[:en]Introduction: (vs. 1-3)
The city of Corinth was a wealthy trading center located in the Medeterianian facing Ephesus across the Aegean Sea. It was a city with great diversity of wealth, religion and moral standards. The Romans made it the captial of Achaia (present day Greece) because it offered Rome great profits through trading and military protection of its ports. But the city’s prosperity made corruption and idolatry flourished. Paul wrote this letter while he was in Ephesus with Sosethenes to correct their problems.
Thanksgiving (vs. 4-9)
Paul thanked God for the Corinthian church because they did not lack any spiritual gift. He assured them that Jesus Christ our Lord is faithful and will keep them strong to the end.
Division in the Church (vs. 10-17)
Paul founded the church in Corinth on his second missionary journey. After a year and a half, arguments and divisions arouse and some church members slipped back into immoral life style. Paul wanted to clear up the confusion about right and wrong so that immorality would be removed from among them. He emphasized the importance of unity so that there may be no division among them. They may have different opposing viewpoints but they can work together harmoniously on essential issues. Petty differences should never divide Christians.
The believers in Corinth quarreled because of preachers. Some followed Paul. Others listened to Apollos, another follow Cephas and still another follow Christ. Paul mentioned Christ ten times in the first ten verses to emphasize that God’s messenger is more important than human messenger. Our allegiance must be to Chjrist and not to any teacher or preacher. Some speakers are eloguent in speaking ability, but weak in content. Paul wanted the believers to be impressed with the message not the storyteller who used large vocabulary to impress people when they shared the Good News.
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God (vs. 18-31)
Paul used Isaiah 29:14 “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” to emphasize that God’s way of thinking is not like the world’s way of human wisdom. God offers eternal life which the wolrd can never give. We can accumulate wisdom yet never learn to have a personal relationship with God.
Many Jews considered the Good News of Jesus to be foolish because they thought the Messiah should be a conquering king to save them and not to be executed as a criminal. They regarded death as defeat, not victory.
The Good News of Jesus Christ sounds also foolish to the present day society where people worship power, influence and wealth. They cannot accept that Jesus, a humble and poor servant can be their Savior. They considered death as the end of the road and ultimate weakness. They won’t believe in His resurrection. So they tried to obtain eternal life by being good. But their attemps were futile. The “foolish” people who simply accept Christ’s offer are actually the wisest of all because they will live eternally with God.
Paul stressed that no amount of human knowledge can replace or by-pass Christ’s work on the cross. Christ salvation is available to all people, not limited to those intellectually gifted or the well-educated. The way to eternal life is so simple. It is only by faith through Christ. That is why Paul said: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (v. 31)[:]