Inter-Varsity Press

CONTENTS

1 Welcome to Corinth!
1 Corinthians 1:1–9
A letter to take notice of! 1:1–3
King Jesus and his fellow citizens 1:1–3
The church God blesses! 1:4–9
Corinthian slogans and quotations

2 True and false wisdom
1 Corinthians 1:10 – 2:16
The danger of divisions 1:10–17
The foolishness of the cross 1:18–25
Greek religion and philosophy
The foolishness of God’s people 1:26–31
The foolishness of the preacher 2:1–5
The riches all believers share 2:6–10a
Wisdom from the Spirit 2:10b–16

3 The church and its ministry
1 Corinthians 3:1–23
Spirituality into division won’t go! 3:1–4
Only servants 3:5–9
Building with care 3:10–15
Christ is the head and source of all things 3:16–23

4 Christian apostles
1 Corinthians 4:1–21
Standing before the Judge 4:1–5
Authentic Christian ministry 4:6–13
Remember whose children you are! 4:14–21

5 Failed Christianity
1 Corinthians 5:1 – 6:20
Blind to the obvious! 5:1–5
Be what you are! 5:6–8
Evading the truth 5:9–13
Church discipline
Living as citizens of God’s kingdom 6:1–11
Christians and courts of law
Our bodies are important to God 6:12–20

6 Marriage and divorce
1 Corinthians 7:1–40
Is sex sinful? 7:1–6
Singleness and marriage:which is better? 7:7–16
Divorce and remarriage
Problems in following God’s call 7:17–40
When Christians disagree

7 Christians in pagan society
1 Corinthians 8:1 – 11:1
Living in love 8:1–13 90
Meat sacrificed to idols
The rights of Christian workers 9:1–14
Free to serve the gospel 9:15–27
The lessons of history 10:1–13
Paul’s use of the Old Testament
Does baptism save and can the saved be lost?
Right and wrong! 10:14 – 11:1
Does Paul contradict himself in chapters 8 and 10?
Passover and the Lord’s Supper

8 Women and men in worship
1 Corinthians 11:2–16
The role of women in church life 11:2–6
Head and hair
Head-coverings and creation 11:7–12
Celestial resurrection
Head-coverings and custom 11:13–16

9 The Lord’s Supper
1 Corinthians 11:17–34
The Lord’s Supper: the problem at Corinth 11:17–22
The Lord’s Supper: how it was instituted 11:23–26
My body which is for you
The Lord’s Supper: the remedy to the problem 11:27–34

10 Spiritual gifts
1 Corinthians 12:1–31
Testing the spirits 12:1–3
Different gifts, one giver 12:4–7
Just some of the gifts 12:8–11
Speaking in tongues
One body: many limbs 12:12–20
A body needs to look after itself! 12:21–31

11 The more excellent way
1 Corinthians 13:1–13
Love’s necessity 13:1–3
Love’s character 13:4–7
Love’s permanence 13:8–13

12 Getting worship right
1 Corinthians 14:1–40
Building one another up 14:1–12
Keep it clear! 14:13–19
Watch out! Unbelievers about! 14:20–25
Prophecy and preaching
Keeping order 14:26–33
Self-sufficient worship 14:34–40
Women in worship
Form and freedom

13 The resurrection of believers
1 Corinthians 15:1–58
The resurrection of Christ 15:1–11
Creeds
What if Christ did not rise? 15:12–19
But he did rise! Hallelujah! 15:20–34
With what kind of body will we rise? 15:35–49
Tremendous transformation 15:50–58

14 The last word
1 Corinthians 16:1–24
Back in the valley 16:1–12
The collection
What happened next?
Summing up 16:13–24

These days, meeting together to study the Bible in groups appears to be a booming leisure-time activity in many parts of the world. In the United Kingdom alone, it is estimated that over one million people each week meet in home Bible-study groups.

This series has been designed to help such groups and, in particular, those who lead them. These Bible Guides are also very suitable for individual study, and may help hard-pressed preachers, teachers and students too (see ‘How to use this Bible Guide’, p. 10).

We have therefore enlisted authors who are in the business of teaching the Bible to others and are doing it well. They have kept in their sights two clear aims:

1. To explain and apply the message of the Bible in nontechnical language.
2. To encourage discussion, prayer and action on what the Bible teaches.

All of us engaged in the project believe that the Bible is the Word of God – given to us in order that people might discover him and his purposes for our lives. We believe that the sixty-six books which go to make up the Bible, although written by different people, in different places, at different times, through different circumstances, have a single unifying theme: that theme is Salvation. This means free forgiveness and the removal of all our guilt, it means the gift of eternal life, and it means the wholeness of purpose and joy which God has designed us to experience here and now, all of this being made possible through the Lord Jesus Christ.