1Co 1:1
1:1 Paul, {1} called [to be] an {2} apostle of Jesus Christ
    through the will of God, and {3} Sosthenes [our] brother,

 (1) The inscription of the epistle, in which he mainly tries to
     procure the good will of the Corinthians towards him, yet
     nonetheless in such a way that he always lets them know
     that he is the servant of God and not of men.
 (2) If he is an apostle, then he must be heard, even though he
     sometimes sharply reprehends them, seeing he has not his
     own cause in hand, but is a messenger that brings the
     commandments of Christ.
 (3) He has Sosthenes with himself, that this doctrine might
     be confirmed by two witnesses.

1Co 1:2
1:2 {4} Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that
    are {5} sanctified in {a} Christ Jesus, {b} called [to be]
    saints, with all that in every place {c} call upon the name
    of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

 (4) It is a church of God, even though it has great faults in
     it, as it obeys those who admonish them.
 (5) A true definition of the universal church, which is:
     (a) The Father sanctifies us, that is to say, separates us
         from the wicked in giving us to his Son, that he may be
         in us, and we in him.
     (b) Whom God by his gracious goodness and absolute love has
         separated for himself: or whom God has called to
         holiness: the first of these two expositions, shows
         from where our sanctification comes: and the second
         shows to what end it strives for.
     (c) He is correctly said to call on God who cries to the
         Lord when he is in danger, and craves help from his
         hands, and by the figure of speech synecdoche, it is
         taken for all the service of God: and therefore to call
         upon Christ's name, is to acknowledge and take him for
         very God.

1Co 1:3
1:3 {6} Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and
    [from] the Lord Jesus Christ.

 (6) The foundation and the life of the Church is Christ Jesus
     given from the Father.

1Co 1:4
1:4 {7} I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of
    God which is given you by Jesus Christ;

 (7) Going about to condemn many vices, he begins with a true
     commendation of their virtues, lest he might seem after to
     descend to chiding, being moved with malice or envy: yet in
     such a way that he refers all to God as the author of them,
     and that in Christ, that the Corinthians might be more
     ashamed to profane and abuse the holy gifts of God.

1Co 1:5
1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, {8} in {d} all
    utterance, and [in] all knowledge;

 (8) He refers to that by name which they abused the most.
     (d) Seeing that while we live here we know but in part, and
         prophesy in part, this word "all" must be limited by
         the present state of the faithful: and by "utterance"
         he does not mean a vain kind of babbling, but the gift
         of holy eloquence, which the Corinthians abused.

1Co 1:6
1:6 {9} Even as the testimony of Christ was {e} confirmed in
    you:

 (9) He shows that the true use of these gifts consists in this,
     that the mighty power of Christ might be set forth in them,
     that hereafter it might evidently appear how wickedly they
     abused them for glory and ambition.
     (e) By those excellent gifts of the Holy Spirit.

1Co 1:7
1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; {10} waiting for the {f}
    coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

 (10) He says along the way that there is no reason why they
      should be so pleased in those gifts which they had
      received, seeing that those were nothing in comparison of
      those which are to be looked for.
      (f) He speaks of the last coming of Christ.

1Co 1:8
1:8 {11} Who shall also confirm you unto the end, [that ye may
    be] {g} blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 (11) He testifies that he hopes that things go well with them
      from now on, that they may more patiently abide his
      reprehension afterward.  And yet together in addition
      shows, that the beginning as well as the accomplishing of
      our salvation is only the work of God.
      (g) He calls them blameless, not whom man never found
          fault with, but with whom no man can justly find
          fault, that is to say, those who are in Christ Jesus,
          in whom there is no condemnation.  See Lu 1:6.

1Co 1:9
1:9 God [is] {h} faithful, by whom ye were called unto the
    fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

    (h) True and constant, who not only calls us, but also
        gives to us the gift of perseverance.

1Co 1:10
1:10 {12} Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
     Jesus Christ, that {13} ye all speak the same thing, and
     [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be
     {i} perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the
     same judgment.

 (12) Having made an end of the preface, he comes to the matter
      itself, beginning with a most grave testimony, as though
      they should hear Christ himself speaking, and not Paul.
 (13) The first part of this epistle, in which his purpose is
      found, to call back the Corinthians to brotherly harmony,
      and to take away all occasion of discord.  So then this
      first part concerns the taking away of divisions.  Now a
      division occurs when men who otherwise agree and consent
      together in doctrine, yet separate themselves from one
      another.
      (i) Knit together, as a body that consists of all its
          parts, fitly knit together.

1Co 1:11
1:11 {14} For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren,
     by them [which are of the house] of Chloe, that there are
     contentions among you.

