Author: David Petts

Talk 9:  Dealing with Immorality (Part 2)

Welcome to talk 9 in our series on 1 Corinthians. Today we are in chapter 6.

As we saw last time, in chapter 5 Paul has been dealing with a very serious case of sexual immorality within the church.

He teaches the Corinthians that they must judge and discipline the offender.

He concludes by explaining that, in saying that they were not to keep company with the immoral, he was referring to those inside the church, not to those outside it.

Similarly it is not our responsibility to judge those outside the church, but we must judge those within.

This brings him quite naturally in Chapter 6:1-8 to the case of a Christian going to law with another Christian. This might appear at first sight to be something of a  digression from the subject of sexual immorality, but Paul is simply expanding on the whole subject of the Christian’s responsibility to judge and quickly returns to the subject of sexual immorality in vv9-20.

We will deal with the chapter under three headings:

Christians have a responsibility to judge (1-8)

Sexual  Immorality is not compatible with the Kingdom of God (9-11)

Six reasons why a Christian should avoid sexual immorality (13-20)

1. a) Christians have a responsibility to judge (6:1-8)

v.1 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people (the saints)?

has a dispute

This phrase in the Greek is a technical term for a law-suit

dare

This verb powerfully expresses Paul’s horror at what he has heard. How dare a Christian do such a thing?! He is horrified at the very idea of a Christian taking a brother to court before the ungodly. A Christian should not take a fellow-Christian to a secular court.

v2 or do you not know that the Lord’s people (the saints) will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?

3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

judge the world

Daniel 7:22 is probably in mind here.  Judgment was given to the saints of the Most High – though Paul does not explain what this means in a Christian context, nor does anyone else in the NT. 

However, the sense of what he is saying is quite clear.  If Christians are going to have to judge the world, and angels one day, they ought to be able to sort out these small matters.

are you not competent..?

This means literally, Are you unworthy of the most insignificant tribunals?

This could mean either,

Are you unfit to form even the most insignificant courts?

Or

Are you not competent to judge trivial cases?

Fee prefers the latter on the grounds that kriterion, which properly means a court of justice can also denote the legal action itself.

4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church?

The Corinthians ought not to be making an outsider the judge between Christians.  To go to court before the Roman pro-consul was, in effect, to ‘appoint’ him over their affairs.

5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?

With all the wisdom they had been boasting of, there was not a man among them wise enough to deal with these things.  It was an absolute disgrace for a Christian to go to law with his brother Christian (cf 4:14).

6 But instead, one brother takes another to court – and this in front of unbelievers!

The church is airing its dirty linen in public (cf 10:32, 1 Thes. 4:11-12, 1 Timothy 6:1, Titus 2:8, 10, 3:1)

7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

Whatever the result of the court case, you’ve already lost (because you felt the need to go to court at all).

If you have a quarrel, sort it out among yourselves, but better still, take wrong.  Let them cheat you if they want to. 

Turn the other cheek.    Give your cloak too.  (Cf  Matthew 5:39-41). 

If they hadn’t learnt that basic lesson they were already defeated!

8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.

This is a very serious statement in the light of verse 10.

nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God

1. b) Sexual Immorality is not compatible with the Kingdom of God (6:9-11)

In these verses Paul returns to the theme of sexual immorality and other sins.  Some things (vv9-10) are completely incompatible with the Kingdom of God.

9. Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul’s purpose is to warn ‘the saints’ that if they persist in the same evils as ‘the wicked’ they are in the same danger of not inheriting the Kingdom of God. If, as some believe, this warning is purely hypothetical, it is no warning at all!

11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

But you’re not like that any more (11). You were washed…!  Literally,  you got yourselves washed. So stop living like the wicked!

Six reasons why a Christian should avoid sexual immorality (6:13-20)

1. Our bodies are ‘for the Lord’

12. ‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say – but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’ – but I will not be mastered by anything.
13. You say, ‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.’ The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Paul refers to a common saying, without necessarily agreeing with it. 

It may be true that food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,

but that does not mean that the presence of sexual desire means that it must be satisfied (cf.  the modern attitude to sex).

2. Our bodies are to be raised from the dead

14. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

The importance God attaches to our bodies is indicated by the fact that we are to be physically resurrected (cf chapter 15).

