First Epistle to the Corinthians

"Corinthians" redirects here. For other uses, see Corinthian (disambiguation).

The First Epistle to the Corinthians^[a] (Ancient Greek: Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in Corinth.^[3] Despite the name, it is not believed to be the first such letter. Scholars believe that Sosthenes was the amanuensis who wrote down the text of the letter at Paul's direction.^[4] It addresses various issues that had arisen in the Christian community at Corinth and is composed in a form of Koine Greek.^[5]

Authorship

Further information: Authorship of the Pauline epistles

There is a consensus among historians and theologians that Paul is the author of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (c. AD 53–54).^[6] The letter is quoted or mentioned by the earliest of sources and is included in every ancient canon, including that of Marcion of Sinope.^[7] Some scholars point to the epistle's potentially embarrassing references to the existence of sexual immorality in the church as strengthening the case for the authenticity of the letter.^[8][9]

However, the epistle does contain a passage that is widely believed to have been interpolated into the text by a later scribe:^[10]

As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

— 1 Corinthians 14:34–35, New Revised Standard Version^[11]

Verses 34–35 are included in all extant manuscripts. Part of the reason for suspecting that this passage is an interpolation is that in several manuscripts in the Western tradition, it is placed at the end of chapter 14 instead of at its canonical location. This kind of variability is generally considered by textual critics to be a sign that a note, initially placed in the margins of the document, has been copied into the body of the text by a scribe.^[12] As E. Earle Ellis and Daniel B. Wallace note, however, a marginal note may well have been written by Paul himself. The loss of marginal arrows or other directional devices could explain why the scribe of the Western Vorlage placed it at the end of the chapter. The absence of an asterisk or obelisk in the margin of any manuscript – a common way of indicating doubt of authenticity – they argue, a strong argument that Paul wrote the passage and intended it in its traditional place.^[10] The passage has also been taken to contradict 11:5, where women are described as praying and prophesying in church.^[12]

Furthermore, some scholars believe that the passage 1 Corinthians 10:1–22^[13] constitutes a separate letter fragment or scribal interpolation because it equates the consumption of meat sacrificed to idols with idolatry, while Paul seems to be more lenient on this issue in 8:1–13^[14] and 10:23–11:1.^[15][16] Such views are rejected by other scholars who give arguments for the unity of 8:1–11:1.^[17][18]

Composition

About the year AD 50, towards the end of his second missionary journey, Paul founded the church in Corinth before moving on to Ephesus, a city on the west coast of today's Turkey, about 180 miles (290 km) by sea from Corinth. From there he traveled to Caesarea and Antioch. Paul returned to Ephesus on his third missionary journey and spent approximately three years there.^[19] It was while staying in Ephesus that he received disconcerting news of the community in Corinth regarding jealousies, rivalry, and immoral behavior.^[20] It also appears that, based on a letter the Corinthians sent Paul,^[21] the congregation was requesting clarification on a number of matters, such as marriage and the consumption of meat previously offered to idols.

By comparing Acts of the Apostles 18:1–17^[22] and mentions of Ephesus in the Corinthian correspondence, scholars suggest that the letter was written during Paul's stay in Ephesus, which is usually dated as being in the range of AD 53–57.^[23][24]

Anthony C. Thiselton suggests that it is possible that 1 Corinthians was written during Paul's first (brief) stay in Ephesus, at the end of his second journey, usually dated to early AD 54.^[25] However, it is more likely that it was written during his extended stay in Ephesus, where he refers to sending Timothy to them.^[26][20]

Despite the attributed title "1 Corinthians," this letter was not the first written by Paul to the church in Corinth, only the first canonical letter. 1 Corinthians is the second known letter of four from Paul to the church in Corinth, as evidenced by Paul's mention of his previous letter in 1 Corinthians 5:9.^[27] The other two being what is called the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and a "tearful, severe" letter mentioned in 2 Corinthians 2:3–4.^[27] The book called the Third Epistle to the Corinthians is generally not believed by scholars to have been written by Paul, as the text claims.

Surviving early manuscripts

The original manuscript of this book is lost, and the text of surviving manuscripts varies. The oldest manuscripts containing some or all of the text of this book include:

• Papyrus 46 (AD 175–225)
• Codex Vaticanus (AD 325–350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330–360)
• Papyrus 123 (4th century)^[28]
• Codex Alexandrinus (400–440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450)
• Codex Freerianus (~450)^[29]
• Codex Claromontanus (~550)
• Codex Coislinianus (~550)
• Papyrus 14 (6th century)
• Papyrus 11 (7th century;)^[30]

Structure

 

1 Corinthians 1:1–21 in Codex Amiatinus from the 8th century.

 

1 Corinthians 1:1–2a in Minuscule 223 from the 14th century.

The epistle may be divided into seven parts:^[31]

