1 Corinthians
Overview
First Corinthians addresses a string of ten controversial topics in the church:
(1) Why is it sinful for a church to be divided over church leaders?
(2) When and why should a church excommunicate a professing believer?
(3) Why is it wrong for a believer to bring a lawsuit against a fellow believer?
(4) Should a Christian commit sexual immorality?
(5) Should a husband and wife regularly enjoy sex? Is it always wrong to get divorced? Should single people stay single?
(6) Is it wrong to eat food offered to idols?
(7) Should women wear head coverings when the church gathers to worship?
(8) How should we treat the Lord’s Supper?
(9) Should we desire to speak in tongues and to prophesy? Are some spiritual gifts better than others? How should we use our gifts?
(10) Will God resurrect the corpses of believers?
All of those issues are still highly relevant today—including eating food offered to idols and wearing head coverings. But before applying 1 Corinthians to modern-day issues in the church, responsible interpreters will first seek to understand what the author intended to communicate to his specific audience nearly two thousand years ago.
Title
In addition to 1 and 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote at least two other letters to the church in Corinth, in this order:
(1) Paul wrote a letter before 1 Corinthians: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people” (1 Cor. 5:9).
(2) Paul wrote 1 Corinthians.
(3) After a “painful visit” (2 Cor. 2:1) to Corinth that did not go well, Paul wrote what some call the “tearful letter” or “severe letter”: “I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you” (2 Cor. 2:4). “Even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while” (2 Cor. 7:8).
So what we call 1 Corinthians is actually Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, and what we call 2 Corinthians is actually Paul’s fourth letter to the Corinthians. The title 1 Corinthians indicates that this letter is the first of two canonical letters Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. Canonical means that it belongs in the canon, the collection of God-breathed books we call the Bible.
Author
The letter’s first line identifies the author: “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:1). Few have contested that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians.
Date and Occasion
Paul wrote this letter “to the church of God that is in Corinth” (1:2). He wrote it from Ephesus (cf. 16:8), probably near the end of his ministry there early in AD 55 (cf. 16:5–9 with Acts 19:21–22).
Paul responds to reports by Chloe’s people about the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:11) and to a letter that the church has written him (7:1). The most basic purpose of his letter is to exhort the Corinthian church to live as who they truly are: “saints,” or God’s holy people (1:2).
The sins Paul corrects were common in Corinth, which in the middle of the first century “was at once the New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas of the ancient world.”1 Corinth valued impressive public speakers, status, greed, immoral sex, personal rights, and idolatry. Members of the church in Corinth grew up in this pagan context, and since they had only recently become Christians, it is not surprising that they were still to some degree embracing Corinth’s worldly values.
Genre and Literary Features
First Corinthians is a letter similar to other ancient Greco-Roman letters. Paul’s letter matches the customary three-part form of such letters: (1) introduction, (2) body, and (3) conclusion. (Cf. the Outline, which follows this three-part form.)
It is important to keep two principles in mind when reading 1 Corinthians as a letter:
(1) Paul wrote to a specific first-century church on a specific occasion. It is unreasonable to expect an hour-long occasional letter to be a comprehensive systematic theology. First Corinthians most directly applies to the church in Corinth in about AD 55. Their historical-cultural context matters, especially when interpreting what Paul writes about head coverings (11:2–16) and his command “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (16:20). The most important first question to answer is “What did Paul mean when he wrote this text?”
(2) Paul argues. He coherently reasons with his audience to persuade them. So careful reading traces how Paul argues while being sensitive to the literary context and to the meaning of significant words.2
Theology of 1 Corinthians3
It is extremely difficult to summarize the theological message of 1 Corinthians, because the letter responds to at least ten different issues (cf. Outline). The space Paul devotes to single issues in 1 Corinthians rivals the entire length of other letters he wrote (cf. figure 2.1).
FIGURE 2.1: Comparative Length of 1 Corinthians Sections
A book’s theological message is the author’s overall burden—the book’s main theme or gist. It is not always the same as its content (what the author is writing about) or purpose (why the author is writing). In one sentence the theological message of 1 Corinthians is that the gospel requires God’s holy people to mature in purity and unity. What follows unpacks this sentence in three steps.
“The Gospel Requires . . .”
