Annotations for 1 Corinthians

1:2 Paul addressed the Corinthian believers as holy people (Gk. hagiois, lit. “set apart” or “holy” ones), a favorite description for Christians in this corrective letter. He used the word more than 60 times in his letters. Through Jesus, believers have been forgiven and set apart from sin. Paul reminded the Corinthians of this fact. They were God’s holy, sanctified people—and they ought to be acting as such.

1:11 Quarrels (Gk. eris) suggests a “sharp challenge” or “strife.” Paul received information about these “quarrels” from members of Chloe’s household (see Chloe).

1:21 Quarreling and divisiveness had erupted among the Corinthians in the name of “wisdom.” The people within the church had aligned themselves with various Christian leaders, boasting in the wisdom of one over the other. The theme of wisdom dominated Paul’s discussion (1Co 1–3). Paul argued that God’s wisdom is foolishness to humanly-conceived wisdom. On their own, people fail to know God. They can only gain a true knowledge of God through the Spirit, whom they receive upon believing the “foolishness” of the gospel. Paul asserted that it pleased God to arrange things in this manner. If God were to be found through human wisdom, he would only be accessible to the elite. But by extending salvation through his “foolishness” (which is wiser than human wisdom, 1Co 1:25), God forces his creation to trust and glory in him, and not in the wisdom of sinful flesh (v. 29).

1:26–28 Paul explained that the gospel of Christ appears foolish to human reason. To further his point, he encouraged the Corinthians to remember their own humble origins. According to human standards, most of them were not intelligent, influential or rich. On the contrary, they were members of the common lower class and would have been considered weak, lowly and even despised. Nevertheless, God called them. A “call” (Gk. klēsis) is an invitation or an official summons by God to enter into a personal relationship with him. A call is not based on human wisdom or status but on the grace of God who, in his “foolishness,” has chosen the unworthy things of the world to shame those of high human worth. This was done so that his chosen people would glory in him and not in their own status or accomplishments.

2:6–8 God’s wisdom is a “mystery” that was formerly hidden from human eyes but was revealed through Christ and made understandable to believers through the Spirit. The Corinthians had the wisdom of God, yet were living by the wisdom of human beings (1Co 3:1).

2:11 The key to understanding God’s wisdom lies with the Spirit. No individual possesses the ability to know God or God’s wisdom; only God can know God. The thrust of Paul’s argument was easily understood by the Corinthians, who were familiar with the Greek philosophic principle of “like is known only by like.” The Spirit knows the things of God because the Spirit is God. The Spirit is therefore the link between God and humanity that makes knowing God possible.

2:14–16 The woman without the Spirit cannot receive the things of God, for they are foolishness to her. “Foolish” means dull, insipid or tasteless, and this is precisely how spiritual things are perceived by those who do not have the Spirit. Such individuals lack the capacity to discern the truth, excellence or beauty of divine things, judging them to be absurd and distasteful. Paul valued self-judgment (1Co 11:31), constructive criticism (1Co 11:17) and church discipline (1Co 5:3–5), but he argued that believers are ultimately accountable to God alone and cannot be judged by those who are operating out of a carnal mind-set. Because the Corinthians were not demonstrating “the mind of Christ,” they were not in a position to judge Paul.

3:2–3 The Corinthians were preoccupied with attaining wisdom and in wisdom’s name had aligned themselves with their favorite leader. Their divisiveness revealed human pride at the root of their desire. According to Paul, true spirituality does not lead to an elitist attitude but rather to a deeper understanding of the profound mystery of God—Christ crucified (1Co 3:2).

3:10–15 The judgment seat of Christ (Gk. bēma) is not the place for assigning eternal destiny but rather for determining rewards for believers (see Ro 14:10; 2Co 5:10; chart, Judgments in the New Testament). This judgment is marked by these characteristics:

• Only those whose foundation is laid in Jesus Christ will appear (1Co 3:11);

• Every believer has a choice to build with the valuable and lasting or with the worthless and fleeting (vv. 12–13);

• These works will be judged by the discerning gaze of Christ himself (v. 13; see Rev 1:14; 2:18);

• Rewards will be given for those works of permanent value (1Co 3:14);

• Worthless and insincere works will be destroyed, but the believer will be saved, even without reward (v. 15).

