1 Corinthians 3:16-23 - Stones in God's Temple
Marc Minter
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 109 viewsMain Point: The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the temple of God, which God will protect, and which God has blessed with every good gift.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Just how important is the church to God’s unfolding plan of redemption?
When I first became a Christian, I had already been attending church regularly for years. I knew that Christians were supposed to be at church, and I wanted to be around other Christians as often as I could, so I was at the church building all the time. But the organized and formal stuff we did seemed far less important to me than the simple experience of being with other Christians.
When I later became a full-time evangelist, traveling all over the place, leading big events at local churches that were meant to draw a crowd and preach the gospel, my view of the church got even worse. The most compelling messages I heard preached were by men who weren’t my pastors, and the most aggressive discipling I received was among the men I worked and lived with (not the people I churched with). I started to think the local church was more of a hindrance to real Christianity than a help.
I was too ignorant then to understand that the church is central to God’s plan of salvation, and I was so foolish that I didn’t even know how ignorant I was.
Today we’re continuing our study through the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. And we are going to consider one of the most profound aspects of ecclesiology (or the doctrine of the church). May the Lord help us to grow in our understanding and also in our unity and hope.
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 3:16–23 (ESV)
1 Corinthians 3:16–23 (ESV)
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.
For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Main Idea:
Main Idea:
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the temple of God, which God will protect, and which God has blessed with every good gift.
Sermon
Sermon
1. Analogies & Typology
1. Analogies & Typology
In our passage this morning, there is one main theological or doctrinal truth and there are two applications (both a negative one and a positive one) – one doctrine, two applications. And the first section (v16-17) contains the doctrine.
A couple of Sundays ago, we were considering the first 15 verses of this third chapter, and we saw there that Paul used 4 analogies to teach about spiritual growth (a person, a field, a building, and a kind of material). First, the Corinthians were still spiritual “babies” (1 Cor. 3:1), though they should have been spiritually growing, just like a person grows physically as time goes by.
Second, the church members are like a “field” (1 Cor. 3:5-9), and church leaders are like various “workers” who “plant” and “water” in an effort to see “growth” among the field. Of course, God is the one who “gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:7), but God uses means to produce it – God uses the efforts of church teachers and leaders to produce spiritual growth in the lives of church members.
Third, the church members are like a “building” (1 Cor. 3:9-11), and church leaders are like “builders” who “build” on the “foundation” that has already been “laid,” which is the person and work of Christ. In other words, good pastors are those who build up or edify the church by helping members learn to construct a full set of Christian beliefs and practices which are aligned with and built upon the fundamental truths of the gospel of Christ.
The fourth analogy is that of building material (1 Cor. 3:12-15). Church leaders are always “building” on the “foundation” with something, but sometimes the material is like “gold, silver, [and] precious stones,” while other times the material is like “wood, hay, [and] straw” (1 Cor. 3:12). And church members will obviously enjoy the strengths or endure the weaknesses of each kind of material.
The Scripture makes it clear that all our efforts will be revealed for what they truly were on the last day. Therefore, we must be faithful to work and to build and to grow (by God’s grace) in the time and circumstances we’ve been given.
Verse 16 continues in this same vein, using an analogy to teach a concept. But our passage this morning (v16-23) includes something more than a mere analogy. It’s tapping into a biblical theme or typology that runs from one end of the Bible to the other. And the way Paul applies this type or theme here is one of the most remarkable and profound features of God’s unfolding plan of salvation.
A biblical type always has an antitype, and a type is sort of like a reflection or a shadow of the antitype. So, a type is like an analogy, but it’s more specific and more significant. An analogy is a teaching tool that can help make sense of a difficult concept, but a type is something God Himself intentionally wrote into the story of His unfolding plan of salvation for the purpose of foreshadowing the fulfillment or the antitype that is to come. A biblical type, then, is like an analogy, but one that is directly connected to an antitype, which comes later in God’s story.
Think of a hand-held stamp. The stamp has a picture or letters carved in some hard material, and you can apply ink to the stamp in order to imprint that picture or those letters to a bunch of other surfaces. A type is like an imprint, and the antitype is like the genuine article. You can see a bunch of stamped images all over the place, but when you see the hand-held stamp itself, then you know you’ve seen the object from which all of these images have come.
