New Testament · Letters of Paul · World English Bible
1 Corinthians
"God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong."
— 1 Corinthians 1:27 
The Reading LensEvery verse pulled to the top of a book is chosen by three questions: Where is God’s heart here? Who is He protecting? Who is being saved by the action? It marks the place where those answers come into clearest focus — a “look at this, in this book.”
About the Letter
Written to a congregation Paul founded in a wealthy, cosmopolitan port — and it is a letter of troubleshooting rather than exposition. He is answering a report from Chloe’s household and a list of written questions.
The problems are specific and almost all about status: factions forming around favourite teachers, believers suing each other in court, the wealthy eating the Lord’s supper before the poor arrive from work, and gifts ranked against one another.
Chapter 13 is not a wedding reading in its setting. It sits between two chapters about spiritual gifts and works as the argument’s hinge — whatever you can do counts for nothing without this.
16 Chapters
Divisions
I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas. Then the wisdom of the cross against the wisdom of the age — and the observation that not many of them were wise, powerful or well born.
Not with Persuasive Words
He came in weakness and fear and much trembling, and deliberately did not use rhetoric — so their faith would not rest on a speaker’s skill.
Servants, Not Celebrities
One plants, another waters, God gives the growth. The foundation and what is built on it, and the work tested by fire.
The Apostles as a Spectacle
You are already rich; we are hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, beaten and homeless. The sharpest irony in the letter.
The Case They Were Proud Of
A matter of immorality the congregation had taken pride in tolerating. Paul’s concern is the whole loaf, and the goal stated is restoration.
Lawsuits
Believers dragging each other before outside courts — why not rather be wronged? Then the body as a temple rather than a private possession.
Marriage and Singleness
Answering their questions, and unusually even-handed for the period — nearly every instruction given to husbands is repeated to wives in the same terms.
Food Offered to Idols
Knowledge puffs up; love builds up. The argument is not whether the meat matters but whether the person watching you eat it does.
Rights Given Up
He lists the rights he has — to be paid, to travel with a wife — and then says he has used none of them. All things to all people, that he might save some.
The Warning from the Wilderness
Israel in the desert as the cautionary case. Let anyone who thinks he stands take heed. Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
The Supper Abused
The head-covering passage — and then the real complaint: some go hungry while others get drunk, because the wealthy eat before the working poor arrive. Wait for one another.
One Body, Many Parts
The gifts varied and all from one Spirit. The parts that seem weaker are indispensable, and the less honourable get the greater honour — so that when one suffers, all suffer with it.
Love
Tongues without it are noise; prophecy, knowledge and even martyrdom without it are nothing. Patient, kind, not envious, not proud, keeps no record of wrongs — and never fails.
Order in Worship
Prophecy preferred to tongues because it builds up the whole room. Let everything be done for building up, and in a fitting and orderly way.
The Resurrection
The earliest written summary of the appearances — older than any Gospel. Then the sustained argument for a bodily resurrection, and the taunt at death.
The Collection
Set something aside on the first day of every week, so nothing has to be gathered in a rush. Travel plans, greetings, and a line written in his own hand.