1 Corinthians 13:7

13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:1

The Way of Love

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

1 Corinthians 1:2-5

1:2 to the church of God that is in Corinth, ¹  to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. ²  1:3 Grace and peace to you ³  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Thanksgiving

1:4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus. 1:5 For you were made rich ⁴  in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge ⁵  –

1 Corinthians 5:5

5:5 turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved ⁶  in the day of the Lord. ⁷ 

Hebrews 6:9-10

6:9 But in your case, dear friends, even though we speak like this, we are convinced of better things relating to salvation. 6:10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name, in having served and continuing to serve the saints.

¹ map For location see JP1-C2; JP2-C2; JP3-C2; JP4-C2.

² tn Grk “theirs and ours.”

³ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

⁴ sn Made rich refers to how God richly blessed the Corinthians with an abundance of spiritual gifts (cf. v. 7).

⁵ sn Speech and knowledge refer to the spiritual gifts God had blessed them with (as v. 7 confirms). Paul will discuss certain abuses of their gifts in chapters 12-14, but he thanks God for their giftedness.

⁶ tn Or perhaps “turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of your fleshly works, so that your spirit may be saved…”; Grk “for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved.” This is one of the most difficult passages in the NT, and there are many different interpretations regarding what is in view here. (1) Many interpreters see this as some sort of excommunication (“turn this man over to Satan”) which in turn leads to the man’s physical death (“the destruction of the flesh”), resulting in the man’s ultimate salvation (“that [his] spirit may be saved…”). (2) Others see the phrase “destruction of the flesh” as referring to extreme physical suffering or illness that stops short of physical death, thus leading the offender to repentance and salvation. (3) A number of scholars (e.g. G. D. Fee, First Corinthians [NICNT], 212-13) take the reference to the “flesh” to refer to the offender’s “sinful nature” or “carnal nature,” which is “destroyed” by placing him outside the church, back in Satan’s domain (exactly how this “destruction” is accomplished is not clear, and is one of the problems with this view). (4) More recently some have argued that neither the “flesh” nor the “spirit” belong to the offender, but to the church collectively; thus it is the “fleshly works” of the congregation which are being destroyed by the removal of the offender (cf. 5:13) so that the “spirit,” the corporate life of the church lived in union with God through the Holy Spirit, may be preserved (cf. 5:7-8). See, e.g., B. Campbell, “Flesh and Spirit in 1 Cor 5:5: An Exercise in Rhetorical Criticism of the NT,” JETS 36 (1993): 331-42. The alternate translation “for the destruction of your fleshly works, so that your spirit may be saved” reflects this latter view.

⁷ tc The shorter reading, κυρίου (kuriou, “Lord”), is found in Ì⁴⁶ B 630 1739 pc; κυρίου ᾿Ιησοῦ (kuriou Ihsou, “Lord Jesus”) is read by Ì^61vid א Ψ Ï; κυρίου ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (kuriou Ihsou Cristou, “Lord Jesus Christ”) by D pc; and κυρίου ἡμῶν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (kuriou Jhmwn Ihsou Cristou, “our Lord Jesus Christ”) by A F G P 33 al. The shorter reading is preferred as the reading that best explains the other readings, especially in view of the mention of “Jesus” twice in the previous verse.