3:16–17 Paul described the Corinthians as God’s temple (Gk. naos), referring to the innermost dwelling place of God, the Most Holy Place, in contrast to the entire temple complex (Gk. hiera). Because of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, the Corinthians were God’s Most Holy Place. The word “destroy” in the Greek text means “spoil” or “ruin” instead of “annihilate.” The idea then is that when an individual spoils God’s temple, God will then spoil him. Paul pointed out that God had only one temple in Corinth, and the Corinthians were that temple.

4:1 Many Corinthian believers were rejecting both Paul’s teaching and his authority. Paul reasserted his authority, while emphasizing his role as “servant” and a person entrusted with the mysteries of God—the truths of the gospel. The word translated as “servant” (Gk. oikonomos) refers to one who is entrusted with the administration of his master’s business or property.

4:3–5 Paul left the judgment of motives and thoughts of others completely in God’s domain. He affirmed his own indifference to the Corinthians’ judgment of him; he lacked fear for any judgment of himself by others; and he refused to judge himself (v. 3). Nevertheless, Paul did not consider his thoughts and actions automatically justified, and he continued to declare that ultimately God was his judge (v. 4; chart, The Judgments in the New Testament). This “time” (Gk. kairos) is the Lord’s chosen time rather than “time” (Gk. chronos) in the sense of merely a sequence of chronological events. “The motives of the heart” suggests the motives behind actions.

4:7–9 The Corinthians viewed their gifts as personal accomplishments, and they were critical of others, particularly Paul. Conquering Roman generals staged parades to display their armies as well as the booty of their conquest. At the end of the procession, positioned as a “display,” were the prisoners condemned to die in the arena. Paul used this imagery to convey the utter humiliation and degradation with which he was being treated by the Corinthians. The Corinthians were puffed up with their own self-worth. Figuratively, they had positioned themselves at the front of the parade as the victors and Paul at the end as a condemned prisoner.

4:18–20 Some Corinthians had become arrogant in their own wisdom. They claimed to be spiritual, but Paul reminded them that true religion does not consist in the professions of the mouth, but in the reality of the Spirit’s control of one’s life.

5:1 Jewish law forbade a son to marry his stepmother (Lev 18:8; Dt 22:30). This incest was also taboo in Greek culture. Nevertheless, a man in the church at Corinth was sexually involved with his father’s wife or perhaps even married to her. Paul was incredulous that in the name of “wisdom” they could bring the gospel into disrepute and condone a kind of sexual immorality even disallowed by pagans.

5:6–8 Israelite women used the sourdough process for making their bread. Every week they would withhold a small portion of bread dough and allow it to ferment as a “starter” for the following week’s batch. When added to new ingredients, the yeast in the “starter” would ferment the whole lump. This process continued for an entire year until the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Ex 12:15; 13:6) when all the old starter with its yeast was cleared from the house so that a completely fresh start might be made. Yeast is symbolic of the process by which evil spreads to affect an entire community. The Corinthians failed to realize that the incestuous man’s sin was like this yeast.

5:13 While believers are to associate freely with all people outside the church, their fellowship within the church is to be limited to those who are committed to holiness. Those who persist in sinning—not those who are struggling to overcome sin—do not belong to the community.

6:1–8 Two members of the church in Corinth had taken a grievance before the civil magistrates at the judgment seat (Gk. bēma), publicly located in the midst of the city marketplace. Paul was appalled that Spirit-filled believers should submit their disagreements to the judgment of nonbelievers, who were totally lacking in spiritual insight (vv. 5–6). Pagan courts were not the proper arena for the administration of justice between Christians. The ethics of Christian behavior demanded that either the dispute be resolved within the church (v. 4) or that the wronged party choose the more excellent way and endure the injustice without seeking redress (vv. 7–8).

