1 Corinthians

First Corinthians is the apostle Paul's letter to the church he founded in Corinth, a wealthy, worldly Greek port city notorious for immorality. Written from Ephesus during his third missionary journey, it answers alarming reports and a list of questions sent from the congregation. Of all Paul's letters it is the most practical, tackling one church problem after another, and it shows a real first-century congregation, gifted and growing, yet struggling to live out the gospel in a pagan culture.

Paul works through the troubles in order: factions rallying around Paul, Apollos, and Cephas; a shocking case of immorality; lawsuits between believers; questions about marriage and food offered to idols; disorder at the Lord's supper; and confusion over spiritual gifts. Along the way he gives the church some of the Bible's most treasured passages, the preaching of the cross as the power of God, the body of Christ with its many members, the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, and the great resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, where death is swallowed up in victory.

First Corinthians matters because every generation faces Corinth's problems: division, immorality, pride in gifts, and doubt about the life to come. Paul's answer is timeless, Christ crucified is the wisdom of God, love is the more excellent way, and the resurrection makes our labor not in vain.