1. Salutation (1:1–3)
   1. Paul addresses the issue regarding challenges to his apostleship and defends the issue by claiming that it was given to him through a revelation from Christ. The salutation (the first section of the letter) reinforces the legitimacy of Paul's apostolic claim.
2. Thanksgiving (1:4–9)
   1. The thanksgiving part of the letter is typical of Hellenistic letter writing. In a thanksgiving recitation the writer thanks God for health, a safe journey, deliverance from danger, or good fortune.
   2. In this letter, the thanksgiving "introduces charismata and gnosis, topics to which Paul will return and that he will discuss at greater length later in the letter".^[32]
3. Division in Corinth (1:10–4:21)
   1. Facts of division
   2. Causes of division
   3. Cure for division
4. Immorality in Corinth (5:1–6:20)
   1. Discipline an immoral Brother
   2. Resolving personal disputes
   3. Sexual purity
5. Difficulties in Corinth (7:1–14:40)
   1. Marriage
   2. Christian liberty
   3. Worship
6. Doctrine of Resurrection (15:1–58)
7. Closing (16:1–24)
   1. Paul's closing remarks in his letters usually contain his intentions and efforts to improve the community. He would first conclude with his paraenesis and wish them peace by including a prayer request, greet them with his name and his friends with a holy kiss, and offer final grace and benediction:

      Now concerning the contribution for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia [...] Let all your things be done with charity. Greet one another with a holy kiss [...] I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

      — 1 Corinthians 16:1–24^[33]

Content

 

The foundation of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11); posted at the Menno-Hof Amish and Mennonite Museum in Shipshewana, Indiana

 

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Corinthians 15:52. Illumination from Beatus de Facundus, 1047.

Some time before 2 Corinthians was written, Paul paid the church at Corinth a second visit^[34] to check some rising disorder,^[35] and wrote them a letter, now lost.^[36] The church had also been visited by Apollos,^[37] perhaps by Peter,^[38] and by some Jewish Christians who brought with them letters of commendation from Jerusalem.^[39]

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians letter to correct what he saw as erroneous views in the Corinthian church. Several sources informed Paul of conflicts within the church at Corinth: Apollos,^[40] a letter from the Corinthians, "those of Chloe", and finally Stephanas and his two friends who had visited Paul.^[41] Paul then wrote this letter to the Corinthians, urging uniformity of belief ("that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you", 1:10) and expounding Christian doctrine. Titus and a brother whose name is not given were probably the bearers of the letter to the church at Corinth.^[42]

In general, divisions within the church at Corinth seem to be a problem, and Paul makes it a point to mention these conflicts in the beginning. Specifically, pagan roots still hold sway within their community. Paul wants to bring them back to what he sees as correct doctrine, stating that God has given him the opportunity to be a "skilled master builder" to lay the foundation and let others build upon it.^[43]

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 contains a notable condemnation of homosexuality, idolatry, thievery, drunkenness, slandering, swindling, adultery, and other acts the authors consider sexually immoral.

The majority of early manuscripts end chapter 6 with the words δοξάσατε δὴ τὸν Θεὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν, doxasate de ton theon en tō sōmati humōn, 'therefore glorify God in your body'. The Textus Receptus adds καὶ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ὑμῶν, ἅτινά ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ, kai en to pneumati humōn, hatina esti tou theou, which the New King James Version translates as "and in your spirit, which are (i.e. body and spirit) God's".^[44] The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes that "these words are not found in many of the best MSS. and versions, and they somewhat weaken the force of the argument, which is intended to assert the dignity of the body. They were perhaps inserted by some who, missing the point of the Apostle's argument, thought that the worship of the spirit was unduly passed over."^[45]

Later, Paul wrote about immorality in Corinth by discussing an immoral brother, how to resolve personal disputes, and sexual purity. Regarding marriage, Paul states that it is better for Christians to remain unmarried, but that if they lacked self-control, it is better to marry than "burn" (πυροῦσθαι). The epistle may include marriage as an apostolic practice in 1 Corinthians 9:5, "Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas (Peter)?" (In the last case, the letter concurs with Matthew 8:14, which mentions Peter having a mother-in-law and thus, by inference, a wife.) However, the Greek word for 'wife' is the same word for 'woman'. The Early Church Fathers, including Tertullian, Jerome, and Augustine state the Greek word is ambiguous and the women in 1 Corinthians 9:5 were women ministering to the Apostles as women ministered to Christ,^[46] and were not wives,^[47] and assert they left their "offices of marriage" to follow Christ.^[48] Paul also argues that married people must please their spouses, just as every Christian must please God.

