Chapter 1

Paul Greets the Corinthians

Acts 18:1–11; 1 Corinthians 1:1–3

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The God of All Comfort

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

⁶If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience. ⁷And our hope for you is sure, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia.^a We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

¹⁰He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us, ¹¹as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the favor shown us in answer to their prayers.

Paul’s Change of Plans

¹²And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly^b wisdom, but in the grace of God. ¹³For we do not write you anything that is beyond your ability to read and understand. And I hope that you will understand us completely, ¹⁴as you have already understood us in part, so that you may boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of our Lord Jesus.^c

¹⁵Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing. ¹⁶I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to return to you from Macedonia, and then to have you help me on my way to Judea.

¹⁷When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” when I really mean “No, no”? ¹⁸But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus^d and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.” ²⁰For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.

²¹Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, ²²placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come. ²³I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. ²⁴Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm.