Those outside the law means “outside the scope of the Jewish law” rather than not having any law at all. Good News Bible translates this as “Gentiles,” and in most languages this expression or “non-Jews” is a good rendering.

Revised Standard Version follows the structure of the Greek text quite literally, leaving the clauses not being without law … the law of Christ as an aside by Paul. Good News Bible, however, changes the ordering of the sentences. It puts the first part of the verse and the last sentence together into one sentence. This is done in order to bring out the meaning more clearly. The aside by Paul is then placed at the end of the verse to show that Paul is emphasizing it.

As in verse 20, I became should be rendered as “I live” (Good News Bible). It was not just one event in the past, but Paul did this whenever circumstances required it.

I became as one outside the law may be expressed as “I live outside the Jewish Law as a Gentile does” or “I live like a Gentile who does not follow the Jewish Law.”

The sentence not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ is probably more difficult to interpret than to translate. It is not certain, though, to what Paul refers. There are two main possibilities. (a) The main contrast is between God and Christ, which, though unusual in Paul’s writings, is not impossible. (b) Paul contrasts his being completely outside the scope of the Law and yet being subject to law. Most translations choose (a), where Paul throws emphasis toward Christ. An alternative translation would be “it is not that I am outside the scope of God’s law; on the contrary, I do live under Christ’s law.” (Compare Gal 6.2 for a similar thought.)

An alternative translation model for this verse is as follows:
• In the same way, when I work with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, not following the Jewish Law. I do this in order to win Gentiles to Christ. This does not mean, however, that I live outside the scope of God’s law; on the contrary, I really do follow Christ’s law.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

If: Christians very probably received such invitations in Corinth.

One of the unbelievers: see comments on 6.6; 7.12-15. Paul means “those who do not believe in Christ,” or perhaps more narrowly “pagans,” excluding Jews. The word is not used here as an insult. Paul is merely stating a fact.

To dinner is not in the text but is clearly implied by verse 27b.

You are disposed is literally “you want,” but this can be misunderstood as suggesting that the Corinthian Christians did not go to such meals. This is not Paul’s intention.

It will be unnatural in some languages to put the two verbs go, eat together like this. In such a case, one may say “go, you should eat.”

Whatever is set before you may be rephrased as “the food that they give to you” or “whatever they put on the table.”

For without raising … of conscience, see comments on verse 25.

On the translation of conscience see 4.4; 8.7, and elsewhere.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

For gives the reason for the statement in verse 28, and it links up and partly overlaps with the thought of verse 27.

Some manuscripts add “unworthily” after drinks, and “of the Lord” after body, as in verse 27. These additions are probably intended to make the text clear. Although it seems unlikely that “unworthily” is implicit in the text, it certainly is justified to add “of the Lord” after “body,” as Good News Bible has done.

The Greek of this verse is not very smooth. The phrase translated without discerning the body (of the Lord) is added loosely at the end of the verse. All translations we have consulted agree with Good News Bible in translating these words as an “if” clause, and many languages will prefer to put this clause at the beginning of the verse, as in English.

Good News Bible correctly expands Revised Standard Version‘s literal translation to “the Lord’s body,” that is, the body of Jesus. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “If he has not made it clear to himself that he has to do with the Lord’s body….” Many scholars believe that Paul is thinking of the church as the body of Christ, but he leaves this implicit, and translators should probably do the same. Some translations such as New English Bible (but not Revised English Bible) have capitalized “Body,” but this is ineffective. When the verse is read aloud, the hearer will not catch the difference in meaning.

It seems better, on the whole, to understand verse 29 in the light of verse 27 as referring to someone who “does not realize the sacredness of Christ’s body” as he eats the bread in the Lord’s Supper (Translator’s New Testament translational notes).

This interpretation is partially reflected in Good News Bible and more clearly by Bible en français courant “if anyone eats of the bread and drinks of the cup without recognizing their relationship with the body of the Lord.” In a similar way Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders it “If he has not made it clear to himself that he has to do with the Lord’s body….”

Judgment means a verdict—almost always, as here, of condemnation. One can render this clause as “God will condemn him as he eats and drinks” (see verse 34 in Good News Bible).

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The two incidents of rejoice here come from two different but related Greek verbs. Paul obviously uses these synonyms for stylistic reasons, with no perceptible difference in meaning.