Throughout the letter, Paul presents issues that are troubling the community in Corinth and offers ways to fix them. Paul states that this letter is to "admonish" them as beloved children. They are expected to become imitators of Jesus and follow the ways in Christ as he, Paul, teaches in all his churches.^[49]

This epistle contains some well-known phrases, including: "all things to all men",^[50]"through a glass, darkly",^[51] and:

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

— 1 Corinthians 13:11, King James Version.^[52]

"Through a glass, darkly"

1 Corinthians 13:12 contains the phrase βλέπομεν γὰρ ἄρτι δι' ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι, blepomen gar arti di esoptrou en ainigmati, which was translated in the 1560 Geneva Bible as "For now we see through a glass darkly" (without a comma). This wording was used in the 1611 KJV, which added a comma before "darkly".^[53] This passage has inspired the titles of many works, with and without the comma.

The Greek word ἐσόπτρου, esoptrou (genitive; nominative: ἔσοπτρον, esoptron), here translated "glass", is ambiguous, possibly referring to a mirror or a lens. Influenced by Strong's Concordance, many modern translations conclude that this word refers specifically to a mirror.^[54] Example English language translations include:

• "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror" (New International Version)
• "What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror" (Good News Bible)

Paul's usage is in keeping with rabbinic use of the term אספקלריה, aspaklaria, a borrowing from the Latin specularia. This has the same ambiguous meaning, although Adam Clarke concluded that it was a reference to specularibus lapidibus, clear polished stones used as lenses or windows.^[55] One way to preserve this ambiguity is to use the English cognate, speculum.^[56] Rabbi Judah ben Ilai (2nd century) was quoted as saying "All the prophets had a vision of God as He appeared through nine specula" while "Moses saw God through one speculum."^[57] The Babylonian Talmud states similarly "All the prophets gazed through a speculum that does not shine, while Moses our teacher gazed through a speculum that shines."^[58]

Women must remain silent

The letter is also notable for mentioning the role of women in churches, that for instance they must remain silent,^[59] and yet they have a role of prophecy and apparently speaking tongues in churches.^[60] If verse 14:34–35 is not an interpolation, certain scholars resolve the tension between these texts by positing that wives were either contesting their husband's inspired speeches at church, or the wives/women were chatting and asking questions in a disorderly manner when others were giving inspired utterances. Their silence was unique to the particular situation in the Corinthian gatherings at that time, and on this reading, Paul did not intend his words to be universalized for all women of all churches of all eras.^[61]

Head covering

 

A opaque hanging veil worn by a Conservative Anabaptist woman belonging to the Charity Christian Fellowship

Main article: Christian headcovering

1 Corinthians 11:2-16 contains an admonishment that Christian women cover their hair while praying and that Christian men leave their heads uncovered while praying. These practices were countercultural; the surrounding pagan Greek women prayed unveiled and Jewish men prayed with their heads covered.^[62][63]

The King James Version of 1 Corinthians 11:10 reads "For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels." Other versions translate "power" as "authority". In many early biblical manuscripts (such as certain vg, cop^bo, and arm), is rendered with the word "veil" (κάλυμμα, kalumma) rather than the word "authority" (ἐξουσία, exousia); the Revised Standard Version reflects this, displaying 1 Corinthians 11:10^[64] as follows: "That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels."^[65] Similarly, a scholarly footnote in the New American Bible notes that presence of the word "authority (exousia) may possibly be due to mistranslation of an Aramaic word for veil".^[66] This mistranslation may be due to "the fact that in Aramaic the roots of the word power and veil are spelled the same."^[67] The last-known living connection to the apostles, Irenaeus, penned verse 10 using the word "veil" (κάλυμμα, kalumma) instead of "authority" (ἐξουσία, exousia) in Against Heresies, as did other Church Fathers in their writings, including Hippolytus, Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, Epiphanius, Augustine, and Bede.^[65][68]

This ordinance continued to be handed down after the apostolic era to the next generations of Christians; writing 150 years after Paul, the early Christian apologist Tertullian stated that the women of the church in Corinth—both virgins and married—practiced veiling, given that Paul the Apostle delivered the teaching to them: "the Corinthians themselves understood him in this manner. In fact, at this very day, the Corinthians do veil their virgins. What the apostles taught, their disciples approve."^[69] From the period of the early Church to the late modern period, 1 Corinthians 11 was universally understood to enjoin the wearing of the headcovering throughout the day—a practice that has since waned in Western Europe but has continued in certain parts of the world, such as in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and the Indian subcontinent,^{[70][71][72][73][74][75]} as well as everywhere by Conservative Anabaptists (such as the Conservative Mennonite Churches and the Dunkard Brethren Church), who count veiling as being one of the ordinances of the Church.^[76][77] The early Church Father John Chrysostom explicates that 1 Corinthians 11 enjoins the continual wearing the headcovering by referencing Paul the Apostle's view that being shaven is always dishonourable and his pointing to the angels:^[78]

Agape

Main article: Agape

Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians is one of many definitional sources for the original Greek word ἀγάπη, agape.^[79] In the original Greek, the word ἀγάπη, agape is used throughout chapter 13. This is translated into English as "charity" in the King James version; but the word "love" is preferred by most other translations, both earlier and more recent.^[80]

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 contains a condemnation of what the authors consider inappropriate behavior at Corinthian gatherings that appeared to be agape feasts.