3. Our bodies are members of Christ

15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
16. Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.’
17. But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

To give yourself to a prostitute (or to anyone to whom you are not married, for that matter) when you belong to Christ is unthinkable.  Physical union with a prostitute is totally incompatible with our spiritual union with Christ (vv 16-17)

4. To indulge in sexual immorality is to sin against your own body.

18. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

To indulge in sexual immorality is to sin against your own body.  Strong evasive action is, therefore, necessary.  Such temptation was common at Corinth, even as it is in Britain today.  The verb flee is Present Continuous:  keep on fleeing from it.

5. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit

19. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

Again it is  naos that is used (as in 3:16), but here it is the individual Christian rather than the church that is seen as the dwelling place of God.

6. Your body belongs to God, not you!

20. You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.

The fundamental idea of a ransom Paul derived from the OT

but the picture is also that of ‘sacral manumission’.

A slave could buy his own freedom by paying the price of it into the temple treasury. 

He then became the slave of the god, but as far as men were concerned he was free. 

The Christian is both free and yet a slave to his God.  Our bodies are not our own to do with as we like.

But this goes much further than sex. It should be the fundamental principle guiding every area of our lives. My life is not my own. It belongs to Jesus.

Talk 8: Dealing with Immorality (5:1-13)

Chapters 1-4 have dealt with divisions in the church.

Now in Chapters 5-6 Paul turns to the serious matter of immorality.

The two chapters may be divided into four main sections:

          Sexual immorality must be put out of the church (5:1-13)

          Christians have a responsibility to judge (6:1-8)

          Sexual immorality is not compatible with the Kingdom of God (6:9-12)

          Six reasons why a Christian should avoid sexual immorality (6:13-20).

In this talk we shall deal only with chapter 5.

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?

3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,

5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast–as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–

10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

Sexual Immorality must be put out of the Church

Today I think the best way to deal with this passage is to work through it verse by verse

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

actually

The Greek holos could also mean everywhere

          sexual immorality

porneia strictly means prostitution, but in the NT it means any form of sex outside marriage.

          does not occur

There is no verb in the Greek here. Thus Paul need not be taken to imply that such things did not happen among the pagans.  They clearly did! He probably means that the Gentiles condemned these things too. Cf. ESV …is not tolerated

          a man has his father’s wife

The verb has is a present infinitive in the Greek. This indicates not a singular incident, but marriage or concubinage.  Barrett translates is living with.

Note that his father’s wife does not necessarily mean his mother. Paul does not use the word for incest, so the woman was possibly the man’s step-mother. (This was forbidden in Leviticus 18:8). He does not use the word for adultery, so the father was probably dead or divorced

2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?

you are proud

Perhaps they were proud of their tolerance! (Cf v 6)

          filled with grief

The word used is that referring to mourning for the dead. The immoral person should have been so excluded from their company that it would have been as though he were as one dead to them

3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

          with you in spirit

Paul does not just mean that he would be thinking of them! It could be that in some mystical way he was to be present in spirit though absent in body. This is a difficult concept, but compare Ezekiel 8. 

Alternatively, spirit in this context could be taken as an aspect of Paul’s personality.  He will make his contribution as the Corinthians reflect on what they remember of his convictions etc.

However, I find Fee’s explanation more compelling. The believer in the new age has received the Spirit and has become ‘one spirit with the Lord’ (6:17). Paul also speaks of ‘my spirit’ in ways that seem ambiguous.

Compare 14:14-15 where speaking in tongues is described as ‘my spirit’ praying, but is clearly enabled by the Holy Spirit.  Fee argues that we might translate this ‘My S/spirit prays’. 

So here in 5:3 he is saying When you and my S/spirit are assembled together….. In short, Paul is able to be present with them because his spirit is united with the omnipresent Spirit of God.

4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,

          the name of……. the power of…….

Note the connection between the name and power of the Lord

5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature (the flesh) may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

          hand … over to Satan

Compare 1 Timothy 1:20 (Hymenaeus and Alexander). The suggestion seems to be that those who sin seriously can be handed over to the one to whom they have already in a measure given themselves. The sinner is thus confirmed in his sin. A physical affliction is suggested in order to produce spiritual good. Compare Job and Paul, though not because of sin.

