Exposition on 1 Corinthians

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–3.23 · 4.1–6.20 · 7.1–8.13 · 9.1–10.33 · 11.1–13.13 · 14.1–14.40 · 15.1–16.24

1. 1.1Paul is called by God's will, yet believes by his own choice.
2. 1.2The church is the holy; calling on God belongs properly to priests, who stand in the apostles' place.
3. 1.3Peace preserves grace.
4. 1.4Paul praises the Corinthians' knowledge to spur them on, reminding them that true wisdom is humble.
5. 1.5The Corinthians are rich in virtues and in knowledge of both Testaments.
6. 1.6Christ's testimony is the saying about the scribe who brings out new and old.
7. 1.7Wisdom brings every grace; he truly awaits Christ who is ready in all things.
8. 1.8God confirms believers through teaching.
9. 1.9“Through whom” is said of the Father too, which refutes the Arian argument from “through him.”
10. 1.10Paul begins his case against dissension: unity of mind makes them perfect.
11. 1.11Paul believed the report because he had the gift of knowing absent churches in the spirit.
12. 1.12Paul names apostles to rebuke the factions formed around false apostles.
13. 1.13Christ's body is divided by dissension; the same argument rebukes those who copy only the riches of Old Testament saints.
14. 1.14Lemma of 1 Cor 1:14.
15. 1.15Lemma of 1 Cor 1:15.
16. 1.16Paul baptized few, and none claim to be baptized in his name.
17. 1.17Paul left baptizing to others; rhetorical display empties the cross of its power.
18. 1.18The cross, foolish to unbelievers, is to the faithful God's power over death and the devil.
19. 1.19Worldly wisdom is a good natural gift misdirected to vain ends.
20. 1.20The scribe is the teacher; the debater seeks worldly wisdom.
21. 1.21Natural wisdom should have known the Creator from creation; when it failed, God sent preaching as a remedy.
22. 1.22Jews seek signs, Greeks the reasoning of philosophy.
23. 1.23A crucified Christ offends Jews who expect an undying Messiah.
24. 1.24Believers of both peoples see Christ as God's power over death and his wisdom.
25. 1.25The cross saves those whom their own wisdom could not free.
26. 1.26Few wise or noble believed, because pride hindered them; Paul aims at boastful teachers.
27. 1.27Lemma of 1 Cor 1:27.
28. 1.28Christ's poverty, lack of letters and patient death rebuke the glory of the wise, rich and strong.
29. 1.29Boasting belongs to the flesh.
30. 1.30Christ became wisdom and righteousness for us, to make us wise and righteous.
31. 1.31Glory belongs only in the Lord.
32. 2.1Paul's own preaching avoided human eloquence.
33. 2.2Paul gloried only in Christ crucified.
34. 2.3God is fittingly preached in weakness.
35. 2.4Paul used miracles, not dialectic, with the Corinthians.
36. 2.5Human wisdom is brief; God's power gives endless progress.
37. 2.6Paul has a divine wisdom, opened only to believers.
38. 2.7God's hidden wisdom is the gospel, foreordained and foreshadowed.
39. 2.8Against Apollinaris and Arius: the assumed man is called Lord of majesty, and only the humanity suffered.
40. 2.9Unbelieving rulers could not see God's gifts; some apply the verse to the virgin birth, the glory of the righteous and co-heirship with Christ.
41. 2.10The Spirit, received by faith, reveals God's will and counsel.
42. 2.11Only God's Spirit knows God's thoughts.
43. 2.12Worldly minds have the world's spirit, not God's.
44. 2.13Paul speaks what the Spirit taught him to those able to receive it.
45. 2.14The “natural” man lives like an animal and finds Christ's birth, passion and commands foolish.
46. 2.15The spiritual man discerns all and gives no ground for judgment.
47. 2.16The Lord's mind is known through the Holy Spirit.
48. 3.1The fault lay in the Corinthians' capacity, not in Paul's teaching.
49. 3.2Even those free of malice are still infants; much more those ruled by it.
50. 3.3Strife makes people carnal, though it comes from the mind, not the flesh.
51. 3.4Paul and Apollos are only ministers; much less should men glory in carnal things.
52. 3.6Paul's signs and Apollos's teaching were both God's gift.
53. 3.7Lemma of 1 Cor 3:7.
