1 Corinthians (NIV Application Commentary)

The first-century church at Corinth was a church in chaos. Rife with division, enamored with worldly wisdom, boasting in immorality, mired in selfishness, and confused on a host of practical issues of both Christian worship and Christian living, the church planted by the apostle Paul needed his wisdom and direction. In words that are sometimes harsh but always imbued with hope in God's transforming power, Paul corrects, rebukes, warns, and teaches the Corinthians about the shape of new life in the body of Christ.

The contemporary church faces many of these same issues—spiritual gifts, marriage and divorce, sexual purity in a culture of promiscuity, conflict, the nature of the gospel, and our hope in Christ, to name a few—and Paul's words are no less relevant today than two millennia ago. Exploring the links between the bible and our own times, Craig Blomberg skillfully draws out these practical, timeless lessons.

About the NIVAC Series

The NIV Application Commentary Series is unique. Most Bible commentaries help us make the journey from our world back to the world of the Bible. They enable us to cross the barriers of time, language, and geography that separate us from the biblical world. Yet they only offer a one–way ticket to the past and assume that we can somehow make the return journey on our own. Once they have explained the original menaing of a book or passage, these commentaries give us little or no help in exploring its contemporary significance.

Recently, a few commentaries have included some contemporary application as one of their goals. Yet that application is often sketchy or moralistic, and some volumes sound more like printed sermons than commentaries.

The primary goal of the NIV Application Commentary Series is to help you with the difficult but vital task of bringing an ancient message into a modern context. The series not only focuses on application as a finished product but also helps you think through the process of moving from the original meaning of a passage to its contemporary significance. These are commentaries, not popular expositions. They are works of reference, not devotional literature.

The format of the series is designed to achieve the goals of the series. Each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning, Bridging Contexts, and Contemporary Significance.