New Testament · Letter

Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians: Author, Context and Complete Study

In 1 Corinthians Paul answers reports and questions from a gifted but divided church. He calls the believers back to the message of Christ crucified and applies it to factions, sexual morality, marriage, idols, worship, spiritual gifts and the resurrection of the body.

Updated on November 14, 2026

What is 1 Corinthians about?

First Corinthians is Paul's pastoral response to a church in crisis. The believers in Corinth were proud of their knowledge and spiritual gifts, yet divided into factions, tolerant of sexual immorality, suing one another in pagan courts, confused about marriage and food offered to idols, disorderly in worship and doubtful about the resurrection. Paul answers each issue by bringing it back to the cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5), the unity of the body and the priority of love, which he describes in chapter 13, and he ends with the great chapter on the resurrection (15).

Author: The apostle Paul, who writes with Sosthenes as co-sender (1 Corinthians 1:1) and adds a greeting in his own hand (16:21). Paul's authorship is undisputed.
Date: c. AD 53-55, from Ephesus, during Paul's third missionary journey (16:8).
First readers: The church Paul had founded in Corinth around AD 50-51, mostly Gentile believers in a wealthy Roman colony, divided into factions and confused about morality, marriage, worship and the resurrection.
Genre: Letter
Chapters: 16 chapters
Key verse: 1 Corinthians 1:18

Historical context

Paul founded the church in Corinth on his second missionary journey, around AD 50-51, and stayed a year and a half (Acts 18:1-18). He worked as a tentmaker with Priscilla and Aquila and preached first in the synagogue, where Crispus, its ruler, believed, and then in the house of Titius Justus next door. The proconsul Gallio, whose term an inscription at Delphi dates to about AD 51-52, refused to judge the charges brought against Paul. After Paul left, Apollos, an eloquent teacher from Alexandria, ministered in Corinth (Acts 18:24-19:1).

A few years later Paul was in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8). He had already written an earlier letter, now lost, telling the believers not to associate with sexually immoral people (5:9). Then news arrived: people from Chloe's household reported quarrels (1:11), others reported immorality, and the church sent a letter with questions (7:1), probably carried by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (16:17). First Corinthians answers both the reports and the questions. The city's social world shaped the problems: a status-conscious Roman colony where patrons, orators and public honor mattered, where temples hosted banquets, and where rich and poor believers met in the same house church.

Geographical context

Corinth stood on the narrow isthmus that joins mainland Greece to the Peloponnese, controlling the land route between north and south and the sea traffic between its two ports: Lechaeum on the Gulf of Corinth to the west and Cenchreae on the Saronic Gulf to the east. Cargo and small ships were hauled across the isthmus on a paved track, the diolkos, to avoid the dangerous voyage around the southern capes. Above the city rose the Acrocorinth, a steep hill crowned by a temple of Aphrodite.

Rome destroyed the old Greek city in 146 BC, and Julius Caesar refounded it as a Roman colony in 44 BC; by Paul's day it was the capital of the province of Achaia, rich, cosmopolitan and proud. Nearby, the Isthmian Games were held every two years, which helps explain Paul's images of runners and boxers competing for a perishable wreath (9:24-27). Paul wrote the letter across the Aegean Sea in Ephesus, the great city of Asia (16:8-9).

Why does the book of 1 Corinthians exist?

First Corinthians was written to correct a church that misunderstood what it means to be spiritual. Many in Corinth prized eloquence, knowledge, status and spectacular gifts; they formed factions around favorite teachers (1:12), boasted of a freedom that ignored the conscience of others (8:9; 10:23-24), and some even denied the future resurrection of the dead (15:12). Paul responds that the gospel of Christ crucified overturns human wisdom and pride (1:18-31), that the body belongs to the Lord (6:13-20), and that true spirituality is measured by love that builds others up (8:1; 13:1-3).

The letter is also a practical answer to concrete questions. Should married couples abstain from sex? Should the unmarried marry? May believers eat meat offered to idols? How should men and women pray and prophesy? What is the place of tongues in public worship? How should the collection for Jerusalem be organized (7:1, 25; 8:1; 11:2-16; 14:26-33; 16:1-2)? For the later church, 1 Corinthians became a handbook of church life, with teaching on the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, church discipline, sexual ethics and the bodily resurrection.

