286+ 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.
286 articles · page 6 of 12
How Are the Dead Raised? 1 Cor. 15:36-38
With what body do they come? Paul answers with a seed, and the answer is neither a ghost nor the same body you have now.
1 Corinthians 15:27-35 The Foundation of Resurrection and Christian Hope
Baptised for the dead, fighting beasts at Ephesus, eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Paul stacks up arguments that only make sense if resurrection is real.
Christ must reign till his enemies become his footstool
He must reign until every enemy is under His feet, and the last enemy is death. What Paul means by the Son finally being subject to the Father.
The Resurrection of our bodies 1 Cor.15:20-28
Christ is the firstfruits, which means a harvest is expected to follow. Paul's argument for the resurrection of our bodies, laid out in order.
The Gospel and Its Foundation 1Cor. 15:1-11
Died, buried, raised, and seen. Paul hands over the gospel in four facts and a list of witnesses, most of whom were still alive to be asked.
The Literal Ressurection of Christ, not an optional belief 1Cor. 15:12-19
If Christ is not risen, Paul says, the preaching is empty and so is the faith. He leaves no room for treating the resurrection as a metaphor.
Tongues, Prophecy, and Women 1 Corinthians 14:26-40
Order in the gathering, two or three at a time, and one of the hardest verses in the letter about women keeping silent. Working through it without flinching.
Biblical Tongues - Public And Private 1 Co 14:18–25
Paul says he speaks in tongues more than all of them, then says he would rather speak five words people understand. Public and private are not the same thing.
Speaking in Tongues 1 Cor 14:6-17
An uncertain trumpet gets nobody ready for battle. Paul's argument about tongues in the assembly rests on whether anyone can understand what was said.
Ep. 1 Cor 14:1-5 Pursue Love & Desire Gifts
Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts. Paul ranks prophecy above tongues in the gathering, and his reason is entirely about who else is in the room.
Paul defines sacrificial love 1 Cor 13: 1-23
Tongues of angels, mountain-moving faith, everything given away, and without love it counts for nothing. Paul's definition of love is far tougher than the wedding version.
Unity, Diversity, and the Primacy of Love 1Cor 12:20-13:1
The parts of the body that seem weakest are the necessary ones. Paul's picture of the church leaves nobody spare, and then he turns to love.
Gifts of the Spirit - Are they for today? 1 Cor 12:8-11
Are the gifts of the Spirit still for today? The question behind the question is usually about authority, and it deserves a straight answer.
The gifts and manifestations of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12:6-7
Forty-five years shaped by Pentecostal and evangelical thinking, and a good many convictions now held more loosely. Where I actually stand on the gifts, and why.
One Body One Spirit - 1 Co 12:12–19
If the foot says it is not a hand, is it no longer part of the body? Paul's answer reframes what belonging to a church actually means.
The Gifts of the Spirit 1 Cor 12.4.6
Diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. Every spiritual gift named in the New Testament, listed and briefly defined in one place.
Spiritual Gifts and Speaking by God's Spirit 1 Cor 12:1
Paul turns to spiritual gifts, and begins somewhere unexpected: with a test for whether it is really the Spirit of God speaking at all.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.