Wrong is too weak an English word here. Good News Bible‘s “evil” renders the meaning of the Greek.

Right is more likely “truth,” as in Good News Bible. The Greek word implies speaking the truth, as in 5.8: “of sincerity and truth.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• People who have Christian love should not rejoice over evil, but they should rejoice over the truth.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse, especially the first clause, is linked in grammar and meaning with verse 24.

The secrets of his heart is literally “the hidden things of his heart.”

Disclosed: the action of the Holy Spirit through the Christian prophets will lay bare the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart. In languages that do not employ the passive voice, a translator will need to restructure the secrets of his heart are disclosed; for example, “God’s message will bring the hidden things of his heart into the open” or “God’s message will cause others to know what he is secretly thinking.”

Falling on his face (Good News Bible‘s “bow down”) is a sign of unworthiness and humiliation. Translators should consider whether this is a normal attitude of prayer in the places where their translation will be used.

Declare is a more natural English translation here. “Confessing” as in Good News Bible could be misunderstood to refer to “confession of sin.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

If Christ has not been raised may be expressed also as “If God has not raised Christ.”

Is futile is similar in meaning to “empty” in verse 14. This phrase may be rendered as “your faith in Christ is useless” or “your faith in Christ will gain you nothing.”

Verses 17b-18 show that the purpose of preaching about the resurrection and believing in it is that people should be saved from their sins and from being destroyed at the last judgment.

Still in your sins: “lost” (Good News Bible) is implied. In the context of this verse the phrase suggests a condition of domination by sin. Other possible renderings are “you are still under the power of sin,” or “sin still rules your lives,” or even “your sins have not been forgiven.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

It is important for translators to compare Good News Bible‘s restructured translation with Revised Standard Version‘s more literal version, and to consider what rearrangement may bring out the meaning most clearly in their own language.

Lo! is the Greek interjection traditionally translated “behold.” Both words are no longer used in everyday English. Good News Bible‘s “Listen” is good modern English. This word is used to call attention to the following words. Another possible rendering is “I want you to pay attention to this….”

Mystery here means a special teaching revealed to Paul so that he may pass it on. Jerusalem Bible, perhaps more precisely than Good News Bible, translates “I will tell you something that has been secret”; see comments on 2.7 and 13.2. “Will” in Jerusalem Bible means “about to,” as implied in the Greek.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed: manuscripts vary, probably because later scribes found the text difficult to understand or accept. The UBS Greek text gives an “A” rating to the text that is translated by Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible. This means that this text is virtually certain. For the variants, see Metzger and general commentaries.

The words translated We shall not all sleep would normally mean “none of us will sleep (that is, die) before the last judgment.” It is likely that Paul, when he wrote this letter, expected to be alive when Christ returned to earth. Nowhere else does he state that no further deaths would take place before Christ’s return. For this reason, all translations consulted, and most commentaries, understand the words to mean “we shall not all die” (Good News Bible), meaning that, although some of us may die, not all of us will die. In any case, throughout the verse “we” and “us” include both Paul and his readers.

We shall all be changed: see last paragraph of comments on these verses.

In a moment: literally “atom,” meaning here a unit of time, not of matter, so small that it cannot be divided again.

Twinkling: more precisely, “in the time it takes to cast a glance at something.”

At the last trumpet: Paul does not say who is to sound the trumpet. If it is necessary in translation to give the verb a subject, one may translate “when people hear the sound of the last trumpet” or “when they blow the last trumpet.”

Trumpet is the normal translation of the Greek word; “bugle” was chosen in 14.8 because that verse referred to a military instrument (see comments).

The phrase the dead will be raised may be rendered as “God will raise the dead to life.”

Imperishable is the opposite of the condition described as “mortal” (Good News Bible) in verse 42 (see the comments). The Greek therefore implies, not only that the dead will never die again (Good News Bible), but that they can never die again.