The one theme that drives everything Paul writes in 1 Corinthians is the gospel. To define the gospel narrowly in a single sentence, we could say that Jesus lived, died, and rose again for sinners, and God will save anyone who turns from his sins and trusts Jesus. This is good news not just for non-Christians. It continues to be good news for Christians, affecting everything related to life as a Christian.
Paul uses the noun for “gospel” (Gk. euangelion) eight times and the verb for “proclaim the gospel” (euangelizō) six times in this letter:
- 1:17: Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel [euangelizō], and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
- 4:15b: I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel [euangelion].
- 9:12b: We endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel [euangelion] of Christ.
- 9:14: In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel [euangelion] should get their living by the gospel [euangelion].
- 9:16: If I preach the gospel [euangelizō], that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel [euangelizō]!
- 9:18: What then is my reward? That in my preaching [euangelizō] I may present the gospel [euangelion] free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel [euangelion].
- 9:23: I do it all for the sake of the gospel [euangelion], that I may share with them in its blessings.
- 15:1–2: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel [euangelion] I preached [euangelizō] to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached [euangelizō] to you—unless you believed in vain.
Although the noun and verb for gospel appear only fourteen times, the concept permeates the entire letter. “Christ crucified” (1:23) and risen (ch. 15) is central. The gospel solves every issue Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians because the gospel (and its presuppositions and consequences) is decisive for every issue regarding how Christians should live. Some argue that the gospel does not connect to how Paul addresses head coverings (11:2–16) or spiritual gifts (12:1–14:40), but the gospel connects in some way to every issue. The connection between Corinthian problems and gospel solutions is usually direct (e.g., 1:10–4:21; 8:1–11:1; 15:1–58), but sometimes the solution presupposes (e.g., 11:2–16) or flows from the gospel (e.g., chs. 7 and 12–14). The following list briefly shows how the gospel solves the ten main problems Paul addresses.
Issue 1: 1 Corinthians 1:10–4:21
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians are dividing over church teachers. They embrace the values of their Roman society, which divides over ethnicity (e.g., Jews vs. Gentiles) and social rank (wise vs. foolish, powerful vs. weak, noble birth vs. low and despised). Roman culture values polished rhetoric and regards the message of a crucified Messiah as folly.
Gospel solution. “Christ crucified” is the power and wisdom of God (and confounds Roman values). God uses church teachers to plant and water the church, but God alone gives the growth. So do not boast in particular church teachers, because they are merely servants of Christ. Boast in the Lord.
Issue 2: 1 Corinthians 5:1–13
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians are tolerating incest.
Gospel solution. Purge the evil person from among you, because Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Issue 3: 1 Corinthians 6:1–11
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians are bringing lawsuits against one another.
Gospel solution. Do not wrong or defraud your own brothers, because the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Unrepentant sin formerly characterized your life, but God has washed, sanctified, and justified you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by God’s Spirit.
Issue 4: 1 Corinthians 6:12–20
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians are excusing sexual immorality because it occurs outside the body.
Gospel solution. Your body matters, because God will raise it up like he raised the Lord. Your body is a member of Christ, so you should not make it a member of a prostitute. You do not have the right to do whatever you want with your body, because God owns it, and he owns it because he redeemed you at the cost of his Son’s life. So glorify God with your body by not committing sexual immorality.
Issue 5: 1 Corinthians 7:1–40
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians need instruction and wisdom about marriage and singleness.
Gospel solution. God graciously gives singleness to some and marriage to others. Lead the life the Lord has assigned to you. (And do not become a bondservant of men, because God bought you with a price: Christ crucified.) If you marry, marry “only in the Lord” (7:39).
Issue 6: 1 Corinthians 8:1–11:1
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians are eating food offered to idols in a way that does not build up their neighbors or in a way that participates with demons.
Gospel solution. Do not make your brother stumble, because Christ died for that brother. Be willing to give up your rights for the sake of the gospel. You cannot participate with both (a) the blood and body of Christ and (b) demons.
Issue 7: 1 Corinthians 11:2–16
Problem. The Corinthian Christians might wear or not wear head coverings in a way that defiantly flouts God’s beautiful design for husbands and wives.
Gospel solution. The husband-wife relationship reflects the Father-Son relationship with reference to authority and submission.
