1 Corinthians Devotionals
One for each chapter. Want to test what you read? Take the 1 Corinthians quizzes.
- 1 Corinthians 1: Wisdom That Looks Like Foolishness
Paul opens with thanks before he says anything hard. The Corinthians lack no spiritual gift, and God, who called them into fellowship with his Son, will keep them steady to the…
- 1 Corinthians 2: Faith Resting on God's Power
Paul reminds the Corinthians how he first came to them. He arrived without polished speech, in weakness and fear and much trembling, determined to know nothing among them except…
- 1 Corinthians 3: Only God Gives the Growth
Paul calls the believers infants who still need milk, because their jealousy and quarrels show they are living like the world (3:1-3). Then he shrinks the leaders back to size.…
- 1 Corinthians 4: Nothing We Did Not Receive
Paul tells the Corinthians how to think of him and the other apostles: as servants of Christ and stewards entrusted with God's revealed truths. What a steward needs most is…
- 1 Corinthians 5: Discipline That Aims at Rescue
A man in the church is in a sexual relationship with his father's wife, and instead of grieving, the church is proud of itself (5:1-2). Paul tells them, when they gather in the…
- 1 Corinthians 6: Washed and Made His Own
Paul is dismayed that believers are suing one another before unbelieving judges, and he asks why they would not rather suffer wrong than wrong each other (6:1-8). He then warns…
- 1 Corinthians 7: Content Where God Has Called
Paul answers the Corinthians' questions about marriage. Husbands and wives belong to each other and should not hold back from one another except briefly, by agreement, for prayer…
- 1 Corinthians 8: The Brother for Whom Christ Died
The Corinthians had asked whether believers could eat food that had been offered to idols. Paul agrees with their theology. An idol is nothing, and for believers there is one God,…
- 1 Corinthians 9: Free to Serve Everyone
Paul now shows that he lives the way he has just described. As an apostle who has seen the Lord, he has every right to be supported by the churches. Soldiers and farmers live from…
- 1 Corinthians 10: A Faithful God in Temptation
Paul turns to Israel's story as a warning. All of them passed through the sea, ate spiritual food, and drank from the spiritual rock that went with them, and Paul says that rock…
- 1 Corinthians 11: Proclaiming His Death Together
Paul opens with instructions about how men and women pray and prophesy in worship, including head coverings, grounding them in the order of creation (11:3-10). He adds that in the…
- 1 Corinthians 12: Every Part Placed by God
Paul begins his teaching on spiritual gifts with a confession. No one can truly say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (12:3), so every believer who honors Christ…
- 1 Corinthians 13: Love That Outlasts Every Gift
Paul pauses his teaching on gifts to show what makes any gift worth having. Speaking in every tongue, understanding all mysteries, faith that moves mountains, even giving away…
- 1 Corinthians 14: Built Up Together in Worship
Love stays central as Paul turns to how the church gathers. He urges them to pursue love and to desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, because prophecy speaks to people to…
- 1 Corinthians 15: Firstfruits of a Coming Harvest
Paul begins 1 Corinthians 15 with the gospel at the heart of everything. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day, as the Scriptures foretold. He then…
- 1 Corinthians 16: Love in the Ordinary Details
The letter ends with practical business, and that is part of its lesson. Paul asks each believer to set aside some income on the first day of every week for the believers in…