Whole-book orientation · Letter

Overview and structure

See the book’s genre, major movements, and complete reading route.

Use this page with the passage open. Follow the references, test each conclusion, and return to the whole book for context.

A clear route through the whole book

The units preserve the book’s order. Read the surrounding passage whenever a unit crosses a chapter boundary, and do not let a memorable verse replace the argument or story around it.

Overview

01 · 1 Corinthians · 01

The message is established

Identify the audience, situation, good news, and pastoral purpose that open 1 Corinthians.

02 · 1 Corinthians · 02

The teaching is developed

Follow the argument, correction, encouragement, or testimony through the central movement of 1 Corinthians.

03 · 1 Corinthians · 03

Faith becomes a way of life

Learn how worship, relationships, holiness, service, endurance, and hope become visible practices in 1 Corinthians.

04 · 1 Corinthians · 04

The church is sent forward

Gather the warnings, promises, prayers, and final instructions that 1 Corinthians places in the hands of its readers.

All study units

Passage study 01 · 1 Corinthians 1:1–4:21

A divided house church rallying around favored teachers while Paul redirects attention to the cross and faithful service

Open study →Passage study 02 · 1 Corinthians 5–6

A congregation confronting tolerated wrongdoing, public lawsuits, exploitation, and the call to honor God with the body

Open study →Passage study 03 · 1 Corinthians 7

Married, unmarried, widowed, and engaged believers listening to practical counsel for faithful life in their present circumstances

Open study →Passage study 04 · 1 Corinthians 8–10

Meat sold near an idol temple, a stronger believer considering a weaker conscience, and Israel’s wilderness failures remembered as warning

Open study →Passage study 05 · 1 Corinthians 11:1–16

Men and women praying and prophesying in gathered worship within the honor conventions Paul addresses

Open study →Passage study 06 · 1 Corinthians 11:17–34

Wealthier believers eating early while poorer members arrive hungry, followed by the church receiving the Lord’s Supper with discernment

Open study →Passage study 07 · 1 Corinthians 12

Many different body members and gifts serving one gathered church without rivalry

Open study →Passage study 08 · 1 Corinthians 13

Patient, truthful, enduring love enacted in ordinary care, correction, sacrifice, and reconciliation rather than romantic imagery alone

Open study →Passage study 09 · 1 Corinthians 14

Prophecy and tongues practiced in an orderly gathering where intelligibility builds up the church

Open study →Passage study 10 · 1 Corinthians 15

Witnesses to the risen Christ, seed buried and raised transformed, and death’s apparent victory giving way to resurrection hope

Open study →Passage study 11 · 1 Corinthians 16

Believers setting aside a collection, Paul planning travel, and Stephanas’s household serving the saints

Open study →

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