Outline of 1 Corinthians

Chapters 1-4
Divisions and the wisdom of the cross
After greeting and thanksgiving, Paul confronts the factions formed around Paul, Apollos, Cephas and Christ. The message of the cross looks foolish to the world but is the power of God; leaders are only servants, God gives the growth, and the church is God's temple.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Chapters 5-6
Immorality and lawsuits
Paul orders the church to remove a man living with his father's wife, rebukes believers who take one another to pagan courts and teaches that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, bought with a price, and must not be joined to a prostitute.
- 5
- 6
Chapter 7
Marriage and singleness
Answering the church's letter, Paul affirms intimacy within marriage, gives guidance on divorce and on marriage to unbelievers, encourages each person to serve God in the situation in which he was called and commends singleness as a gift for undivided devotion to the Lord.
- 7
Chapters 8-10
Food offered to idols and Christian freedom
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Paul gives up his own rights for the gospel, becoming all things to all people, warns from Israel's history in the wilderness against idolatry and asks believers to do everything for the glory of God without making others stumble.
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapters 11-14
Order and love in worship
Paul addresses head coverings in prayer and prophecy, corrects divisions at the Lord's Supper, teaches that the Spirit gives different gifts to one body, describes the more excellent way of love and gives guidelines so that tongues and prophecy build up the church in order.
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
Chapter 15
The resurrection of the dead
Paul recalls the gospel he received and the witnesses of the risen Christ, shows that if Christ has not been raised faith is futile, presents Christ as the firstfruits and the last Adam, and describes the transformation of the body at the last trumpet.
- 15
Chapter 16
The collection and final greetings
Paul gives instructions for the weekly collection for Jerusalem, shares his travel plans and those of Timothy and Apollos, commends Stephanas and his household, and closes with a greeting in his own hand and the Aramaic prayer Maranatha, Our Lord, come.
- 16

Famous passages in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:18-25
The foolishness of the cross
The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but the power of God to those who are being saved. Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but Paul preaches Christ crucified, a stumbling block to some and foolishness to others, yet the power and wisdom of God. The passage defines the heart of Christian preaching.
Study 1 Corinthians 1 →
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Your body is a temple
Against those who thought the body did not matter, Paul declares that the believer's body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, that believers are not their own because they were bought with a price, and that they must glorify God in their body. It is a foundational text for Christian sexual ethics and for care of the body.
Study 1 Corinthians 6 →
1 Corinthians 10:13
A way of escape
No temptation has overtaken believers that is not common to humanity, and God is faithful: he will not let them be tempted beyond their ability but will provide a way of escape so that they can endure it. The promise closes Paul's warning drawn from Israel's failures in the wilderness and is widely memorized.
Study 1 Corinthians 10 →
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
The Lord's Supper
Paul passes on what he received from the Lord: on the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread and the cup and gave them as signs of his body and of the new covenant in his blood. Whenever the church eats the bread and drinks the cup, it proclaims the Lord's death until he comes. These words are repeated at communion around the world.
Study 1 Corinthians 11 →
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
One body, many members
Just as the human body has many parts that need one another, the church is the body of Christ, baptized by one Spirit into one body. No member can say it does not belong or does not need the others, and when one member suffers, all suffer together. The image corrects both pride and feelings of inferiority.
Study 1 Corinthians 12 →
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
The love chapter
Without love, tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith and even self-sacrifice are worth nothing. Love is patient and kind, not envious or boastful, and it never ends; faith, hope and love remain, but the greatest of these is love. Often read at weddings, it was first written to correct a proud and divided church.
Study 1 Corinthians 13 →
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
The gospel and the witnesses of the resurrection
Paul summarizes the gospel as of first importance: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and was raised on the third day. He then lists those who saw the risen Lord: Cephas, the Twelve, more than five hundred at one time, James, all the apostles and finally Paul himself.
Study 1 Corinthians 15 →
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Death swallowed up in victory
Not all will die, but all will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, when the dead are raised imperishable. Paul taunts death, asking where its victory and its sting are, gives thanks for the victory through Jesus Christ and urges believers to abound in the work of the Lord.
Study 1 Corinthians 15 →