Issue 8: 1 Corinthians 11:17–34
Problem. Some more affluent Corinthian Christians are abusing the Lord’s Supper by marginalizing poor Christians.
Gospel solution. Jesus gave his body and blood for the church, so do not despise it. When you celebrate the Lord’s Supper, you proclaim his death until he comes. So sacrificially share food with one another when you celebrate how Jesus has sacrificed his life for you.
Issue 9: 1 Corinthians 12:1–14:40
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians are prioritizing less edifying spiritual gifts and failing to use their gifts to edify the body of Christ in love.
Gospel solution. Pursue love (which the gospel embodies) by earnestly desiring and using spiritual gifts that build up the Spirit-baptized body of Christ.
Issue 10: 1 Corinthians 15:1–58
Problem. Some Corinthian Christians are denying that God will resurrect the corpses of believers.
Gospel solution. Christ died for our sins, and God resurrected his corpse. If God will not resurrect the corpses of believers, then he has not resurrected the corpse of Christ. But he did resurrect the corpse of Christ and therefore will resurrect the corpses of believers.
“. . . God’s Holy People to Mature . . .”
When one describes the Corinthian church, holy is not one of the first adjectives that comes to mind. At least some of the Corinthians are sinfully divisive over church teachers, tolerating incest, suing each other, excusing sex with prostitutes, claiming that it is good not to pursue sex with one’s spouse, proudly claiming special knowledge, clinging to their rights in a way that does not build up fellow believers, abusing fellow believers when celebrating the Lord’s Supper, misevaluating and misusing spiritual gifts, and denying that God will resurrect the corpses of believers. It is these people whom Paul addresses as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1:2). All Christians are “saints,” or God’s holy people, but this does not mean they are sinless. God’s holy people gradually become what they already are: holy. They must mature like a child grows into adulthood (3:1–4; 13:11) or a seed sprouts and grows into a plant (3:6–8). God’s holy people must become what they already are (5:7; 6:11, 15–20).
“. . . in Purity and Unity.”
The Corinthian church must mature in two main areas: purity and unity. The church must mature in purity to counteract the society’s worldly values, and they must mature in unity to solve conflicts within the church. Some exegetes argue that the letter’s theme is purity, and more argue that it is unity.
It is artificial to place each of the main issues neatly in either the purity category (i.e., compromise with the Greco-Roman society’s non-Christian and hedonistic values) or the unity category (i.e., conflict within the Corinthian church). This is artificial because (1) all of the problems Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians stem from embracing Roman society’s impure values (i.e., compromise) and (2) embracing those impure values results in disunity in the church (i.e., conflict). So correcting the impurity (compromise) is the way to correct the disunity (conflict):
(1) Do not divide over church teachers (1:10–4:21).
(2) Do not tolerate flagrant sin in the church (5:1–13).
(3) Do not bring lawsuits against one another (6:1–11).
(4) Do not indulge in sexual immorality (6:12–20).
(5) Lead the life that the Lord has assigned to you with reference to marriage or singleness (7:1–40).
(6) Be willing to give up your rights for the sake of the gospel; live in a way (eating, drinking, etc.) that glorifies God by building up your neighbor; do not eat food offered to idols if it makes you a participant with demons (8:1–11:1).
(7) When the church gathers to worship, men should not wear head coverings, while women should wear them (11:2–16).
(8) Do not celebrate the Lord’s Supper in a way that divides believers into the haves and the have-nots (11:17–34).
(9) Desire the most edifying spiritual gifts, and use the gifts the Spirit gives you to build up the body of Christ in love (12:1–14:40).
(10) Affirm that God will resurrect the corpses of believers (15:1–58).
Another way to say that God’s holy people must mature in purity and unity is that they must mature in love. Paul’s concluding words include five exhortations in 16:13–14 that culminate in the final one: “Let all that you do be done in love.”
Relationship to the Rest of the Bible and to Christ
Biblical theology studies how the whole Bible progresses, integrates, and climaxes in Christ. It is a way of analyzing and synthesizing the Bible that makes organic, salvation-historical connections within the whole canon on its own terms, especially regarding how the OT and NT integrate and climax in Christ.
