweep of Scripture

First Corinthians offers an unmatched window into the life of an early church, with all its gifts and its struggles, and Paul's wisdom in addressing them has guided the church ever since. Its teaching on the cross as the true wisdom, its great chapter on love, its instruction on the Lord's Supper, and its magnificent defense of the resurrection are among the most treasured passages in Scripture, shaping Christian worship, ethics, and hope down to the present day.

Where Christ is in 1 Corinthians

First Corinthians centers on Christ crucified and risen, the power and wisdom of God, whose cross overturns human pride and whose resurrection guarantees ours. In him the divided are made one body, love finds its perfect measure, and the labor of God's people is given lasting meaning, for because Christ is raised, our work in the Lord is never in vain.

How to read 1 Corinthians well

Read First Corinthians for wisdom on living together as the church, letting its call to unity heal the divisions that so easily arise. Let its great chapter on love become the measure of your own relationships, testing your gifts and choices by whether they are done in love. And let its closing defense of the resurrection anchor your hope, so that you stand firm, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your labor is not in vain.

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