The big picture
The Book of 1 Corinthians opens by refusing to let Corinth's failures become the first word about Corinth. Paul calls the congregation God's church, thanks God for gifts already present, and only then names the quarrel that has turned teachers into banners. The cure is not a better ranking of Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and Christ. It is a crucified Christ who makes every normal measure of prestige look unstable. The same cross that seems foolish or weak by ordinary standards becomes God's wisdom and power, and the Corinthians themselves are exhibit A: not many arrived with the credentials their city would have prized. By the end of the chapter, boasting has nowhere left to stand except in the Lord. Division is therefore more than bad manners. It is a way of forgetting who called the church, who was crucified for it, and where its entire standing actually comes from.
Central truth
Paul confronts Corinth's teacher-centred boasting with Christ crucified, the Spirit's wisdom, and the accountability of servants building a congregation that belongs to God.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
1 Corinthians 1:1: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,”
Slow down at the turning point
1 Corinthians 1:13: “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”
Keep this word trail visible
Christ, Jesus, wisdom, Lord, world, baptized
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
1 Corinthians 1:1-17
Grace first, then the quarrel
Start with the greeting and the thanksgiving before the rebuke. Paul calls this troubled congregation "the church of God which is at Corinth" and "sanctified in Christ Jesus" (1:2), and says they "come behind in no gift" (1:7). Only then does the report from Chloe's household arrive (1:11), with its four slogans. Teach this order on purpose: Paul corrects people he still counts as God's. Explain "perfectly joined together" in 1:10 as the word for mending nets or setting a bone, a joining back into one, not a demand that everyone think identically about everything.
1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5
The cross turns the scoreboard over
Now give the reason the factions are wrong. Jews looked for a sign, Greeks for wisdom (1:22), and the cross supplied neither on their terms: "we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness" (1:23). Then turn the learners to their own calling in 1:26-29: not many wise, mighty or noble. Explain "glory" in 1:29-31 as boasting, and read Jeremiah 9:23-24 behind 1:31. This step comes second because ranking teachers is a form of boasting, and the cross removes the ground it stands on. Close on 2:2, Paul's own decision to know nothing among them except Christ crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
God's wisdom, revealed by the Spirit
Correct the impression that Paul is against wisdom. He speaks wisdom "among them that are perfect" (2:6); explain "perfect" as mature, not flawless. This wisdom was hidden, ordained before the ages, and unknown to "the princes of this world", who "would not have crucified the Lord of glory" had they known it (2:8). Read 2:9 and 2:10 together, slowly. Then explain "natural man" in 2:14 as a person without the Spirit, not a person of low intelligence. Teach this before chapter 3 because the Corinthians thought themselves spiritual, and 2:15-16 sets up the rebuke Paul is about to deliver.
1 Corinthians 3:1-17
Field, building, temple
Here Paul turns the Corinthians' claim back on them: they are "babes in Christ" (3:1), and the proof is the envying and strife of 3:3. Then lay out the three images in order. Field: planting, watering, growth from God (3:6-9). Building: one foundation, Christ, and builders whose work the day will test by fire (3:10-15). Explain "husbandry" as a cultivated field. Temple: "ye are the temple of God" (3:16), the gathered church, and whoever destroys it God will destroy (3:17). Present the readings of 3:12-15 as the testing of each worker's labour, and keep the man who "shall be saved; yet so as by fire" in view.
1 Corinthians 3:18-4:7
All things are yours, so boast in no one
Read 3:21-23 aloud as the reversal of 1:12. They said "I am of Paul"; Paul says "all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." Then 4:1-5 gives the right way to regard teachers: "ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God". Explain "steward" as a household manager entrusted with what belongs to another. End this step on the three questions of 4:7, which are the heart of the whole unit: what has anyone got that was not received? Teach it here so the irony that follows has its target.
1 Corinthians 4:8-21
Kings at Corinth, fools for Christ
Read 4:8-13 with some edge in your voice, then soften it at 4:14. The learners must hear both the irony and the love. Paul is not their critic but their father in the gospel (4:15), and he asks them to imitate him (4:16). Explain "instructers" as guardians or tutors, the slaves who walked children to school. Finish with the choice of 4:21, a rod or "love, and in the spirit of meekness". Place this step last because it shows where all the theology lands: Paul wants a church that measures itself by the cross it preaches, and he will come and see.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"Paul says baptism is not important."