Main themes

The wisdom of the cross: God chose what the world considers foolish and weak to shame the wise and the strong, so that no one may boast except in the Lord. The preaching of Christ crucified, not clever rhetoric, is the true wisdom revealed by the Spirit (1:18-2:16).
Unity in the body of Christ: Factions, lawsuits, social divisions at the Lord's table and rivalry over gifts all deny that believers are one body. Leaders are servants, members need one another, and the church as God's temple must not be torn apart by division (3:5-17; 11:17-22; 12:12-27).
Holiness and the body: The Corinthians had been washed, sanctified and justified, so they must flee sexual immorality and idolatry. The body is for the Lord and will be raised, which gives what we do with it eternal weight (6:9-20; 10:14).
Freedom limited by love: All things may be lawful, but not all things build up. Paul gives up his right to financial support and adapts to Jews and Gentiles for the sake of the gospel, and he asks the strong not to wound the conscience of the weak (8:9-13; 9:12-23; 10:23-33).
Spiritual gifts and love: The Spirit gives varied gifts for the common good, and the measure of a gift is whether it builds up the church. Above every gift stands love, and in worship everything should be done decently and in order (12:4-11; 13:1-13; 14:26-40).
The hope of resurrection: Christ's resurrection is the firstfruits of the resurrection of all who belong to him. Because the body will be raised imperishable and death will be defeated, the believer's labor in the Lord is not in vain (15:20-23, 42-58).

Main characters

Paul: The apostle who founded the church in Corinth and writes as its father in Christ (4:15). He defends his ministry, refuses to rely on eloquence, gives up his rights for the gospel and still treats the believers as beloved children, despite their criticism of him.
Sosthenes: Named as co-sender of the letter (1:1). A synagogue ruler with the same name was beaten in Corinth in front of Gallio's tribunal (Acts 18:17); some think he later became a believer and joined Paul, though the identification is uncertain.
Apollos: An eloquent Jewish teacher from Alexandria who watered what Paul had planted in Corinth (3:6). Some believers formed a group around his name, but Paul treats him as a fellow servant and had urged him to visit the church again (16:12).
Cephas (Peter): The apostle whose name one of the factions claimed (1:12). Paul mentions that he traveled with his believing wife (9:5) and names him first in his list of witnesses of the risen Lord (15:5).
Chloe's people: Members of the household of Chloe, perhaps relatives, servants or business associates, who told Paul about the quarrels in the church (1:11). Chloe herself is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible.
Stephanas: Head of the first household converted in Achaia, baptized by Paul (1:16; 16:15). With Fortunatus and Achaicus he visited Paul in Ephesus and refreshed his spirit, and Paul asks the church to submit to such devoted servants (16:15-18).
Timothy: Paul's beloved and faithful child in the Lord, sent to remind the Corinthians of Paul's ways in Christ. Paul asks the church to receive him without causing him fear and to send him back in peace (4:17; 16:10-11).
Crispus and Gaius: Two of the few people Paul baptized personally in Corinth (1:14). Crispus had been the ruler of the synagogue (Acts 18:8); Gaius later hosted Paul and the whole church in his house (Romans 16:23).

In-depth study of 1 Corinthians

Introduction

First Corinthians lets us look inside a first-century church, and what we see is surprisingly familiar. The believers in Corinth were gifted, enthusiastic and well taught, yet they were also proud, divided and confused. They argued over leaders, tolerated scandal, went to court against each other, turned the Lord's Supper into a display of social status and competed over spiritual gifts.

Paul does not answer with a list of rules alone. Again and again he brings each problem back to the gospel: Christ crucified, the Spirit who makes believers one body, and the coming resurrection. That is why this letter, written to solve local problems, remains one of the most practical books of the New Testament for church life today.

Who wrote 1 Corinthians and when?

Paul and Sosthenes

The letter names Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle, and our brother Sosthenes (1 Corinthians 1:1). Paul writes the closing greeting with his own hand (16:21), a sign that a secretary wrote the rest. No serious doubt has been raised about his authorship, and Clement of Rome, writing to the Corinthians around AD 96, already appeals to it.

Letters, reports and visits

The letter is part of a longer conversation:

Paul founds the church around AD 50-51 (Acts 18).
He writes an earlier letter, now lost (5:9).
He receives oral reports from Chloe's household (1:11) and others (5:1; 11:18).
The church writes to him with questions (7:1), probably carried by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (16:17).
Paul replies with 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, planning to stay there until Pentecost (16:8).

The date

Paul's long ministry in Ephesus lasted about three years (Acts 20:31), and the letter belongs near the end of it, around AD 53-55. Some details suggest spring: he speaks of Christ our Passover lamb (5:7) and plans to stay until Pentecost (16:8).

Literary style and structure

Reports and questions

The letter has two main parts. In chapters 1-6 Paul responds to what he has heard. From chapter 7 he answers the church's written questions, often marking a new topic with the words now concerning (7:1, 25; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1, 12). Chapter 15, on the resurrection, is a final major topic.

