1 Corinthians: Living Together in a Church Divided

by Scot McKnight

Paul writes a letter to a church routinely in disagreement with Paul's vision for how to live as a Christian in Corinth (a Roman city). The Corinthians were daily challenged to pursue Romanitas, or the social, cultural, and religious life of the elites in the Roman world, and thus the Corinthians were pursuing too much prestige and status and honor. Various factions, or divisions, had formed among the house churches. Paul addresses a series of church problems presenting themselves in Corinth that need to be understood and corrected so the believers of Corinth can walk in the way of Christ more consistently.

Scot McKnight provides scholarly insights with a pastoral heart for all the books of the New Testament.  The NIV is used as the primary Bible text but McKnight also includes insights from his own translation of the entire New Testament. Each Bible study features a short, compact, clear exposition that both summarizes the whole and gives the reader a clear focus for what is central to the passage.

McKnight also offers some historical context; connects the passage to the larger story of the Bible; provides an illustration, a metaphor, or an image that brings the passage alive; and provides a list of 2-3 resources for further reading or study. The series is suitable for group study, personal study, or daily reading.

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2024

About the author

Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author or editor of forty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL. Dr. McKnight has given interviews on radios across the nation, has appeared on television, and is regularly speaks at local churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries in the USA and abroad. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham (1986).

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

McKnight is a propagandist for the leftist establishment who is playing his part with regime talking points disguised as commentary. This book gets stale fast, and his bias comes through throughout. In one point he makes the assertion that Paul was blinded by the culture of the time and implicit in slavery and hardly a chapter later says Paul would be ranting against the systematic racism. He doesn’t try to hide bias and cites his other books more than almost any other source

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who would read a commentary, I’d rather that route. The style is often too conversational for my taste, though there were tidbits that added to my re-read of 1 Corinthians (mostly around awareness of Paul responding to questions we don’t have. While the analysis is up for debate given the unknown factors, it is helpful to hold the possibility of Paul quoting others to refute in some passages where he otherwise seems to contradict himself).