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Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 7:3-4     3 The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. 4 The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.     These are Paul’s instructions for mutual satisfaction in the husband/wife relationship. Some discuss whether Paul himself was married. Further verses in 1 Corinthians 7 seem at this time he was not. He had been a memb

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 7:12-13     12 Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a fellow believer has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. 13 And if a believing woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him.     Paul dealt with what should occur in a marriage if one becomes a believer and th

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 7:20-22     20 Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. 21 Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. 22 And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.     Paul emphasized how believers should stay in their present situation at the time they trusted in Jesus as

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 7:32-34     32 I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. 33 But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. 34 His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to t

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 8:2-3     2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.     This is a sobering reminder for those who think they have all the answers. Knowledge is important because there are many things one needs to know about God from the Scriptures. Knowledge without love, however, will harm more people than it will help. The context, remember, has to do with eating me

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 8:12-13     12 And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 13 So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.     A person is not to go against his or her conscience. The conscience could be wrong but until there is proper teaching the person should not go ag

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 9:11-12     11 Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? 12 If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.     Paul drove his point home about the ministry he and Barnabas had among the Corinthian believers. A

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 9:21     21 When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.     Some might take this to mean when they are with those who do not have good moral standards, they can win them to Christ by acting like them. Not so with the apostle Paul. While he witnessed to them who live without law he realized he should “obey th

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 10:3-5     3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.     Paul wrote about Israel’s experience in the desert. The “spiritual food” was the manna from which “all” benefitted. The “spiritual water” was what God prov

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 10:17-18     17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 18 Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?     Just as the Israelites showed their commonality by eating the sacrifices at the altar, believers in Jesus do this at the Lord’s Table. Believers today are brothers and sisters in the body of Christ and display this at the Lord’s Table.   REFLECT

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 10:28-30     28 (But suppose someone tells you, “This meat was offered to an idol.” Don’t eat it, out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you. 29 It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person.) For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks? 30 If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I be condemned for eating it?     Paul revealed that a Christian may have li

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 11:7-8     7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man.     There is no reason to debate this passage because of its clarity. Man reflects God’s glory and the woman reflects man’s glory. The only debate would come from those who believe in evolution instead of crea

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 11:17-19     17 But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. 18 First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. 19 But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!     Paul could not praise the Corinthians about a report he had heard. He was disappo

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 11:27-28     27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.     No one is worthy of what Jesus has done for lost mankind. The unworthy manner that the Corinthians were displaying had to do with the love feast where they were not showing love to others. All believers are i

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 12:4-6     4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.     Notice the mention of the three persons of the one Godhead in this verse—the Spirit, Lord, and God. Although there are various kinds of gifts, it is the same God distributing them. Tho

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 12:14-17     14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 12:29-31     29 Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles?  30 Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! 31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.     Apparently some of the Corinthia

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 13:11-12     11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.     Some claim some of these gifts will go from Paul’s time to

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:6-8     6 Dear brothers and sisters, if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language, how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. 7 Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. 8 And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called t

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:18-19     18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.     Before the time the Bible was completed Paul was able to say, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you.” But notice he also said, “But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help other

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:27-28     27 No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. 28 But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately.     Paul laid down rules that were to be followed both in New Testament times and by any church who practices these gifts today. He gave a limit on how many tongues-speakers are

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 14:39-40     39 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But be sure that everything is done properly and in order.     Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to be “eager to prophesy.” This gift would not need interpretation. He also said, “don’t forbid speaking in tongues.” This statement is claimed by some to think that should still be said today. The apostle Paul, however, never referre

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 15:10-11     10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.     Paul felt unworthy but he thanked God for His grace apart from any of Paul’

Day 1  RECEIVE   1 Corinthians 15:27     27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)     After saying that Jesus will destroy death as the last enemy, Paul writes about who will not be put under His authority. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul tells how there is ranking in the Godhead. From this it is learned that Jesus is th