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祝福

奉神旨意、蒙召做耶稣基督使徒的保罗,同兄弟所提尼 写信给在哥林多神的教会,就是在基督耶稣里成圣、蒙召做圣徒的,以及所有在各处求告我主耶稣基督之名的人。基督是他们的主,也是我们的主。 愿恩惠、平安从神我们的父并主耶稣基督归于你们!

感谢

我常为你们感谢我的神,因神在基督耶稣里所赐给你们的恩惠, 又因你们在他里面凡事富足,口才、知识都全备。 正如我为基督作的见证在你们心里得以坚固, 以致你们在恩赐上没有一样不及人的,等候我们的主耶稣基督显现。 他也必坚固你们到底,叫你们在我们主耶稣基督的日子无可责备。 神是信实的,你们原是被他所召,好与他儿子我们的主耶稣基督一同得份。

劝弟兄相合

10 弟兄们,我借我们主耶稣基督的名,劝你们都说一样的话,你们中间也不可分党,只要一心一意,彼此相合。 11 因为革来氏家里的人曾对我提起弟兄们来,说你们中间有纷争。 12 我的意思就是,你们各人说“我是属保罗的”、“我是属亚波罗的”、“我是属矶法的”、“我是属基督的”。 13 基督是分开的吗?保罗为你们钉了十字架吗?你们是奉保罗的名受了洗吗? 14 我感谢神,除了基利司布该犹以外,我没有给你们一个人施洗, 15 免得有人说,你们是奉我的名受洗。 16 我也给司提反家施过洗,此外给别人施洗没有,我却记不清。 17 基督差遣我原不是为施洗,乃是为传福音;并不用智慧的言语,免得基督的十字架落了空。

基督是神的能力和智慧

18 因为十字架的道理,在那灭亡的人为愚拙,在我们得救的人却为神的大能。 19 就如经上所记:“我要灭绝智慧人的智慧,废弃聪明人的聪明。” 20 智慧人在哪里?文士在哪里?这世上的辩士在哪里?神岂不是叫这世上的智慧变成愚拙吗? 21 世人凭自己的智慧既不认识神,神就乐意用人所当做愚拙的道理,拯救那些信的人,这就是神的智慧了。 22 犹太人是要神迹,希腊人是求智慧, 23 我们却是传钉十字架的基督——在犹太人为绊脚石,在外邦人为愚拙, 24 但在那蒙召的,无论是犹太人、希腊人,基督总为神的能力、神的智慧。 25 因神的愚拙总比人智慧,神的软弱总比人强壮。

世人厌恶的乃神所拣选

26 弟兄们哪,可见你们蒙召的,按着肉体有智慧的不多,有能力的不多,有尊贵的也不多。 27 神却拣选了世上愚拙的,叫有智慧的羞愧;又拣选了世上软弱的,叫那强壮的羞愧。 28 神也拣选了世上卑贱的、被人厌恶的以及那无有的,为要废掉那有的, 29 使一切有血气的,在神面前一个也不能自夸。 30 但你们得在基督耶稣里,是本乎神,神又使他成为我们的智慧、公义、圣洁、救赎。 31 如经上所记:“夸口的,当指着主夸口。”

I. Address[a]

Chapter 1

Greeting. Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,[b] and Sosthenes our brother,(A) to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.(B) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving. I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, as the testimony[c] to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.(C) He will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus [Christ].(D) God is faithful, and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.(E)

II. Disorders in the Corinthian Community

A. Divisions in the Church[d]

Groups and Slogans. 10 I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.(F) 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you. 12 I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to[e] Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”(G) 13 [f]Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I give thanks [to God] that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,(H) 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16 (I baptized the household of Stephanas also; beyond that I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)(I) 17 [g]For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence,[h] so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.(J)

Paradox of the Cross. 18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.(K) 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the learning of the learned I will set aside.”(L)

20 Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?(M) 21 [i]For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,(N) 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,(O) 24 but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