 (14) He begins his reprehension and chiding by taking away an
      objection, because he understood from good witnesses that
      there were many factions among them.  And in addition he
      declares the cause of dissentions, because some depended
      on one teacher, some on another, and some were so addicted
      to themselves that they neglected all teachers and
      learned men, calling themselves the disciples of Christ
      alone, completely ignoring their teachers.

1Co 1:12
1:12 Now {k} this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of
     Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

     (k) The matter I would say to you is this.

1Co 1:13
1:13 {15} Is Christ divided? was {16} Paul crucified for you? or
     were ye {17} baptized in the name of Paul?

 (15) The first reason why divisions ought to be avoided:
      because Christ seems by that means to be divide and torn
      in pieces, who cannot be the head of two different and
      disagreeing bodies, being himself one.
 (16) Another reason: because they cannot without great injury
      to God so depend on men as on Christ: which thing those no
      doubt do who allow whatever some man speaks, and do it for
      their own sakes: as these men allowed one and the very
      same Gospel being uttered by one man, and did loathe it
      being uttered by another man.  So that these factions were
      called by the names of their teachers.  Now Paul sets
      aside his own name, not simply to grieve no man, but also
      to show that he does not plead his own cause.
 (17) The third reason taken from the form and end of baptism,
      in which we make a promise to Christ, calling also on the
      name of the Father, and the Holy Spirit.  Therefore
      although a man does not fall from the doctrine of Christ,
      yet if he depends upon certain teachers, and despises
      others, he forsakes Christ: for if he holds Christ as his
      only master, he would hear him, no matter who Christ
      taught by.

1Co 1:14
1:14 {18} I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus
     and Gaius;

 (18) He protests that he speaks so much the more boldly of
      these things, because through God's providence, he is void
      of all suspicion of gathering disciples to himself, and
      taking them from others.  By which we may understand,
      that not the scholars only, but the teachers also are here
      reprehended, who gathered flocks separately and for
      themselves.

1Co 1:17
1:17 {19} For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
     gospel: {20} not with {l} wisdom of words, lest the {21}
     cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

 (19) The taking away of an objection: that he gave not himself
      to baptize many amongst them: not for the contempt of
      baptism, but because he was mainly occupied in delivering
      the doctrine, and committed those that received his
      doctrine to others to be baptized.  And so he declared
      sufficiently how far he was from all ambition: whereas on
      the other hand they, whom he reprehends, as though they
      gathered disciples to themselves and not to Christ,
      bragged most ambitiously of numbers, which they had
      baptized.
 (20) Now he turns himself to the teachers themselves, who
      pleased themselves in brave and glory-seeking eloquence,
      to the end that they might draw more disciples after them.
      He openly confesses that he was not similar to them,
      opposing gravely, as it became an apostle, his example
      against their perverse judgments: so that this is another
      place in this epistle with regard to the observing of a
      godly simplicity both in words and sentences in teaching
      the Gospel.
      (l) With eloquence: which Paul casts off from himself not
          only as unnecessary, but also as completely contrary
          to the office of his apostleship: and yet Paul had
          this kind of eloquence, but it was heavenly, not of
          man, and void of fancy words.
 (21) The reason why he did not use the pomp of words and fancy
      speech: because it was God's will to bring the world to
      his obedience by that way, by which the most foolish
      among men might understand that this work was done by
      God himself, without the skill of man.  Therefore as
      salvation is set forth to us in the Gospel by the cross of
      Christ, which nothing is more contemptible than, and more
      far from life, so God would have the manner of the
      preaching of the cross, most different from those means
      with which men do use to draw and entice others, either to
      hear or believe: therefore it pleased him by a certain
      kind of most wise folly, to triumph over the most foolish
      wisdom of the world, as he had said before by Isaiah that
      he would.  And by this we may gather that both these
      teachers who were puffed up with ambitious eloquence, and
      also their hearers, strayed far away from the goal and
      mark of their calling.

1Co 1:18
1:18 For the {m} preaching of the cross is to them that perish
     foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the {n}
     power of God.

     (m) The preaching of Christ crucified, or the type of
         speech which we use.
     (n) It is that in which he declares his marvellous power in
         saving his elect, which would not so evidently appear
         if it depended upon any help of man, for if it did man
         might attribute that to himself which is to be
         attributed only to the cross of Christ.

1Co 1:19
1:19 {22} For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the
     wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the
     prudent.

 (22) The apostle proves that this should not seem strange,
      seeing that it was foretold so long before, and declares
      further that God often punishes the pride of the world in
      such a way, which so pleases itself in its own wisdom: and
      therefore that it is vain, indeed a thing of no value, and
      such as God rejects as unprofitable, which they so
      carefully laboured for, and considered to be so important.