54. 3.8Ministers are hired hands; only their wages are their own.
55. 3.9Teachers help God's field by the word.
56. 3.10Paul laid the foundation by grace; other teachers must build carefully.
57. 3.11Christ is the only foundation; careless teachers endanger the hearers.
58. 3.12Teachers build on the faith; the materials stand for degrees of good and evil.
59. 3.13The fire of judgment will test each teacher's work.
60. 3.14Lemma of 1 Cor 3:14.
61. 3.15A careless teacher is saved only as through fire; worse awaits those who scandalize.
62. 3.16God's Spirit dwells in each believer and in the church.
63. 3.17Violating God's temple is sin or misleading the church; the verse does not exclude repentance.
64. 3.18The gospel's command not to retaliate looks foolish to the world.
65. 3.19Self-vengeance forfeits both God's vengeance and the reward of patience.
66. 3.20Worldly thoughts do not help toward salvation.
67. 3.21Glory belongs to God, not to teachers.
68. 3.22Teachers belong to the church, and the church to Christ.
69. 3.23All things serve the saints, who may choose life or death; “Christ is God's” refers to his humanity.
70. 4.1Apostles are Christ's ministers, not his equals.
71. 4.2Paul asks whether they presume to judge consciences.
72. 4.3Paul sets no value on human judgment and counts himself nothing.
73. 4.4Neither praise nor slander counts with God, who judges what is real.
74. 4.5Only God, who sees the heart, can rightly praise.
75. 4.6Paul and Apollos are examples of humility against party pride.
76. 4.7Whatever good the Corinthians have was learned or given; it gives no ground for boasting.
77. 4.8Paul ironically rebukes their self-sufficiency.
78. 4.9The apostles suffer as fools and poor; the Corinthians keep worldly prudence, revenge and pride of birth.
79. 4.11The apostles have suffered and wandered from the start.
80. 4.12The apostles worked with their hands without neglecting teaching.
81. 4.13The apostles pray for their persecutors and are counted the lowest of all.
82. 4.14Paul, their father in the gospel, corrects them for their progress.
83. 4.16Good sons imitate good fathers.
84. 4.17Timothy will reinforce Paul's letter by example.
85. 4.18Paul turns to the case of sexual immorality.
86. 4.19Paul will test conduct, not eloquence.
87. 4.20Teaching without works of righteousness profits nothing.
88. 4.21Paul leaves it to them whether he comes as comforter or punisher.
89. 5.1Paul names the case of a man living with his father's wife.
90. 5.2The church should grieve and either correct or expel the sinner.
91. 5.3Paul judges as one present in spirit, like Elisha with Gehazi.
92. 5.4The Lord's power, or Paul's letter, will be present at the assembly.
93. 5.5Handing over to Satan afflicts the flesh so that the sinner may repent and his spirit be saved.
94. 5.6One man's sin can corrupt many, as Achan's brought wrath on Israel.
95. 5.7Nothing of the old life should remain to corrupt nature's purity.
96. 5.8Christians keep a perpetual Passover by living purely; leaven is the corruption of nature.
97. 5.9Lemma of 1 Cor 5:9.
98. 5.10Separation is from sinners in the church, not from unbelievers, whom Christians are left in the world to help.
99. 5.11A brother proved guilty of grave sin is to be shunned, even at table.
100. 5.12The church judges its own, not unbelievers.
101. 5.13A purified church can better teach outsiders.
102. 6.1Lawsuits before pagan courts break the Lord's command.
103. 6.2Christ's promise of judging extends to all who imitate the apostles.
104. 6.3Saints holy in the flesh will judge the angels who sinned.
105. 6.4Even the least in the church can decide worldly disputes.
106. 6.5It is shameful that no one can settle disputes among them.
107. 6.6Suing a brother before pagans is a double sin.
108. 6.7Peace should be kept even at the cost of property.
109. 6.8Instead of bearing wrongs, they inflict them on brothers.
110. 6.9Lemma of 1 Cor 6:9.
111. 6.10Faith alone does not save one who persists in sin.
112. 6.11Baptism washes past sins; later sins call for repentance.
113. 6.12Gluttony, though lawful in itself, leads to sexual immorality.
114. 6.13The body belongs to the Lord, who stays with those who stay with him.