The Corinthians and Paul.[j] 26 Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,(P) 28 and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, 29 so that no human being might boast[k] before God.(Q) 30 It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,(R) 31 so that, as it is written, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”(S)

Footnotes

  1. 1:1–9 Paul follows the conventional form for the opening of a Hellenistic letter (cf. Rom 1:1–7), but expands the opening with details carefully chosen to remind the readers of their situation and to suggest some of the issues the letter will discuss.
  2. 1:1 Called…by the will of God: Paul’s mission and the church’s existence are grounded in God’s initiative. God’s call, grace, and fidelity are central ideas in this introduction, emphasized by repetition and wordplays in the Greek.
  3. 1:6 The testimony: this defines the purpose of Paul’s mission (see also 1 Cor 15:15 and the note on 1 Cor 2:1). The forms of his testimony include oral preaching and instruction, his letters, and the life he leads as an apostle.
  4. 1:10–4:21 The first problem Paul addresses is that of divisions within the community. Although we are unable to reconstruct the situation in Corinth completely, Paul clearly traces the divisions back to a false self-image on the part of the Corinthians, coupled with a false understanding of the apostles who preached to them (cf. 1 Cor 4:6, 9; 9:1–5) and of the Christian message itself. In these chapters he attempts to deal with those underlying factors and to bring the Corinthians back to a more correct perspective.
  5. 1:12 I belong to: the activities of Paul and Apollos in Corinth are described in Acts 18. Cephas (i.e., “the Rock,” a name by which Paul designates Peter also in 1 Cor 3:22; 9:5; 15:5 and in Gal 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14) may well have passed through Corinth; he could have baptized some members of the community either there or elsewhere. The reference to Christ may be intended ironically here.
  6. 1:13–17 The reference to baptism and the contrast with preaching the gospel in v 17a suggest that some Corinthians were paying special allegiance to the individuals who initiated them into the community.
  7. 1:17b–18 The basic theme of 1 Cor 1–4 is announced. Adherence to individual leaders has something to do with differences in rhetorical ability and also with certain presuppositions regarding wisdom, eloquence, and effectiveness (power), which Paul judges to be in conflict with the gospel and the cross.
  8. 1:17b Not with the wisdom of human eloquence: both of the nouns employed here involve several levels of meaning, on which Paul deliberately plays as his thought unfolds. Wisdom (sophia) may be philosophical and speculative, but in biblical usage the term primarily denotes practical knowledge such as is demonstrated in the choice and effective application of means to achieve an end. The same term can designate the arts of building (cf. 1 Cor 3:10) or of persuasive speaking (cf. 1 Cor 2:4) or effectiveness in achieving salvation. Eloquence (logos): this translation emphasizes one possible meaning of the term logos (cf. the references to rhetorical style and persuasiveness in 1 Cor 2:1, 4). But the term itself may denote an internal reasoning process, plan, or intention, as well as an external word, speech, or message. So by his expression ouk en sophia logou in the context of gospel preaching, Paul may intend to exclude both human ways of reasoning or thinking about things and human rhetorical technique. Human: this adjective does not stand in the Greek text but is supplied from the context. Paul will begin immediately to distinguish between sophia and logos from their divine counterparts and play them off against each other.
  9. 1:21–25 True wisdom and power are to be found paradoxically where one would least expect them, in the place of their apparent negation. To human eyes the crucified Christ symbolizes impotence and absurdity.
  10. 1:26–2:5 The pattern of God’s wisdom and power is exemplified in their own experience, if they interpret it rightly (1 Cor 1:26–31), and can also be read in their experience of Paul as he first appeared among them preaching the gospel (1 Cor 2:1–5).
  11. 1:29–31 “Boasting (about oneself)” is a Pauline expression for the radical sin, the claim to autonomy on the part of a creature, the illusion that we live and are saved by our own resources. “Boasting in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31), on the other hand, is the acknowledgment that we live only from God and for God.