1Co 1:20
1:20 Where [is] the wise? where [is] the {o} scribe?  where [is]
     the {p} disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish
     the wisdom of this world?

     (o) Where are you, O you learned fellow, and you that spend
         your days in turning your books?
     (p) You that spend all your time in seeking out the secret
         things of this world, and in expounding all hard
         questions: and thus he triumphs against all the men of
         this world, for there was not one of them that could so
         much as dream of this secret and hidden mystery.

1Co 1:21
1:21 {23} For after that in the {q} wisdom of God the {r} world
     by wisdom knew not God, {24} it pleased God by the {s}
     foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

 (23) He shows that the pride of men was worthily punished by
      God, because they could not behold God, as they properly
      should have, in the most clear mirror of the wisdom of the
      world, and this wisdom is the workmanship of the world.
      (q) By the world he means all men who are not born again,
          but remain as they were, when they were first born.
      (r) In the workmanship of this world, which has the
          marvellous wisdom of God engraved on it, so that every
          man may behold it.
 (24) The goodness of God is wonderful, for while he goes about
      to punish the pride of this world, he is very provident
      and careful for the salvation of it, and teaches men to
      become fools, so that they may be wise to God.
      (s) So he calls the preaching of the Gospel, as the
          enemies supposed it to be: but in the mean time he
          taunts those very sharply who had rather charge God
          with folly than acknowledge their own, and crave
          pardon for it.

1Co 1:22
1:22 {25} For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after
     wisdom:

 (25) A declaration of that which he said: that the preaching of
      the Gospel is foolish.  It is foolish, he says, to those
      whom God has not endued with new light, that is to say, to
      all men being considered in themselves: for the Jews
      require miracles, and the Greeks arguments, which they may
      comprehend by their intellect and wisdom: and therefore
      they do not believe the Gospel, and also mock it.
      Nonetheless, in this foolish preaching there is the great
      power and wisdom of God, but such that only those who are
      called perceive: God showing most plainly, that even then
      when mad men think him most foolish, he is far wiser than
      they are, and that he surmounts all their might and power,
      when he uses most vile and abject things, as it has
      appeared in the fruit of the preaching of the Gospel.

1Co 1:26
1:26 {26} For ye see your {t} calling, brethren, how that not
     many wise men {u} after the flesh, not many mighty, not
     many noble, [are called]:

 (26) A confirmation taken from those things which came to pass
      at Corinth, where the church especially consisted of the
      lowly and common people, insomuch that the philosophers of
      Greece were driven to shame when they saw that they could
      do nothing with their wisdom and eloquence in comparison
      with the apostles, whom nonetheless they called idiots and
      unlearned.  And in this he beats down their pride: for God
      did not prefer them before those noble and wise men so
      that they should be proud, but that they might be
      constrained, whether they wished to or not, to rejoice in
      the Lord, by whose mercy, although they were the most
      abject of all, they had obtained in Christ both this
      wisdom as well as all things necessary to salvation.
      (t) What way the Lord has taken in calling you.
      (u) After that type of wisdom which men consider to be
          important, as though there were none else: but because
          they are carnal, they do not know spiritual wisdom.

1Co 1:28
1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are
     despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which {x} are
     not, to bring to {y} nought things that are:

     (x) Which in man's judgment are almost nothing.
     (y) To show that they are vain and unprofitable, and worth
         nothing.  \\See Geneva "Ro 3:31"\\

1Co 1:29
1:29 That no {z} flesh should glory in his presence.

     (z) "Flesh" is often, as we see, taken for the whole man:
         and he uses this word "flesh" very well, to contrast
         the weak and miserable condition of man with the
         majesty of God.

1Co 1:30
1:30 But {a} of him are ye in Christ Jesus, {27} who of God is
     made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
     and redemption:

     (a) Whom he cast down before, now he lifts up, indeed, higher
         than all men: yet in such a way that he shows them that
         all their worthiness is outside of themselves, that is,
         it stands in Christ, and that of God.
 (27) He teaches that especially and above all things, the
      Gospel ought not to be condemned, seeing that it contains
      the principal things that are to be desired, that is, true
      wisdom, the true way to obtain righteousness, the true way
      to live honestly and godly, and the true deliverance from
      all miseries and calamities.

1Co 1:31
1:31 That, according as it is written, {b} He that glorieth, let
     him glory in the Lord.

     (b) Let him yield all to God and give him thanks: and so by
         this place is man's free will beaten down, which the
         papists so dream about.