Christianity calls us to sacrifice instead of living for oneself. We have to choose one or the other—we can’t do both. The Christians in Corinth tried to live the Christian life in a worldly way. Paul wrote the letter of 1 Corinthians to a divided and self-centered people to remind them to follow Jesus and only Jesus. In this 12-part series, author and speaker Jennie Allen walks into the messy lives of the Corinthians and takes us through Paul’s words to the conflicted church. We’ll see how the truth of the gospel and the Spirit of God can empower us to choose to follow Jesus every day of our lives.
Welcome to RightNow Media’s The Book of 1 Corinthians Study Guide. What you hold in your hands is meant to be more than an intellectual analysis of Paul’s letter. It’s a journey intended to lead you through his words to the fledgling church in Corinth. This guide will require more of you than simply reading the Bible and answering a few questions. It’ll ask you to engage your heart and your hands as well—feeling the full impact of Paul’s writing as well as putting into action the challenges his letter makes to his readers.
This guide is broken out into twelve weeks, each one corresponding to RightNow Media’s video Bible study series, The Book of 1 Corinthians, featuring Jennie Allen. Each week features an introduction and small group questions you can use to discuss the video and Bible passage in a group setting. There are five days’ worth of devotional activities per week that will both dig into the text of the letter as well as offer opportunities to put into practice the life-changing truths in Paul’s words. It’s up to you how you break up the days across your week. The first day of each week focuses specifically on Jennie’s teaching, and the rest offers deeper study of the text.
Each week begins with three goals: life-change in your mind, your emotions, and your actions. Everything that follows in the week aims at helping you practically apply the truths in Paul’s letter to your life in order to achieve those goals.
Throughout the guide, you’ll find bolded questions or action points that ask you to do something with what you’re studying. There’s also space in the guide to write down notes, prayers, or answers to questions.
You’ll find a small number corresponding to the question in that space, which should help you keep track of what item your writing corresponds to. You’re definitely not limited to that space, however. This book is just a guide.
As you work through the book, you’ll find more than just the words on the page. Jennie’s teaching in each video session will set up the week for you and help orient you to that week’s passage. You’ll also encounter deeper looks at the original language in Paul’s letter as well as other helpful explanations of sticky issues.
If you’re using this book as part of a group study, consider watching the video teaching together and discussing the questions listed in the book. Then, throughout the week, work through the remaining five days of questions. When you get together again, talk through your week’s study before moving on to the next session.
In the end, this book is a guide on a journey through 1 Corinthians. Paul’s letter challenges the Corinthians to take a risk—to put other people before themselves. The guide you hold in your hands, along with the teaching from Jennie Allen, will lead you through 1 Corinthians. At the end of the journey—and at the end of this book—you’ll have a very important question to answer: Will you take the risk?
The audio and the transcripts are also included.