Now, the reason I’m starting off with this somewhat abstract and heady description of analogies and typology is that we are moving from one to the other in our text this morning. We are moving from Paul’s use of analogies to his use and application of a typology, and it’s important for us to understand what Paul is doing so that we can make sense of what he is saying.
In the first 15 verses of 1 Corinthians 3, Paul was saying “spiritual growth is like physical growth,” “the church is like a field,” “the church is like a building,” “the work of church leaders is like building material.” But in our passage, Paul is now saying (in some sense) “the church is the temple of God on earth.”
Let’s consider this together, and let’s think about the ways we can apply this in our own lives and context.
2. You Are God’s Temple (v16-17)
2. You Are God’s Temple (v16-17)
In v16, Paul asks, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” To someone who knows the storyline of the Bible, this question is electric! Do you know the Bible’s big story? I grew up going to church all the time, but I didn’t know the Bible’s big story until my late 20s.
Like all great stories, the Bible follows a plotline: a problem, a rising action, a climax, a falling action, and a resolution. The major problem in the Bible’s story arises when sinful man was banished and cursed by God (Gen. 3). The rising action or conflict is portrayed when God came near to dwell among men, first in the tabernacle of Exodus (Ex. 25-40), and then in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6 and 8). But man repeatedly showed himself to be unworthy, rebellious, and even hostile toward God (1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, and all the prophets).
After a long series of conflicts, then comes the climax of the biblical story! The long-awaited Messiah or Christ finally arrived! He is “Immanuel” or “God with us” (Matt. 1:23)! And He is “the Word,” who was both “with God” and “was God,” and who “became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:1-3, 14)! The Greek word in John 1:14 is literally to take up residence or to tabernacle!
But sinful humanity responded to Jesus the same way as they had responded to God when He moved toward them in the past. They (just like all of us) preferred disobedience and ignorance and God’s curse over worship and wisdom and God’s blessing. So, they rejected God’s Messiah, and they crucified Immanuel.
But, in God’s infinite wisdom, this was precisely according to plan! In fact, it was in the crucifixion of Christ that God reconciled guilty sinners and made them worthy of entering His presence. Furthermore, when Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended to take His seat on the throne of supreme authority over all creation, God sent His Spirit to “dwell” in those who turn from their sin and trust or believe in Jesus (v16; cf. Rom. 8:9).
Friends, this is the good news and the promise of the gospel… that you and I… guilty sinners and rebels against God… that we can have peace with God… and we can enter into His presence without the fear of condemnation or wrath… not because we’ve learned to do or be better… but because Jesus Christ was and is our representative, our mediator, our high priest who has made atonement for our sins by dying in our place and suffering God’s wrath on our behalf (Heb. 9:11-15).
If you want to know how to be forgiven of sin, how to have peace with God, and how to become a partaker of all that Christ promises in the gospel, then let’s talk after the service is over.
Back to the subject at hand… Do you see now how electric it is that Paul said, “you are God’s temple” and “God’s Spirit dwells in you” (v16)? This is what the whole Bible has been longing for! And Paul says it has now become a reality.
The tabernacle of Exodus was a type, and Solomon’s temple was a type, but the genuine article (the antitype; the true substance of God’s dwelling among men) is the New Testament Church. This is a present reality in all visible or local churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this reality will be revealed in full on that final day when all repenting and believing Christians from all time and geography will gather around the throne of God and sing praises to “our God” and to “the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9-10). “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (Rev. 7:12).
There is so much that we might learn from this profound doctrinal statement in v16-17, but I want to focus on three features of “God’s temple” that we see here in our text. God’s temple is: (1) a people in whom God’s Spirit dwells; (2) a holy people, set apart or designated for God’s blessings and God’s purposes; and (3) a gathered or united people that God will protect.
First, God’s temple is a people in whom God’s Spirit dwells. The NT teaches us that every true Christian is indwelt by God’s Spirit (Rom. 8:9), but Paul is emphasizing here the communal and uniting aspect of God’s indwelling Spirit.
All of the “yous” in our passage are plural.
We might say it in East Texas, “Do ya’ll not know that ya’ll are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in ya’ll?”
One cannot help but notice how the individual and the communal are intertwined in the Bible. You can’t love God without loving fellow believers (1 Jn. 4:21), and you can’t be joined to Christ without also being joined to Christ’s people. Consider how the Apostle Paul says it to the church in Ephesus.
