Daily Reading Passages

Click below to see the passages online. Although, I recommend that if you can you read these in your own Bible. That way you can underline, comment, and become familiar with your own Bible.

1 Corinthians 1

Coaching Comments

Today we start the first of two letters Paul wrote to the Christians living in Corinth. It seems that Paul founded the church in Corinth, and then after spending some time there mentoring the leaders, he left for Ephesus. While he was there he wrote this letter to encourage his friends, and admonish them on a few issues. In particular he had heard a number of concerning reports about issues that were bringing division into the body. This was not acceptable for Paul.

The church in Corinth was in a particularly important position. Corinth was a very large city, some sources say it could have been as large as 700,000 people when Paul was there. It was a Roman city with a long, rich history. It was a trading cross-roads, so many people from many places came through its marketplaces. It was also a city with a long heritage of excess and immorality. The very name of the city became a synonym for "luxurious." (As in "fine corinthian leather.) In this context - a cosmopolitan, wealthy city with wide influence, Paul and others planted a little church.

As we read 1st Corinthians keep this context in mind. Also remember that we are reading a letter. That means we are reading one side of a two-sided conversation. Paul already knew many of the people in this church, and certainly knew their leaders. Then Paul had received reports from trusted friends about the situations that he goes on to address. This isn't a general letter meant to declare timeless theological truths. It is a specific response to actual issues in the lives of the Christians in Corinth.

Paul starts the letter out with the common form of introduction - the author, the audience, and a blessing. Paul wrote the letter together with a co-worker named Sosthenes, who may have been Paul's scribe - or since he got "headline credit," more likely was a ministry leader the people in Corinth were familiar with. The intended recipients of the letter were the Christians in Corinth. Paul calls them "the saints" who are called to be holy. This is important to remember as we get into the body of the letter. These people - for all their issues - are already saints. We often think that "saints" are especially holy people, but that is not how Paul used the word. To him "saints" were all the people who had chosen to follow Jesus - regardless of how together their lives were. Paul opens the letter with a prayer for grace and peace for this little church.

Paul expresses thankfulness for these Christians, and for the strides of growth they have already made, but then quickly gets into his urgent concern. They have become divided. A number of issues that he will address in the course of the letter are breaking up the fellowship of the little church, and this is a crisis for Paul. Some were identifying themselves as "Paul-ites," others as "Apollo-ites." No doubt people were touting the teachings of their favorite leader, and this was bringing division. This undermined their effectiveness as a church, but even worse, it undermined the power of the cross.

If Christians could not live in unity, than God would not be able to work through them to reach a broken world. And so, Paul headed into a reminder of the power of the cross, and God's purposes with the Gospel. If the Corinthians were going to try to evaluate the gospel on the basis of their own wisdom, they would fail. The path God had chosen, through the cross, looks like foolishness to people. And so arguments based on our own wisdom are simply clouds of vapor, getting in the way of the simple thing God was trying to do.