115. 6.14Union with a prostitute cuts a man off from Christ's body; his guilt equals hers.
116. 6.16Union with a prostitute makes one flesh, as marriage does.
117. 6.17Works of the flesh make one flesh; God's works make one spirit.
118. 6.18Sexual immorality is graver because two perish together.
119. 6.19Immorality injures the body, the Spirit's temple.
120. 6.20Bought by Christ's blood, believers serve his will and bear his image.
121. 7.1Paul turns from unlawful unions to lawful marriage.
122. 7.2Lemma of 1 Cor 7:2.
123. 7.3Marriage is a concession to the incontinent; continence is to be preached first, and marriage is for children, not lust.
124. 7.4Lemma of 1 Cor 7:4.
125. 7.5Spouses may abstain by consent for prayer; continence sanctifies, as at Sinai and with the priestly bread.
126. 7.6Lemma of 1 Cor 7:6.
127. 7.7Paul wishes all were celibate like him, which shows it is possible; each receives according to his own will.
128. 7.8It is good for the unmarried and widows to remain as Paul is.
129. 7.9Marriage is granted to the unmarried and widows who cannot contain, as better than immorality punished by fire.
130. 7.10Marriages are not to be dissolved; the Lord forbade putting away a wife and marrying another.
131. 7.11A wife who separates must stay unmarried or be reconciled; the husband must not put away his wife.
132. 7.12A believer whose unbelieving wife consents to stay must not put her away.
133. 7.13Paul speaks of a marriage where one spouse came to faith, not of a believer marrying an unbeliever.
134. 7.14The unbelieving spouse may be won by the believer's changed life and by the children's example.
135. 7.15If an unbelieving spouse leaves, the believer is not bound to perish with him, but believers must not leave of their own accord.
136. 7.16The believer may save the unbelieving spouse; doubtful outcomes should be hoped for the best.
137. 7.17Each should walk in the state in which God called him.
138. 7.18The circumcised need not regret it; the apostles let some keep the law's works for a time.
139. 7.19Circumcision now neither helps nor harms.
140. 7.20Lemma of 1 Cor 7:20.
141. 7.21God looks at the will, not one's social condition; the slave should rather make use of slavery.
142. 7.22Slave and free are equal before God.
143. 7.23Lemma of 1 Cor 7:23.
144. 7.24Bought by Christ's blood, Christians should act for God, not to please men.
145. 7.25Virginity is counsel, not command; fulfilling a command only escapes punishment.
146. 7.26Paul's 'I think' is certain; the unmarried are free of worldly anxiety and await virginity's reward.
147. 7.27The married must not seek release by separation; the unmarried should not seek a wife.
148. 7.28Marriage is no sin, except for one who has vowed chastity; virgins are spared the cares of marriage.
149. 7.29Life is short; even the married should live as if unmarried, and the unmarried should not marry.
150. 7.30Lemma of 1 Cor 7:30.
151. 7.31This world passes like a shadow, an image of the world to come; the wise learn from the deaths of others.
152. 7.32The unmarried man cares for the Lord's things; we should want what Paul wants.
153. 7.33Worldly anxiety, like the thorns and the excuses in the parable, keeps the married from God.
154. 7.34The unmarried woman is holy in body and spirit; an unmarried woman with worldly cares is worse than a wife.
155. 7.35Paul advises, not compels; his counsel is more useful than their wishes.
156. 7.36A father should not stop a daughter who wishes to marry, lest she fall into immorality.
157. 7.37A father whose daughter agrees to virginity does well to keep her so.
158. 7.38Giving a virgin in marriage is good, keeping her a virgin better.
159. 7.39A widow is free from the marriage bond and may marry a second time, but only a believer.
160. 7.40Wife, widow and virgin are happy, happier and happiest; Paul's advice is from the Spirit.
161. 8.1Only merely human knowledge puffs up; divine knowledge does not, and love builds up.
162. 8.2The truly wise man thinks himself unwise.
163. 8.3Love of God shows itself in building up the brothers.
164. 8.4Paul restates that an idol is nothing.
165. 8.5The “gods” of heaven and earth are angels and saints.
166. 8.6Against the Arians: as the Father is not excluded from lordship, the Son is not excluded from Godhead.
167. 8.7Some still eat idol food as they did before believing, and their weak conscience is defiled.