Quoting the Corinthians

Paul often quotes slogans that circulated in the church and then qualifies them. Many modern translations mark phrases such as all things are lawful for me (6:12; 10:23), food is meant for the stomach (6:13) and all of us possess knowledge (8:1) as Corinthian sayings, and many think that it is good for a man not to touch a woman (7:1) is another. Recognizing these slogans keeps readers from attributing to Paul views he is correcting.

Digressions that explain the argument

Twice Paul seems to change the subject, and both times the apparent detour is the key. In the middle of the discussion of idol food (8 and 10), chapter 9 shows Paul himself giving up his rights for others. In the middle of the discussion of gifts (12 and 14), chapter 13 shows the more excellent way of love. Paul also uses sharp irony, as when he contrasts the Corinthians, who think they already reign, with the apostles, treated as the scum of the world (4:8-13).

1 Corinthians in the story of the Bible

Paul reads the Old Testament as Scripture written for the church. He quotes Isaiah to show that God destroys the wisdom of the wise (1:19; Isaiah 29:14) and that no eye has seen what God prepared for those who love him (2:9; Isaiah 64:4). He applies the law about not muzzling an ox to the support of gospel workers (9:9; Deuteronomy 25:4) and the creation of marriage to sexual ethics (6:16; Genesis 2:24).

In chapter 10 he retells the exodus: Israel passed through the sea, ate manna, drank from the rock and still fell in the wilderness through idolatry and immorality. These things happened as examples and were written down for our instruction (10:1-11). Christ is the Passover lamb (5:7), Adam and Christ stand at the head of two humanities (15:21-22, 45), and the final victory over death fulfills Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 (15:54-55).

Within the New Testament, Acts 18 tells the founding of the church, 2 Corinthians continues the story, and Romans was later written from Corinth. Paul's mention of the bread and cup (11:23-26) and his summary of the gospel (15:3-5) preserve traditions he received and passed on, so they reach back to the first years of the church.

1 Corinthians and Jesus Christ

The center of the letter is Christ crucified (1:23; 2:2). He is the power and wisdom of God, and God made him our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1:24, 30). He is the only foundation of the church (3:11) and the Passover lamb who has been sacrificed (5:7).

Paul reshapes the great confession of Israel, that the Lord is one, to include Jesus: there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist (8:6). Christ was present with Israel in the wilderness (10:4), gave the Supper on the night he was betrayed (11:23) and is the head of the body formed by his Spirit (12:12-27). No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (12:3).

Chapter 15 gives the fullest early teaching on his resurrection: he died for our sins, was buried, was raised on the third day and appeared to many (15:3-8). He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, the last Adam who became a life-giving spirit, and he must reign until God has put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy being death (15:20-28, 45). The letter ends with a prayer of the earliest believers, Maranatha, Our Lord, come (16:22).

Interpretive challenges

Head coverings (11:2-16)

Paul says a woman should cover her head when she prays or prophesies, appealing to creation, to nature and to the practice of the churches. Many interpreters think the covering was a cultural sign of a woman's honor and marital status in Roman Corinth, so the principle of honoring God and respecting the distinction between men and women remains while the custom changes. Others think the practice itself should continue. Both views note that Paul assumes women are praying and prophesying in the gathering.

Should women keep silent? (14:34-35)

Because 11:5 assumes women speak in prayer and prophecy, few take 14:34-35 as a ban on every word. Some think Paul is restricting disruptive questions or the public judging of prophecies (14:29); others see a principle about authoritative teaching in the church, read with 1 Timothy 2:12. In a few manuscripts these verses appear after verse 40, which leads some scholars to doubt that they are original, but every known manuscript of the letter contains them.

Handing a man over to Satan (5:5)

Paul tells the church to put out of its fellowship a man living with his father's wife, handing him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Most interpreters understand this as exclusion from the church into the realm outside, aimed at repentance rather than revenge. Some link it with the restored offender of 2 Corinthians 2:5-11.

