In this collection, Sam Storms draws upon 38 years of experience as a professor, a pastor, and an author to provide accessible and insightful commentaries, as well as general Bible reading tips. For every book of the Bible covered here, he includes detailed introductions, personal commentaries, and suggestions for further reading; for Psalms, Corinthians, and Revelations, he also includes guides for daily devotions and meditations. Through this series of hundreds of articles, Storms helps readers get more out of the Bible by giving interpretive clues and discussing controversial issues such as divorce and remarriage, infant deaths, the power of demons, and more. This volume contains commentaries on key verses in 1 Corinthians, as well as discussions of important ideas found throughout the book.
“The idea is more of endurance in the face of suffering. He has in mind patiently bearing with those who don’t love you and choosing not to retaliate against them.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–13)
“Spiritual gifts are nothing less than God himself in us, energizing our souls, imparting revelation to our minds, infusing power in our wills, and working his sovereign and gracious purposes through us. Spiritual gifts must never be viewed deistically, as if a God ‘out there’ has sent some ‘thing’ to us ‘down here’. Spiritual gifts are God present in, with, and through human thoughts, human deeds, human words, and human love.” (1 Corinthians 12:4–7)
“This is the opposite side of envy. When you envy you covet what another has and resent them for it. When you boast you brag that you’ve got what they don’t.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–13)
“But 1 Corinthians 13 is not directly or primarily about marriage. It is about the manner in which we are to exercise our spiritual gifts in the building up of the body of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–13)
“His point is really very simple: whereas all spiritual gifts are for this life only and will at some point in the future terminate, love is permanent, love is eternal, love never ends. That is why love is superior to gifts and why gifts exercised without love are worthless!” (1 Corinthians 13:1–13)