168. 8.8Eating idol food is no sign of greater faith.
169. 8.9Lemma of 1 Cor 8:9.
170. 8.10Lemma of 1 Cor 8:10.
171. 8.11Liberty that harms a weak brother destroys one for whom Christ died.
172. 8.12Wounding a brother's conscience is sin against Christ.
173. 8.13Paul would give up any food that causes a brother to stumble.
174. 9.1Paul's own renunciation of lawful things is their example.
175. 9.2The Corinthians' faith proves Paul's apostleship.
176. 9.3Their conversion is Paul's defence.
177. 9.4Apostles have the right to be supported.
178. 9.5The women who travelled with apostles served them from their own means; they were not wives.
179. 9.6Paul works to avoid scandalizing new Gentile converts, without condemning apostles who accept support.
180. 9.7Soldier, vinedresser and shepherd show that teachers are owed support; vineyard and flock mean the people.
181. 9.8Paul appeals to the law, not just his own view.
182. 9.9Lemma of 1 Cor 9:9.
183. 9.10God cares for animals for man's sake; the law about the ox speaks of teachers.
184. 9.11Those who give spiritual things may fairly receive material support.
185. 9.12Paul forgoes support so that his preaching may not be suspected of greed.
186. 9.13The temple priesthood shows that ministers are fed by their service.
187. 9.14The Lord ordained support for preachers.
188. 9.15Paul refuses support even to the point of death, as an example of renouncing for others' sake.
189. 9.16Preaching is Paul's duty and gives no ground for glory.
190. 9.17Renouncing lawful things shows a willing service.
191. 9.18Paul's greater reward is to preach without pay.
192. 9.19Paul serves all to save them.
193. 9.20Paul kept Jewish rites to win Jews, though the old law no longer bound him.
194. 9.21Paul won Gentiles by faith and reason; “the law of God… of Christ” shows Christ is God.
195. 9.22Paul accommodated the weak, but never to the point of doing wrong.
196. 9.23Paul seeks a share in the gospel with the saints.
197. 9.24All believers run, but only those who live righteously win the prize.
198. 9.25Athletes abstain from foods that would slow them.
199. 9.26Paul's contest is real.
200. 9.27Paul disciplines his body by fasting and hardship, lest he fail to practise what he preaches.
201. 10.1Baptism and the sacraments profit only those who keep the commands.
202. 10.2Moses is a type of Christ; the cloud, like the sea, holds water.
203. 10.3The manna prefigured Christ's body.
204. 10.4The rock prefigured Christ; the fathers' fall warns sinners now.
205. 10.6The exodus is fulfilled in the Christian life, but its gifts do not save one who sins.
206. 10.7Eating in idol temples is idolatry.
207. 10.8Sexual immorality too brought death on Israel.
208. 10.9Tempting Christ in the wilderness shows that Christ is God.
209. 10.10Do not murmur in tribulation.
210. 10.11Israel's punishments warn Christians, who have the law of perfection.
211. 10.12Boasting of standing leads to falling.
212. 10.13The Corinthians' temptation is self-made; God limits trials to what can be borne.
213. 10.14Lemma of 1 Cor 10:14.
214. 10.15Paul appeals to their judgment.
215. 10.16The cup and bread are communion in Christ's blood and body; idol bread is communion with demons.
216. 10.17Eating with idolaters makes one body with them.
217. 10.18Eating sacrifices makes one a partaker of the altar.
218. 10.19Lemma of 1 Cor 10:19.
219. 10.20Idols are nothing, but demons stand behind them.
220. 10.21One cannot share both the Lord's table and the demons'.
221. 10.22Paul did not eat idol food, which shows it proves no strong faith.
222. 10.23What is lawful is not always expedient.
223. 10.24Christians should seek what builds up others, not merely what is lawful.
224. 10.25Buy meat in the market without asking questions.
225. 10.26All the Lord's creatures are clean to the simple.
226. 10.27Christians may dine with unbelievers when it profits them, as Christ did.
227. 10.28Lemma of 1 Cor 10:28.
228. 10.29Liberty should not be used where others will condemn it.
229. 10.30Grace gives no licence to cause blasphemy.
230. 10.31Every act should glorify God.
231. 10.32Eating idol food harmed Jews, Gentiles and Christians alike.
