The First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians)

The First Epistle to the Corinthians, in the Vulgate Epistola I ad Corinthios, comes second among the fourteen Epistles of St Paul, after Romans. It answers a young Church in a rich and dissolute seaport: a community divided into parties, troubled by scandals, and full of questions about marriage, idol meats, worship, spiritual gifts and the resurrection. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 calls it "generally regarded as the greatest of the writings of St. Paul" for the beauty of its style and the variety of its teaching.

The author: St Paul, with Sosthenes

St Paul the Apostle, with Sosthenes named beside him in the greeting: "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes a brother" (1 Corinthians 1). The voice is Paul's own, and he signs it: "The salutation of me Paul, with my own hand" (16:21). He speaks as the founder of the Church at Corinth: "I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase" (3:6).

About AD 96, St Clement of Rome wrote to the same Church: "Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul... he wrote to you concerning himself, and Cephas, and Apollos, because even then parties had been formed among you" (Epistle to the Corinthians 47). St Ignatius of Antioch, St Polycarp and St Irenaeus use it, and the Catholic Encyclopedia judges the evidence for Paul's authorship "overwhelmingly strong." Here modern scholars agree with tradition: 1 Corinthians is counted among Paul's undisputed letters. Paul is the human author; the principal Author, as of all Scripture, is the Holy Ghost. For the Apostle's life, see our article on St Paul.

Date and place: Ephesus, about AD 57

At Ephesus, towards the end of Paul's three years there, on his third missionary journey. The letter itself says so: "But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost" (16:8). Challoner's preface: "After being there three years, he wrote this first Epistle to the Corinthians and sent it by the same persons, Stephanus, Fortunatus and Achaicus, who had brought their letter to him. It was written about twenty-four years after our Lord's Ascension." The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 dates it about Easter, AD 57.

Paul had founded the Church about AD 51-52, on his second journey, as Acts 18 tells: he lodged with Aquila and Priscilla, worked as a tentmaker and stayed "a year and six months." Corinth was the Roman capital of Achaia, a crowded port between East and West, so notorious for vice that "to act the Corinthian" meant to live loosely.

The occasion: Chloe's household and the Corinthians' letter

News reached him from "them that are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you" (1:11), and a delegation brought a letter with questions: "Now concerning the thing whereof you wrote to me" (7:1). He writes to heal the factions, to correct grave scandals, and to answer their questions one by one. An earlier note, now lost, is mentioned at 5:9. A second letter followed a few months later: 2 Corinthians.

Summary of 1 Corinthians

The Epistle has two parts. In chapters 1–6 Paul rebukes faults he has heard of; in chapters 7–16 he answers what they asked.

Divisions and the wisdom of the cross (chapters 1–4)

The Corinthians were saying, "I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I am of Cephas; and I of Christ." Paul answers: "Is Christ divided? Was Paul then crucified for you?" (1 Corinthians 1). Against their love of eloquence he sets the folly of the cross: "We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: but unto them that are called... Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." He came to them knowing nothing "but Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2). Ministers are only servants; the one foundation is Christ, and every man's work will be tried by fire (1 Corinthians 3). The apostles are "the dispensers of the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4).

Scandals: incest, lawsuits and impurity (chapters 5–6)

A man has taken "his father's wife," and the Church is puffed up instead of mourning. Paul, "absent in body, but present in spirit," judges him and commands that he be delivered "to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved," an exercise of the Church's power of excommunication; for "Christ our pasch is sacrificed," the old leaven must be purged (1 Corinthians 5). Christians must not drag one another before pagan judges; the unjust "shall not possess the kingdom of God"; and the body, bought "with a great price," is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6).

Marriage and virginity (chapter 7)

Spouses may not separate, "not I but the Lord commandeth"; a Christian whose unbelieving spouse departs "is not under servitude in such cases"; and virginity, freely chosen for the Lord, is the better part: "he that giveth his virgin in marriage, doth well; and he that giveth her not, doth better" (1 Corinthians 7).

Idol meats and Christian liberty (chapters 8–10)

"Knowledge puffeth up; but charity edifieth" (1 Corinthians 8). An idol is nothing, but the strong must not wound a weak conscience. Paul gives his own example: he preaches freely, "all things to all men," and disciplines himself like a runner (1 Corinthians 9). Israel in the desert, baptized "in the cloud, and in the sea," fed with spiritual food and drink, still fell; let the Christian fear, flee idolatry and remember that he cannot share both "the table of the Lord, and... the table of devils" (1 Corinthians 10).

Order in worship and the Lord's Supper (chapter 11)

Paul orders that women pray with the head covered and men uncovered, then condemns the selfishness of their common meals and hands on the tradition of the Eucharist, received "of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11).