Resurrection of Jesus

Main articles: Resurrection of Jesus and Salvation in Christianity

After discussing his views on worshipping idols, Paul ends the letter with his views on resurrection and the Resurrection of Jesus. Key verses are often cited as a concise summary of core Christian doctrine or kerygma, and are used in the construction of various Christian creeds:

3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures 4 and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

— 1 Corinthians 15:3–7, New Revised Standard Version^[81]

Belief in the death, burial, resurrection, and reappearance to Peter and the Twelve in verses 3–5, are assumed to be an early pre-Pauline kerygma or creedal statement.^[b] Biblical scholars note the antiquity of the creed,^[c] possibly transmitted from the Jerusalem apostolic community.^[d][e] though the core formula may have originated in Damascus,^[86] with the specific appearances reflecting the Jerusalem community.^[f] It may be one of the earliest kerygmas about Jesus' death and resurrection, though it is also possible that Paul himself joined together the various statements, as proposed by Urich Wilckens.^[88] It is also possible that "he appeared" was not specified in the core formula, and that the specific appearances are additions.^[89] According to Hannack, line 3b-4 form the original core, while line 5 and line 7 contain competing statements from two different factions.^[90] Prive also argues that line 5 and line 7 reflect the tensions between Petrus and James.^[91]

The kerygma has often been dated to no more than five years after Jesus' death by Biblical scholars.^[d] Bart Ehrman dissents, saying that "Among scholars I personally know, except for evangelicals, I don't now[sic] anyone who thinks this at all."^[92][g] Gerd Lüdemann however, maintains that "the elements in the tradition are to be dated to the first two years after the crucifixion of Jesus [...] not later than three years".^[93]

For orthodox Christians, the resurrection, believed by them to be a physical resurrection, is the central event of the Christian faith. While the authenticity of line 6a and 7 is disputed, MacGregor argues that linguistic analysis suggests that the version received by Paul seems to have included verses 3b–6a and 7.^[94] According to Gary R. Habermas, in "Corinthians 15:3–8, Paul records an ancient oral tradition(s) that summarizes the content of the Christian gospel."^[95] N.T Wright describes it as "the very early tradition that was common to all Christians."^[96]

In dissent from the majority view, Robert M. Price,^[97] Hermann Detering,^[98] John V. M. Sturdy,^[99] and David Oliver Smith^[100] have each argued that 1 Corinthians 15:3–7 is a later interpolation. According to Price, the text is not an early Christian creed written within five years of Jesus' death, nor did Paul write these verses. In his assessment, this was an Interpolation possibly dating to the beginning of the 2nd century. Price states that "The pair of words in verse 3a, "received / delivered" (paralambanein / paradidonai) is, as has often been pointed out, technical language for the handing on of rabbinical tradition", so it would contradict Paul's account of his conversion given in Galatians 1:13–24, which explicitly says that Paul had been taught the gospel of Christ by Jesus himself, not by any other man.^[91][h]

Resurrection of the body

 

Resurrection of the Flesh (c. 1500) by Luca Signorelli – based on 1 Corinthians 15:52: "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Chapel of San Brizio, Orvieto Cathedral, Italy

Paul then asks: "Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?"^[102] Chapter 15 closes with an account of the nature of the resurrection, claiming that in the Last Judgement the dead will be raised and both the living and the dead transformed into "spiritual bodies" (verse 44).^[103]

Psalm 8 reference

1 Corinthians 15:27^[104] refers to Psalm 8:6.^[105] Ephesians 1:22 also refers to this verse of Psalm 8.^[105]

Evil company corrupts good habits

1 Corinthians 15:33 contains the aphorism "evil company corrupts good habits", from classical Greek literature. According to the church historian Socrates of Constantinople^[106] it is taken from a Greek tragedy of Euripides, but modern scholarship, following Jerome^[107] attributes it to the comedy Thaĩs by Menander, or Menander quoting Euripides. Hans Conzelmann remarks that the quotation was widely known.^[108] Whatever the proximate source, this quote does appear in one of the fragments of Euripides' works.^[109]

