1 Corinthians 1:20

1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? ¹  Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish?

1 Corinthians 7:16

7:16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? ²  Or how do you know, husband, whether you will bring your wife to salvation? ³ 

1 Corinthians 7:35

7:35 I am saying this for your benefit, not to place a limitation on you, but so that without distraction you may give notable and constant service to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 8:4

8:4 With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that “an idol in this world is nothing,” and that “there is no God but one.” ⁴ 

1 Corinthians 10:20

10:20 No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice ⁵  is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.

1 Corinthians 14:20-21

14:20 Brothers and sisters, ⁶  do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 14:21 It is written in the law: “By people with strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, yet not even in this way will they listen to me,” ⁷  says the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:9

15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

1 Corinthians 15:52

15:52 in a moment, in the blinking ⁸  of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

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¹ tn Grk “the scribe.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (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.

² tn Grk “will save your husband?” The meaning is obviously that the wife would be the human agent in leading her husband to salvation.

³ tn Grk “will save your wife?” The meaning is obviously that the husband would be the human agent in leading his wife to salvation.

⁴ sn “An idol in this world is nothing” and “There is no God but one.” Here and in v. 1 Paul cites certain slogans the Corinthians apparently used to justify their behavior (cf. 6:12-13; 7:1; 10:23). Paul agrees with the slogans in part, but corrects them to show how the Corinthians have misused these ideas.

⁵ tn Grk “what they sacrifice”; the referent (the pagans) is clear from the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 28:11-12.

⁸ tn The Greek word ῥιπή (rJiph) refers to a very rapid movement (BDAG 906 s.v.). This has traditionally been translated as “twinkling,” which implies an exceedingly fast – almost instantaneous – movement of the eyes, but this could be confusing to the modern reader since twinkling in modern English often suggests a faint, flashing light. In conjunction with the genitive ὀφθαλμοῦ (ofqalmou, “of an eye”), “blinking” is the best English equivalent (see, e.g., L&N 16.5), although it does not convey the exact speed implicit in the Greek term.