The biblical theology in 1 Corinthians is rich. The letter is all about the crucified and risen Messiah and how those saving events require God’s holy people to mature in purity and unity (cf. Theology of 1 Corinthians). The letter connects to the rest of the Bible by looking back to the OT, looking forward to the consummation, and explaining what that means for Christians today, who live in the “already-but-not-yet” stage of salvation history.4
The most obvious way to study how the letter connects with the OT is to analyze the passages that quote or allude to the OT. The letter directly quotes the OT at least seventeen times: 1:19, 31; 2:9, 16; 3:19, 20; 5:13; 6:16; 9:9; 10:7, 26; 14:21; 15:27, 32, 45, 54, 55.
Another way to study biblical-theological connections is to trace significant themes that progress in salvation history from Genesis through 1 Corinthians to Revelation. When tracing the trajectory of those themes, it is helpful to think of categories such as continuity and discontinuity, promise and fulfillment, and type and antitype as applied to holiness (1 Cor. 1:2), temple (6:19–20), marriage and singleness (7:7–9; cf. Response section on 7:1–40: [2]), the Mosaic law (7:18–19), the people of God (10:1–22), Passover (11:25), and the death and resurrection of Christ (15:3–4, 25–27, 54–55).5
Preaching from 1 Corinthians
Apply the Gospel
When preaching straight through 1 Corinthians, one danger is to focus intently on controversial issues without showing how the gospel is the answer to every issue (cf. Theology of 1 Corinthians). If a pastor preaches on the issues in 1 Corinthians without showing how the crucified and risen Messiah decisively determines how we should respond, then that pastor has not really preached 1 Corinthians.
Correct Worldviews
The prevailing worldview in a culture strongly influences how people live. Unfortunately, it can also influence how God’s holy people live. For example, is sex outside of marriage necessarily sinful? Paul writes this letter to shepherd a church toward aligning their worldview with their master, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who preach this letter should continue Paul’s worldview-correcting work among God’s people today.
Preach Sequentially
Some portions of Scripture—like Proverbs 10–31—are easier to preach topically rather than sequentially. But 1 Corinthians is ideal for preaching passage by passage in the order Paul writes the letter.
Evaluate When to Preach This Letter
Many of the issues Paul addresses are still controversial topics today, so before a preacher commits to preaching straight through this letter, he should ask God for wisdom to know whether this is the book of the Bible that the church should study next. The church in question does not need to be a significantly mature one, because the letter’s original recipients were spiritually immature. The preacher, of course, must be spiritually mature and accurately understand what Paul means before applying it to contemporary audiences. Some issues in 1 Corinthians are so challenging to preach today that a preacher may want to study them in more depth before committing to preach the entire letter to a church. Three topics are particularly challenging:
(1) Divorce and remarriage (ch. 7). Is divorce ever a valid option? Is remarriage? Pastors cannot duck these questions, and 1 Corinthians 7 is important for answering them.
(2) Head coverings (11:2–16). The most challenging issue here is to understand the historical-cultural context. How can preachers apply this passage in an accurate, penetrating way if they misunderstand the historical-cultural context?
(3) Spiritual gifts (chs. 12–14). Does the Spirit continue to give spiritual gifts such as tongues and prophecy, or did he cease giving those gifts in the first century? This is the most lengthy and detailed Bible passage on that controversial issue.
Interpretive Challenges
Every issue Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians has interpretive challenges. Among other questions, this commentary attempts to answer the following (corresponding to the ten issues in the Outline):
(1) What is the historical-cultural context regarding rhetoric (chs. 1–4)? Is “carnal Christian” a viable category (2:12–3:4)? What is the nature of the rewards that God’s servants will receive, and what does it mean to be saved “only as through fire” (3:14–15)?
(2) What does it mean “to deliver” a person “to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (5:5)? How does church discipline in chapter 5 harmonize with Matthew 18:15–20?
(3) Does 1 Corinthians 6:1–8 mean that a believer today should never sue a fellow believer? What does “we are to judge angels” mean (6:3)? Are “men who practice homosexuality” (6:9) distinct from adults in committed same-sex relationships?
(4) Should parts of 6:12–20 have quotation marks to show that Paul is quoting and refuting the Corinthians? If so, which parts?