Baptism of the dead

1 Corinthians 5:29 argues it would be pointless to baptise the dead if people are not raised from the dead. This verse suggests that there existed a practice at Corinth whereby a living person would be baptized in the stead of some convert who had recently died.^[110] Teignmouth Shore, writing in Ellicott's Commentary for Modern Readers, notes that among the "numerous and ingenious conjectures" about this passage, the only tenable interpretation is that there existed a practice of baptising a living person to substitute those who had died before that sacrament could have been administered in Corinth, as also existed among the Marcionites in the second century, or still earlier than that, among a sect called "the Corinthians".^[111] The Jerusalem Bible states that "What this practice was is unknown. Paul does not say if he approved of it or not: he uses it merely for an ad hominem argument".^[112]

The Latter Day Saint movement interprets this passage to support the practice of baptism for the dead. This principle of vicarious work for the dead is an important work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the dispensation of the fulness of times. This interpretation is rejected by other denominations of Christianity.^{[113][114][115]}

Commentaries

St. John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople and Doctor of the Catholic Church, wrote a commentary on 1 Corinthians, formed by 44 homilies.^[116]

See also

• Pauline privilege
• Second Epistle to the Corinthians
• Textual variants in the First Epistle to the Corinthians
• Third Epistle to the Corinthians

Notes

1. The book is sometimes called the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, or simply 1 Corinthians.^[1] It is most commonly abbreviated as "1 Cor."^[2]
2. Early kerygma:
   • Neufeld, The Earliest Christian Confessions (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964) p. 47;
   • Reginald Fuller, The Formation of the Resurrection Narratives (New York: Macmillan, 1971) p. 10 (ISBN 0-281-02475-8);
   • Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jesus – God and Man translated Lewis Wilkins and Duane Pribe (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968) p. 90 (ISBN 0-664-20818-5);
   • Oscar Cullmann, The Early Church: Studies in Early Christian History and Theology, ed. A. J. B. Higgins (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966) p. 64;
   • Hans Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, translated James W. Leitch (Philadelphia: Fortress 1975) p. 251 (ISBN 0-8006-6005-6);
   • Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament vol. 1 pp. 45, 80–82, 293;
   • R. E. Brown, The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus (New York: Paulist Press, 1973) pp. 81, 92 (ISBN 0-8091-1768-1)
3. Geza Vermes states that the words of Paul are "a tradition he has inherited from his seniors in the faith concerning the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus".^[82] According to others, Paul's account is "a sacred tradition,"^[83] contained in "the oldest strata of tradition"^[84] using "the explicit language of oral transmission."^[85]
4. Ancient creed:
   • Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jesus – God and Man translated Lewis Wilkins and Duane Pribe (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968) p. 90;
   • Oscar Cullmann, The Early church: Studies in Early Christian History and Theology, ed. A. J. B. Higgins (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966) p. 66;
   • R. E. Brown, The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus (New York: Paulist Press, 1973) p. 81;
   • Thomas Sheehan, First Coming: How the Kingdom of God Became Christianity (New York: Random House, 1986) pp. 110, 118;
   • Ulrich Wilckens, Resurrection translated A. M. Stewart (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1977) p. 2
5. According to Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, he had previously met James the Just and Cephas/Peter, two of the people to who Jesus appeared according to these verses. Galatians 1:18–20: "Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles – only James, the Lord's brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie."
6. Michael Goulder states that it "goes back at least to what Paul was taught when he was converted, a couple of years after the crucifixion."^[87]
7. Bart Ehrman: "Among scholars I personally know, except for evangelicals, I don't now anyone who thinks this at all. And for a good reason: Paul never says he got this creed from Peter and James three years after his conversion. Doesn't even suggest it."^[92]
8. Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown (1871) comment: "which I ... received — from Christ Himself by special revelation (compare 1Co 11:23)."^[101] 1 Corinthians 11:23: "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread..."

