¹tn Grk “Paul.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter
²tc Many important mss, as well as several others (Í A Y 1739 1881 Ï sy), have a reversed order of these words and read “Jesus Christ” rather than “Christ Jesus” (Ì46 B D F G 33 it). The meaning is not affected in either case, but the reading “Christ Jesus” is preferred both because it has somewhat better attestation and because it is slightly more difficult and thus more likely the original (a scribe who found it would be prone to change it to the more common expression). At the same time, Paul is fond of the order “Christ Jesus.” As well, the later Pauline letters almost uniformly use this order in the salutations. Thus, on both external and internal grounds, “Christ Jesus” is the preferred reading here.
³map For location see JP1-C2; JP2-C2; JP3-C2; JP4-C2.
⁴tn Grk “theirs and ours.”
⁵tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”
⁶sn Made rich refers to how God richly blessed the Corinthians with an abundance of spiritual gifts (cf. v. 7).
⁷sn 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.
⁸sn The revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ refers to the Lord’s return, when he will be revealed (cf. the reference to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in v. 8).
⁹tn Grk “who,” referring to Christ. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
¹⁰tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ajdelfov" 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ajdelfoiv [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
¹¹tn Grk “that you all say the same thing.”
¹²tn Grk “that there be no divisions among you.”
¹³tn Grk “that you be united in/by the same mind and in/by the same purpose.”
¹⁴tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.
¹⁵tn Or “rivalries, disputes.”
¹⁶tn Or “And I say this because.”
¹⁷tn Questions prefaced with mhv (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “was he?”).
¹⁸tn This third question marks a peak in which Paul’s incredulity at the Corinthian’s attitude is in focus. The words “in fact” have been supplied in the translation to make this rhetorical juncture clear.
¹⁹tc The oldest and most important witnesses to this text, as well as a few others (Í* B 6 1739 sa^ms bo^pt), lack the words tw'/ qew'/ (tw qew, “God”), while the rest have them. An accidental omission could well account for the shorter reading, especially since qew'/ would have been written as a nomen sacrum (eucaristwtwqMw). However, one might expect to see, in some mss at least, a dropping of the article but not the divine name. Internally, the Pauline introductory thanksgivings elsewhere always include tw'/ qew'/ after eujcaristw' (eucaristw, “I thank”; cf. Rom 1:8; 1 Cor 1:4; Phil 1:3; Phlm 4; in the plural, note Col 1:3; 1 Thess 1:2). However, both the fact that this is already used in 1 Cor 1:4 (thus perhaps motivating scribes to add it ten verses later), and that in later portions of his letters Paul does not consistently use the collocation of eujcaristw' with tw'/ qew'/ (Rom 16:4; 1 Cor 10:30), might give one pause. Still, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see a sentence begin with eujcaristw' without an accompanying tw'/ qew'/. A decision is difficult, but on balance it is probably best to retain the words.
²⁰tn Grk “would not be emptied.”
²¹sn A quotation from Isa 29:14.
²²tn Grk “the scribe.” The traditional rendering of grammateuv" (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the Mosaic law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
²³tn Or “Messiah”; Grk “preach Christ [Messiah] crucified,” giving the content of the message.
²⁴tn Grk “than men.”
²⁵tn Grk “than men.”
²⁶tn Grk “Think about your calling.” “Calling” in Paul’s writings usually refers to God’s work of drawing people to faith in Christ. The following verses show that “calling” here stands by metonymy for their circumstances when they became Christians, leading to the translation “the circumstances of your call.”
²⁷tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.
²⁸tn Grk “according to the flesh.”
²⁹tn The Greek word eugenhv" (eugenh") refers to the status of being born into nobility, wealth, or power with an emphasis on the privileges and benefits that come with that position.
³⁰tn Here kaiv (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
³¹tn Grk “of him you are in Christ Jesus.”
³²sn A quotation from Jer 9:24. The themes of Jer 9 have influenced Paul’s presentation in vv. 26-31. Jeremiah calls upon the wise, the strong, and the wealthy not to trust in their resources but in their knowledge of the true God—and so to boast in the Lord. Paul addresses the same three areas of human pride.