(5) Is chapter 7 merely Paul’s advice that is not directly from the Lord (cf. 7:10 with 7:12, 25–26, 40)? What are God’s rules for divorce and remarriage? What does it mean that, if one spouse is a believer, the unbelieving spouse and their children are holy (7:14)? What is “the present distress” (7:26)? Is singleness better than marriage?
(6) What is the historical-cultural context regarding eating food offered to idols (chs. 8–10)? What is the conscience, and how does it work (8:7, 10, 12; 10:25, 27–29)? What does it mean to make one’s brother stumble (8:9, 13)? Are Christians under the law (9:20–21)? How was Christ “the spiritual Rock that followed” Israel in the wilderness (10:4)?
(7) What does it mean for a person to be “the head” of another person (11:3)? What is the historical-cultural context regarding wearing a head covering (11:4–16)? Should Christian women in all cultures today wear head coverings when the church gathers to worship? What does “because of the angels” mean (11:10)?
(8) What is the historical-cultural context regarding how some Corinthians abuse the Lord’s Supper (11:17–34)? What does “let a person examine himself” mean (11:28)?
(9) What does it mean to speak in tongues and to prophesy (chs. 12–14)? Has the Spirit ceased giving these gifts, or does he continue giving them today? What is “the perfect” (13:10)? What does “the women should keep silent in the churches” mean (14:34)?
(10) What is the historical-cultural context regarding how some Corinthians deny that God will resurrect believers (15:12)? What does “being baptized on behalf of the dead” mean (15:29)?
Outline
The body of the letter is a single main heading (II), and all of the issues Paul addresses parallel each other under that main heading. Most commentators divide the body of the letter into multiple parts, usually in one of two main ways.
Some divide the letter in half: Paul responds to reports about the Corinthians in 1:10–6:20, then responds to a letter from the Corinthians in 7:1–15:58. But this does not work, because chapters 11 and 15 likely respond to reports about the Corinthians.
Others divide the letter into thematic groups. For example: (1) chapters 5–7 address how to glorify God with one’s body, while chapters 8–14 address how to glorify God in worship; or (2) chapters 5–6 deal with ethical confusion, chapters 7–10 with lifestyle issues, and chapters 11–14 with how to behave in church meetings. Grouping the issues thematically like this can be helpful, but it is not sufficiently evident that Paul intentionally groups the issues in a particular thematic way. So the following outline strings out the issues in one long list.6
I. Introduction (1:1–9)
A. Salutation (1:1–3)
1. Author (1:1)
2. Addressees (1:2)
3. Greeting (1:3)
B. Thanksgiving (1:4–9)
II. Issues Paul responds to based on reports about the Corinthians and a letter from the Corinthians (1:10–15:58)
A. Dividing over church teachers (1:10–4:21)
1. The gospel requires the church to be unified—not divided over its teachers (1:10–17)
2. God’s wisdom contradicts worldly wisdom (1:18–2:16)
a. Its message is a crucified Messiah (1:18–25)
b. Its followers are low-status people (1:26–31)
c. Its herald (Paul) proclaimed the message unimpressively (2:1–5)
d. God has now revealed his wisdom only to persons with the Spirit (2:6–16)
3. People with the Spirit should not boast in church teachers (3:1–4:21)
a. Rebuke: Christians who divide over church teachers are behaving immaturely—like people who do not have God’s Spirit (3:1–4)
b. Reason: church teachers are merely God’s servants (3:5–9)
c. Warning: church teachers must take care how they build God’s church (3:10–15)
d. Warning: God will destroy anyone who destroys God’s temple (3:16–17)
e. Exhortation: do not boast in church teachers (3:18–23)
f. Rebuke: do not presumptuously judge church teachers (4:1–5)
g. Rebuke: the apostles—not the Corinthians—model God’s wisdom (4:6–13)
h. Fatherly appeal and warning: imitate Paul, who plans to return (4:14–21)
B. Tolerating incest (5:1–13)
1. Problem: the Corinthians are arrogantly tolerating incest (5:1–2a)
2. Rebukes and commands: do not boast; cleanse out the old leaven (5:2b–8)
3. Clarification: these instructions apply not to all unbelievers but specifically to professing believers (5:9–13)
C. Bringing lawsuits against one another (6:1–11)
1. Main charge: do not go to law against each other before non-Christians (6:1)