References

1. ESV Pew Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2018. p. 952. ISBN 978-1-4335-6343-0. from the original on June 3, 2021.
2. "Bible Book Abbreviations". Logos Bible Software. from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
3. 1 Corinthians 1:1–2
4. Meyer 1 Corinthians, NT Commentary, Bible hub, accessed May 17, 2022
5. Kurt Aland, Barbara Aland 1995 The text of the New Testament: an introduction to the critical p. 52 "The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, the Greek of daily conversation. The fact that from the first all the New Testament writings were written in Greek is conclusively demonstrated by their citations from the Old Testament..."
6. Robert Wall, New Interpreter's Bible Vol. X (Abingdon Press, 2002), p. 373
7. Gucker, Jacob. "LibGuides: Ancient Biblical Manuscripts Online: Uncials". bmats.libguides.com.
8. Gench, Frances Taylor (18 May 2015). Encountering God in Tyrannical Texts: Reflections on Paul, Women, and the Authority of Scripture. Presbyterian Publishing Corp. p. 97. ISBN 9780664259525. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
9. 1 Corinthians 5:1ff
10. Daniel B. Wallace: The Textual Problem of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 Bible.org, June 26th 2004.
11. 1 Corinthians 14:34–35
12. John Barton; John Muddiman, eds. (2001). The Oxford Bible Commentary. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 1130. ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5.
13. 1 Corinthians 10:1–22
14. 1 Corinthians 8:1–13
15. 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:1
16. Walter Schmithals, Gnosticism in Corinth (Nashville: Abingdon, 1971), 14, 92–95; Lamar Cope, "First Corinthians 8–10: Continuity or Contradiction?" Anglican Theological Review: Supplementary Series II. Christ and His Communities (Mar. 1990) 114–23.
17. 1 Corinthians 8:1–11:1
18. Joop F. M. Smit, About the Idol Offerings (Leuven: Peeters, 2000); B. J. Oropeza, "Laying to Rest the Midrash," Biblica 79 (1998) 57–68.
19. Acts 19:8, Acts 19:10, Acts 20:31
20. "1 Corinthians, The First Letter to the Corinthians | USCCB". bible.usccb.org.
21. See 1 Corinthians 7:1
22. Acts 18:1–17
23. Corinthians, First Epistle to the, "The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia", Ed. James Orr, 1915.
24. Pauline Chronology: His Life and Missionary Work, from Catholic Resources by Felix Just, S.J.
25. Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Eerdmans, 2000), 31.
26. Acts 19:22, 1 Corinthians 4:17
27. "Introduction to the Book of 2 Corinthians". ESV Study Bible. Crossway. 2008. ISBN 978-1433502415.
28. "P123 (P. Oxy. 4844). Liste Handschriften DocID: 10123". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
29. "016 (Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art F1906.275). Liste Handschriften DocID: 20016". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
30. Gregory, Caspar René (1908). Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung. p. 46.
31. Outline from NET Bible.org
32. Roetzel, Calvin J. (1999). Paul: The Man and the Myth. Fortress. ISBN 978-0-56722938-0.
33. 1 Corinthians 16:1–24
34. 2 Corinthians 12:14; 2 Corinthians 13:1
35. 2 Corinthians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 13:2
36. 1 Corinthians 5:9
37. Acts 18:27
38. 1 Corinthians 1:12
39. 1 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Corinthians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 5:16; 2 Corinthians 11:23
40. Acts 19:1; 1 Corinthians 16:12
41. 1 Corinthians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 16:17
42. 2 Corinthians 2:13; 8:6, 16–18.
43. 1 Corinthians 3:10
44. 1 Corinthians 6:20 NKJV
45. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on 1 Corinthians 6, accessed 26 March 2017
46. cf. Matthew 27:55, Luke 8:1–3
47. Tertullian, On Monogamy "For have we not the power of eating and drinking?" he does not demonstrate that "wives" were led about by the apostles, whom even such as have not still have the power of eating and drinking; but simply "women", who used to minister to them in the stone way (as they did) when accompanying the Lord."
48. Jerome, Against Jovinianus, Book I "In accordance with this rule Peter and the other Apostles (I must give Jovinianus something now and then out of my abundance) had indeed wives, but those which they had taken before they knew the Gospel. But once they were received into the Apostolate, they forsook the offices of marriage."
49. 1 Corinthians 4:14–16
50. 1 Corinthians 9:22
51. 1 Corinthians 13:12
52. 1 Corinthians 13:11
53. 1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV
54. "εσοπτρον" [espotron]. Strong's Greek Lexicon – via Blue Letter Bible.
55. Clarke, Adam (1817). "Commentary on 1 Corinthians 12". Commentary on the New Testament. Vol. II. London: J. Butterworth & Son.
56. Gordon Tucker, translator's footnote to Abraham Joshua Heschel, 'Heavenly Torah as Refracted Through the Generations,' Continuum, New York, 2008; page 308.
57. Leviticus Rabbah 1:14.
58. B.T. Yevamot 49B
59. 1 Corinthians 14:34–35
60. 1 Corinthians 11:2–16
61. B. J. Oropeza, 1 Corinthians. New Covenant Commentary (Eugene: Cascade, 2017), 187–94; Philip B. Payne, Man and Woman: One in Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009); Ben Witherington, Women in the Earliest Churches (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988);
