94+ articles · Verse by verse
Articles.
Long-form study. Plain English.
Every article does the hard work — what the words meant to the first readers, the historical context, the first-century background — then hands it to you in words you already know.
94 articles · page 3 of 4
Paul's Advice to Virgins - 1 Co 7:25–31
Paul offers judgment rather than commandment here, and is careful to say that marrying is no sin. Why he still leaned the other way.
Distress, Decisions, and Destiny 1 Co 7:29–31
Weep as though not weeping, buy as though not possessing. Paul is not asking for detachment from life, but for a grip that can be loosened.
Living in the Last Hour - 1 Co 7 31
“The form of this world is passing away.” The New Testament writers plainly expected something imminent, and it is worth asking carefully what they meant by it.
Marriage, Singleness, and the Pre-Eminence of Christ in Decision-Making- 1 Co 7:32–8:1
Paul says he is not putting a leash on anyone. He is asking which arrangement lets you serve the Lord without being quietly pulled in two directions.
Balancing Knowledge and Love 1 Co 8:1–3
Knowledge puffs up, love builds up. This verse has been used to warn people away from study altogether, which is almost exactly backwards.
Beyond Theology - Knowing God Through Love 1 Co 8:1–3
“If anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” After years of debating theology across a dozen belief systems, that verse still does the most damage to my pride.
Balancing Freedom and Responsibility- 1 Co 8:7–13
Paul would rather never eat meat again than trip up a brother. Freedom that wounds somebody else has stopped being the point.
Apostles Among Us - Examining Their Role and Recognition in Modern Christianity 1 Co 9:1–2
Paul's apostleship was being questioned in Corinth, so he defends it. His defence tells us a great deal about what that title did and did not mean.
Defending Apostleship Paul’s Rights and Reciprocity in Ministry 1 Co 9:3–12
Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Paul builds a careful case that gospel workers may be supported, and then declines the support himself.
Paul's Plea - The Legitimacy of Compensation for Gospel Workers 1 Co 9:13–18. part 1
The Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from it. Paul agrees completely, then explains why he never took a penny of it.
Financial Independence in Ministry-1 Co 9: 15–18
Paul would rather die than have his boasting made void. Why he kept his ministry financially independent, and what that decision cost him.
Freedom, Servanthood, and Cultural Adaptability in Paul's Ministry 1 Co 9:19–23
All things to all men. Paul bends himself a long way to reach people, but there is a line he never crosses, and it is worth knowing where it sits.
Ethical, Imperishable Reward, Contemporary Perspective 1 Co 9:24–10:1
Paul disciplines his body so that after preaching to others he is not himself disqualified. Decades into ministry, that verse reads differently than it once did.
Unity Beyond Lineage: Paul's Call to a Collective Identity -1 Co 10:1 part 1
“I do not want you to be unaware.” Paul stops answering their questions and hands the Corinthians a shared history that reaches back to the wilderness.
Bridging Old and New Testaments -1 Co 10:1–5 Part 2
That Rock was Christ. Paul reads Israel's wilderness years as more than history, and shows why the Old Testament is not optional reading for Christians.
What Did 'The Ends of the Ages' Mean for Early Christians?" 1 Co 10:6–13 Part 1
Paul tells the Corinthians these things were written for people “upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” What that phrase would have meant to them.
Dealing with Temptation 1 Co 10:12–13
God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, and will make a way of escape. A closer look at a verse that gets quoted more often than it gets read.
A matter of conscience versus a matter of sin 1 Co 10:18–22
Sometimes Scripture looks like it is contradicting itself. Paul said an idol is nothing, then warns about the table of demons. Both statements stand.
Grace vs. Law: Unraveling the 'All Things Are Lawful' Dilemma in Christianity - 1 Co 10:23
Some hear grace and conclude that sin no longer exists. Paul's “all things are lawful” is the verse most often used to get there, and it does not go there.
Freedom, Conscience, and Love 1 Co 10:23–1 Co 11:1
Eat what is set in front of you and ask no questions, Paul says, unless someone tells you where it came from. Then the issue stops being food.
Headship - 1 Cor 11:2-13
The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, the head of Christ is God. Working through one of Paul's most argued-over passages, carefully.
Head Coverings -1 Co 11:13–16
Head coverings, angels, and long hair. Paul's reasoning here feels foreign until you understand what a covering signalled in first-century Corinth.
The Assembly and The Lord's Supper 1 Co 11:17–22
One goes hungry while another gets drunk. The Corinthian gatherings had become a place where the poor were shamed, and Paul refuses to praise them for it.
Communion - Sign of the New Covenant 1 Co 11:23–34
This cup is the new covenant in My blood. What Paul received and passed on about the Lord's Supper, and what examining yourself actually means.