Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother [Paul does not here call himself the slave of Christ as he afterwards did when he wrote to the Romans, for he now needed to assert the divinity of his apostleship because certain Judaizers had affirmed i... [ Continue Reading ]
unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours [All Christians are sanctified, i. e., set apart from the world and consecrated to God, and in... [ Continue Reading ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [See note at 1 Thessalonians 1:1]... [ Continue Reading ]
I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;... [ Continue Reading ]
that in everything [in every respect] _ye were enriched in him, in all utterance_ [so that they were able to preach, teach, prophesy, and speak with tongues-- 1 Corinthians 12:8-10; 2 Corinthians 8:7; 2 Corinthians 11:6] _and all knowledge_ [so that they had perception of doctrine, discerning of spi... [ Continue Reading ]
even as the testimony of [about] _Christ was confirmed in you_ [Paul here asserts that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which characterized the times when he preached to them and converted them, were still equally manifest among them]:... [ Continue Reading ]
so that [causing that] _ye come behind_ [other churches]_ in no gift_ [or miracle-working power of the Spirit]; _waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ_ [Christ taught all his followers to be constantly ready for his coming, and the Corinthians were conforming to this rule];... [ Continue Reading ]
who shall also confirm you [assuming that they earnestly desired and labored to be confirmed, or kept stedfast] _unto the end_ [i. e., unto the coming of Christ], _that ye be unreprovable_ [unimpeachable, because forgiven-- Colossians 1:22; 1 Timothy 3:10; Titus 1:6] _in the day_ [judgment day] _of... [ Continue Reading ]
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. [The faithfulness of God insured that it would be no fault of his if the Corinthians failed to attain fellowship with Jesus; i. e., a close intimacy with him in the present, and an association with him... [ Continue Reading ]
Now I beseech you [a voice of entreaty], _brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ_ [a voice of authority, enforced by threatened judgment (1 Corinthians 4:21). In this Epistle Paul has already used the name of Jesus nine times, thus emphasizing its virtue before he uses it as the symbol... [ Continue Reading ]
For it hath been signified [made known] _unto me concerning you, my brethren_ [as they indeed were, despite their shortcomings], _by them that are of the household of Chloe_ [no doubt one of their number], _that there are contentions among you_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
Is Christ divided? [the church is called the "body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 1 Corinthians 12:27), and Paul asks if that body can be cut in pieces and parceled out to human leaders] _was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?_ [Paul shows the disinterestedness o... [ Continue Reading ]
I thank God [who, foreseeing the future, prevented him from making such a mistake] _that I baptized none of you, save Crispus_ [the ruler of the synagogue-- Acts 18:8] _and Gaius_ [from whose house Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans-- Romans 16:23];... [ Continue Reading ]
lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name. [Paul knew that they would think it unreasonable that he should be accused of baptizing in his own name, but it was equally unreasonable in them to suppose that he was making disciples in his own name. Though many converts were made at Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
And I baptized also the household of Stephanas [this man, being then present with Paul in Ephesus, probably reminded the apostle of his baptism]: _besides, I know not whether I baptized any other_. [Inspiration did not make the apostle remember such matters.]... [ Continue Reading ]
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. [A baptism is part of the commission (Matthew 28:19). Paul was sent to baptize; but it was not necessary that the apostle should administer the rite in person. It suffic... [ Continue Reading ]
For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. [From this point Paul proceeds to contrast the "words," or message of the cross, with the "wisdom of words," or worldly wisdom, i. e., the philosophical messages or schemes of men, of whic... [ Continue Reading ]
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought.... [ Continue Reading ]
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? [triumphant questions, as at Isaiah 36:19] _hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?_... [ Continue Reading ]
For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. [Here Paul quotes Isaiah 24:14 to show that God had foretold how he would make foolish and useless all kinds of worldly wisdo... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom:... [ Continue Reading ]
but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness;... [ Continue Reading ]
but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. [The apostle here enlarges the thought of 1 Corinthians 1:18; and describes the two methods by which worldly wisdom sought to be led to God, or to know him when he revealed himself as he did in Christ. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
For behold your calling [the "principle God has followed in calling you"--Beza; a principle whereby "God," as Augustine says, "caught orators by fishermen, not fishermen by orators"], _brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called_ [The wise were moved by... [ Continue Reading ]
but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world [Psalms 8:2; John 2:5], _that he might put to shame the things that are strong_;... [ Continue Reading ]
and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, yea and the things that are not [the people whom the world called "nobodies"]_, that he might bring to nought the things that are_ :... [ Continue Reading ]
that no flesh [no minister or other instrument of his] _should glory_ [take pride in himself, and aspire to be head of a faction] _before God_. [The Corinthians in endeavoring to exalt their leaders were running counter to the counsels of God, who had rejected as his instruments all those who had wo... [ Continue Reading ]
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption :... [ Continue Reading ]
that, according as it is written [Jeremiah 9:24], _He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord_. [By the power of God, therefore, and not by the human wisdom of preachers, were the Corinthians brought into Christ, in whom they had found a wisdom of God superior to all worldly wisdom, and also the bl... [ Continue Reading ]