1 Corinthians · chapter 1 of 16
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1 Corinthians 1 opens Paul's letter to the church in Corinth. After a greeting and thanks for the gifts God gave them, Paul urges them to end the divisions that formed around different leaders. He reminds them that the message of the cross looks foolish to the world but is the power and wisdom of God for those who are being saved.
Corinth was a wealthy, cultured and very mixed port city, and Paul had founded the church there on his second missionary journey. Years later he received troubling news about the congregation. This letter answers those problems, and the first chapter sets out the center of everything: Christ crucified as the true wisdom of God.
Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, along with his brother Sosthenes, and greets the church of God in Corinth, called to be holy together with all who call on the name of the Lord. He wishes them grace and peace. He then thanks God that in Christ they have been enriched in all speech and knowledge and lack no gift as they wait for the revealing of Jesus Christ. He affirms that God is faithful and will keep them to the end.
Paul then turns to the main problem. Some from Chloe's household have told him there are quarrels among them: some say they follow Paul, others Apollos, others Cephas and others Christ. Paul asks whether Christ is divided, whether Paul was crucified for them or whether they were baptized in his name. He is glad he baptized only Crispus, Gaius and the household of Stephanas, because Christ sent him not to baptize but to preach the gospel, without clever speech that would empty the cross of its power.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those who are being saved. God made the wisdom of the world foolish: Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but Paul preaches Christ crucified, a stumbling block to some and folly to others, yet to those who are called, the power and wisdom of God. Paul closes by reminding them that few of them were wise, powerful or noble. God chose what is weak and foolish to shame the strong, so that no one may boast before him, and whoever boasts should boast in the Lord.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Paul appeals to the brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ, to agree with one another and to have no divisions, but to be united in the same mind. Unity is not an optional extra: it is the foundation of the whole letter.
The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. Paul shows that the gospel cannot be measured by the standards of human wisdom.
Paul preaches Christ crucified, a scandal to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, the power and wisdom of God. The cross is the center of the message, not one topic among many.
It is because of God that believers are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. So no one has anything to brag about: whoever wants to boast must boast in the Lord.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Sosthenes, whom Paul calls his brother. — 1 Corinthians 1:1
Answer: Because in Christ they were enriched in all speech and knowledge and lacked no spiritual gift. — 1 Corinthians 1:4-7
Answer: From some members of Chloe's household. — 1 Corinthians 1:11
Answer: They said they belonged to Paul, to Apollos, to Cephas or to Christ. — 1 Corinthians 1:12
Answer: Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. — 1 Corinthians 1:22
Answer: What is foolish and weak in the world. — 1 Corinthians 1:27
1 Corinthians 1 reminds us that churches divide easily when people admire a leader, a style or a group more than Christ. In a Sunday school class or small group it is worth asking whether any preferences are separating believers, and what it would mean to put Christ at the center again.
The chapter also corrects our idea of success. God chose the weak and the foolish so that no one could boast. That comforts those who feel inadequate and humbles those who trust their own merits. Everything we have comes from Christ, and the only glory that fits is the glory given to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 1 makes it clear that the church lives by the cross, not by admiration for its leaders. That wisdom of God, which looks like foolishness to the world, is the theme Paul develops in chapter 2, where he explains how he proclaimed it in Corinth and how the Spirit makes it understood.
Because in the ancient world crucifixion was the most shameful death, and proclaiming a crucified man as Lord sounded absurd. Paul acknowledges that reaction, yet he insists that God's seeming weakness is stronger than human strength and that his saving power is revealed there.
Apollos was a Jewish teacher from Alexandria who taught eloquently in Corinth after Paul. Cephas is the Aramaic name of Peter, an apostle of Jesus. Paul does not set them against each other; what he criticizes is that the Corinthians used them as party banners.
No. Paul says Christ did not send him mainly to baptize but to preach the gospel, and he is glad he baptized few so that no one could say they were baptized in his name. The point is that baptism belongs to Christ and must not be used to form factions.