62. Payne, Philip Barton (5 May 2015). Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul's Letters. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 978-0-310-52532-5. Furthermore, Greek women, including women in prayer, were usually depicted without a garment covering the head. It does not make sense that Paul would assert something was disgraceful that in their culture was not considered disgraceful. Concerning Greek customs A. Oepke observes: […] It is quite wrong [to assert] that Greek women were under some kind of compulsion to wear a veil. […] Passages to the contrary are so numerous and unequivocally that they cannot be offset. […] Empresses and goddesses, even those who maintain their dignity, like Hera and Demeter, are portrayed without veils.
63. Shank, Tom (1992). "…Let Her Be Veiled.": An in-depth study of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. Eureka: Torch Publications. p. 8. The [male] Jews of this era worshipped and prayed with a covering called a tallith on their heads.
64. 1 Corinthians 11:10
65. Garland, David E. (1 November 2003). 1 Corinthians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament). Baker Academic. ISBN 978-1-58558-322-5.
66. The Catholic Study Bible. Oxford University Press. 15 April 2016. ISBN 978-0-19-026726-1.
67. Farrell, Heather (2014). Walking with the Women of the New Testament. Cedar Fort Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4621-0872-5. ...that the word translated in verses 5 and 13 as "uncovered" is akatakaluptos and means "unveiled" and the word translated in verse 6 as "covered" is katakalupto which means to "cover wholly, [or] veil." The word power in verse 10 may have also been mistranslated because the fact that in Aramaic the roots of the word power and veil are spelled the same.
68. Williams, Frank, ed. (2009). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1-46). Brill Academic Publishers. p. 196. ISBN 978-90-04-17017-9.
69. Bercot, David W. (18 April 2021). Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More Than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers. Hendrickson Publishers. p. 667. ISBN 978-1-61970-168-7.
70. Hunt, Margaret (11 June 2014). Women in Eighteenth Century Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 58. ISBN 9781317883876. Today many people associate rules about veiling and headscarves with the Muslim world, but in the eighteenth century they were common among Christians as well, in line with 1 Corinthians 11:4-13 which appears not only to prescribe headcoverings for any women who prays or goes to church, but explicitly to associate it with female subordination, which Islamic veiling traditions do not typically do. Many Christian women wore a head-covering all the time, and certainly when they went outside; those who did not would have been barred from church and likely harassed on the street. […] Veils were, of course, required for Catholic nuns, and a veil that actually obscured the face was also a mark of elite status throughout most of Europe. Spanish noblewomen wore them well into the eighteenth century, and so did Venetian women, both elites and non-elites. Across Europe almost any woman who could afford them also wore them to travel.
71. Balzani, Marzia; Besnier, Niko (29 November 2021). Social and Cultural Anthropology for the 21st Century: Connected Worlds. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-57178-0. Head covers are generally associated with Islam, but until recently Christian women in Mediterranean countries also covered their heads in public, and some still do, particularly in religious contexts such as attending mass.
72. Hammond, Laura C. (6 August 2018). This Place Will Become Home: Refugee Repatriation to Ethiopia. Cornell University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-5017-2725-2. Inside her house a Christian woman usually did not cover hear head and only wore a netsela (ነጠላ, a shawl made from white, usually homespun cotton and often with a colorful banner woven into its edges) when working in the sun or going out of her compound.
73. Ramdin, Ron (April 2000). Arising from Bondage: A History of the Indo-Caribbean People. New York University Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-8147-7548-6. As a mark of respect, Indian women were expected to cover their heads. And over the years, most rural Hindu, Muslim and Christian women have done so with the Orhni, a thin shawl-like head covering.
74. Mitchell, Laurence (2007). Serbia. Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN 978-1-84162-203-3. Further north, in Vojvodina, some older Slovak women still regularly wear the headscarf, pleated skirt and embroidered apron that is their national dress. All across Serbia, as elsewhere in eastern Europe, many older women wear headscarves
75. Walsh, Harper (1 November 2019). Saudi Arabia Undercover: Includes Bahrain, Bangkok and Cairo. Monsoon Books. ISBN 978-1-912049-61-5. There are Christian women in the Middle East who cover their hair and heads daily. Some wear burkas too.
76. Hartzler, Rachel Nafziger (30 April 2013). No Strings Attached: Boundary Lines in Pleasant Places: A History of Warren Street / Pleasant Oaks Mennonite Church. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-62189-635-7.
77. Kauffman, Daniel (1898). Manual of Bible Doctrines. Elkhart: Mennonite Publishing Co. pp. 160–168.
78. Schaff, Philip (1889). A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church: St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians. The Christian Literature Company. p. 152.
79. "Strong's Greek: 26. ἀγάπη (agapé) – love, goodwill". biblehub.com.
80. "1 Corinthians 13:1". Bible Gateway.
81. 1 Corinthians 15:3–7, NRSV
82. Geza Vermes (2008) The Resurrection. London, Penguin: 121–2 (ISBN 0-7394-9969-6; ISBN 978-0-14-103005-0)
