1 Corinthians
About this date: Dates are broad scholarly estimates of composition or final editing, not dates of the events narrated. Traditional attributions and scholarly assessments can differ.
Paul answers reports and questions from a divided congregation in Corinth. The letter addresses allegiance, sexuality, marriage, food offered to idols, worship, gifts, love, and resurrection. Each chapter belongs to a concrete pastoral argument.
Key points
- The cross challenges status rivalry in the opening chapters.
- The Lord's Supper correction links worship to treatment of poorer members.
- The resurrection chapter responds to a dispute within the church, not a detached theory of the afterlife.
Scripture
- 1 Corinthians 1:10-2:5 — Paul confronts factions through the message of the cross.
- 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 — The shared meal and its inequities frame the institution tradition.
- 1 Corinthians 12:4-13:13 — Diverse gifts are ordered toward one body and the more excellent way of love.
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 — Received resurrection testimony leads to an argument about the dead and transformation.
Primary sources
Paul recalls:
In chapter 15 Paul explicitly introduces Christ's death and resurrection as proclamation he had received and handed on.
what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures
Passage context and translation
Paul reminds the Corinthians of the gospel he preached and explicitly introduces its death, burial, resurrection, and appearance claims as material he had received and handed on.
After the excerpt
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve
Sources and further reading
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles: canonical books and Apocrypha
- Catholic Catechism §120: canon and book list
- Orthodox Church in America: canon of Scripture
- Orthodox Church in America: Old Testament historical books
- USCCB Bible introductions: historical and literary notes
- USCCB introduction to 1 Corinthians