Paul’s letter to a gifted, proud and divided church. Every chapter has a Four Voices deep dive (Guzik, Sproul, Spurgeon and Henry) with diagrams and the Greek, an O·I·A study, and Berean notes; chapters 10 through 15 also have narrated films.
Paul writes from Ephesus to the church he planted in Corinth: rich, crowded, proud of its speakers and split into parties. He answers the reports he has heard (chapters 1–6), then the questions they wrote him (7–14), and ends where the gospel ends: Christ is risen (15). Pick any chapter to go deeper.
One crucified Christ, so no boasting in men. Servants, a foundation, and a Day that tests the work.
Leaven left alone, lawsuits among brothers, and bodies bought with a price.
Marriage and calling, knowledge and love, rights laid down, and the way out of temptation.
The Lord’s Table, one body with many gifts, the more excellent way, and a meeting that builds.
Christ is risen, death is swallowed up, and a church told to stand fast.
Narrated inductive deep dives, read with John MacArthur and David Guzik, Scripture from the NASB 1995. Each one opens on its chapter page; turn the sound on.
Each chapter has the blog notes and, for chapters 1–14, the O·I·A study from the Berean Dashboard. Chapters 10–14 add an inductive deep dive, 14 and 15 a verse-by-verse study, and 10–15 a film.
The church does not divide over Christ; it divides over pride. God cut the ground out from under every human boast by saving the world through a crucified Messiah and by calling nobodies — so the only boast left is in the Lord.
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
God’s wisdom is a crucified Christ, preached by a weak man, so that faith rests on God’s power. What no eye could see, the Spirit reveals to those who love Him — and He gives them the mind of Christ.
“For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2
The church is God’s field, God’s building and God’s temple — so the men who serve it are only servants, the only foundation is Christ, and the day is coming when fire will show what each of us actually built.
“For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11
A servant of Christ answers to one Judge and is measured by faithfulness, not applause — and the path he walks looks like weakness and loss to the world, which is exactly why I should follow it.
“In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.” 1 Corinthians 4:2
A church that is proud of tolerating sin is not loving the sinner — it is leaving him in danger and letting the leaven spread. Because Christ our Passover was sacrificed, we are to be what we already are in Him: clean. Discipline in the church is meant to rescue, not to destroy.
“Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7
I am not who I was. Washed, set apart and declared right with God by Jesus and His Spirit, I belong to Him — body included. So I settle my quarrels like family, I run from sexual sin instead of reasoning with it, and I use this bought body to honor the One who paid for it.
“For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20
Married or single, bound or free, God’s call meets me where I am. Marriage is a holy gift to be given in both directions, singleness is a gift with its own freedom, and either one is lived with an undivided heart toward a Lord whose world is passing away.
“Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk.” 1 Corinthians 7:17
Being right is not enough. What I know about my freedom has to answer to love for the brother beside me, because Christ died for him — and if my freedom trips him, I’ll gladly give it up.
“Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.” 1 Corinthians 8:1
Paul had every right a minister can have, proved it from life, Law and the Lord’s own word — and laid it all down so nothing would hinder the gospel. Freedom in Christ is spent on others, and it takes an athlete’s discipline to keep spending it.
“I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22
Privilege does not keep anyone; God does, and He is faithful. So I flee the idol’s table, I hold my freedom in love, and I do everything — even eating and drinking — for His glory and my neighbor’s salvation.
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
The gathered church should display the order God built into creation and the love Christ showed at the cross. A church can hold the right teaching and still eat the Lord’s Supper in a way that is not the Lord’s — and the cure is to remember Him, examine myself, and wait for my brother.
“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1
The Spirit who makes a man say “Jesus is Lord” gives every believer a gift for the good of others and baptizes them all into one body, where God placed each member just as He desired. No member may quit, no member may dismiss another, and every gift must travel the more excellent way of love.
“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27
No gift or sacrifice counts without love, because love is the life of God Himself; it is seen in fifteen plain behaviors, it outlasts every gift of this partial age, and it is the greatest thing there is.
“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
Love takes every gift into the room and asks, “Will this build my brother?” So the meeting must be understood, taken in turn, weighed by the Word, and shaped like the God of peace.
“But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.” 1 Corinthians 14:40
The gospel stands or falls on an empty tomb. Because Christ has been raised as the first fruits, everyone who belongs to Him will be raised and changed, death will be swallowed up, and every bit of work done in the Lord will prove to have been worth it.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
The gospel that raises the dead also reorganizes a man’s wallet, his calendar and his friendships. Stand firm, do it in love, and love Jesus until He comes.
“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:13–14
The two voices in the deep dives and verse-by-verse studies are John MacArthur and David Guzik (Enduring Word). Scripture is quoted from the NASB 1995.