Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?
Parallel translations
- WEB What!? Was it from you that the word of God went out? Or did it come to you alone?
- KJV What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
- NKJV Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached?
- NASB Or was it from you that the word of God first went out? Or has it come to you only?
- NLT Or do you think God’s word originated with you Corinthians? Are you the only ones to whom it was given?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul rebukes the Corinthians' independent spirit, reminding them they are not the source or sole recipients of God's word. It matters because the gospel and its order come from God, not from their own preferences.
Overview
Closing his instructions on orderly worship, Paul uses pointed rhetorical questions to puncture Corinthian pride. They had not originated the word of God, nor were they its only hearers, so they had no authority to set their own rules above apostolic teaching. The same word that came to them came from Christ through His appointed messengers, calling for humble submission rather than self-assertion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Acts 13:1–3Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul.
- Acts 16:9–10During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
- 2 Cor 10:13–16We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but only within the field of influence that God has assigned to us—a field that reaches even to you.
- Acts 17:1When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
- Acts 18:1–17After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
- Isa 2:3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- 1 Cor 4:7For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
- Mic 4:1–2In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.
- Acts 17:15Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
- Acts 17:10–11As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
- Zech 14:8And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike.
- Acts 15:35–36But Paul and Barnabas remained at Antioch, along with many others, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.
- 1 Th 1:8For not only did the message of the Lord ring out from you to Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone out to every place, so that we have no need to say anything more.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 14:36 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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