6:12 All things are lawful for me was the theological slogan the Corinthians had adopted to justify their behavior. Paul affirmed his own doctrine of Christian liberty. But the Corinthians needed to understand that the “lawfulness” of any given behavior was qualified by whether it is “beneficial.” Freedom to act as one pleases is not really freedom at all. It is the most insidious form of bondage. Paul provided guidelines for decision making (see 1Co 8, Decision Making).

6:18–19 Some within the Christian community had continued to visit prostitutes, arguing that they were unaffected by behavior that merely involved the body. Paul sternly pointed out that what Christians intimately do with their bodies affects the spiritual state of their souls. This is particularly the case with sexual sin. The “one flesh” union of marital sex reflects realities about God. Sexual activity outside of this context violates the image that God has stamped into our psyches and even into our bodies as male and female.

7:4 Normal sexual behavior is summarized by the apostle as an intimacy in which the bodies of husband and wife belong to one another. The phrase “authority over” (Gk. exousiazō, lit. “has rights over”) applies equally to both and connotes exclusivity (see 1Co 6:16). Furthermore, neither is to withhold marital rights from the other except for a spiritual pursuit, and that only with consent and limitation (1Co 7:5; see 1Co 6:17). Paul may have been addressing some who were trying to practice celibacy within marriage under the guise of spiritual superiority (1Co 7:5). Nevertheless, Paul is also making clear the importance of physical intimacy in marriage by speaking in the strongest terms (“deprive,” meaning “defraud”) of sexual abstinence within marriage.

7:8 Marriage is a temporary institution and thus will not continue throughout eternity (Mt 22:30). Being married is of no greater value than being single but is simply a picture of the greater relationship that exists between Christ and the believer. Those who are called to singleness for the sake of the gospel are in a special position, not “distracted” by the day-to-day realities of the human marital relationship, to concentrate more fully on the eternal relationship to which marriage points and to which all are ultimately called.

7:9 To burn has been interpreted primarily in two ways: as a reference to the fires of judgment, which might ensue as a result of sexual sin, or as a metaphor for unbridled passions. The latter seems more likely since the emphasis is on self-control and since Paul is here addressing believers.

7:14–16 In this example, two non-Christians married, and one was converted. The emphasis is redemptive, though the passage itself is difficult to interpret. Some consider “sanctified” to be a reference to the legitimacy of the marriage (v. 14). Others consider the apostle’s concern to be the believer’s moral and spiritual impact on the unbelieving partner and the couple’s children. The latter seems more accurate—not suggesting that salvation comes to all through the believer but suggesting that the sanctified life of a believer can channel the blessings of God to all in the household. The redemptive theme is that eventually the unbelieving partner would be won to Christ (1Co 7:16; see 2Co 6, Husbands; 1Pe 3:1–2, note).

7:17–19 Celibacy, circumcision and freedom were no more or less spiritual than marriage, uncircumcision and slavery. Paul was concerned that the Corinthians not seek change as though it had spiritual significance, which it did not.

7:29–31 Paul reminded the Corinthians of the impermanence of the world and the shortness of their lives. To describe the shortness of time, Paul used a word (Gk. sustellō, lit. “to send together”) that suggested “short” in the sense of all events were drawing together toward the time of the Lord’s return. Therefore, the Corinthians were to keep themselves as free as possible from the ordinary pressures and distractions of life. Marriage, the processes of birth and death, material possessions, and all the other things that belong to this age are of a temporary nature. These are legitimate, but Christians are to view them from the perspective of eternity. Their lives are to focus on the eternal and not on the temporal.

7:35 See Ps 62; Celibacy; 1Co 12, Singleness; Jn 2.

7:36–37 Paul indicated that if a man had a fiancée and wanted to get married, he should do so. Paul continued to be clear in upholding the sanctity of marriage, while indicating the beauty of a celibate life committed unto God.

8:1–2 Food offered to idols could allude to meat sold in the markets or to meat served at such banquets. The feasts were attended by some converts to Christianity who argued that since idols were “nothing,” they were free to eat the meat. Furthermore, they looked down upon those whose consciences prohibited their participation. Paul argued that love and not knowledge was the basis of Christian conduct. Although idols were indeed “nothing,” this little bit of knowledge had puffed them up and had prevented their correct behavior toward their Christian friends.

