1 Korintus 2:11

2:11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Korintus 5:3

5:3 For even though I am absent physically, ¹  I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present. ² 

1 Korintus 6:13

6:13 “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” ³  The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

1 Korintus 8:10

8:10 For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be “strengthened” ⁴  to eat food offered to idols?

1 Korintus 9:12

9:12 If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving?

But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

1 Korintus 12:13

12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves ⁵  or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit.

1 Korintus 13:12

13:12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, ⁶  but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.

[5:3]  ¹ tn Grk “in body.”

[5:3]  ² tn Verse 3 is one sentence in Greek (“For – even though I am absent in body, yet present in spirit – I have already judged the one who did this, as though I were present”) that has been broken up due to English stylistic considerations.

[6:13]  ³ tn Grk “both this [stomach] and these [foods].”

[6:13]  sn There is debate as to the extent of the Corinthian slogan which Paul quotes here. Some argue that the slogan is only the first sentence – “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food” – with the second statement forming Paul’s rejoinder, while others argue that the slogan contains both sentences (as in the translation above). The argument which favors the latter is the tight conceptual and grammatical parallelism which occurs if Paul’s response begins with “The body is not for sexual immorality” and then continues through the end of v. 14. For discussion and diagrams of this structure, see G. D. Fee, First Corinthians (NICNT), 253-57.

[8:10]  ⁴ tn Or “built up”; This is the same word used in v. 1b. It is used ironically here: The weak person is “built up” to commit what he regards as sin.

[12:13]  ⁵ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 7:21.

[13:12]  ⁶ tn Grk “we are seeing through [= using] a mirror by means of a dark image.” Corinth was well known in the ancient world for producing some of the finest bronze mirrors available. Paul’s point in this analogy, then, is not that our current understanding and relationship with God is distorted (as if the mirror reflected poorly), but rather that it is “indirect,” (i.e., the nature of looking in a mirror) compared to the relationship we will enjoy with him in the future when we see him “face to face” (cf. G. D. Fee, First Corinthians [NICNT], 648). The word “indirectly” translates the Greek phrase ἐν αἰνίγματι (ejn ainigmati, “in an obscure image”) which itself may reflect an allusion to Num 12:8 (LXX οὐ δι᾿ αἰνιγμάτων), where God says that he speaks to Moses “mouth to mouth [= face to face]…and not in dark figures [of speech].” Though this allusion to the OT is not explicitly developed here, it probably did not go unnoticed by the Corinthians who were apparently familiar with OT traditions about Moses (cf. 1 Cor 10:2). Indeed, in 2 Cor 3:13-18 Paul had recourse with the Corinthians to contrast Moses’ ministry under the old covenant with the hope afforded through apostolic ministry and the new covenant. Further, it is in this context, specifically in 2 Cor 3:18, that the apostle invokes the use of the mirror analogy again in order to unfold the nature of the Christian’s progressive transformation by the Spirit.