2. Reasons: two arguments from the greater to the lesser support the main charge (6:2–3)
3. Inference of the reasons: Paul restates the main charge (6:4)
4. Rebuke: Paul shames the Corinthians with sarcastic incredulity (6:5–8)
5. Warning to support the main charge: the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (6:9–10)
6. Implied exhortation: become what you are (6:11)
D. Excusing sexual immorality (6:12–20)
1. Against slogan 1: immoral sex does not help others or yourself (6:12)
2. Against slogan 2: immoral sex joins your body to a prostitute, but your body is for the Lord (6:13–17)
3. Against slogan 3: immoral sex sins against your own body (6:18–20)
E. Enjoying sex in marriage, staying single, getting divorced, and getting married (7:1–40)
1. Enjoying sex in marriage (7:1–6)
2. Staying single (7:7–9)
3. Getting divorced (7:10–16)
4. The general principle: stay where God has called you (7:17–24)
5. Getting married (7:25–40)
F. Eating food offered to idols (8:1–11:1)
1. Principle: loving your brothers and sisters is more important than enjoying your rights (8:1–13)
2. Illustration: Paul gave up his rights for the sake of the gospel (9:1–23)
3. Exhortation: flee from idolatry (9:24–10:22)
4. Conclusion: strategically do all for God’s glory by seeking your neighbor’s good (10:23–11:1)
G. Wearing head coverings (11:2–16)
1. Introduction: Paul commends the Corinthians (11:2)
2. Reason 1 for the main argument: the husband-wife relationship should reflect the Father-Son relationship with reference to authority and submission (11:3)
3. Main argument: when praying or prophesying in a church meeting, men who cover their heads dishonor Christ, and wives who uncover their heads dishonor their husbands (11:4–5a)
4. Reason 2: a wife’s uncovering her head is culturally shameful (11:5b–6)
5. Reason 3: a man’s covering his head instead of a wife’s covering her head contradicts how God the creator designed men and women (11:7–9)
6. Reason 4: it is a bad testimony to the angels or messengers (11:10)
7. Qualification to 11:3–10: men and women are interdependent (11:11–12)
8. Reason 5: it is culturally improper (11:13–15)
9. Reason 6: it goes against what Paul and other churches practiced (11:16)
H. Abusing the Lord’s Supper (11:17–34)
1. Problem: the “haves” are not sharing their food with the “have-nots” (11:17–22)
2. Doctrine: Paul repeats the liturgy from the first Lord’s Supper (11:23–26)
3. Application: examine yourself before you celebrate the Lord’s Supper (11:27–32)
4. Solution: share with one another (11:33–34)
I. Desiring and using spiritual gifts (12:1–14:40)
1. Diversity in unity: the Spirit gives diverse spiritual gifts to individuals within a single church body (12:1–31)
2. The best way: love is essential for using spiritual gifts (13:1–13)
3. Intelligibility: pursue love by earnestly desiring to prophesy, which is more valuable than tongues for building up others when the church meets because it is intelligible (14:1–25)
4. Orderliness: when the church comes together, build up one another by using spiritual gifts in an orderly way (14:26–40)
J. Denying that God will resurrect the corpses of believers (15:1–58)
1. Foundation: Christ’s resurrection is essential to the gospel (15:1–11)
2. Fact: God will certainly resurrect the corpses of believers (15:12–34)
a. If God does not raise the dead, then Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then horrible consequences follow (15:12–19)
b. But since Christ has been raised, God will raise those who belong to Christ and thus destroy death (15:20–28)
c. If God does not raise the dead, then what some people are doing is absurd, but since God does raise the dead, what some Corinthians are claiming is absurd (15:29–34)
3. Nature: the heavenly body is reasonable, certain, and necessary (15:35–58)
a. Two analogies from nature (seeds and different kinds of bodies) prove that resurrecting the corpses of believers is reasonable (15:35–44)
b. The analogy of Adam and Christ proves that resurrecting the corpses of believers is certain (15:45–49)
c. God must transform the perishable, mortal bodies of dead and living believers into imperishable, immortal bodies to triumphantly defeat death (15:50–58)
A. Instructions about collecting money for believers in Jerusalem (16:1–4)
B. Travel plans for Paul, Timothy, and Apollos (16:5–12)
C. Final exhortations (16:13–18)
D. Final greetings (16:19–24)