A resource for The Big Read are these devotional notes covering the whole of 1 Corinthians adapted from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

Download Daily Read – 1 Corinthians as a pdf

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 16

1 Corinthians 16

v1-4: “The good we receive from him should stir us up to do good to others, to be like him in our generosity, and so the more good we receive from God, the more good we should do to others… God expects our generosity to others to bear some proportion to his goodness to us.”

v5-9: All our plans are subject to divine providence – if the Lord allows. “It is by God’s power and permission, and under his direction, that we must do everything.”

v10-12: Encourage faithful ministers of the word to do their work by receiving their ministry.

v13-18: We are to stand firm in the faith, neither deserting nor renouncing the gospel. The pressure to stop following Christ or to turn to the wisdom of the world over the teaching of God’s Word is great, so be on your guard.

v19-24: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ includes everything that is good, for time and eternity.” One way of showing love to our brothers and sisters in Christ is by praying that they would know this grace in their own lives.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 15:21-58

1 Corinthians 15:21-58

v21-34: Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our future resurrection; because He has risen, we too will rise.  If this was not true, there would be no reason to “renounce and forsake every evil way; correct whatever is wrong,” and stop sinning.  Not believing in a future resurrection destroys all goodness and godliness, but if we do believe, we should live and act as those who do.

v35-50: The resurrection of Christ not only guarantees our resurrection, it also guarantees that we will be gloriously changed.  Our bodies will be purified and made perfect.  They will be “strong, firm, durable, and living, and never again liable to any infirmity, weakness, or decay.” We will have bodies fit for living and enjoying eternity in the new heavens and new earth.

v51-57: Death may seize believers in Christ now, but it cannot hold them in its power.  “A day is coming when the grave will open, the chains of death will be loosed, and dead saints will revive, become imperishable and immortal, and be put out of reach of death forever.”

v58: We live as those whose hope is for a future resurrection by seeking to grow in holiness and by giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-20

1 Corinthians 15:1-20

v1-11: If we want to be saved, we must hold onto the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is only through this gospel that we are saved. The message of the gospel is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. Jesus “was offered as a sacrifice for our sins and rose again to show that he had obtained forgiveness for them and been accepted by God in this sacrifice.” The truthfulness of this message is confirmed by the predictions found in the Old Testament and the testimony of many eyewitnesses.

v12-20: Our faith in Jesus is useless if He is still dead.  Without the resurrection we would not know whether the shedding of His blood actually achieved for us justification and eternal life. “The One who was delivered for our sins must rise again for our justification.”

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 14

1 Corinthians 14

v1-5: Every gift from God is to be thankfully received and used for God’s glory. But the best gifts that are to be valued the most are those which do not only edify ourselves, but which edify the church. This is why prophesy was to be desired more than tongues.

v6-14: What takes place in a church service needs to be understandable so that everyone present can join in. “This shows us that it should be the concern of those who pray in public to pray intelligibly, not in a foreign language, nor in a language that, if not foreign, is above the level of their audience.”

v15-20: “Everyone should say ‘Amen’ inwardly, and it is not improper to show this inner agreement in public prayers and devotions by an audible ‘Amen’.” How can those who gather to worship do that if they do not understand what it is that has been prayed?

v21-25: If an unbeliever who turn up at a church service is to be saved, they need to hear the truth of the gospel in a language they can understand. “Scripture – truth, clearly, directly, and properly taught, has a marvellous tendency to awaken the conscience and touch the heart.”

v26-40: When we gather as a church to worship God, a mark of this meeting should be order because the God we have come to worship is a God of order. Nothing should be done that would cause confusion or chaos. “All parts of divine worship should be carried on in a serious, adult, rational, composed, and orderly way.”

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13

v1-3: What matters is not just that we use our gifts, but that we use them in the right way, out of love for God and towards others.  “The outward behaviour may look good while the invisible motivation is very bad.”

v4-7: Love suppresses envy and it subdues pride and boasting.  It is not jealous that other people may have gifts, good qualities, honours, or possessions that they do not have.  Neither does it “advance, exalt, enrich, or gratify itself at the expense” of others.  Love is also “inclined to believe well of everyone, to have a good opinion of them when there is no appearance to the contrary – indeed, to believe well when there may be some appearance of evil, if the evidence of wrong is not clear.”

v8-13: In heaven, when faith has been swallowed up by sight and hope by possession, when we see and enjoy and there is no room to believe and hope, love will continue.  We will love God perfectly and we will love one another perfectly.  When our hearts are most full of love for God and for one another, it then that we are closest to heaven and our future perfection.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 12

1 Corinthians 12

v1-11: God gives gifts “so that people may use them to benefit the church… to edify the body and to spread and advance the gospel.”  They are not to exalt those who have them, but to be used to serve others.

v12-26: Every member has an important role in the body of Christ which they have been chosen to fulfil and been given the needed gifts to do so.  They are useful and necessary to their fellow members and to the whole body.

v27-31: God is not a stingy giver.  He has provided richly for His church with a wide variety of gifts and ministries which He has given to its members.  The gifts haven’t be given to just one person nor have they been given to everyone in the same way.  They have been given to be used for the common good not to be the source of pride or to cause conflict to arise.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

v17-22: It would be better to not participate in the Lord’s Supper than to do so in a manner that is careless.

v23-34: The visible signs of the bread and the cup represent Christ’s body broken and His blood shed, along with all the benefits that flow from His death and sacrifice. At the last supper Christ “gave his disciples his body and blood along with all the benefits gained by his death, and he continues to do the same every time the sacrament is administered to true believers.”

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 11:1-16

1 Corinthians 11:1-16

v1: Only Christ’s example is perfect.  “We should follow no leader further than they follow Christ.”

v2-16: “The sexes should not seek to change places.  The order in which divine wisdom has placed people and things is the best and most appropriate,” so “to try to amend it is to destroy all order and introduce confusion.”

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 10

1 Corinthians 10

v1-14: The example of Israel “shows us that people may enjoy many and great spiritual privileges in this world and yet fall short of eternal life.” This is a warning to us about committing the same sins they committed of setting our hearts on material things, idolatry, sexual immorality, testing Christ, and grumbling.  We are most likely to do this “when we are most confident of our strength and when we tend to be most secure and off our guard.” Here is an encouragement to distrust ourselves and be all the more watchful and dependent on God, as the “best protection from all sin.”

v15-22: Partaking in the Lord’s Supper is to have fellowship with God and to share in the privileges, and place ourselves under the obligations that result from the death and sacrifice of Christ. Those who truly eat and drink by faith are publicly showing that they belong to God “and the blessed family of his people and worshippers.”

v23-33: When we are lacking particular and explicit rules for what we are to do in certain situations, we are to be guided by this general rule of Christian behaviour which is that in all we do, “we should aim at the glory of God, at pleasing and honouring him,” and for the good of our neighbours.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)

The Big Read – Daily Read

Read 1 Corinthians 9

1 Corinthians 9

v1-14: Just as those who give themselves to any form of employment in the world would expect to earn their living from it, it is not unreasonable for pastors to earn a livelihood from their labours.  “Those who enjoy spiritual benefits from the ministry of the world should not begrudge supporting those who are employed in this work.”

v15-18: Those who have been “set apart for the ministry are commissioned to preach the Gospel.”  It should grieve us that there are some who have been set apart who don’t.

v19-23: Providing that we are not sinning against God, we should be willing to put aside those things that are a barrier to lost people hearing the gospel.

v24-27: Even though others may win their prize before them, every Christian who keeps on running the race marked out for them will win the prize.

Quotes from Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

(Photo: Brad Neathery)