Spiritual gifts and charity (chapters 12–14)

There are "diversities of graces, but the same Spirit": wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues and their interpretation (1 Corinthians 12). The Church is one body with many members. Above every gift is "a more excellent way," charity (1 Corinthians 13). Prophecy, which builds up the Church, is to be preferred to tongues, and "let all things be done decently, and according to order" (1 Corinthians 14).

The resurrection of the dead (chapter 15)

Against those who denied the resurrection, Paul recalls the gospel he received, Christ's death, burial, Resurrection "the third day" and appearances: "if Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." Christ is "the firstfruits of them that sleep"; the body "sown in corruption" will "rise in incorruption" (1 Corinthians 15).

The collection and farewell (chapter 16)

The collection for Jerusalem, travel plans, greetings, and a closing word in Aramaic: "maranatha" (1 Corinthians 16).

Themes and the Catholic reading of 1 Corinthians

The Real Presence and the Sacrifice. "The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord?" (10:16). After the words of institution (11:23-26), which match Luke 22, Paul warns: "whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord" (11:27).

Challoner notes that this "demonstrates the real presence of the body and blood of Christ, even to the unworthy communicant; who otherwise could not be guilty of the body and blood of Christ." The Council of Trent sees the Mass in Paul's contrast of the two tables, "by the table, meaning in both places the altar" (Session XXII, ch. 1). Read more in This Is My Body: the Eucharist in Scripture.

Worthy Communion and Confession. "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself" (11:29): Trent calls these "words full of terror," and explains the Apostle's precept "Let a man prove himself" (11:28) to mean that no one conscious of mortal sin may approach the Eucharist "without previous sacramental confession" (Session XIII, ch. 7). Our guide on how to go to Confession prepares for it.

Typology of the Exodus. "All these things happened to them in figure" (10:11). The crossing of the sea and the cloud prefigure Baptism; the manna and the water from the rock prefigure the Eucharist, "and the rock was Christ" (10:4), recalling Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. And "Christ our pasch is sacrificed" (5:7) makes the Passover lamb of Exodus 12 a figure of the Cross; these verses are the Epistle of Easter Sunday.

Purgatory. "If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire" (3:15). Challoner explains that those who die "in the state of grace, though with some imperfection" are tried at the particular judgment and saved "yet so as by fire." St Augustine (Enchiridion 68-69) and St Gregory the Great (Dialogues IV, 39) read the passage of a cleansing fire. The doctrine is set out in our article What Is Purgatory?

Marriage and virginity. Chapter 7 grounds the indissolubility of marriage, the "Pauline privilege" (7:12-15) and the excellence of consecrated virginity. Trent defines that it is "better and more blessed to remain in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony" (Session XXIV, canon 10). Our article on Catholic marriage develops this teaching.

The Church, one body. "Now you are the body of Christ, and members of member" (12:27), one Church built up by the gifts of the Spirit and ordered by the apostles. St John Chrysostom preached forty-four homilies on this Epistle; St Thomas Aquinas and Cornelius a Lapide left full commentaries.

Famous verses and chapters from 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13: "Love is patient." In the Douay, which follows the Latin caritas, the word is charity: "Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away" (13:4-8).

The chapter opens "If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (13:1), and ends "We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face... And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity" (13:12-13), all in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul describes not a feeling but the supernatural love of God and of neighbour; faith and hope cease in heaven, charity remains for ever. Our article Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind reads the hymn line by line.

1 Corinthians 10:13 and 10:31. "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it"; "whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10).

1 Corinthians 16:13-14. "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, do manfully, and be strengthened. Let all your things be done in charity" (1 Corinthians 16).

1 Corinthians 15:33, 15:55 and 15:58. "Be not seduced: Evil communications corrupt good manners"; "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?", echoing Osee 13; and "be ye steadfast and unmoveable; always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15). On 15:29, "baptized for the dead," Challoner judges it more probable that the Apostle alludes "to the prayers and penitential labours, performed by the primitive Christians for the souls of the faithful departed." The whole chapter is the Scriptural foundation of the article of the Creed treated in the resurrection of the body.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 6:18-20. "Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind... shall possess the kingdom of God. And such some of you were; but you are washed, but you are sanctified." "Fly fornication... know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost...? For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6).

1 Corinthians 2:9. "That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2), after Isaias 64.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27. "So run that you may obtain... I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway" (1 Corinthians 9).

1 Corinthians 11: the head covering. "Every woman praying or prophesying with her head not covered, disgraceth her head," and "the woman [ought] to have a power over her head, because of the angels" (11:5, 10). Challoner explains the "power" as "a veil or covering, as a sign that she is under the power of her husband," worn "because of the angels, who are present in the assemblies of the faithful." Here lies the Scriptural ground of the Catholic custom of the chapel veil. The same order inspires the precept of chapter 14: "Let women keep silence in the churches" (14:34).

