1 Corinthians
By N. T. Wright, Dale Larsen and Sandy Larsen
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About this ebook
N. T. Wright
N. T. Wright is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He serves as the chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews as well as Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. He has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air. Wright is the award-winning author of many books, including Paul: A Biography, Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, The Day the Revolution Began, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, and Scripture and the Authority of God.
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1 Corinthians - N. T. Wright
1 CORINTHIANS
13 STUDIES FOR INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS
IllustrationN. T. WRIGHT
WITH DALE & SANDY LARSEN
IllustrationContents
Getting the Most Out of 1 Corinthians
Suggestions for Individual Study
Suggestions for Group Members.
11 Corinthians 1:1—3:4
God’s Strange Wisdom
21 Corinthians 3:5-23
The Sole Foundation
31 Corinthians 4:1-21
Puffed Up or Powerful?
41 Corinthians 5:1—6:20
Conduct in the Body
51 Corinthians 7:1-40
Marriage and Related Matters
61 Corinthians 8:1—9:27
Matters of Conscience
71 Corinthians 10:1—11:1
Everything to God’s Glory
81 Corinthians 11:2-34
The Worshiping Church
91 Corinthians 12:1—13:13
Life in the Body of Christ
101 Corinthians 14:1-40
Priorities in Worship
111 Corinthians 15:1-28
Risen and Reigning
121 Corinthians 15:29-58
Bodily Transformation
131 Corinthians 16:1-24
Do Everything with Love
Guidelines for Leaders
About the Authors
Praise for 1 Corinthians
More Titles from InterVarsity Press
GETTING THE MOST
OUT OF 1 CORINTHIANS
In the first century, Corinth was a lively seaport in Greece, not far from Athens. People and cultures of every sort jostled together, just like so many places in today’s world. The young church there was as lively as the place itself, with as many questions and problems—as much joy and excitement—as any growing church today. Paul’s pastoral sensitivity and deep insight come together to make this letter one of his crowning achievements, full of good things for us to ponder and enjoy today.
The city of Corinth had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C., and rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. as a Roman colony. Since that time, about a hundred years before this letter was written, Corinth had prided itself on being a Roman city on Greek soil. It celebrated its Roman style of buildings, its Roman culture, its special links to the capital of a worldwide empire. It also prided itself on its intellectual life.
Most of the Christians in Corinth had not been Jews but ordinary pagans.
They had been Gentiles, believing in various gods and goddesses, but without any idea that history, the story of the world, was going anywhere, or that their own lives might be part of that forward movement. Again and again Paul wants them to learn this lesson: that they have been caught up into a great movement of the love and power of the one true God, the God of Israel, whose work for the whole world had now been unveiled through the events concerning his Son. That’s why Jesus is at the center of the picture Paul paints.
That was the message Paul first brought to Corinth when he founded the church there in midcentury. But Paul hadn’t been the only teacher they’d had in the city. Not long after he’d gone, a wonderful speaker, greatly learned in Scripture and able to explain it powerfully, had arrived. His name was Apollos, and he came from Alexandria in Egypt, where there was a strong Jewish community which included a great Jewish philosopher by the name of Philo. Apollos met some of Paul’s colleagues in Ephesus (see Acts 18:24-28) and later went to Corinth (see Acts 18:27—19:1). Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus while Apollos was probably still in Corinth. (For more on this letter, also see my Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians, on which this guide is based, published by SPCK and Westminster John Knox.)
In the time since Paul left Corinth after founding the church there (see Acts 18:18), various problems and questions had arisen. So the church sent a delegation consisting of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus with a letter, asking Paul to respond and give his counsel. This he did, and the result is the letter we have in 1 Corinthians.
SUGGESTIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDY
1. As you begin each study, pray that God will speak to you through his Word.
2. Read the introduction to the study and respond to the Open
question that follows it. This is designed to help you get into the theme of the study.
3. Read and reread the Bible passage to be studied. Each study is designed to help you consider the meaning of the passage in its context. The commentary and questions in this guide are based on my own translation of each passage found in the companion volume to this guide in the For Everyone series on the