1 Corinthians

This letter is from Paul. God chose him, by God's own will, to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, a messenger sent out with Christ's authority. It is also from Sosthenes, our brother in the faith.

1Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

NoteLetters in this period opened by naming the sender first, then the recipient, then a greeting, which is why Paul's name comes before the address. A Sosthenes appears in Acts 18 as the leader of the synagogue in Corinth, beaten in front of the Roman governor Gallio; whether he is the same man named here is not stated.

2It is written to God's church in Corinth, to those who have been set apart for God in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people. It is also for everyone everywhere who calls on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who is their Lord and ours.

2Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

NoteCorinth was a large, wealthy Roman colony on the narrow strip of land joining mainland Greece to the Peloponnese, with harbors on two seas, a mixed population of Romans, Greeks and Jews, and a reputation for trade and for status-seeking. The King James "saints" does not mean a special class of outstanding Christians: it translates a word meaning "holy ones," people set apart for God, and it is Paul's ordinary term for all the members of a church. "Call upon the name" is an Old Testament idiom for addressing a god in prayer and worship.

3May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

3Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note"Grace and peace" is Paul's reworking of the standard letter greeting. Ordinary Greek letters opened with a word for "greetings" (chairein); Paul uses the similar-sounding word for grace (charis) and adds the customary Jewish greeting, peace (shalom).

4I always thank my God for you, because of the undeserved kindness God has given you through Jesus Christ.

4I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

5In him you have been made rich in every way, in all your speaking and in all your knowledge.

5That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

Note"Utterance" in 1611 English meant the power of speech, the ability to express yourself, not a single thing said. Skill in speaking and claims to special knowledge were both highly prized in a Greek city like Corinth, which is part of why Paul raises them here.

6This came about because the message we gave you about Christ was proved true among you.

6Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

Note"Confirmed" translates a word used in commerce and law for guaranteeing or ratifying an agreement, the way a contract is made binding. The same root appears again in verse 8.

7So you do not lack a single gift, while you wait eagerly for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

7So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Note"Gift" here translates charisma, a gift freely given; Paul uses it for the various abilities he says God's Spirit hands out in a congregation, a subject he returns to at length in chapters 12 to 14. "The coming" renders a word meaning an uncovering or unveiling, the moment something already real is made visible.

8He will also keep you steady to the very end, so that no one can blame you on the day our Lord Jesus Christ comes.

8Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Note"The day of our Lord" picks up a set Old Testament phrase, "the day of the LORD," which the prophets used for a decisive day of God's judgment and setting things right. "Blameless" is a legal image: no charge can be brought and made to stick.

9God keeps his word. He is the one who called you into a shared life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

9God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Note"Fellowship" has weakened in modern English to mean friendly company. The Greek word, koinonia, means having something in common: a partnership, a joint share in the same thing, the way business partners share a venture.

10Now I beg you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: all of you say the same thing, and let there be no splits among you. Be joined together completely, thinking alike and holding the same view.

10Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

NoteThe word behind "divisions" literally means a tear or rip, as in a torn garment. "The same mind and the same judgment" was stock political language in Greek cities for civic concord, the opposite of the factions that split a town council, so Paul is describing the church's quarrels in the vocabulary of public life.

11I say this because some people from Chloe's household have told me that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.

11For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

NoteA "household" in this world meant everyone under one roof and one owner: family, slaves, freed slaves and dependents. Chloe is named without a husband and her people travel, which suggests a woman of some property, though nothing else about her is known.

12What I mean is this. Each of you is saying, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ."

12Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

NoteApollos was a Jew from Alexandria, described in Acts 18 as an eloquent and learned speaker, who worked in Corinth after Paul left. Cephas is Aramaic for "rock," the name Jesus gave Simon Peter; Paul usually calls him by the Aramaic form.

13Has Christ been cut into pieces? Was Paul the one crucified for you? Were you baptized in Paul's name?

13Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Note"Baptized in the name of" translates a phrase meaning baptized *into* someone's name. The wording was used in banking and legal documents for transferring something into a person's account or ownership, so the question is about whose possession and allegiance the baptized person has entered.

14I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius.

14I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

NoteActs 18 names Crispus as the leader of the synagogue in Corinth who believed along with his whole household. A Gaius appears in Romans 16 as Paul's host in Corinth and host to the whole church there.

15That way no one can say you were baptized in my name.

15Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16I did also baptize the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.