1 Corinthians in the canon and in the liturgy

1 Corinthians belongs to the New Testament, not the Old. It has the same name and sixteen chapters in Catholic and Protestant Bibles. It was never among the disputed books: the Councils of Rome (382), Hippo (393), Carthage (397), Florence and Trent (Session IV, 1546) list it among the fourteen Epistles of Paul. Written in Greek, it came to the West in the Latin of the Vulgate, from which the Douay-Rheims Bible was translated.

In the 1962 Missal, 1 Corinthians gives the Epistle of the Fourth Sunday of Advent (4:1-5), Septuagesima (9:24-27; 10:1-5), Quinquagesima (13:1-13), Easter Sunday (5:7-8), Maundy Thursday (11:20-32) and Corpus Christi (11:23-29), and of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Eighteenth Sundays after Pentecost (10:6-13; 12:2-11; 15:1-10; 1:4-8). In the Roman Breviary its reading begins at Matins on the First Sunday after Epiphany, after Romans. Follow these days in our liturgical calendar and pray the Office in the Breviary.

How to read 1 Corinthians

Read it as a letter, one question at a time ("Now concerning..."). Begin with chapters 1–4 to grasp the wisdom of the cross; then read chapters 10 and 11 before Holy Communion, and chapter 15 at Easter and at a funeral. Keep the Vulgate beside the English, then go on to 2 Corinthians and Galatians.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote 1 Corinthians?

St Paul the Apostle wrote 1 Corinthians, with Sosthenes joining in the greeting (1:1); Paul signs it "with my own hand" (16:21). St Clement of Rome, writing to Corinth about AD 96, already calls it "the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul," and even modern critics count it among his undisputed letters.

When was 1 Corinthians written?

About AD 56-57, during Paul's long stay at Ephesus on his third missionary journey. Challoner dates it "about twenty-four years after our Lord's Ascension," and the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 places it about Easter, AD 57, some months before 2 Corinthians.

Why did Paul write 1 Corinthians?

To heal the factions of Paul, Apollo and Cephas, to correct grave scandals such as the incestuous man and lawsuits before pagans, and to answer the questions the Corinthians had sent him in a letter.

What is 1 Corinthians about?

The unity and holiness of the Church. Paul sets the wisdom of the cross against worldly wisdom, defends Christian morals, teaches on marriage and virginity, hands on the Eucharist, places charity above every gift (chapter 13) and proves the resurrection of the body (chapter 15).

What does 1 Corinthians 13 mean?

It teaches that charity, the supernatural love of God and of neighbour for God's sake, is greater than every other gift; without it "I am nothing" (13:2). Faith and hope pass away when we see God "face to face"; charity "never falleth away."

Is 1 Corinthians in the Old or New Testament?

In the New Testament. It is the second of St Paul's fourteen Epistles, following Romans and preceding 2 Corinthians, in Catholic and Protestant Bibles alike.

How many chapters are in 1 Corinthians?

1 Corinthians has 16 chapters, in the Douay-Rheims, the Latin Vulgate and Protestant Bibles. You can read each one here, from 1 Corinthians 1 to 1 Corinthians 16, Latin and English side by side.

What does 1 Corinthians 10:13 mean?

It means that God never permits a temptation beyond the strength His grace gives, and with every temptation He provides the "issue," which Challoner glosses as "a way to escape." The verse closes a warning drawn from Israel's falls in the desert: no one may presume, but no one need despair, because "God is faithful."

Who is Apollos in 1 Corinthians?

Apollo, as the Douay names him, was "a certain Jew, named Apollo, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man... one mighty in the scriptures" (Acts 18:24), instructed by Priscilla and Aquila, who then preached at Corinth after Paul. Some Corinthians made him the head of a party, but Paul treats him as a fellow labourer: "I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase" (3:6).

Read the whole First Epistle to the Corinthians verse by verse, Latin and English, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Latin Vulgate and Douay-Rheims (Challoner revision, 1749-1752), with Challoner's preface and notes; the Acts of the Apostles, ch. 18; Osee 13 and Isaias 64; St Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians 47; St John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians; St Augustine, Enchiridion 68-69; St Gregory the Great, Dialogues IV, 39; St Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians; Cornelius a Lapide, Commentaria in omnes divi Pauli epistolas; Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Session XIII, ch. 7 (1551), Session XXII, ch. 1 (1562) and Session XXIV, canon 10 (1563); The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Epistles to the Corinthians"; Missale Romanum (1962); Breviarium Romanum (1962).