83. Larry W. Hurtado (2005). Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-8028-3167-5.
84. Dale Moody (1987). Robert L. Perkins (ed.). Perspectives on Scripture and Tradition: Essays in Honor of Dale Moody. Mercer University Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-86554-305-8.
85. Donald Hagner (2012). "Part 2.7. The Origin and Reliability of the Gospel Tradition". The New Testament: A Historical and Theological Introduction. Baker Books. ISBN 978-1-4412-4040-8.
86. Hans Grass, Ostergeschen und Osterberichte, Second Edition (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1962) p. 96; Grass favors the origin in Damascus.
87. Michael Goulder (1996). The Baseless Fabric of a Vision (as quoted in Gavin D'Costa's Resurrection Reconsidered, p. 48).
88. Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jesus – God and Man translated Lewis Wilkins and Duane Pribe (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968) p. 90
89. R. E. Brown, The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus (New York: Paulist Press, 1973) pp. 81, 92 (ISBN 0-8091-1768-1)
90. Hans Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, translated James W. Leitch (Philadelphia: Fortress 1975) p. 251 (ISBN 0-8006-6005-6
91. Price (1995).
92. Bart Ehrman, as quoted at Bart Ehrman: Most Scholars Doubt the Early Creed Was Written Within 3-6 Years of Jesus' Death
93. Gerd Lüdemann (1994). The Resurrection of Jesus. p. 38.
94. MacGregor, Kirk R. (2006). "1 Corinthians 15:3b–6a, 7 and the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus". Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 49 (2): 225–34.
95. Francis J. Beckwith; William Lane Craig; J. P. Moreland, eds. (2009). To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview. InterVarsity Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-8308-7750-8.
96. N.T. Wright (5 April 2016). "Early Traditions and the Origins of Christianity". NTWrightPage.
97. Price, Robert M. (1995). "Apocryphal Apparitions: 1 Corinthians 15:3–11 as a Post-Pauline Interpolation". Journal of Higher Criticism. 2 (2): 69–99.
98. Detering, Hermann (2003). Translated by Darrell Daughty. "The Falsified Paul" (PDF). Journal of Higher Criticism. 10 (2): 3–199.
99. Sturdy, John (2007). Redrawing the Boundaries: The Date of Early Christian Literature. Equinox Pub. Limited. p. 64.
100. Smith, David Oliver (2022). The Pauline Letters: A Rhetorical Analysis. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 176.
101. Robert Jamieson; Andrew Robert Fausset; David Brown (1871). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.
102. 1 Corinthians 15:12
103. E.P. Sanders (1991) Paul. Oxford University Press: 29–30 (ISBN 0-19-287679-1). For a homiletic application, see "When I Get to the End of the Way" (References).
104. 1 Corinthians 15:27
105. Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1901). The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Vol. Book IV and V: Psalms XC-CL. Cambridge: At the University Press. p. 838. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
106. The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates ... , London: George Bell, 1897. book III, chapter 16, verse 114, page 194. See also the introductory essay to Samson Agonistes by John Milton, Of that sort of Dramatic Poem which is call'd Tragedy 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine.
107. Commentarium ad Titum 100.1
108. Hans Conzelmann (1975). 1 Corinthians: A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. James W. Leach (translator). Philadelphia: Fortress Press. pp. 278–279 fn 132. ISBN 0-8006-6005-6.
109. Loeb Classical Library Euripides VIII, fragment 1024
110. "What does 1 Corinthians 15:29 mean?". BibleRef.com. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
111. Teignmouth Shore, Ellicott's Commentary for Modern Readers on 1 Corinthians 15, accessed 12 April 2017
112. Jerusalem Bible (1966), note at 1 Corinthians 15:29
113. LCMS Frequently Asked Questions: Other Denominations, Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod
114. Vatican Warns of Mormon 'Baptism of the Dead', Catholic Online, retrieved July 3, 2016
115. . United Methodist Church. Archived from the original on 2016-08-19. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
116. "John Chrysostom's homilies on 1 Corinthians" (in English and Latin). Clerus. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2019.

Further reading

• Blenkinsopp, Joseph, The Corinthian Mirror: a Study of Contemporary Themes in a Pauline Epistle [i.e. in First Corinthians], Sheed and Ward, London, 1964.
• Erdman, Charles R., The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1966.
• Conzelmann, Hans Der erste Brief an die Korinther, KEK V, Göttingen 1969.
• Fitzmyer, Joseph A., First Corinthians : new translation with introduction and commentary, Anchor Yale Bible, Yale University Press, 2008.
• Oropeza, B. J. (2017). 1 Corinthians. New Covenant Commentary. Eugene: Cascade. ISBN 9781610971041.
• Robertson, A. and A. Plumber, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (Edinburgh 1961).
• Thiselton, Anthony C., The First Epistle to the Corinthians: a commentary on the Greek text NIGTC, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids 2000.
• Yung Suk Kim. Christ's Body in Corinth: The Politics of a Metaphor (Fortress, 2008).

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First Epistle to the Corinthians Pauline Epistle
Preceded by Romans	New Testament Books of the Bible	Succeeded by Second Corinthians