The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (178 page)

OUTLINE OF THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS

1. Address and Prologue (
1:1-9
)

   A. Greeting (
1:1-3
)

   B. Prayer of Thanksgiving (
1:4-9
)

2. Corrections to Corinthian Problems (
1:10-6:20
)

   A. Need for Unity and Maturity (
1:10-4:21
)

   B. Scandal of Incest (
5:1-13
)

   C. Lawsuits among Christians (
6:1-11
)

   D. Sexual Immorality and the Body (
6:12-20
)

3. Answers to Corinthian Questions (
7:1-14:40
)

   A. Marriage and Celibacy (
7:1-40
)

   B. Idol Food and Christian Liberty (
8:1-10:33
)

   C. Problems with Liturgy and Assembly (
11:1-34
)

   D. The Body of Christ and the Gifts of His Members (
12:1-14:40
)

4. Resurrection of the Dead (
15:1-58
)

   A. Christ's Resurrection (
15:1-11
)

   B. Resurrection of the Church (
15:12-58
)

5. Epilogue (
16:1-24
)

   A. Collection for Jerusalem and Paul's Future Visit (
16:1-12
)

   B. Final Exhortations (
16:13-24
)

THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT PAUL TO THE

Chapters

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Essays and Charts

Shun Immorality, Shun Idolatry

Paul, Idol Food, and the Jerusalem Council

Salutation

1
 
Paul,
called by the will of God
to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sos'thenes,

2
 
To the Church of God
which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints
 
*
together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

3
 
Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4
 I give thanks to God
^a
always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,
⁵
that in every way you were enriched in him with
all speech and all knowledge
—
⁶
even as
the testimony to Christ
was confirmed among you—
⁷
so that you are not lacking in any
spiritual gift
, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ;
⁸
who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in
the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
⁹
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dissension in the Church

10
 
I appeal to you
, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
¹¹
For it has been reported to me by
Chlo'e's people
that there is quarreling among you, my brethren.
¹²
What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to
Apol'los
," or "I belong to Ce'phas,"
 
*
or "I belong to Christ."
¹³
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
¹⁴
I am thankful
^b
that I baptized none of you except
Crispus
and Ga'ius;
¹⁵
lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name.
¹⁶
(I did
baptize also the household
of Steph'anas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else.)
¹⁷
For Christ did not send me to baptize but
to preach the gospel
, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

18
 For
the word of the cross
is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
¹⁹
For it is written,

  
"
I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise,

  
and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart."

²⁰
Where is
the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom
of the world?
²¹
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world
did not know God
through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
²²
For
Jews
demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
²³
but
we preach Christ crucified
, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
²⁴
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
²⁵
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26
 For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to the flesh, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth;
²⁷
but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
²⁸
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
²⁹
so that no flesh might boast in the presence of God.
³⁰
He is
the source of your life
in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
³¹
therefore, as it is written, "
Let him who boasts
, boast of the Lord."

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

2
  
When I came to you
, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony
^c
of God in lofty words or wisdom.
²
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
 
*
³
And I was with you in weakness and in much
fear and trembling
;
⁴
and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but
in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power,
⁵
that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The True Wisdom of God

6
 Yet among
the mature
we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
⁷
But we impart
a secret and hidden wisdom
of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.
⁸
None of the
rulers of this age
understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
⁹
But, as it is written,

  
"
What no eye has seen
, nor ear heard,

  
nor the heart of man conceived,

  
what God has prepared for those who love him,"

¹⁰
God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For
the Spirit searches everything
, even the depths of God.
¹¹
For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
¹²
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.
¹³
And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.
^d

14
 The
unspiritual
^e
man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
¹⁵
The
spiritual man
judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
¹⁶
"
For who has known
the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

On Dissension in the Corinthian Church

3
  But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as
men of the flesh
, as infants in Christ.
²
I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready,
³
for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men?
⁴
For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apol'los," are you not merely men?

5
 What then is Apol'los?
What is Paul
? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
⁶
I planted, Apol'los watered
, but God gave the growth.
⁷
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
⁸
He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor.
⁹
For we are God's fellow workers;
^f
you are God's field, God's building.

10
 According to the commission of God given to me, like a
skilled master builder
I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it.
¹¹
For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
¹²
Now if any one builds
on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
¹³
each man's work will become manifest; for the Day
 
*
will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
¹⁴
If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a
reward
.
¹⁵
If any man's work is burned up, he will
suffer loss
, though he himself will be saved, but only
as through fire
.

16
 Do you not know that
you are God's temple
 
*
and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
¹⁷
If any one destroys
God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.

18
 Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
¹⁹
For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.
For it is written
, "He catches the wise in their craftiness,"
²⁰
and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
²¹
So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours,
²²
whether Paul or Apol'los or Ce'phas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours;
²³
and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

The Ministry of the Apostles

4
  This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and
stewards
of the mysteries of God.
²
Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
³
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.
⁴
I am not aware of anything against myself, but
I am not thereby acquitted
. It is the Lord who judges me.
⁵
Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God.