8:10–12 Real idolatry, not just the eating of meat, was the issue at hand. Paul denied that any true “gods” were involved in paganism but pointed out what the Corinthians failed to note: Pagan religion was often the locus of demonic activity. The issue was not that of merely “offending” someone in the church but of weakening someone’s commitment to Christ. The Corinthians had arrogantly insisted on their own rights and freedoms and had jeopardized the spiritual well-being of others.

8:13 See 1 Corinthians 6:12, note.

9:10–11 Though Paul may have been supported financially in some way by patrons like Lydia (see Ac 16:15), he seemed to favor supporting himself through tent-making. Problems arose when the Corinthians observed other teachers (perhaps Apollos and Peter) accepting patronage. Because of Paul’s refusal to do the same, they began to question the authenticity of his apostleship. Paul argued that although he had the right to be supported by them, he also had the right to refuse support. He had chosen to preach the gospel without pay so that he could not be accused of benefiting financially from what he taught. By presenting the gospel “free of charge,” he himself was “free” and would “belong to no one,” constrained to preach only by obedience to Christ (1Co 9:19).

9:19 Paul conformed to the culture and practices of those with whom he worked. When with Jews, he observed Jewish custom; when with Gentiles, Gentile custom. With the “weak,” those who were over-scrupulous in their observances, he was particularly careful to regulate his conduct to their standards. Paul’s adaptability appeared as “inconsistency” to his critics. They had failed to note that his “inconsistency” was governed by a greater principle to which he consistently yielded. “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1Co 9:22). Paul was uncompromising on beliefs and behaviors that were governed by the gospel but flexible and adaptable on those matters that were not.

9:27 The Greeks hosted the great athletic festivals of the Olympic and Isthmian games. The latter were held at Corinth and were therefore familiar to the recipients of Paul’s letter. Contestants in the games participated in ten months of mandatory training. If they failed to complete this training, they were barred from competition. The major attraction at the games was the lengthy race, and that was the illustration Paul used to depict the faithful Christian life. Paul contended that his actions had not been those of an aimless competitor but were comparable to those of the athlete who had trained with the goal of winning. Paul had disciplined himself—curtailing his own rights for exercising his freedoms—all for the sake of the gospel. He admonished the Corinthians to do the same so that they, too, might attain the eternal prize.

10:4 The Israelites were supplied with water from the rock of Meribah both at the beginning (Ex 17:1–7) and toward the end of their desert wanderings in the Pentateuch narrative (Nu 20:2–13). Jewish legend referred to a water-supplying “rock” which traveled alongside the people throughout their 40-year journey. Paul did not endorse this account as literal history but affirmed that a supernatural “Rock” had indeed accompanied them, and that “Rock” was Jesus.

10:11–12 The Corinthians had become overconfident in their spirituality; so Paul directed their attention to the example of the Israelite people. He pointed out that although the Israelites had consumed the same spiritual food and drink as the Corinthians, they had failed to please God (vv. 3–4). They had fallen into sins of idolatry and sexual immorality, complaining against God and tempting him. To “tempt” (Gk. ekpeirazō, lit. “to put to the test”) God is to try or test his patience thoroughly (v. 10). The Israelites had pushed God to the limit by constantly compromising his commands. Paul admonished the Corinthians to exercise caution, for they were beginning to place confidence in their own spiritual state and were thus susceptible to falling into sin just as the Israelites had done.

10:21–22 The cup of libation poured at the end of pagan feasts in honor of the sponsoring deity was incompatible with drinking the cup of the Lord. The Lord’s cup, symbolic of the believer’s relationship to God, excluded the possibility of any relationship to demons. Furthermore, sharing the bread of the Lord, which was symbolic of the believer’s commitment to Christ’s body—the church—barred them from communing (and therefore being bound) with people who communed with demons (v. 17). Attendance at pagan feasts therefore violated both the vertical dimension of their relationship to God and the horizontal dimension of their relationship to each other.

10:23 See 1Co 6:12, note; 8, Decision Making.