232. 10.33Paul pleases all for their salvation, not for favour.
233. 11.1Christ acted and suffered for others' salvation.
234. 11.2Paul's precepts carry the authority of the Spirit who spoke in the law and prophets.
235. 11.3The man is subject to Christ, the woman to Christ and the man; God is Christ's head as to his humanity.
236. 11.4Men should pray uncovered, women veiled as a sign of subjection.
237. 11.6A woman unveiled may as well be shorn; she prophesies among women and at home.
238. 11.7Man, made in God's image, is free; woman, formed in man's likeness, is subject.
239. 11.8Woman was made from man's rib.
240. 11.9Woman was created as man's helper.
241. 11.10The veil marks authority; the “angels” are priests or the angels present in church.
242. 11.11Man and woman depend on each other.
243. 11.12As Eve came from Adam, Christ came from Mary; God made the flesh, against the Manichees.
244. 11.13Paul appeals to their own judgment.
245. 11.14Nations that ignore this have fallen from nature; the Nazirites' long hair was by God's command.
246. 11.15A woman's hair is her natural covering.
247. 11.16The church has no custom of contention.
248. 11.17Faith must always progress; falling back is hopeless.
249. 11.18Paul turns to the sacraments and the divisions at the assembly.
250. 11.19Dissension leads to heresy, which reveals the faithful.
251. 11.21Those who offered consumed everything themselves; the Lord's supper must be common to all.
252. 11.22The church is not a banqueting hall; offerings should be anonymous.
253. 11.23Paul's account of the Supper came from the Lord.
254. 11.24The Supper is Christ's parting pledge; those who receive his body must live worthily of it.
255. 11.26The sacrament keeps Christ's death in memory until he comes.
256. 11.27One must examine the conscience and leave vices before receiving the Lord's body.
257. 11.28Christ's body must not be received into a polluted heart, as Joseph's clean shroud foreshadowed.
258. 11.29Unworthy reception adds presumption to sin.
259. 11.30Lemma of 1 Cor 11:30.
260. 11.31Illness comes from testing, sin or intemperance; medicine helps only the last.
261. 11.32God's correction is fatherly, to lead to repentance.
262. 11.33The offering should be made together.
263. 11.34Paul will settle the remaining matters of the sacrament in person.
264. 12.1Tongues, given for unbelievers, were ceasing, and those who lacked them envied those who had them.
265. 12.2As pagans they were irrational like their idols.
266. 12.3Only one who confesses Christ in word and deed calls him Lord in the Spirit.
267. 12.4Lemma of 1 Cor 12:4.
268. 12.5Lemma of 1 Cor 12:5.
269. 12.6The Spirit, called God and Lord here, is one though his gifts are divided; the reversed order answers the Arians.
270. 12.7Gifts show the Spirit's presence and profit unbelievers and believers.
271. 12.8Wisdom is gifted speech; knowledge explains the law's mysteries.
272. 12.9Faith here is wonder-working faith.
273. 12.10Paul lists miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation.
274. 12.11The Spirit gives as he wills, which shows him to be God; envy over gifts is wrong.
275. 12.12Members differ in function, not in nature; the church is Christ's body.
276. 12.13Baptism makes one body; those who share heavenly things should share earthly goods.
277. 12.14Each member has its own function.
278. 12.15Foot, hand, ear, eye and mouth stand for different roles in the church.
279. 12.17The church needs all kinds of members.
280. 12.18God assigns each member its place.
281. 12.19Lemma of 1 Cor 12:19.
282. 12.20Diversity of gifts makes the body.
283. 12.21Mutual need strengthens love; the priest is the head, the lowest are the feet.
284. 12.22The despised members of the church are the most necessary.
285. 12.23The less honourable parts receive more covering.
286. 12.24God gives greater gifts to those lesser in honour.
287. 12.25Members serve one another so that none feels deprived.
288. 12.26Members share suffering and joy, though we often do the opposite.
289. 12.27The church is Christ's body; each believer a member.
290. 12.28Paul sets out the order of ministries in the church.
291. 12.29Not all have the same gift.
292. 12.31Love, which lies in our power, is better than signs, which do not.
293. 13.1Tongues without love are hollow noise; love is our own and bears all fruit.
294. 13.2Prophecy, knowledge and even mountain-moving faith are nothing without the works of love.