16And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

NoteStephanas turns up again at the end of this letter as one of the first people in the province of Achaia to believe. "I know not whether" means simply that Paul cannot now remember, not that he is unsure whether it happened at all.

17Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to announce the good news, and not with clever, polished speech, because that would drain the cross of Christ of its power.

17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Note"Wisdom of words" refers to rhetoric, the formal art of persuasive public speaking. Trained orators were celebrity figures in Greek cities, judged on style and delivery as much as on content, and audiences paid to hear them. "Made of none effect" translates a verb meaning to empty out, to drain of substance.

18The message of the cross sounds like nonsense to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

NoteCrucifixion was a Roman public execution reserved for slaves, rebels and the lowest criminals, designed to be slow and humiliating as much as fatal. Respectable people avoided even mentioning it, so "the preaching of the cross" named something shameful, not something decorative.

19For the Scriptures say, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will wipe out the understanding of those who understand."

19For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

NotePaul is quoting Isaiah 29:14, where God says the schemes of Judah's clever advisers will come to nothing. "The prudent" in 1611 English meant the shrewd and discerning, not the merely cautious.

20Where is the wise person? Where is the expert in the law? Where is the skilled debater of this present age? Has God not shown the world's wisdom to be foolish?

20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

NoteThe string of questions echoes Isaiah 33:18, which asks where the enemy's officials have gone. Paul's three figures span both worlds: the scribe was a Jewish expert in the written law, while the "disputer" was the Greek professional debater. "This world" renders a word meaning this present age, the current stretch of history rather than the planet.

21In God's wisdom, the world did not come to know God through its own wisdom. So God was pleased to save those who believe by a message that sounds foolish.

21For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Note"Preaching" here means the content proclaimed rather than the act of delivering a sermon or the manner of it. The word comes from the herald who announced a ruler's message in public; what is called foolish is the announcement itself, not the preacher's technique.

22Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks go looking for wisdom.

22For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

NoteA "sign" was a miraculous act offered as proof that a messenger genuinely came from God, as Moses' signs authenticated him before Pharaoh. "Greeks" here means Greek-speaking non-Jews generally, the whole non-Jewish world of the eastern Mediterranean, not only people from Greece.

23But we announce a Christ who was crucified. To Jews this is something that trips them up, and to Greeks it is nonsense.

23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

Note"Stumblingblock" translates skandalon, originally the trigger stick of a trap, then anything that trips a person up. For Jewish hearers the particular obstacle was the manner of death: Deuteronomy 21:23 says anyone hanged on a tree is under God's curse. For Greek hearers the obstacle was that a crucified criminal could be anyone's savior at all.

24But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

24But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

25For what looks like foolishness in God is wiser than human wisdom, and what looks like weakness in God is stronger than human strength.

25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26Brothers and sisters, think about what you were when God called you. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many had power. Not many were born into important families.

26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

Note"After the flesh" means by ordinary human reckoning; "flesh" in Paul's usage here stands for human beings as such, not for the body or for sensuality. "Noble" refers to birth: the small class of families with inherited rank, wealth and office. Paul is describing the social makeup of the congregation, not their moral quality.

27But God chose what the world calls foolish in order to shame the wise. God chose what the world calls weak in order to shame the strong.

27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

Note"Confound" in 1611 English meant to put to shame or humiliate publicly, not to confuse. In a culture organized around public honor and disgrace, shaming was a social defeat, not a feeling.

28He chose what the world counts as low and worthless, and even the things that count for nothing at all, in order to bring to nothing the things that count.

28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

Note"Base" meant low in social rank, of no standing, rather than immoral. "Things which are not" was a stock contemptuous phrase for nobodies, people who did not register in public life. "Bring to nought" means to reduce to nothing, to put out of action.

29He did this so that no human being can boast in front of God.

29That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Note"Glory" as a verb in the King James means to boast or take pride in something. "No flesh" is a Hebrew way of saying no human being at all.

30It is because of God that you belong to Christ Jesus. God has made Christ our wisdom, which means our right standing with God, our being made holy, and our being set free at a price.

30But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

NoteThree legal and social images stand behind the terms. "Righteousness" is the standing of someone acquitted in court. "Sanctification" means being set apart as holy, dedicated to God. "Redemption" was the ordinary word for buying a slave's freedom or paying the ransom for a prisoner of war, a transaction with a price attached.

31So it happens as the Scriptures say: "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

31That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

NotePaul is compressing Jeremiah 9:23-24, where God tells the wise, the strong and the rich not to boast of what they are, but to boast only of knowing him.