“You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him [i.e., in Christ] you [ya’ll] also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22).
It is certainly true that every individual Christian is (in some sense) the “temple of God,” because God’s Spirit indwells each believer (1 Cor. 6:19). But the first major feature of “God’s” New Testament “temple,” as it’s described in our passage, is that it is a people in whom God’s Spirit dwells. These individual believers in Corinth were united and joined to one another (as stones in God’s temple) by their communal experience of the indwelling Spirit of God.
Brothers and sisters, do you think and speak and act like this is true? Do you treat your fellow church members as those who share with you in the communal experience of being a people indwelt by God’s Spirit? Or do you think and act as though other Christians are completely superfluous (or unnecessary) to your life and growth in Christ? I pray that God will grant us an increasing awareness of the communal and corporate aspect of our Christian lives together.
A second feature of God’s temple in our passage is that it is a holy people, a people set apart or designated for God’s blessings and God’s purposes. See it there in v17. Paul writes, “God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
In the context of what Paul is writing about in this letter to the church of Corinth, his mention of holiness here is not coincidental. Many church members were talking and acting as though the local church was an organization or an institution just like any other in the world. It had factions and social status; it had interest groups and slogans; and many people were promoting their own tribe with their own leaders, even to the detriment of fellow church members.
But Paul’s point here is that the local church is not like any other institution in the world. It is holy. The members are not employees or consumers or voting blocks. Individual members don’t set the agenda for the church, they don’t get to individually decide what they want taught or done, and they aren’t allowed to promote their own brand in opposition or to the neglect of other church members.
The local church is holy. It is set apart or designated for God’s purposes. God sets the agenda. God defines the mission. God decides what must be done. And God unites all church members under the same banner of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The church is “God’s temple” (v17), and it is holy. But what if one or more church members threaten to derail God’s mission for the church? What if some members aim to set an agenda of their own? Paul implies here that such members are working to “destroy God’s temple” (v17) or “defile” it (KJV) or “ruin” it. And Paul says that God Himself will not put up with it.
The third feature of God’s temple I see in our passage is that it is a gathered or united people that God will protect. Paul writes, in v17, “If anyone destroys [or “defiles” or “ruins”] God’s temple, God will destroy [same word] him. For God’s temple is holy…” In other words, because God’s “temple” (i.e., the church) is “holy” or set apart for God’s purposes, God will protect it from enemies… both foreign and domestic, enemies outside and enemies within.
Now, a detailed application of this warning is where we’re going next, but we want to at least note here that God is not a passive bystander in the everyday activities of our lives. We should not try to interpret God’s providence in and through our circumstances, but we must humbly acknowledge (and even live with a healthy fear) that God will not let His name, His people, or His word be defiled or corrupted without consequence.
This does not mean that every local church will prevail in the world, but it does mean that Christians can rest assured that God will expose destructive words and deeds for what they are, either in this world or in the world to come.
The justice of God may sometimes seem slow in coming, but it will surely come. Don’t be deceived…
3. Don’t be Deceived (v18-20)
3. Don’t be Deceived (v18-20)
As I mentioned a bit ago, v16-17 are the doctrinal statement (i.e., the theological claim) of this passage, and the remaining verses contain applications. This section, v18-20, are the negative application, and v21-23 are the positive. Let’s consider this negative application, which is one of pastoral warning.
Because the church is “God’s temple” (v16-17), and because God “dwells” in His people by His “Spirit” (v16), and because His people are “holy” or set apart for God’s purposes (v17), God will protect that which is His.
Paul was reprimanding the Corinthians for their worldly talk and worldly deeds based on their worldly wisdom. And Paul says, in v18, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” In other words, “If you really think your worldly wisdom is getting you ahead as a Christian or as a church member, then think again. You must reject the wisdom of this world, even if that makes you look foolish in the eyes of the world.”
Friends, this warning is always applicable, and it is especially so in our day. For a long time now, many Christians and churches have assumed that the best way to win more non-Christians to Christ, the best way to grow local churches, and the best way to engage with the culture is to make Christianity relevant.
Some churches even call themselves “Relevant Church.” One “Relevant” church described itself as “a place where you are accepted as you are.” If you do a Google search for “relevant” churches, you will see repeated words like “contemporary,” “practical,” and “relatable.” It seems that many Christians and churches want non-Christians to think that being a Christian is basically doing all the stuff you do now, only with more encouragement and better success.