Little-known facts

Maranatha is Aramaic. Paul writes to Greek speakers but keeps this Aramaic prayer (16:22), which shows that the earliest Aramaic-speaking believers already prayed to Jesus as Lord.
Probably the oldest written account of the Lord's Supper. Since most scholars date 1 Corinthians before the Gospels, 11:23-26 is likely the first time those words were put in writing.
An invitation to check the facts. Paul says that most of the more than five hundred witnesses of the risen Christ were still alive when he wrote (15:6).
The tribunal can still be seen. The raised speaker's platform in the forum of Corinth, identified with the judgment seat where Paul stood before Gallio (Acts 18:12), survives among the ruins.
A perishable wreath. Winners at the Isthmian Games received a crown of pine or celery leaves, the kind of wreath Paul contrasts with an imperishable one (9:25).
A famous claim needs care. The ancient writer Strabo speaks of more than a thousand temple prostitutes at the temple of Aphrodite, but he describes the old Greek city destroyed in 146 BC, and many scholars doubt that it applies to the Roman Corinth of Paul's day.

How to study 1 Corinthians

Start with the cross

Read chapters 1-4 first and slowly, because the message of Christ crucified is the lens for everything else. Then read the whole letter in one or two sittings, listing each problem and Paul's answer.

A three-step method

For each section ask:

What was the problem in Corinth? Look for clues in the text and in the city's culture.
What gospel truth does Paul apply to it? The cross, the Spirit, the body of Christ, the resurrection.
Where does the same problem appear among us, and what would obedience look like?

Teaching it in a class or small group

A ten-week series can follow the topics: divided loyalties (1-2); servants and builders (3-4); discipline and lawsuits (5-6); marriage and singleness (7); freedom and love (8-9); lessons from the wilderness (10); the Lord's Supper (11); gifts and the body (12); love (13-14); the resurrection and the collection (15-16). Handle sensitive subjects such as sexuality and divorce with care, and let the group see that Paul corrects a church he loves, always pointing them to Christ.

1 Corinthians chapter by chapter

Every chapter of 1 Corinthians with a summary, key verses explained, themes, people, questions with answers and application.

Frequently asked questions about 1 Corinthians

Who wrote 1 Corinthians?

The apostle Paul, who names himself with Sosthenes as co-sender (1 Corinthians 1:1) and writes the final greeting with his own hand (16:21). Virtually all scholars accept Paul's authorship. Around AD 96, Clement of Rome, writing to the same church, told the Corinthians to take up the letter of the blessed apostle Paul, who had already warned them about factions.

When was 1 Corinthians written?

Around AD 53-55, from Ephesus, during Paul's third missionary journey. Paul says he will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost because a wide door for effective work has opened to him (16:8-9), which fits his long stay there described in Acts 19. The letter was written a few years after he founded the church, around AD 50-51.

What is the main message of 1 Corinthians?

The cross of Christ must shape every part of church life. Pride, division, immorality and selfish freedom contradict the gospel; love, holiness, mutual service and orderly worship display it. The letter ends with the resurrection: because Christ was raised, believers will be raised, and their labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

How many chapters does 1 Corinthians have and how is it organized?

It has 16 chapters. Chapters 1-6 respond to reports Paul received about divisions, immorality and lawsuits. From chapter 7 he answers the church's letter, introducing several topics with the words now concerning: marriage (7), food offered to idols (8-10), worship and spiritual gifts (11-14) and the collection (16). Chapter 15 defends the resurrection of the dead.

Did Paul write other letters to the Corinthians?

Yes. In 1 Corinthians 5:9 Paul mentions an earlier letter telling them not to associate with sexually immoral people, and in 2 Corinthians 2:4 he speaks of a letter written with many tears. Neither has survived as a separate letter, unless parts are preserved in 2 Corinthians, as some scholars think. So 1 Corinthians was at least Paul's second letter to Corinth.

What does 1 Corinthians 13 teach about love?

Paul shows that even the greatest gifts are worthless without love, describes love by what it does and refuses to do (it is patient and kind, not envious, not arrogant, not resentful) and declares that love never ends. In context it is not mainly a wedding text but a correction of believers who used spiritual gifts to show off instead of serving others.

Are tongues and prophecy still for today?

Christians differ. Some believe that gifts such as tongues and prophecy continue in the church until Christ returns, when the perfect comes (13:10), and seek to practice them in the order Paul requires. Others believe these gifts served to establish the church in the apostolic age and then ceased. Both agree with Paul that love matters more than any gift and that worship must build up the whole church (14:26, 40).

What is baptism for the dead in 1 Corinthians 15:29?

It is one of the most puzzling verses in the Bible, with dozens of proposed explanations. Paul mentions people being baptized on behalf of the dead without approving the practice, only to show that it makes no sense if the dead are not raised. Some think it refers to people baptized because of the testimony of believers who had died. No other passage mentions it, so it should not be made a doctrine.