1 Corinthians Exposition
An exposition of 1 Corinthians by Doug Van Meter.
Getting Real about the Meal (1 Corinthians 11:17–34)
As we learned previously, the church at Corinth had ruined the rite of the Lord’s Supper (vv. 17–26) and, in this passage (vv. 27–34), Paul provides the remedy. He tells...
The Supper as Story (1 Corinthians 11:17–26)
We saw in our study of 1 Corinthians, 11:2–16 that the church gathers as a congregation each Lord’s Day for what we might call “story time.” We gather with the church to...
What to Wear When You Come to Church (1 Corinthians 11:2–16)
The local church congregation gathers each Lord’s Day for what we might call “story time.” We gather to hear the story of the gospel of God, which is the story of God’s...
The Good of Others for the Glory of God (1 Corinthians 11:23–11:1)
For the apostle Paul, everything about life was informed by the message of the cross. This is once again front and centre in the text before us. Paul was concerned both...
Run, Christian, Run! (1 Corinthians 10:14–22)
In the movie Forrest Gump there are several scenes in which Forrest needs to run for his life. As bullies threaten to assault him, his childhood friend Jenny shouts to...
Back to the Future (1 Corinthians 10:1–13)
As a church, we have spent considerable time over several decades studying the Old Testament, including Sunday morning sermons in Genesis through Numbers. Some might...
For the Sake of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:1–27)
The gospel is a matter of life and death—eternal life and eternal death. The gospel is the good news that repentant sinners have a Saviour: Jesus the promised Messiah, the...
Brotherly Concern (1 Corinthians 8:4–13)
One time US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said, “Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.” This subsequently became known in legal...
Build Up, Don’t Blow Up (1 Corinthians 8:1–6)
There is more to the Christian life than knowledge. Though knowledge of the truth is necessary for growth in Christlikeness, so is love. As David Jackman cautions, “Real...
It’s (Not) Complicated (1 Corinthians 7:39–40)
Leon Morris aptly summarises the theme of this fairly long chapter, which addresses marriage and singleness: “In marriage, as in all else, the Christian must be mindful...
Marriage Counselling (1 Corinthians 7:25–38)
“To marry, or not to marry?” That is the question Paul addresses in the text before us. But as important as that question is, there is something of greater importance:...
Bloom Where You Are Planted (1 Corinthians 7:17–24)
In what may seem to be a sudden change of theme, Paul moves in 7:17–24 from talking about enduring the hardship of a spiritually mixed marriage (7:10–16)—even being...
The Shadow of the Cross and the Saving of Marriage (1 Corinthians 7:10–16)
At the front of the main hall of our church building, there is a cross, high on the wall, directly above the pulpit. Many young couples were therefore married, quite...
The Sanity of the Saints (1 Corinthians 7:1–9)
First Corinthians 6:1–11 teaches us something of the sufficiency of the saints to constructively address discord between church members. Then 6:12–20 addresses the matter...
The Sanctity of the Saints (1 Corinthians 6:12–20)
When we last studied 1 Corinthians, we learned about the sufficiency of the saints in 6:1–11. Paul was addressing those guilty of self-indulgently taking fellow church...
The Sufficiency of the Saints (1 Corinthians 6:1–11)
Several years ago, I read the pathetic story of a fight that broke out at a local church in Boston, USA during a members’ meeting. Tensions ran so high that a fistfight...
A Purged Church (1 Corinthians 5:9–13)
Biblically wise counsellor, Diane Langberg, recently tweeted, “God grant that we should be more afraid of sin than of its exposure. Sin hidden or buried within a...
A Purified Membership (1 Corinthians 5:6–8)
First Corinthians 5 is a most important chapter for the local church to understand. This is not merely because it deals with the matter of church discipline but, more...