Compare also Hebrews 12:5-11.  The purpose is corrective and ultimately redemptive.  In effect, the church withdraws its protective fellowship from the offender.  To be put out of the church is in a very real sense to be in the hands of Satan. To be truly in the church is to be out of Satan’s hands.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

          your boasting

The form of pride may well have been subtle rather than open (cf v2)

          yeast

If the yeast is not got rid of, it will only spread.

Paul’s concern is not only for the offender, but for the purity of the church

7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

          without yeast – as you really are

For seven days before the Passover the Jews would clean out the house and get rid of the old yeast.

So when the Passover Lamb was sacrificed, there was no yeast left.

Paul reasons that, since Christ our Passover Lamb has already been sacrificed then the Corinthians must already be without yeast. (Yeast here is a symbol for sin). In effect he is saying, You are without yeast, so be without yeast!  

This is often the exhortation of Paul. The fundamental structure of Paul’s ethical thought is that an imperative (a command) is based upon an indicative (a statement of fact).  This underlies his teaching in Romans 6. A Christian’s state does not always conform to his status, but it is only when he understands that he is holy (in God’s sight) that he can obey the command to be holy (cf. 1 Peter 1:16, 2:9).

8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

          the Festival

In the context this is clearly a reference to the Jewish Passover which for Christians is superseded by the Lord’s Supper or communion.

In verses 9-13 Paul clears up a misunderstanding arising from his previous letter. He had told them not to keep company with the sexually immoral. Now he clarifies the matter. Christians must mix with non-Christians even though they may be immoral, otherwise it would mean being taken right out of the world altogether!  It is the so-called Christian who is immoral who must be excluded (although of course the repentant sinner would be welcomed back).

9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–

10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

v11    Do not even eat

This  would include, but not be confined to, the Lord’s Supper

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

           expel

The verb is plural, indicating the church’s collective responsibility to judge.

And as we shall see in the next chapter, Paul goes on to make it clear that:

Christians have a responsibility to judge (6:1-8)

          Sexual immorality is not compatible with the Kingdom of God (6:9-12)

And he concludes by giving us

          Six reasons why a Christian should avoid sexual immorality (6:13-20).

Talk 7: The Privileges and Responsibilities of Church Leadership

Chapter 4 forms the final part of the opening section of Paul’s letter in which he deals with divisions in the church.

The divisions have been based largely on personalities and it is with this subject that the chapter opens.

Paul is appealing to the Corinthians not to glory in men and to follow his example.

But there is much in the chapter that we can learn about the privileges and responsibilities of apostleship, and this is how we will be looking at the chapter today.

Note: Much, though not all, of what Paul says could be applied to all forms of church leadership.

Apostles today? Yes. In NT we find three categories of apostle:

Christ the unique apostle – sent by the Father

The Twelve – sent by Christ

Later apostles – sent by the Spirit.

Apostles today fall into this third category. For more, see Body Builders

Privileges

1. To be a servant of Christ

• So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ…

1. To be entrusted with the secret things of God (the gospel)

…and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

1. To exercise power and authority in Christ’s name

20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?

Responsibilities

1. Servanthood

1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

Huperetes means under-rower or galley-slave

1. Faithfulness

2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

The word here means literally a household administrator or the overseer of an estate, one who looks after something on behalf of another as if it were his own. In relation to Christ, Paul is a galley-slave, in relation to the church he is an overseer. He is accountable only to Christ, the Master of the house

1. Accountability

3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.

4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

The verse is self-explanatory, but what a solemn thought! At the Lord’s coming every secret thing will be made known (cf 3:13). Thus any Christian judgment is premature before the Lord comes, although Paul allows Christian courts in this age for practical purposes (cf Ch. 6)

19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.

Compare James 4:13-15. Everything we do must be subject to his will

1. Adherence to Scripture

6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is

written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.

RSV: that you may learn in us to live according to Scripture. By considering what Paul has had to say about Apollos and himself they will learn the scriptural ideal of the subordination of man. What is written was a catch-phrase of Paul. In the NT church the all-important thing was What does the Scripture say? The phrase may have been included to correct the Everything is permissible slogan of some of the Corinthians (6:12)

1. A life of sacrifice

9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.

