1 Korintus 5:8

5:8 So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. ¹ 

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” ²  to eat food offered to idols?

1 Korintus 9:22

9:22 To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some.

1 Korintus 13:12

13:12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, ³  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.

1 Korintus 14:2

14:2 For the one speaking in a tongue does not speak to people but to God, for no one understands; he is speaking mysteries by the Spirit. ⁴ 

1 Korintus 14:6

14:6 Now, brothers and sisters, ⁵  if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I help you unless I speak to you with a revelation or with knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

1 Korintus 15:32

15:32 If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, ⁶  what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. ⁷ 

[5:8]  ¹ tn Grk “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

[8:10]  ² 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.

[13:12]  ³ 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.

[14:2]  ⁴ tn Or “with the spirit”; cf. vv. 14-16.

[14:6]  ⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

[15:32]  ⁶ map For location see JP1 D2; JP2 D2; JP3 D2; JP4 D2.

[15:32]  ⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 22:13; 56:12.