Paul says Christ sent him "not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1:17), but in the same paragraph he lists the people he baptized (1:14-16), and in 12:13 he says that by one Spirit all are baptized into one body. His complaint is that baptism was being used to build a following: people were saying whose hands had baptized them. The question of 1:13, "were ye baptized in the name of Paul?", assumes baptism in Christ's name is what matters. Keep the verse on the factions, where Paul aims it.
"Christians should not study, think hard or value education."
Paul rejects "the wisdom of this world" (1:20), which here means a way of judging that finds the cross foolish, and "enticing words of man's wisdom" used to win admiration (2:4). He does not reject thought: he argues closely through these chapters, quotes Isaiah, Job and the Psalms, and says "we speak wisdom among them that are perfect" (2:6). The problem in Corinth was boasting about wisdom and teachers, not learning. Let learners see that Paul wants the mind of Christ (2:16), not an empty mind.
"Eye hath not seen means we cannot know anything about what God has prepared."
Verse 9 quotes Isaiah 64:4, and verse 10 answers it immediately: "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit". In context the things prepared are the hidden wisdom of God shown in the crucified Lord of glory (2:7-8), not only a description of heaven. Believers have received the Spirit "that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (2:12). Using the verse at funerals is not wrong, but it should not silence the next verse, which is the point of the paragraph.
"Judge nothing means we can never say anyone is wrong."
Verse 4:5 forbids judging "before the time", that is, passing verdicts on hidden motives and the final worth of a person's ministry, which belong to the Lord when he comes. The very next chapter requires the church to judge open wrongdoing among its members: "do not ye judge them that are within?" (5:12). Paul also tests the puffed up by their power, not their speech (4:19). So the verse rules out speculation about hearts and ranking of leaders, not discernment about visible conduct.
Learning objectives
- Identify the factions reported by Chloe's household.
- Explain how the cross overturns human grounds for boasting.
- Read the Spirit's revelation beyond the quotation in 2:9.
- Explain the field, building, and temple images.
- Distinguish faithful stewardship from popularity and self-approval.
- Recognise the corrective irony in Paul's contrast with Corinth.
Teacher preparation
- Read 1 Corinthians 1:1–4:21; divide preparation into division, wisdom, shared labour, and accountable service.
- Read Acts 18:1–11,24–28 for Paul and Apollos; do not assume the named teachers encouraged their supporters' rivalry.
- Explain 'perfect' in 2:6 as mature, 'husbandry' in 3:9 as cultivated field, and 'stewards' in 4:1 as entrusted managers.
- Rehearse 4:8–13 as pointed irony, then soften the delivery at 4:14; Paul warns beloved children, not an audience he despises.
- Prepare field, foundation, and temple cards; distinguish the corporate temple in 3:16–17 from the bodily emphasis in 6:19.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Use 1 Corinthians 1:11–13; 3:5–7; 4:1–2: factions attach themselves to teachers whom Paul describes as servants and stewards, while God gives growth.
Scripture-supported
Read 1 Corinthians 1:31 with Jeremiah 9:23–24: boasting belongs in the Lord rather than wisdom, strength, or wealth treated as independent grounds of superiority.
Strong inference
Infer a mismatch between gifts and maturity by comparing 1 Corinthians 1:7 with 3:1–4; spiritual endowment has not prevented envy and factionalism.
Possible or traditional reading
Present purifying-judgment readings of 1 Corinthians 3:12–15 as interpretations; note that the immediate image tests the quality of work built on Christ's foundation.
Limit
Do not use 1 Corinthians 4:5 to forbid all moral discernment; it concerns premature judgment of hidden counsels, while 5:12–13 requires judgment of manifest wrongdoing.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Why ask whether Paul was crucified for the Corinthians?
