1 Corinthians: IVP New Testament Commentary [IVPNTC]

About the Series: The IVP New Testament Commentary Series
Pastors with a passion for sound exposition and scholars with a heart for pastoral leadership have joined forces to produce this exciting, accessible, and informative commentary series.

Each volume, informed by the best of up-to-date evangelical scholarship, presents passage-by-passage commentary based on the NIV along with background information on authorship, setting, theme and various interpretive issues. A unique format allows the main commentary to focus on the vital message of the New Testament book being studied for today's church, while bottom-of-the-page notes include valuable scholarly information to support those who use the volumes as a resource for preaching or teaching preparation.

Who Should Use it?The series is accessible to all people who wish to use it for biblical study whether they are pastors, students, or laity. Christians new to Bible study may find it challenging as a starting point for biblical study, but should be able to adapt to it with the help of a Bible study teacher. Those who have used Bible study guides in the past will find this series particularly helpful in taking the next step into deeper biblical study.

About: 1 Corinthians

First-century Corinth and its challenges were not so different from our own. Upwardly mobile Christians facing radically diverse ethnic, religious, economic and social conditions. The church divided over issues of leadership and authority, sexual morality, gender and worship, marriage and divorce. Sound familiar?

Yet as Alan Johnson highlights in this excellent commentary, in the midst of this detailed, practical letter to a church in crisis Paul has penned one of the greatest paeans to love ever written. And, of course, love is just what is needed to address complex human issues--whether in the first century or the twenty-first.

Johnson's deft analysis of 1 Corinthians features an introduction that explores the social, cultural and historical background of the city and its people. Rounding out the introduction, Johnson discusses the letter's occasion and date, authorship and purpose, and major theologicall themes. His passage-by-passage commentary follows, seeking to explain what the letter of 1 Corinthians means for the church today as well as what it meant for its original hearers.

Use this resources in your own studies of 1 Corinthians, and you may be surprised how relevant it is to the issues you face today as well.