295. 13.3Renouncing possessions is a great good, binding still and not only in persecution; martyrdom without love is possible and worthless.
296. 13.4Love is patient, kind, free of envy and pride.
297. 13.5Love seeks others' good and does not even think evil.
298. 13.6Love grieves at wrong and rejoices in good.
299. 13.7Love bears with and hopes for the offender.
300. 13.8Love alone endures.
301. 13.9Partial gifts give way to what is perfect.
302. 13.10The perfect is the saints' future reward.
303. 13.11Spiritual growth is like growing up.
304. 13.12Now we see through the law's mirror; then we will know as we are known.
305. 13.13Only love will remain in the age to come.
306. 14.1Love lies in our power; among gifts, prophecy is to be preferred.
307. 14.2Tongues are understood only by God, an interpreter, or a speaker of the language.
308. 14.3Edification, exhortation and consolation mark a prophet.
309. 14.4Prophecy, a work of love, is greater than uninterpreted tongues.
310. 14.6Tongues without explanation bring wonder but no progress.
311. 14.7Spiritual speech must be intelligible to reach the mind.
312. 14.8Lemma of 1 Cor 14:8.
313. 14.9Clear speech prepares Christ's soldiers for spiritual battle.
314. 14.10Many languages profit nothing if not understood.
315. 14.11Speech not understood is barbarous.
316. 14.12Seek the gifts that build up hearers.
317. 14.13The tongue-speaker should pray for interpretation.
318. 14.14Prayer in a tongue leaves the mind fruitless; one must pray and sing with understanding.
319. 14.16The unlearned cannot say Amen to what they do not understand.
320. 14.17Good thanks that others cannot follow do not build them up.
321. 14.18Paul has the gift of tongues himself.
322. 14.19A few intelligible words are better than many unintelligible ones.
323. 14.20Only those innocent of malice become perfect in understanding.
324. 14.21Tongues fulfil Isaiah's sign to an unhearing people.
325. 14.22Tongues serve unbelievers and cease as faith grows; prophecy always serves believers.
326. 14.23Tongues alone would make newcomers think the church mad.
327. 14.24Lemma of 1 Cor 14:24.
328. 14.25Prophecy lays bare the newcomer's heart and moves him to worship.
329. 14.26All that is done in the assembly should build up.
330. 14.27Tongues should be spoken in turn and interpreted.
331. 14.28Without an interpreter the speaker should keep his gift private.
332. 14.29Lemma of 1 Cor 14:29.
333. 14.30A prophet who receives a revelation while seated may speak in turn.
334. 14.31Lemma of 1 Cor 14:31.
335. 14.32Lemma of 1 Cor 14:32.
336. 14.33Prophets should yield to one another, for God is a God of peace.
337. 14.34Women are not to speak in the assembly of men, though they may teach women elsewhere.
338. 14.35Women may learn at home from their husbands.
339. 14.36The Corinthians are not the source or sole owners of the gospel.
340. 14.37Lemma of 1 Cor 14:37.
341. 14.38A true prophet recognizes Paul's commands as the Lord's.
342. 14.39Seek prophecy; do not forbid tongues.
343. 14.40Order and humility in worship.
344. 15.1Paul turns to those Corinthians who denied the resurrection of the flesh.
345. 15.2Without the resurrection, Christian labour and fasting would be pointless.
346. 15.3Christ's death for sins fulfils Isaiah.
347. 15.4Isaiah and Hosea foretold the burial and third-day resurrection.
348. 15.5The risen Christ appeared to Peter and the eleven.
349. 15.6The five hundred witnesses confirm the apostles' testimony.
350. 15.7Christ appeared to James and to the wider circle of apostles.
351. 15.8Paul saw the risen Christ himself.
352. 15.9Paul is least in time, not labour.
353. 15.10Paul remembers his forgiven sin; his labour was neither without grace nor grace without his free choice.
354. 15.11Christ rose first to open the way of resurrection.
355. 15.12Christ's rising is itself a resurrection of the dead.
356. 15.13Christ's resurrection and ours stand or fall together.
357. 15.14Resurrection belongs to the body that fell, not to the soul.
358. 15.15If there is no resurrection, the apostles are false witnesses.
359. 15.16Certainty about Christ's resurrection extends to ours.
360. 15.17Baptismal forgiveness depends on Christ's resurrection.
361. 15.18Without resurrection the martyrs died in vain.
362. 15.19Without hope beyond this life, Christians are most miserable.
363. 15.20Christ the head has risen; the members must follow.
364. 15.21Lemma of 1 Cor 15:21.
365. 15.22Adam is the pattern of the dying, Christ of the rising; only those joined to Christ will be made alive.
366. 15.23The resurrection follows an order of time or honour.
367. 15.24Handing over the kingdom does not make the Son lesser; the hostile powers are overcome when sin is removed.
368. 15.25“Until” does not set an end to Christ's reign.
369. 15.26The last enemy, death, is the devil.
370. 15.27God himself is not among the things subjected.
371. 15.28The Son's subjection is an act of love, not inferiority; various explanations are offered.
372. 15.29Baptism into Christ's death is pointless without eternal life.
373. 15.30Apostolic sufferings would be folly without a future life.
374. 15.31Paul is daily ready to die; “by your glory” is not an oath.
375. 15.32The beasts may be hostile powers; despair of the future breeds gluttony.
376. 15.33Bad company corrupts, and good company corrects.
377. 15.34Pleasure-seekers doubt the resurrection; the righteous do not sin.
378. 15.35The resurrection restores the body whole, not its defects.
379. 15.36Nature itself teaches resurrection.
380. 15.37The body rises more glorious, as a seed grows into an ear.
381. 15.38Each rises in its own body, not another's.
382. 15.39The Creator who made all bodies can restore man's.
383. 15.40The maker of the heavens can restore the human body.
384. 15.41He who made all from nothing can restore one kind.
385. 15.42The righteous differ in glory by degrees of virtue.
386. 15.43The body rises in splendour and power.
387. 15.44The spiritual body will always have the Spirit and can meet Christ.
388. 15.45The two Adams share one nature, against Manichees and Apollinarists.
389. 15.46Lemma of 1 Cor 15:46.
390. 15.47Christ is heavenly in his birth, yet truly shares our nature.
391. 15.48Christ called heavenly is still of our race, as are heavenly believers.
392. 15.49After baptism we must bear Christ's image, as before we bore Adam's.
393. 15.50“Flesh” means fleshly works, or flesh not yet made immortal.
394. 15.51All will rise, but only the saints will be changed into glory.
395. 15.52The resurrection is instant; sinners rise for punishment, the saints are changed into glory.
396. 15.53The same body puts on immortality as a garment.
397. 15.54Death vanishes when its causes are removed.
398. 15.55The righteous taunt death.
399. 15.56Sin kills the soul; knowledge of the law makes it graver.
400. 15.57Christ overcame sin by the cross and by his example.
401. 15.58Sure of the resurrection, they should persevere in good works.
402. 16.1The collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem.
403. 16.2Giving on the Lord's day, little by little, makes cheerful givers.
404. 16.3Lemma of 1 Cor 16:3.
405. 16.4Lemma of 1 Cor 16:4.
406. 16.5Lemma of 1 Cor 16:5.
407. 16.6Lemma of 1 Cor 16:6.
408. 16.7Paul must stay long in Corinth because much there needs correcting.
409. 16.8Lemma of 1 Cor 16:8.
410. 16.9Paul stays at Ephesus because of opportunity and opposition.
411. 16.10Lemma of 1 Cor 16:10.
412. 16.11Timothy is to be received without contempt and sent on in peace.
413. 16.12Lemma of 1 Cor 16:12.
414. 16.13Lemma of 1 Cor 16:13.
415. 16.14Paul's closing commands: vigilance, firmness, constancy, and love in all.
416. 16.15Lemma of 1 Cor 16:15.
417. 16.16Lemma of 1 Cor 16:16.
418. 16.17Paul rejoices in the visit of the Corinthian delegates.
419. 16.18Such workers are to be recognized and honoured.
420. 16.19A household gathering of believers is called a church.
421. 16.20Lemma of 1 Cor 16:20.
422. 16.21Lemma of 1 Cor 16:21.
423. 16.22Christ will condemn those who do not love him; Maranatha means “our Lord has come”.
424. 16.23Paul's autograph blessing.
425. 16.24Paul's love should be returned in mutual love; “Amen” confirms the blessing.