What a good answer contains
Because the factions had attached the Corinthians to the wrong person. Paul asks three questions in one breath, "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (1:13), and each expects the answer no. Belonging is settled by the one who was crucified and by the name in which they were baptized. A good answer notices that Paul refuses a party carrying his own name before he refuses anyone else's. A weak answer concludes from 1:17 that baptism does not matter; Paul did baptize Crispus, Gaius and the household of Stephanas (1:14-16). His point is that baptism binds people to Christ, not to the one who performed it.
Show teacher guidance
Read 1:12–17. The cross and baptism locate belonging in Christ, not a preferred teacher; do not infer that baptism itself is unimportant.
2. Does Paul reject wisdom itself when he preaches Christ crucified?
What a good answer contains
No. He rejects a wisdom that cannot make room for a crucified Messiah, and in the same breath he says, "we speak wisdom among them that are perfect" (2:6). The preaching of the cross looks like foolishness only "to them that perish" (1:18); to the called it is "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1:24). A strong answer holds both halves: Paul refused "excellency of speech" (2:1) so that faith would rest "in the power of God" (2:5), and then he teaches God's hidden wisdom to those ready for it. A weak answer turns the passage into suspicion of study, careful thought or education in general.
Show teacher guidance
Compare 1:18–25 with 2:6–8. He rejects wisdom that refuses God's crucified Christ, while explicitly teaching God's wisdom.
3. What changes when verse 2:9 is read with verse 2:10?
What a good answer contains
Verse 9 on its own sounds like a description of heaven that nobody can imagine. Verse 10 begins with "But" and says "God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit". The things eye has not seen are the things God has now made known in the crucified Lord of glory (2:8). A good answer reads the quotation as the end of the human search, not the end of knowledge: "the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (2:10), and believers have received "the spirit which is of God" so that they may know what God has given (2:12). The learner who stops at verse 9 has kept Paul's quotation and lost Paul's point.
Show teacher guidance
Require 'God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit'. Correct a reading that leaves Paul's entire point at things permanently unimaginable.
4. Who owns the field, supplies growth, and provides the building's foundation?
What a good answer contains
God owns all three, and the workers own none. "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase" (3:6). The congregation is "God's husbandry" and "God's building" (3:9), and the only foundation is Jesus Christ (3:11). Then Paul calls them "the temple of God" (3:16), a plural you, the whole church together. A good answer sees why Paul piles up three images: in each one the workers are real and their labour is rewarded (3:8, 3:14), but the field, the building and the temple belong to God. A weak answer makes Paul and Apollos unimportant; Paul's complaint is that the Corinthians have made them owners.
Show teacher guidance
Trace 3:5–17: workers differ, God gives growth, Christ is the foundation, and the congregation is God's temple; no worker owns it.
5. Are the Corinthians really reigning as kings in Paul's compliment?
What a good answer contains
No. Verse 8 is irony: "Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us". Paul sets their claims beside the apostles' actual condition, "a spectacle unto the world" (4:9), hungry, thirsty, beaten and homeless (4:11), "the filth of the world" (4:13). The contrast exposes a church that thinks it has already arrived. A strong answer also hears the change of tone in 4:14: "I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you." Paul is wounding to heal, as a father. A weak answer either misses the irony or treats Paul as merely sarcastic.
Show teacher guidance
Read 4:7–14. Identify irony by contrasting their claims with apostolic suffering, then retain Paul's stated purpose of loving warning.
6. What standard replaces applause, self-confidence, and speculation about motives?
What a good answer contains
Faithfulness, judged by the Lord. Paul writes that "it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (4:2). Paul sets aside the Corinthians' verdict on him and even his own: "I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord" (4:4). So they are to "judge nothing before the time" (4:5), because the Lord will expose the counsels of the hearts. A good answer adds that Paul still measures by conduct he can see: he sends Timothy to remind them of his "ways which be in Christ" (4:17) and will test not the speech of the puffed up "but the power" (4:19). This is not immunity for leaders; it is a refusal to rank them by applause.
Show teacher guidance
Read 4:1–5,17–21. Expect faithfulness before the Lord, demonstrated conduct, and accountable correction, not immunity for leaders.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Have learners revise a fictional boast about spiritual knowledge using 4:7's question about what has been received.
