1 Corinthians: the gospel in a complicated church
Corinth: a cosmopolitan port, a gifted and chaotic church. Factions, lawsuits between brothers, disorder at the Lord's supper, competing spiritual gifts — Paul answers point by point, and it is a grace: we thus have the manual of the real church, not the ideal one.
Amid the corrections, two summits: the hymn to love (chapter 13), "the most excellent way" without which all gifts are nothing, and the great defense of the resurrection (chapter 15), bedrock of the whole faith: "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain."
Frequently asked questions about 1 Corinthians
Why did Paul write 1 Corinthians?
To answer alarming reports (divisions, immorality) and the church's written questions (marriage, food offered to idols, gifts, resurrection). A pastoral letter at the bedside of a gifted but disorderly church.
Why is the love chapter placed where it is?
It is not a wedding poem but a corrective: inserted in the middle of the debate on spiritual gifts (chapters 12 and 14), it reminds us that without love, speaking in tongues or prophesying is worth nothing.
What does 1 Corinthians say about the resurrection?
Chapter 15 is the oldest summary of the gospel: Christ died, was buried, was raised, appeared to more than five hundred witnesses. And our resurrection flows from his — "death is swallowed up in victory."