But friends, biblical Christianity is by definition irrelevant to sinners who are bent on rebellion against God, sinners who care more about their own desires than God’s standards, and sinners who measure religion by the standard of worldly wisdom. Following Christ doesn’t grow your bank account. Being a disciple of Jesus doesn’t make you popular in social circles. And Christ’s demands in the gospel are the very opposite of “acceptance as you are.”
There is no doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is welcoming to sinners, but the demand of the gospel is that sinners repent(turn away from the sin they are presently pursuing) and believe (give themselves over to trusting in and submitting to the lordship of Christ). And as we’ve already read earlier in 1 Corinthians, the gospel and its demands (i.e., the “word of the cross”) are “folly” or “foolishness” to those who do not believe it (1 Cor. 1:18).
From start to finish, the Christian life is ridiculous to those who are of this world… and we need to come to grips with that fact.
The message of the Bible is not that Christians will enjoy respect and prestige in this world, but that faithful Christians will prove to be truly wise over time. And sometimes that vindication will be on display in the unfolding events of life, but that vindication will certainly come on the last day… when Christ shall judge all people and all things for what they truly are.
The good news is that we can know what God’s judgment is ahead of time! In v19, we read, “the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” In other words, God’s wisdom (which we can find in His word, the Scriptures) is not like the wisdom of this world. Worldly wisdom is actually foolishness and nonsense, and God has already told us so.
Here in the middle of our passage, Paul cites two OT texts that remind us of this very fact. The first is from Job 5:13, and the second is from Psalm 94:11. Paul says, “For it is written, ‘He [God] catches the wise in their craftiness’” (v19); “and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile’” (v20).
The “wise” in each these verses are those with supposed wisdom, those who think they are wise, or those with worldly wisdom. These are “caught” or “taken” (KJV) or “trapped” in their own “craftiness” (v19). Their “thoughts” or “reasonings” (NASB) are actually “futile” or “vain” (KJV) or “useless” (NASB).
We see this on display all around us, and most of us have seen this in our own lives as well. We or others think, “I’ll work this out for myself” or “I know how to solve this problem” or “I know God’s word says I should believe this or do that, but my way is better (i.e., more practical, more loving, or more efficient).”
And maybe all goes well for a time! But eventually, our supposedly “wise” plans turn against us. That thing we thought would lead us to success turns out to be our failure. That relationship we thought would lead us to happiness turns out to be our unbearable sorrow. That road we thought would lead us to pleasure turns out to be nothing but a path of pain… for ourselves and for those around us.
And even if we do escape the temporary consequences of our actions (even if we don’t get caught or we don’t experience the failure or sorrow or pain) in this mortal life, we shall one day stand before the holy God who sees and knows all. And He will declare His own assessment of every thought and word and deed.
Friends, do not be deceived! “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 14:12). If you want to be wise, if you want to have true success, if you want to stand before the Lord on the last day without fear of eternal judgment, then you must “become a fool” in the eyes of the world (v18).
This is true of individuals, and this is true of local churches as well. Brothers and sisters, churches like ours will not earn the respect of our neighbors by adopting their beliefs or practices. But FBC Diana will prove (Lord willing) to be truly wise (and loving and honest and consistent) over time by enduring whatever ridicule they may throw at us as we genuinely aim to follow Christ (1 Cor. 4:10).
4. Boast in the Lord (v21-23)
4. Boast in the Lord (v21-23)
The main doctrine or teaching of our passage today is that the church (i.e., believers) is “God’s temple” (v16-17). And we’ve just considered one of the two imperatives in our text – “Let no one deceive himself… become a fool that [you] may become wise” (v18). The second imperative or command or application is found in v21 – “let no one boast in men.” And the negative implies the positive, “let no one boast in men…” instead, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:30-31; cf. Jeremiah 9:23-24).
The command here is that the Corinthians should not boast in man-centered or worldly or pragmatic wisdom. Rather, they should“boast in” or “glory in” or “rejoice in” what they share as a present possession in Christ. And Paul mentions several specific things here under the all-inclusive heading of “all things” (v21).
Paul says, “all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours” (v21-22). For our purposes this morning, we might break this list into two categories: (1) Christ’s gifts to the church, and (2) the gift of God’s providence in everything.