Relationships and community
Ask the group to turn rival teacher fan clubs into shared learning arrangements, retaining gratitude for different workers without competing ownership.
Assessing ministry
Draft three criteria for a fictional ministry review: fidelity to Christ's foundation, constructive work, and faithful stewardship rather than charisma alone.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Gifted and quarrelling
Read 1:4-13 aloud. Ask the group to name one thing Paul thanks God for and one thing he has heard. Leave the two side by side.
The cross and boasting
Read 1:17-31. Take question one, then question two, and the confusion about baptism. Write "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" on the board.
Read the next verse
Read 2:6-16. Ask question three and deal with the confusion about 2:9. Explain "perfect" and "natural man".
Workers, not owners
Read 3:1-17 using field, building and temple cards. Take question four. Read 3:21-23 as Paul's reply to 1:12.
Stewards and a father's warning
Read 4:1-5 and 4:7-16. Take questions five and six, with the confusion about judging. Hand out the sheet and pray.
90 minutes
Four slogans
Write the four slogans of 1:12 on the board and ask why Christians might say such things today about teachers they admire. Do not comment yet.
Called, gifted, divided
Read 1:1-17. Note what Paul calls the church before he rebukes it. Take question one and the baptism confusion.
Christ crucified
Read 1:18-2:5 and Jeremiah 9:23-24. Take question two and the confusion about study and education. Ask what in the room might count as wisdom, strength or riches.
Revealed by the Spirit
Read 2:6-16 and Isaiah 64:4. Take question three and the 2:9 confusion. Explain "natural man" and the mind of Christ.
Field, building, temple
Read 3:1-17 with the three image cards. Take question four. Present the readings of 3:12-15 fairly and keep 3:16-17 about the gathered church.
All are yours
Read 3:18-4:7. Return to the slogans on the board and rewrite them using 3:21-23. Explain "stewards" and ask the questions of 4:7.
Kings and fools
Read 4:8-21. Take questions five and six and the confusion about judging, reading 5:12 alongside 4:5.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray for the teachers and workers known to the group by name.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Use a seed, a watering can and a growing plant. Let two children plant and water, then ask who made the plant grow. Read 3:6 and let the answer be God. Keep the lesson on thanking God for helpers without making any helper the boss. Leave out the irony of chapter 4 and the fire of 3:13-15, which young children will take literally and fearfully.
Youth
Start with fan culture: the communicator, the podcast, the online teacher whose followers defend him against all others. Ask whether "I am of Apollos" has a modern version. Let them read 1:26-29 and say who God chose. Take the irony of 4:8-13 seriously; teenagers hear sarcasm well, and they should also hear the father's voice of 4:14 that follows it.
Adults
Give time to the argument as a whole: thanksgiving, report, the cross, the Spirit, the three images, stewardship, irony. Discuss honestly how congregations rank ministers by gifting or reputation, and how loyalty to a past pastor can divide a present church. Present the readings of 3:12-15 fairly, and do not let 4:5 become a reason to avoid accountability for visible conduct.
One to one
Read 1:26-31 together and ask what the person thinks God saw when he called them. Then read 4:7 and let them answer its three questions about their own life. If they are wounded by a church quarrel or by a leader, let 4:3-5 be heard as relief: the final verdict on them and on everyone is the Lord's. Ask which teacher they owe thanks to, and pray for that person.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
1 Corinthians 1:1–4:21
The passage in brief
The church at Corinth was gifted and divided. Its members lined up behind favourite teachers: Paul, Apollos, Peter. Paul answers that Christ is not divided and that Paul was not crucified for them. The cross shows that God saves through what the world calls weakness, so nobody can boast except in the Lord. Teachers are only servants: one plants, another waters, but God gives the growth. The church belongs to God, and its workers will answer to him.
A verse to keep
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What were the people in Corinth saying in 1:12, and how does Paul answer them in 3:21-23?
Why does the cross leave no room for boasting (1:26-31)?
According to 4:7, what do you have that you did not receive?
This week
Thank God this week for one person who planted or watered faith in you, and tell that person what their work meant.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