10:31 See 1Co 6:12, note; 8, Decision Making.

11:3 Paul presented headship as divinely ordered: God-Christ, Christ-man, man-woman. The Christian notion of headship is connected with the idea of responsibility, with the purpose of service. Jesus commanded those with power to exercise their roles with love, humility and justice (Lk 22:24–27). The relationship between redeemed husband and wife is a model that is to reflect to the world the nature of God’s relationship with his church. Additionally, the relationship between God and Christ helps us understand what headship means. The Father and Son are always equal in essence, including the time of Jesus’ subordination during his incarnation; yet they have different roles (Php 2:6–7). Paul was careful to point out that they are interdependent and equal—“everything comes from God” (1Co 11:8–12).

11:11–12 Paul speaks of mutual dependence of man upon woman and woman upon man. In the community of Christ, no gender should live autonomously from the other, and no gender should exploit the other. See also 1 Corinthians 7:4–5 on the mutual authority of husbands and wives over the other’s body.

11:23–34 The observance of the Lord’s Supper begins with giving “thanks” (Gk. eucharisteō, lit. “give thanks,” transliterated “eucharist,” v. 24). This experience is also a memorial of Christ’s atonement on the cross (vv. 24–25), an experience of fellowship among believers (v. 18), a testimony of Christ’s death in their behalf (v. 26) and a means by which believers are challenged to examine their spiritual lives (v. 28). The sharing of a common loaf indicated the unity of the body of Christ. Eating the bread and drinking the cup are also a reminder of the Lord’s sacrificial death on the cross.

11:29 As an alternative to the cultic feasts of the pagans, the Corinthians had begun to sponsor their own “love feasts,” celebrated in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper. Apparently, the rich Christians were feasting and drinking in isolated cliques, while the poor remained hungry. Emphasizing social divisions among themselves was an offense against the body of Christ, for it contradicted both the purpose of Christ’s self-sacrifice and the spirit in which it was made. The reality of the Corinthians’ common standing in the Lord was not to be compromised by prejudice and divisive, judgmental spirits (v. 30).

12:3 The title Lord (Gk. kurios), a term of respect for people of high rank or distinction, was also used in a unique way to refer to God. Confessing Jesus as Lord was understood as confessing Jesus as God. Whether or not the Spirit of God was guiding someone was determined by whether or not that person would confess “Jesus is Lord.”

12:13 All Christians, regardless of race, social standing or gender, are baptized into Christ’s body and receive Christ’s Spirit (Gal 3:28). The implication is not that social, cultural or gender differences should be obliterated but rather that these differences are of no consequence with regard to one’s access to God.

12:20–24 The Corinthians regarded some spiritual gifts as superior to others. Paul argued that just as the physical body is composed of parts with different roles and functions, so the body of the church exhibits variety in the giftedness of its members. Furthermore, he argued that the appearance of bodily parts is deceptive. Their apparent “weakness” has no direct relationship to their value or necessity. The hidden internal organs are not attractive, yet are much more essential to one’s health than the visible, external ones. Also, the “unpresentable” sexual organs are given higher honor by being carefully clothed (v. 23). The members of the church body that appear to be weak and less worthy are accorded greater honor either by the importance of their function or by the special attention they require.

12:31 The Corinthians were preoccupied with who was wiser, more spiritual, more liberated, or more important. Therefore, they desired to have what they viewed as the best spiritual gift—speaking in tongues. Paul did not rebuke them for seeking “that gift” but pointed out that their assessment of the value of tongues was erroneous. The best gift, he argued, was not the flashy outward one but rather a gift such as prophecy, which edified the whole church (1Co 14:12). Paul wanted them to use their gifts in “the most excellent way”—the way of love.

13:2 Paul considered the gift of prophecy to be of primary significance for the Christian community (1Co 14:1–25; 1Th 5:19–20). The Corinthians, on the other hand, favored “knowledge” (1Co 1:5; 8:1). Love is the essential undergirding for the proper management of any spiritual gift.