The last time we heard the names of “Paul” and “Apollos” and “Cephas” like this was at the beginning of this letter when Paul was rebuking the Corinthian church for their “quarreling” and “divisions” (1 Cor. 1:10-11). Among the one church, some members were saying “I follow Paul,” others were saying “I follow Apollos,” and still others were saying “I follow Cephas” (1 Cor. 1:12). But here, Paul says that all three of these gifted leaders are the present possession of all of the church members… not just those who claimed them.
Is Paul a gift of Christ to the church of Corinth? Yes?! Well then, he is a gift of Christ to every church member. Is there any benefit to hearing Apollos teach? Well then, give thanks to Christ for His good gift to all of you. How about Cephas (or Peter)? Is he a help to your Christian growth? Well then, enjoy him as a gift from Christ to all of you.
Every good gift from Christ to the local church (especially faithful leaders and teachers) is a gift to every church member! “All are yours” (v22), they are for all of you, and they are blessings from God through Christ to His people.
The church is “God’s temple” after all, and God does not leave His dwelling to languish without His blessings and favor. And whatever blessing God gives to His people ought to be received as a blessing to all, and not just some. What strengths do we have among FBC Diana? What pastoral care? What love among the members? What beneficial preaching and teaching? What generosity in times of need? What kindness and fellowship? What practical service and ministry?
If there is any of that among us, then “All are yours” (v22)! These good gifts are for all of us, and they are blessings from God through Christ.
Back in v22, after Paul mentions the name of church leaders, he lists five descriptors of circumstance… or as I said it above, God’s providence. Paul says, “all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours” (v21-22). But in what sense are all of these the present possession of Christians?
Friends, this touches on a theme we will encounter again and again in the New Testament. When Christ came into the world, it was to announce the arrival of the kingdom of God, the invasion of earth by the King of heaven, and the complete reversal of God’s curse from Genesis 3. But Jesus’s first advent (or coming in the world) was the beginning of the end, and the final conclusion to whole story is yet to come.
This is why you will hear me speak of the “already” and the “not yet” of the promises of the gospel. Christians or believers or disciples of Christ already have all that God has promised in the gospel – peace with God, justification under God’s law, forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of Christ, adoption as sons, the indwelling of God’s Spirit, and more. But Christians do not have the completion or consummation of all of these as of yet. This will happen at Christ’s second advent (or His return as the Judge and the Savior over the whole world).
Nevertheless, the promises of the gospel are so certain for Christians that we may live by faith as though they are our present possession… and very soon our faith shall become sight (1 Jn. 3:2). Therefore, Christians may live by faith as though “all things” are presently ours, whether “the world” (whatever worldly circumstances we might experience), or “life or death” (in life we enjoy both Christ and His people, and in death we enjoy them all the more), or “the present or the future” (there is no time when we shall not possess all that God has given us in Christ). “All are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (v22-23).
You know, this conclusion and application in 1 Corinthians 3 reminds me a lot of Romans 8:28-39. The context in Romans 8 is enduring worldly opposition and human frailty, whereas in 1 Corinthians 3 the context is removing divisions and foolishness in the church, but the anchoring reality and hope are the same.
Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son… And those whom [God] predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30).
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:31-39).
Friends, the church is not an afterthought for God. The church is the genuine article, the object to which the tabernacle and the temple of old merely foreshadowed. The church is “God’s temple,” indwelt by His Spirit and set apart for His blessings and purposes.
We must remember that God will protect the unity and health of His people. Sooner or later, that worldly wisdom which easily creeps in, even to the church, will be exposed for what it is. May God help us embrace His wisdom, even if that means looking like fools in the world.
And we must also lift up our eyes, so that we can see what glorious possessions we already have. There may be all sorts of comforts or accolades or even mere relevance that we might gain from the world, but what are any of these in comparison with what we already have? “All things are yours… and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (v21-23).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.
Chrysostom, John. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians. Edited by Philip Schaff. Logos Research Edition. Vol. 12. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series. New York, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1889.
Ciampa, Roy E., and Brian S. Rosner. The First Letter to the Corinthians. Logos Research Edition. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. Logos Research Edition. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition). Logos Research Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.
The Holy Bible: New International Version. Logos Research Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984.
The NET Bible First Edition. Logos Research Edition. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.
Vaughan, Curtis, and Thomas D. Lea. 1 Corinthians. Logos Research Edition. Founders Study Commentary. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2002.