Though Paul’s letter specifically addresses the many problems in the Corinthian church, this book is really about holiness, about living the Christian life. In fact, if we wanted to distill all of Paul’s church epistles into a single grand truth, it would be this: act like what you are. The Corinthians, like their twenty-first-century counterparts, did not need to learn how to be righteous, but rather how to live out the righteousness that Christ has provided, even when immersed in a culture that is decidedly unholy. 

. . . 

Paul teaches that believers can and must be holy, even when immersed in a culture that is not. Paul’s choice of the word saint to identify believers is both a reminder and a subtle rebuke. “Act like what you are” is his challenge. Believers should remember Paul’s declaration that, during this period in which we wait for the Lord’s return, the church does not lack any spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 1:7). No matter how inadequate we may feel, no matter how much we have struggled, our failures are not because we are not equipped. In Jesus we obtained everything needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). When you feel weak, you can be strong, for we know he keeps us—we don’t keep ourselves. Our security is rooted, not in our service, but in our Savior. We can be strong, we can endure, we can persevere! If Paul could make this promise to first-century Christians in Corinth with all their problems and sins, twenty-first-century Christians can believe it too.  

—Hershael W. York  

Source: York, Hershael W. 40 Days in 1 Corinthians. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2021.

Before Paul took the Corinthians to task for their failures as Christians, he carefully and lovingly reminded them that they belonged to God and to each other in a far-reaching fellowship. He summarized their position and their blessings as believers in Jesus Christ, as children of God, as saints. The benefits of being a Christian have three dimensions. Some are past, given the moment we accept Christ as Savior and Lord. Other benefits are present, worked out as we live our lives in him. Still other blessings are future, to be experienced only when we go to be with him in heaven. In the past there is grace, in the present there are gifts, and for the future there are guarantees. Our past is already taken care of, our present is provided for, and our future is assured. In so many words, Paul was saying: “Look who you are! Look at what you have!” Only then does he say, “Now I exhort you…”  

—John MacArthur  

Source: Taken from 1 Corinthians: Godly Solutions for Church Problems by John MacArthur Copyright © 2007 by John MacArthur. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

When using the term “saint”, the New Testament does not mean a specially pious or self-sacrificing Christian who has been canonized by an ecclesiastical council. The Greek word translated “saint” is hagios, meaning “set apart one” or “holy one.” All believers have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and are saints by calling. The Corinthian believers were holy in God’s sight, regardless of their sinful living and distorted doctrine. They were saints because they had been sanctified (from hagiazō), set apart from sin, made holy in Christ Jesus.  

—John MacArthur  

Source: Taken from 1 Corinthians: Godly Solutions for Church Problems by John MacArthur Copyright © 2007 by John MacArthur. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

First Corinthians discusses many hotly debated issues, including divorce and remarriage, gender roles in worship, and spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues and prophecy. While we must acknowledge the complexity of the issues, we should not allow this to obscure gospel principles that are clearly expressed in the text. 

—C. D. “Jimmy” Agan III  

Source: Content adapted from the ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible by C. D. “Jimmy” Agan III. This article first appeared on Crossway.org; used with permission. 

The apostle Paul’s epistle to the Corinthian church covers many different theological and practical questions, but there is one central issue he is addressing: unity. The Corinthian church was fractured, and the chief reason was pride. This pride manifested itself in a skewed view of the gospel, which led to sinful attitudes about things such as speech and knowledge, and a misuse of their spiritual gifts.

Like many churches today, the Corinthian church was very gifted. The people were intellectually sharp; some were financially blessed; they were variously talented and had very visible and powerful gifts from the Holy Spirit. Yet those gifts were not submitted to the greatest of the Spirit’s purposes in human lives, namely, love. Paul argues throughout this letter that Christ-exalting, cross-defined love must replace the puffed-up pride that coursed through this church. In fact, a key principle in 1 Corinthians is that giftedness without character leads to bondage and sin, not freedom and redemption.

—Jay Thomas

Source: Content taken from 1 Corinthians: A 12-Week Study © 2015 by Jay Thomas. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Parents who have watched their children fight with one another may recognize the tone of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. This is a spiritual father pleading, confronting, and reasoning with his wayward offspring to get along with one another. Paul founded the church and personally led many of its members to the Lord. He had watched them take their first steps in Christ and had a personal interest in their spiritual wellbeing. So imagine his alarm when he began to receive reports of their dysfunction and misbehavior—and when he received letters from them with questions that revealed they had matured little in the years since his departure. Paul’s stern but loving words reveal that he wanted to hold the Corinthian believers accountable for their actions but also show them their immense potential in Christ.  

—David Jeremiah 

Source: Taken from 1 Corinthians: The Authentic Christian Life by David Jeremiah Copyright © 2019 by David Jeremiah. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

The length of the letter and the rhetorical care with which it is written reveal how much Paul loves the Corinthians and wants to win them over. The depth of theological argument, even when addressing things that you would think are obvious…highlights his desire for believers not just to change their actions but to understand why they should do so. His tender language displays his affection for them. The way he sandwiches his ethical teaching between sections on the cross (chapter 1) and the resurrection (chapter 15) shows that for Paul, the gospel really is the beginning and the end of the Christian life.  

—Andrew Wilson 

Source: 1 Corinthians for You by Andrew Wilson, copyright 2021 by The Good Book Company, used by Kind Permission.

The believers in Corinth faced many issues as they struggled to maintain their Christian identity in a city filled with immorality, idolatry, and competing philosophies. In many ways their situation was similar to ours. For this reason, we would do well to listen to Paul’s warnings and advice and apply them to our lives. Paul’s letter rebukes and corrects—but it also serves to focus our attention on Jesus. In the end, we come to realize the incredible love Jesus has for us as we take confidence in the fact that his victory over the grave guarantees our own future resurrection.  

—David Jeremiah  

Source: Taken from 1 Corinthians: The Authentic Christian Life by David Jeremiah Copyright © 2019 by David Jeremiah. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com

But what about issues that are not specifically mentioned in the Scriptures—how do we determine God’s will and develop conviction in those areas?

1. “Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 6:12).
Question 1: Is it helpful—physically, spiritually, and mentally?

2. “‘Everything is permissible for me’—but I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12).
Question 2: Does it bring me under its power?

3. “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall” (1 Corinthians 8:13).
Question 3: Does it hurt others?

4. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Question 4: Does it glorify God?

—Jerry Bridges  

Source: Bridges, Jerry. The Pursuit of Holiness. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1996. Quote retrieved from Grace Quotes at gracequotes.org.

Many people today, like the Corinthians of old, pray constantly for the power of the Spirit. They forget that all the gifts that God bestows are given so that Christ might be exalted and others blessed. If God gives me any little gift at all, he gives it not so that I may gather people about myself, but so that it may through me be a blessing for others. God gave these nine gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 to assist in the founding of the new Church, but people were using them to gratify their pride. Paul points out that the purpose of the gifts is for building the Church (see 1 Corinthians 12), that they should be used in love (see 1 Corinthians 13); and that their value was to be measured by their usefulness to the Church.

—Henrietta Mears

Source: This content is from What the Bible Is All About, written by Henrietta Mears. Copyright © 1953, 2011 by Gospel Light. Copyright assigned to Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.