10 We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honoured, we are dishonoured!

11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

v8      Already you have become rich…….. kings…..

This section is full of heavy irony. Already is the key word. The Corinthians were behaving as though the age to come had already been consummated, as if the saints had already taken over the kingdom. The Holy Spirit had already been given as a deposit (Eph.1:14), but they must still live by faith. The End has not yet arrived and the time for fulness and wealth is not here!

“They have indeed entered the kingdom, of which the Spirit is the evidence. But they have not yet fully realised the End, of which the resurrection will be the evidence (cf chap.15)” (Fee, p 173).

I wish you really had….

Paul wished that the Kingdom had come! It would make a pleasant change for him!

v9      procession…… arena…….. spectacle

In the Roman arena the gladiators came in last in the procession and were in a very real sense condemned to die, the most wretched of men. Paul sees the apostles in this position, while men and angels are the spectators

v10    we are fools ….. but you are wise

He is, of course, referring to their own opinion

v11    to this very hour

The letter seems to have been written from Ephesus (16:8), possibly during the period described in Acts 19. Contrast the spiritual revival in that chapter with Paul’s personal circumstances mentioned in these verses

v12    We work hard with our own hands

The word used here means literally work to the point of weariness. Manual work was despised by the Greeks. It was the work of slaves.

          When we are cursed, we bless

The words are reminiscent of the Sermon the Mount, but there is no indication that Paul was aware that he was using the language of Jesus

v13    the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world

What is referred to here is the filth that is left at the edge of the cleaning. Because the word suggested cleansing there is also a connotation of sacrifice. Paul also thinks of himself as scum. To say I  follow Paul is to identify yourself with scum, so don’t boast in me

1. Fatherhood

In vv 14-21 Paul sees himself as their spiritual father

As such he has a responsibility to warn and even discipline them. But to have the moral authority to do so he must set the right example.

14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.

15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

16 Therefore I urge you to imitate me.

v14    warn

The primary meaning of this word is to try to have a corrective influence on someone, as a father would his children. See below.

          as my dear children

Paul was their only spiritual father, for only he had begotten them in the Gospel. There is no contradiction here with the spirit of Matthew 23:1-12. Scripture frequently refers to those whom we lead to Christ as our spiritual children. This is a very special relationship. We should love them as a father loves his children. We have a responsibility to them, but must beware of an over-emphasis on ‘discipleship’ and ‘submission’

v16    imitate me

Children do like to imitate their parents. (Note the connecting word therefore). Compare 11:1 as I follow the example of Christ. Their imitation of Paul was no doubt intended to include the tribulations listed in vv 11-13

17 For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

18 Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.

19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.

20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?

His spiritual authority to discipline them with supernatural power is very important in these verses. Compare 5:5 and Acts 5:1-11.

Summary

Privileges

To be a servant of Christ

To be entrusted with the secret things of God (the gospel)

To exercise power and authority in Christ’s name

Responsibilities

Servanthood      Faithfulness      Accountability

Adherence to Scripture      A life of sacrifice      Fatherhood

Talk 5       God’s Superior Wisdom

Today we’re continuing our study of 1 Corinthians 1:18 -2:16.

Last time we discovered nine problems with human wisdom:

1. It is foolishness to God
2. It does not recognise God
3. It rejects the message of the cross
4. It rejects Christ who is God’s Wisdom personified
5. It is totally different from and inferior to God’s Wisdom
6. It is useless as a means of winning others for Christ
7. It is an insecure basis for our faith in Christ
8. It gets you nowhere! It leads only to death
9. It crucified the Lord of glory

Today we’ll be considering God’s superior Wisdom

One of the causes of division in the Corinthian church seems to have sprung from a human and worldly wisdom which was totally contrary to the wisdom of God.

These two kinds of wisdom (God’s and man’s) are contrasted in 1 Corinthians 1:18 -2:16

But first it will be helpful to mention some other NT verses which refer to God’s wisdom.

