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Summary

1 Corinthians 1:1–3 – Greeting

What happens: Paul names himself and Sosthenes. He greets the church in Corinth as people set apart in Christ. He asks for grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus.

What it means: Paul starts by fixing their identity in God’s call, not in status or leaders. God is faithful to set apart a people for himself. The greeting centers on grace and peace that come through Jesus, highlighting God’s mercy and covenant care.


1 Corinthians 1:4–9 – Thanksgiving for God’s Work

What happens: Paul thanks God that the Corinthians lack no spiritual gift. He says Christ will keep them firm to the end. God called them into fellowship with his Son and is faithful.

What it means: Grace equips the church and secures its future. Assurance rests on God’s faithfulness, not human performance. Fellowship with Christ is the core gift and the aim of every other gift.


1 Corinthians 1:10–17 – Appeal Against Divisions

What happens: Paul urges them to agree and end factions. Some say they follow Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ. Paul says Christ is not divided and he was sent to preach the gospel, not to build status through baptizing.

What it means: Unity in Christ outranks loyalty to human leaders. Pride and rivalry expose human nature bent toward self. The church must center on the gospel, not personalities, because Jesus alone is Lord.


1 Corinthians 1:18–25 – God’s Wisdom in the Cross

What happens: The message of the cross looks like foolishness to the world but is God’s power to save. God destroys proud wisdom and saves through what the world calls weak. Christ crucified is a stumbling block to some, but to the called he is God’s power and wisdom.

What it means: God overturns human standards, showing he is wise and just. Salvation comes by grace through the cross, not clever speech. The gospel reveals God’s holy love and exposes the emptiness of boasting.


1 Corinthians 1:26–31 – Boast in the Lord

What happens: Paul reminds them that not many were wise or noble. God chose the weak to shame the strong so no one can boast. Christ becomes to us righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, boast in the Lord.

What it means: God delights to save by grace so that he gets the glory. Our standing is Christ alone. Humility is the proper response to God’s mercy and the ground of unity.


Application

  • Pursue unity by centering conversations and decisions on the gospel, not on favorite leaders.
  • Reject pride. Thank God for grace and gifts he has given to others.
  • Boast only in Christ by naming what he has done, not what you have done.
  • Measure wisdom by the cross: choose faithfulness over image and status.

Bible

1Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

2Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

3Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

4I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

5That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;

6Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

7So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

8Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

10Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

14I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

19For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

22For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

24But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

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