13:12–13 The city of Corinth was famous for producing some of the finest bronze mirrors in antiquity. Paul used the analogy of looking in a mirror to explain the indirect nature of one’s view of God and his ways. One “sees” God and his “mysteries” only indirectly and partially. Although good, the image is limited (v. 12) and falls short of the real thing. Spiritual gifts were undoubtedly good but were only necessary for the present age of partial seeing and knowledge. Christian love, on the other hand, was eternal. Paul wanted the Corinthians to correct their perspective and focus on the greatness of the eternal rather than that of the temporal.

14:1 The verb to prophesy (Gk. prophēteuō, lit. “to speak forth”) is found more than 25 times in the NT. Paul used it 11 times, all in 1 Corinthians. To prophesy is to speak a divine message as directed by the Spirit of God. The message may be ethical, that is, to comfort, exhort, teach (1Co 14:3), revelatory or revealing supernatural knowledge of a particular situation (Mt 26:68) or it may point to the future or foretell (Mt 15:7). Prophecy is Spirit-inspired speech from God to his creation (1Co 14:2–3). All prophetic messages were to be “tested” for their prophetic character (1Co 14:29; 1Th 5:19–21) and for their agreement with the teachings of Scripture (Dt 13:1–5; Mt 7:15; 24:11; 2Pe 2:1).

14:5 The Corinthians had a tendency to exaggerate the importance of the gift of speaking in tongues. This gift, they reasoned, constituted the highest and greatest form of spirituality. Paul disagreed. He compared the gift of tongues with that of prophecy. He pointed out that the benefit of tongues was limited by the ability of the congregation to understand what was said. Prophecy, on the other hand, was intelligible; thus, it was “greater” because it served the whole body: In order to be “great” in the kingdom, one must become the servant of all (Mk 10:43). Since the Corinthians were intent on seeking the greatest gifts, Paul argued that they should seek those that served the whole body rather than those that merely benefited themselves.

14:26 Everyone had opportunity to participate in the corporate ministry of the church in NT times. During worship, various members offered hymns, instruction, tongues, revelations and interpretations. Paul encouraged this practice, but stressed that all aspects of corporate worship were to build up the church. To “build up” (Gk. oikodome, lit. “house building”) was used figuratively as growing, improving or maturing. Paul was concerned that spiritual gifts not be exercised in the interest of self-development or self-display, but rather according to the law of love that served and built others up.

14:34–35 Paul recognized that women were praying and prophesying in public worship and did not condemn them for doing so (1Co 11:5). Yet here he commanded that women “remain silent in the churches” (1Co 14:34). One way of resolving what some consider a discrepancy is by considering the particular type of speech that Paul disallowed. In this passage, he was probably discussing the gift of prophecy, and more specifically, the evaluation or judgment of prophecy (1Co 14:29–39). Paul allowed women to participate in worship and, indeed, expected that they would do so (v. 26), but here he may have been forbidding them from giving spoken criticisms of the prophecies that were made because he was concerned that the principle of headship be evidenced in the public assembly of believers. Women’s silence during the evaluation of prophecy was one of the ways in which this was to be accomplished. Another way to understand this command for women to be silent is in relationship to Paul’s command to the believers to do all things “in a fitting and orderly way” (v. 40). God “is not a God of disorder” (v. 33). The women could have been displaying some kind of disorderly conduct (v. 35). Others suggest, since the subject of major discussion in chapter 14 is tongues, that the prohibition to women is to refrain from ecstatic utterance. Clearly this cannot mean that women are forbidden altogether to speak in the assembly (1Co 11:5).

15:2 To hold fast firmly to keep in memory. It implies continued holding and lasting possession. Paul wanted the Corinthians to hold firmly to the essence of the gospel—Jesus’ death and resurrection—lest their faith be “in vain,” that is, without cause or purpose.

15:4 The resurrection body of Christ had these characteristics: he could pass through shut doors (Jn 20:19,26); he could vanish from view (Lk 24:31); his body was real and could be touched (Lk 24:39; Jn 20:17,27); he was able to eat (Lk 24:42–43).