Romans 11:33

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Romans 16:25-27

25 Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past,

26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him –

27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Ephesians 1:7-10

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ

Ephesians 3:8-11

8 Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord

Colossians 2:2-3

2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

1 Timothy 1:17

17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen

Jude 25

24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy–

25 to the only wise God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

From these passages we learn that:

• Only God, who is eternal, is truly wise
• God’s wisdom is beyond our understanding
• God’s wisdom is a mystery
• The mystery is the message of Christ crucified – the gospel
• God’s wisdom is manifested in his church

With this in mind we can now turn to today’s passage and see what more we can learn about God’s wisdom.

The ‘foolishness’ of the gospel is described in 1:18-2:5.

However, in 2:6-16 it is seen as God’s revealed wisdom.

This is the passage we’ll be looking at today, but, as I am not attempting a verse by verse commentary in these talks, for those who are interested there are additional notes on 1:18-2-5 at the end of the notes on today’s talk.

We now turn to Chapter 2. Please have your Bible open there.

In the previous section Paul has been talking largely about human wisdom.  Now he turns his attention to the wisdom of God.  This is true wisdom. 

The main point of this section is that those who are still ‘of this age’, who do not have the Spirit, do not understand the wisdom of God in Christ crucified. 

Paul’s concern is to get the Corinthians to stop acting like non-Spirit people and understand who they are in terms of the cross.

v6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

Although man’s wisdom cannot lead him to God, God’s wisdom can lead man to him.  The very message that is foolishness to the unbeliever is wisdom in God’s eyes. 

Mature here means spiritually adult.  The Corinthians were showing their immaturity by boasting in a wisdom that was not the wisdom of the cross.

v7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

In this verse Paul sees God’s wisdom as eternal

It was ordained before the world began but is hidden from the wisdom of man. 

It is (literally) in a mystery, a secret once hidden but now revealed in the gospel.

v8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

None of the political rulers of the day had possessed this divine wisdom or they would not have crucified Christ.  It was by their so-called wisdom that he was put to death.

The Lord of glory – Another example of a title clearly applied to Jesus but which in the OT was applied uniquely to Jehovah (Ps. 24:7-10).

v9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”

Human wisdom is based on the observation of the senses (Cf. modern Logical Positivism).

v10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Divine wisdom is not perceived with the senses but is revealed by the Spirit. 

It’s possible that some of the Corinthians were being influenced by an early form of Gnosticism.

They supposed that they could by searching plumb the depths of God’s being. 

But only the Spirit of God can know the thoughts of God. See next verse:

11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

The key to understanding God’s wisdom lies with the Spirit.

How can we really know the thoughts of another? 

A man can only know his own thoughts. 

Similarly, only the Spirit of God can know the mind of God.

True wisdom comes to us by revelation from the Holy Spirit

12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

We have received God’s Spirit so that we may understand…

We have not received the spirit of the world (Satan, the god of this age 2 Cor.4:4). 

Any suggestion that a Christian could receive any spirit other than that which comes from God would be totally foreign to Paul’s thinking. 

13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

The revelation of the Spirit is what enables Christians to understand God’s wisdom. 

It is also what enables us to preach it! This is what we speak…

          Expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words

The gospel is a spiritual truth and must be proclaimed with spiritual words – words taught by the Spirit (not with human wisdom)

There could even be a reference to spiritual gifts here (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:1 pneumatika). 

14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Note that the ‘man without the spirit’ (psuchikos – natural) does not accept the things of the Spirit.  They are foolishness to him because he cannot understand them.

15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

By contrast, ‘the spiritual man’ (pneumatikos) can make judgments about all things because he has the Spirit.

16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”  But we have the mind of Christ.

Mind here = spirit.  ‘In the Greek Bible that Paul cites the word “mind” translates the Heb. ruah, which ordinarily means “spirit”’ (Fee pp 119-120).

Note again that Christ is identified with Jehovah (cf. Isaiah 40:13). 

Finally, note the connection between the Spirit and the cross in this passage. 

2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”–

10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit

God’s wisdom is revealed in the cross

God’s wisdom is revealed by the Spirit

The things of the Spirit may be discerned by their relationship to the cross

It is only by preaching the message of the cross with the power and wisdom given by the Spirit that we can hope to bring others to Christ who is the Wisdom of God.

Additional notes on 1:18-2:5

1. a) God’s ‘foolishness’ – the cross (1:18-25)

In v17 Paul reminds the Corinthians that the Gospel had not been preached to them with human wisdom lest it should detract from the cross of Christ

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

v18    but to us who are being saved

There are only two groups of people in the world as far as God is concerned, not Jew and Gentile but those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Note the continuous tense here.  The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are on their way to destruction, but it is the power of God to those who are on their way to salvation. 

v19    I will destroy

Man’s wisdom has been destroyed by the cross.  Any wisdom that man may seem to have is rendered meaningless by Calvary. 

v20    age……world

The terms are used synonymously here.  The emphasis is that the world is passing, transient.

          scholar

Fee (p 71) rightly points out that this should be translated expert in the law.

v21    The world though its wisdom did not know him

Paul rejects the claim that man can know God through wisdom (cf. Romans 1:18-31). 

          The foolishness of what was preached

It is not the act of preaching but the content that is referred to here (as NIV makes clear – cf. AV ‘the foolishness of preaching’).  It is through the apparently foolish message of Christ crucified that God is pleased to save those who believe.

v22    Jews……Greeks

Both Jews and Gentiles are looking in the wrong direction unless they look to Christ.

The answer is not in miraculous signs, nor in human wisdom.

The search for these is an expression of man’s rebellion against God. 

The answer is the message of the cross.  

Power and wisdom are still the two basic idolatries of our fallen world.

v23    but we preach Christ crucified

Christ crucified, by human standards, is the very opposite of what each group is looking for. Indeed a crucified Messiah is a contradiction in terms – ‘fried ice’!

The verb crucified is in the Perfect Tense which speaks of a past act the effects of which are still felt in the present.  Christ’s atoning death is still efficacious.

v24    to us who are called

Salvation is rooted in a divine, not a human decision – but this does not deny the necessity of a human response.

          power….. wisdom

Note the different effects the preaching of the Gospel has. 

Power contrasts with stumbling-block, wisdom with foolishness. 

The cross was a stumbling block to the Jew because of Deuteronomy 21:23 – Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (cf. Galatians 3:13).

v25    the foolishness of God

Of course Paul is not ascribing foolishness to God.  He is saying that God’s truth which seems foolishness to the unbeliever is wiser than the unbeliever’s wisdom.  He uses the neuter of the adjective – to moron – instead of the noun – moria – here (literally the foolish thing instead of foolishness).  This points to a particular act of God’s foolishness (the cross).  Compare weakness where again the neuter of the adjective is used.

‘Had God consulted us for wisdom we could have given him a more workable plan, something that would attract the sign-seeker and the lover of wisdom.  As it is, in his own wisdom he left us out of the consultation’ (Fee, p 77).

1. b) God’s ‘foolishness’ – the Corinthian believers (1:26-31)

v26    think of what you were when you were called

This verse has been much used as evidence of the sociological structure of early Christianity.  See Fee pp 80ff for a brief discussion.  However,

‘The truly unique feature of early Christianity was its nonhomogeneous character, that it cut across all sociological lines and accepted as “brothers” slave and free, Jew and Gentile, male and female” (Fee, p 81).

vv27-28                foolish…… weak…….lowly

It is the things which the world considers foolish, weak, and lowly that God has chosen to nullify or render inoperative the things considered to be wise, strong and noble.  The purpose of this is in verse 29 – that no-one may boast before him. In Christ God has already set the future in motion, whereby the present age is on its way out.

v30    righteousness …… holiness….. redemption

NIV gets the translation right here (AV is misleading).  Righteousness, holiness and redemption are three different aspects of God’s wisdom.  They’re all central to Paul’s theology and result from the cross.

v31    he who boasts…. let him boast in the Lord

The verse clearly refers to Jesus, but it is a quote from Jeremiah 9:23-24 where it is Jehovah who is referred to (cf notes on 1:2 and 1:8.

Boast here has the sense of trust.

1. c) God’s ‘foolishness’ – Paul’s preaching (2:1-5)

v1      I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom

When Paul came to Corinth he did not try to persuade them with human philosophy.  He simply preached Christ crucified (v2).  The cross cannot be rationalised.

