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Getting Started…    How do you turn a church around that’s heading in the wrong direction? After being established by the apostle Paul, the Corinthian church began to get a lot of things wrong. Sitting at a crossroads of culture in the ancient world the Corinthian church had a lot of challenges from the outset, so it’s not surprising that Paul had to write and set the record straight.    In this verse-by-verse study we’ll see the apostle Paul address the wayward church with a

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 1:1     1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.     Paul would have some stern things to say in his letter. He wanted the recipients to know that he had been chosen by God, not by men, to be an apostle. It is not certain which Sosthenes it was to whom Paul referred. He may have been the one mentioned in Acts 18:17, or it may have been one by that name copying what Paul

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 1:11-12     11 For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. 12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”     Paul had appealed for the believers in Corinth to have harmony with no divisions. These verses tell what he had heard about their fellowship. They had become divided about which leader the

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 1:22-23     22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.     Paul revealed what the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ appeared like to various groups. The Jewish people who were always looking for a sign; Paul said the gospel to them was like something they stumbled ove

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 2:1-2     1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.     Notice how Paul kept the main thing the main thing. He did not try to impress with his vocabulary and personality. His main message was about Jesus Christ who had been crucified not only

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 2:12     12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.     How can one know the things of God? Just as one human understands another human because they have the same spirit, people can know the things of God by receiving His Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Then the individual has the same spirit so he or she “can know the wonderful things God has freely giv

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 3:5-6     5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.     The Corinthian believers had been arguing about the best speaker and teacher. Some thought Apollos; others thought Paul. Here Paul emphasizes both of them are only the messengers of God doin

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 3:16-17     16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.     Although each believer in Jesus is considered to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, Paul seems to be referring here to the collective group in the local church. This is because the “you” is plural in the Greek text. The loca

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 4:5     5 So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.     Paul urged believers not to judge people ahead of time. They should leave the judging to God who knows about secret motives and can reward accordingly. This makes the point that although actions can be judged, motives cann

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 4:14-16     14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.     Sometimes younger people in the faith need to be warned of certain things. Paul did this as he wrote to them. He let them know of

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 5:3-4     3 Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man 4 in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus.     Even though he was not with the Corinthian believers, Paul said he was with them in the Spirit. The apostle had already passed judgment on thi

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 5:12-13     12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. 13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”     By “outsiders” Paul referred to those outside the local church assembly. On the other hand he emphasized it was their duty to judge (evaluate) those inside the church. He said n

Day 1  READ   1 Corinthians 6:12     12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.     Paul writes about Christian liberty. Although a person who trusts in Jesus as Savior is saved by His grace apart from law; this does not mean the person can live like a lawless individual. Before salvation the person was a slave to sin. After salvation he or she should not

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