15:17 Some Ancient Greek philosophy viewed everything spiritual as intrinsically good and everything physical as intrinsically evil. To those holding this view, the idea of a resurrected body would have been repugnant. The Corinthians were affected by contemporary philosophy. Although they had faith in the resurrection of Christ, some had begun to question the resurrection of believers. Paul demonstrated that the two go hand in hand (vv. 13–19). Resurrection is not only possible but is essential to the Christian faith. In order to vindicate the work of his Son, God raised Christ from the dead. Therefore, a denial of the resurrection of the dead is a denial of the gospel. Paul argued that if Christ were not risen from the dead, all believers throughout history would have believed for nothing, lived for nothing and died for nothing.

15:23 Prior to reaping their fields, Israelites were to bring a representative sample of their crop to the priests as an offering to the Lord (Lev 23:10). Full harvest was not allowed until this sample, called the “firstfruits,” was offered. This practice was behind Paul’s imagery of Christ as the “firstfruits.” Christ’s resurrection was the first sample of the coming harvest of the resurrection of the believing dead. He himself was the offering made to the Father on their behalf. In referring to Christ as “firstfruits,” Paul furthered his resurrection argument. The “firstfruits” were only the initial installment; the rest of the crop would follow. Therefore, in order to complete the Father’s harvest, it was necessary that all those who believed in Christ also be resurrected.

15:29 A difficult and obscure text cannot structure Biblical doctrine. Though there is no easy explanation, the sense seems to be that the preposition “for” (Gk. huper) is better translated “concerning” so that Christian baptism “concerning” death as it relates to the resurrection is meaningless unless the resurrection is, in fact, true.

15:45 Paul concluded his presentation on the doctrine of the resurrection by explaining that there were two types of bodies, “natural” and “spiritual” (v. 46). The first man, Adam, was created with a natural, physical body, which became subject to decay and death. Jesus Christ, “the last Adam,” overcame death and was given a “spiritual” (glorified), immortal body. Therefore, by virtue of creation, Adam was “of the dust of the earth,” and by virtue of the resurrection, Christ was “of heaven” (v. 47). Paul said that these two were prototypes: the first bearers of the two kinds of bodies. The first man Adam represents all those who share in having a physical body. The last Adam represents all those who bear his spiritual likeness. The first Adam was human, the last, infinitely more. Believers have borne the image of the former, and they shall someday also bear the image of the latter (v. 49).

15:50–52 Paul affirmed that some Christians would not face death. When Christ returns, the dead in Christ will be raised first (v. 52), but then those believers who are alive will be caught up to meet him (vv. 51–52; see 1Th 4:17, note; chart, Glossary Terms in Eschatology).

16:2 Paul had solicited various churches for contributions for the needy Christians in Jerusalem (Ro 15:26; 2Co 8:1–5). In NT times, Jerusalem was a poor city. The area had experienced a severe famine some years earlier, and many residents remained financially stressed (Ac 11:28). Paul instructed the Corinthians to set aside some money each week according to how much they had prospered. This amount was not to be a certain percentage of their income. It was, rather, to be based upon the believer’s personal examination of his own heart. The Corinthian contributions not only brought relief to the poor but also brought unity between Gentile and Jewish Christians. Paul reasoned that since the Gentiles had shared in the Jew’s spiritual blessings, they ought to reciprocate by giving some of their material blessings to the Jews (Ro 15:27; 2Co 9:12–14).

16:14 Paul did not use the word love frequently in this letter, but two crucial passages (1Co 8:1–3; 13), as well as this closing imperative, indicate that he regarded love as the essential girder for all of his ethical instructions. “Everything” would have included the divisive quarrels (1Co 1–3), their attitude toward him (1Co 4; 9), church discipline (1Co 5), the lawsuits (1Co 6), marital relationships (1Co 7), the abuse of the “weak” (1Co 8–10), the abuse of the poor at the Lord’s Supper and the failure to edify the church in worship (1Co 11–14). Had they followed the way of love, they would not have encountered many of these problems. The Corinthians had all the gifts, but love is what they needed most.

16:19 Aquila and Priscilla were a unique husband-wife team who were viewed as capable teachers in the early church. Both had a significant influence on the learned Apollos (see Ac 18, Priscilla).