1 Corinthians 1:29-31 …so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”            Paul wrote what he wrote in order to clarify, beyond any doubt, that God and God alone is responsible for the salvation ...

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 Consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so th...

1 Corinthians 1:20-25 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolish-ness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 2...

1 Corinthians 1:17-19 Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in clever-ness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. 18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 It is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise… the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”    ...

1 Corinthians 1:17a For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel…            Though Paul readily admits to baptizing some Corinthians, namely Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanus (1 Cor. 1:14, 16), he did not recall baptizing anyone else. With so many conversions in Corinth during his 18 months there (Acts 18:11), one wonders why Paul did not baptize more. Clearly he i...

1 Corinthians 1:14-16 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. 16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made ...

1 Corinthians 1:13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?            Obviously Paul was quite displeased with the divided church in Corinth. Whether they were rallying around him, Apollos, or Peter, it was divided. Yet Christ’s church is to be united! Paul therefore begins a series of questions that work to show the absurdity of t...

1 Corinthians 1:11-12 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”            The information Paul had received about the Corinthian church from Chloe’s household while he was away from Corinth was that they wer...

1 Corinthians 1:10-11 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.            I “exhort” (parakaleo) you in v. 10 is Paul “calling” th...

1 Corinthians 1:4, 7-9 …the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus… 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul list...

1 Corinthians 1:4-6 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you…            When Paul first arrived in Corinth sometime in AD 51, he came to a bustling city full of debauchery and paganism—seemingly void of...

1 Corinthians 1:2-3 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.The Epistle of 1 Corinthians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul specifically “to the church of God w...

1 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother…The writer of 1 Corinthians is “Paul,” originally known as “Saul” (Acts 7:58; 13:9). If anyone has ever had a radical transformation of their lives, it was Paul. His own testimony of his life prior to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ in Acts 22:3 speaks for itself, for he was “a Jew, born ...

Acts 18:1, 11 After these things, [Paul] left Athens and went to Corinth… And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.Corinth was the capital of the Roman province of Achaia on NW end of the Peloponnese peninsula next to Greece. Situated on an isthmus overlooking the sea routes east and west, it was an affluent commercial center, famous for its multinational character...

Galatians 6:1-2 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.           In 6:1 Paul imagines a situation in which a Christian is “caught in any trespass.” To be “caught” is to be “overtaken...