How to Use This Book: This book is designed as both a Bible Commentary and as an Instructive Outline. A plastic-bound Study Guide and a loose-leaf Instructor’s Manual are available for purchase. The Study Guide features an abbreviated outline in a fill-in-the-blank format. All answers required to complete the Study Guide are included within the handy, flat-laying Instructor’s Manual as Bolded, Double-underlined text (Example: Answer).
PREFACE:The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians is an important influence in my life. God used it in good measure as He led me to follow His call to prepare for ministry in the Gospel of Christ. God has used, and continues to use, this letter by the Apostle Paul, along with its follow-up II Corinthians, to enable me to more effectively lead those churches He has privileged me to pastor.
My aim in publishing this book is to share with others those insights, encouragements, and helps which God has used to bless my own heart, home, and ministry. I want to highlight those principles which God has used to help me navigate through the challenges and problems of life and ministry. It is my prayer that this book will contribute to the successful life and ministry of other Believers in Jesus Christ; especially those who are involved in full-time ministry.
While this book is not designed as a devotional commentary, like Matthew Henry’s, there is included in this book some meditative material. And, while this book is not designed as a complete verse-by-verse exegesis of Paul’s epistle, there is a measure of this, too. Rather, I have chosen to develop this commentary as an “instructional outline.” The goal is to equip others with a Bible study and teaching tool.
The key word which guided my thinking, and helped to define the scope of this book, is the word “Practical.” I wanted to provide an understanding of I Corinthians which would enable the reader to most concisely and accurately understand what the Apostle Paul was expressing to a group of Believers in Jesus Christ for whom he cared greatly.
As the Book of Romans is Scripture’s major treatise on the “Salvation and Service of God,” the First Epistle to the Corinthians is the Bible’s “Handbook for Managing Church Issues.” It is my prayer that the reader may use this commentary to discover many practical insights and those vital principles so essential to successful living and effective ministry.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Bob Hill accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour in 1960 at age ten. He preached his first sermon in 1965 in a youth service at Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia. On May 14, 1969, while attending East Carolina University as a music education major, he surrendered to God’s leading to prepare for the Gospel ministry.
Hill graduated from Tennessee Temple College in 1973 with a B.A. degree in Bible. At that time, the institution was under the leadership of Dr. Lee Roberson. Hill holds a Doctor of Literature degree (h.c.) from the American Bible College.
From 1972 through 1976, Bob and his wife, Virginia, taught at Hamilton Christian Academy in East Ridge, Tennessee. During this time, he was invited to pastor Faith Bible Church in Fort Oglethrope, Georgia. In 1974, he was ordained to the Ministry by his home church, Calvary Baptist Church, in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 1977, Hill started Calvary Baptist Church in Miamisburg, Ohio. The church started Calvary Christian School in 1979. Hill served on the executive boards of both the Christian Schools of Ohio (CSO) and the Ohio Pastors Information Network (OPIN).
Bob Hill served in the ministry of Accelerated Christian Education, Inc. (ACE) from 1988 to 2000, during which time he was appointed Vice President of its Product Development Division. In May, 2000, he accepted a call to pastor Faith Baptist Church in Water Valley, Mississippi. Dr. Hill served as the President of the Mississippi Association of Christian Schools (MACS) for ten years.
