Digital Logos Edition
First Corinthians addresses what it means for a Christian community to live as the body of Christ in the midst of a culture with competing ideas, spirituality, and gods. Each of the many issues and questions Paul addresses in the letter are related to the struggles faced by the Corinthian believers as they lived out their faith in Graeco-Roman society.
The Lexham Research Commentary is your starting point for study and research. Each volume gives you the tools you need to find answers quickly. This commentary is designed to do the time-consuming work of searching through commentaries, journal articles, and monographs to find the information you need, saving you valuable time by curating all of the best literature in one place—it’s a commentary on the commentaries. The annotated notes on the various viewpoints and interpretive options within the text allow you to quickly synthesize a broad range of views on a particular passage. Dense, jargon-filled research is distilled into easy-to-understand comments. As you critically study the text, the contextual notes help you place the passage within the narrow context of the biblical book and the broader context of the entire canon.
The Lexham Research Commentaries were formerly known as the Lexham Bible Guides.
“First, Paul often addresses matters concerning the relationship between the Christian life and the surrounding culture.” (source)
“Sophia, ‘Wisdom.’ A usual connotation of ‘wisdom’ in our contemporary time is intellectual insight, with no necessary connection to practical skill or ethics. In contrast, the various biblical perspectives on wisdom do not separate insight from skill or ethics. The ot background to the concept of wisdom focuses on the word root hòkm, from which the word hòokmah (‘skill,’ ‘wisdom’) is derived, and is commonly translated sophia in Greek. In the ot, the height of human wisdom is proper awareness of and obedience to God, and no person who was rebellious toward God could be considered truly wise. In addition to guiding human conduct, wisdom was also personified in Proverbs 8:22–31, and was seen as a foundational part of creation—‘at the first, from the beginning of the earth’ (Prov 8:23).” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5)
“Paul employs two main images to this end. The first is the temple of God and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16–17). Drawing on the image of the sacred temple of Judaism, Paul urges the Corinthians to live holy lives distinct from their surrounding culture. They are called to preserve the purity of God’s temple, even if it means casting out one of their own members (1 Cor 5:1–13). The second image Paul employs is the body of Christ. Here his emphasis is not on holiness but on unity among diversity (e.g., 1 Cor 10:17; 11:29; 12:12–26). Each believer is an equal member of the body of Christ because they were all baptized into the same body and now ‘drink’ of the same Spirit (1 Cor 12:13).” (source)
The Lexham Research Commentary provides the following for each literary unit:
Derek R. Brown is an academic editor for Lexham Press. He holds a PhD in New Testament Studies and Christian Origins from the University of Edinburgh, a MCS in New Testament Studies from Regent College, and a BSc in Religious Studies from the University of Oregon. He is a Faithlife Study Bible contributing editor, a Studies in Faithful Living co-author, a Lexham Research Commentary co-author, and a regular Bible Study Magazine and Lexham Bible Dictionary contributor.
John D. Barry is the CEO and Founder of Jesus' Economy, a non-profit dedicated to creating jobs and churches in the developing world. He also serves as a missionary with Resurrect Church Movement, the domestic division of Jesus' Economy dedicated to equipping U.S. churches to alleviate poverty and plant churches. John is the general editor of Faithlife Study Bible and Lexham Bible Dictionary. He has authored or edited over 30 books, including The Resurrected Servant in Isaiah, Cutting Ties with Darkness, and the daily devotional Connect the Testaments. John formerly served as founding publisher of Lexham Press and is the former editor-in-chief of Bible Study Magazine. John speaks internationally on engaging the Bible, poverty, and spreading the gospel.
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