Bible Study 1 Corinthians 1
‹ 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1 · WEB

Christ Crucified, the Wisdom of God

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Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
5that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;
6even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
8who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
10Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.
12Now I mean this, that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," "I follow Apollos," "I follow Cephas," and, "I follow Christ."
13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
14I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,
15so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.
16(I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don't know whether I baptized any other.)
17For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn't be made void.
18For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing."
20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn't know God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
22For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,
23but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,
24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is 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 you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
27but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.
28God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are,
29that no flesh should boast before God.
30Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
31that, as it is written, "He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord."
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Summary

Paul greets the divided Corinthian church and thanks God for the grace and gifts they have received, even as he prepares to address their problems. He pleads for unity — divisions over which teacher to follow (Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ) miss the fact that Christ alone was crucified for them. The cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved; God deliberately chose what the world calls foolish and weak to shame what it calls wise and strong, so that no one would boast. Christ crucified is the stumbling block for Jews who want signs and the foolishness for Greeks who want wisdom — but to those called, he is the power and wisdom of God. He became to us wisdom from God — and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption — so that whoever boasts, boasts in the Lord.

Themes

  • Unity of the church versus party spirit
  • The cross as God's chosen foolishness
  • God choosing the weak to shame the strong
  • Christ as everything we need
  • All boasting in the Lord

Key verses

  • 1 Corinthians 1:18 — “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
  • 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 — “We preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks, but to those who are called... Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
  • 1 Corinthians 1:30 — “Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
  • 1 Corinthians 1:9 — “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.”

Context & background

Written from Ephesus c. AD 54-55 during Paul's three-year stay there (Acts 19). Corinth was a wealthy, cosmopolitan Roman colony at the crossroads of the empire — its sexual immorality was proverbial, its love of rhetoric and visible wisdom intense. The church there was Gentile-dominant, recently founded, gifted (v. 7), but spiritually immature. Apollos (v. 12) had ministered there after Paul (Acts 18:24-19:1), with such eloquence that some preferred him; "Cephas" is Peter's Aramaic name. Crispus (v. 14) was the synagogue ruler converted in Acts 18:8; Gaius likely hosted a house church (Romans 16:23). The Greek world valued *sophia* — wisdom expressed in eloquent rhetoric and philosophical sophistication; Paul refuses to package the gospel in that wrapping because the package would obscure the message. The cross — a crucified messiah — was scandal to Jews (a curse, Deuteronomy 21:23) and absurdity to Romans (a slave's death). Paul says these reactions confirm rather than refute the gospel: God's wisdom inverts human prestige.

Cross-references

  • Galatians 6:14 — "Far be it from me to boast except in the cross."
  • Isaiah 29:14 — "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise" — quoted in v. 19.
  • Jeremiah 9:23-24 — "Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me" — paraphrased in v. 31.
  • Philippians 3:7-11 — Paul's own boast: knowing Christ and him crucified.
  • Romans 1:16 — "The gospel is the power of God for salvation" — parallel to v. 18.

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What four parties or slogans had formed in the Corinthian church according to 1 Corinthians 1:12?

  2. Observe

    According to 1 Corinthians 1:22-23, what do Jews seek, what do Greeks seek, and what does Paul preach?

  3. Interpret

    Paul says "God chose the foolish things of the world to put to shame those who are wise" (v. 27). What is the deeper theological purpose he identifies for this pattern of divine reversal?

  4. Interpret

    What does it mean that Christ "was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption" (v. 30)?

  5. Apply

    Party spirit had divided the Corinthian church around human leaders. What does Paul's rhetorical question "Is Christ divided?" (v. 13) call contemporary church members to do?

  6. Apply

    Verse 31 says "He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord." Where might a Christian today be tempted to boast in something other than the Lord, and how does verse 30 redirect that?

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