We shall be changed: this clause almost certainly refers to different people from the dead whom God will raise, never to die again. The people here are the ones mentioned in verse 51 who will still be alive when Christ returns. The we in Greek is emphatic, suggesting a change of subject. It is therefore significant that all is expressed in the Greek of verse 51, but not in verse 52. It may even be that we shall be changed is a clarification or correction by Paul of we shall all be changed in verse 51, to show that “we all” refers only to Christians who are still alive in the last days. Good News Bible‘s “all” is not in the Greek text of verse 52. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes this contrast clear: “when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be awakened to everlasting life. But we, who are still alive, (will) receive a new body.” Other translations are less explicit but do not follow Good News Bible in repeating “all” from verse 51. The distinction between the renderings of verses 51 and 52 should be kept in translation.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse contains several problems. One has to do with the text itself, while the others are concerned with punctuation. Most Greek manuscripts make the first question an open one: “Is Christ divided?” This is a rhetorical question that equals a strong statement. So Good News Bible has translated it this way (see below for a detailed statement on rhetorical questions). The second question, on the other hand, expects the answer “No”: “Surely it was not Paul who was crucified for you?” A few manuscripts make the first question correspond to the second: “Surely Christ is not divided?” This, though, is less likely to be what Paul wrote. The difference between the two questions is one of emphasis rather than meaning. Thus Good News Bible translates the first one as a statement: “Christ has been divided into groups!” The second is translated as a question: “Was it Paul who died on the cross for you?”

Good News Bible makes it clear that Paul is not thinking of an individual being cut up into pieces. He is thinking of the church, the Christian community in Corinth, as the body of Christ. He means that since there is only one Christ, it is unthinkable that those who believe in him should be divided into rival parties. In some languages it may be necessary to make the implicit information explicit by translating “Christ has only one body, the church, and it cannot be divided.”

The oldest Greek manuscripts had no punctuation. It is therefore possible to read the first part of this verse as either a question, an exclamation, or a statement. There is little difference between what is called a rhetorical question and a statement. A rhetorical question is one that is asked, not to obtain information, but to give more emphasis or impact. For example, Revised English Bible‘s “Surely Christ has not been divided!” would have almost the same meaning if a question mark were put in place of the exclamation mark. Paul uses many of these questions in 1 Corinthians. There is a whole series of them in a section such as 4.7-8, and especially 9.1-12. When translators deal with rhetorical questions, they have to decide, first of all, whether for Paul himself the question is a real one or a rhetorical one. Secondly, translators must decide whether their own languages use rhetorical questions. If these are not natural in a translator’s language, they should be rendered as emphatic statements. If the rhetorical question is positive, then the corresponding emphatic statement must be negative: “Who cares?” means “Nobody cares!” Whereas, if the rhetorical question is a negative one, the corresponding emphatic statement will be positive: “Aren’t you ashamed?” means “You should be ashamed!”

Another punctuation problem occurs between the second and last parts of this verse. Should they be punctuated as one (double) question, or as two separate questions? Translators need to decide how the three sentences are related to each other. For many languages it will be helpful to follow Good News Bible. One should then make the first part of the verse a statement, and render the second part as two separate questions. The translator should then omit Revised Standard Version‘s or.

Crucified for you: Good News Bible uses the simpler expression “died on the cross….” It does this in order to make the meaning of crucified clear, especially near the beginning of this letter. Paul was writing to people who knew about the Roman method of execution called “crucifixion.” But in some parts of the world today, readers of Bible translations may know nothing about this method of executing people. They may even think of the cross as mainly an object found in churches. In such cases it will be important to use some expression that means “died” (Good News Bible) or “was killed.” Since this is the first time that Paul refers to crucifixion in this letter, one can say something like “died on a cross.” It is also important not to talk about some other kind of execution here, since Paul is, of course, referring to an actual historical form of execution.

Were you baptized…?: the meaning of this question is quite general: “Did someone baptize you in the name of Paul?”

Baptized in the name of Paul: in verse 10 Good News Bible translated in the name of as “by the authority of.” Here, where the meaning is different, Good News Bible renders this phrase “as Paul’s disciples.” Some of the meaning, though, is lost in Good News Bible. Baptism, from the earliest times, involved literally naming the name of Christ (see Matt 28.19 for a command from Christ that uses the formula “in the name” in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has a note on the word “name” in its glossary. It says “with this naming of the name, the person baptized is given over to belong to Jesus, his Lord, and is placed under Christ’s protection.” One can rephrase were you baptized in the name of Paul as “When they baptized you, did they use Paul’s name?” or “Did they baptize you as if you belonged to Paul?” or “… so that you would belong to Paul?”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .