1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians is Paul's response to a gifted but troubled church in the cosmopolitan city of Corinth, riddled with divisions, immorality and confusion. He addresses their quarrels over leaders, a case of scandalous sin, lawsuits, marriage, food offered to idols, and disorder at the Lord's Supper.

Amid this practical counsel stand some of his greatest passages: the message of the cross as God's wisdom, the famous hymn to love in chapter 13 ('the greatest of these is love'), and the ringing defence of the resurrection in chapter 15. It is pastoral theology at its most vivid, applying the gospel to a messy real-world congregation.