          The testimony about God

Testimony or mystery? Texts differ (marturion or musterion).  Barrett prefers testimony because (a) mystery is in the context and could have affected a copyist subconsciously, and (b) testimony is more suited to the initial proclamation of the Gospel.

v2      I resolved

Paul’s determination here is probably not because of his apparent failure at Athens (Acts 17).  ‘He is not contrasting his evangelistic method with that which he employed elsewhere, but with that which others employed in Corinth’ (Barrett).  Cf Fee, p. 92.

v3      weakness, fear …… much trembling

See note on Acts 18:1.  The weakness may refer to some observable physical condition.  Astheneia normally means sickness and this is by no means impossible – cf Galatians 4:13-14.

v4      not with wise and persuasive words but with ……. the Spirit’s power

Having contrasted human wisdom with the cross in vv 1-2 he now contrasts it with the Spirit’s power.  This does not necessarily refer to signs and wonders here – note the absence of reference to miracles in Acts 18.  Fee, p. 95, believes it refers to their actual conversion with the accompanying gift of the Spirit which was probably evidenced by spiritual gifts, especially tongues.

Talk 4: The trouble with human wisdom (1:18-2:8)

Last time we identified five causes of division in the Corinthian church:

1. Behaving ‘only in a human way’ – like the world
2. Immaturity
3. A Celebrity culture
4. Failure to recognise church leaders for what they are – servants
5. Failure to recognise that we’re all serving the same God with the same purpose – that his church should grow.

Now it could be argued that #2-5 all spring from #1.

Today we will see that in Corinth this was manifested in yet another way – a dependence on human wisdom.

The main theme of 1:21-2:16 is the contrast between human and divine wisdom.

Today we’ll look at what Paul sees as the trouble with human wisdom.

Next time we’ll consider how God’s wisdom is infinitely superior.

Let’s begin by reading 1:18-20

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

So we see that:

1 Human wisdom is foolishness to God

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

2 Human wisdom does not recognise God

21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe

3 Human wisdom rejects the message of the cross

22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

4 Human wisdom rejects Christ who is God’s Wisdom personified

24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

5 Human wisdom is totally different from and inferior to God’s Wisdom

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

6 Human wisdom is useless as a means of winning others for Christ

1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

7 Human wisdom is an insecure basis for our faith in Christ

5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

8 Human wisdom gets you nowhere! It leads only to death

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

9 Human wisdom crucified the Lord of glory

7 No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Dealing with Division (1:10-17, 3:1-9)

Last time we looked at 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 where we saw that Paul was able to give thanks for the Corinthians despite all the problems they were facing.

Today’s passage reveals the first of those problems – divisions in the church, and particularly division over leaders. We’ll be looking at three main passages of scripture:

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

John 17:11, 20-23

We will handle the subject under the following headings:

The situation in Corinth

Five things that cause division

The basis of Paul’s appeal for unity

How unity can be achieved

The situation in Corinth

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

V 10 tells us that Paul has learned from some of Chloe’s household that there are quarrels and divisions in the church.

These have sprung from the fact that the Corinthians were not ‘perfectly united in mind and thought’.

V 12 makes it clear that these divisions and quarrels were mainly over leaders:

12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

Paul has more to say on these divisions in 1 Corinthians 3:1-8 where we learn more about what was causing them.

Five things that cause division

1 Immaturity

In vv 1-2 Paul complains that the Corinthians have not grown up spiritually. By now they should have matured spiritually, but they’re still behaving like children.

1 But I, brothers and sisters, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready. (ESV)

2 Behaving only in a human way

Vv 3-4 show us that divisions in the church mean that we’re behaving no better than the people in the world around us. We’re behaving as people of the flesh (ESV).

3 For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, ‘I follow Paul’’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos’, are you not being merely human?

Behaving in a human way means behaving like the people in the world. It involves jealousy (v3) and selfishness (1 Corinthians 11:19ff)

3 A ‘celebrity culture’

4 For when one says, ‘I follow Paul’’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos’, are you not being merely human?

The modern cult of so-called celebrities is becoming increasingly prevalent in the world around us. There is no place for it in the church!

4 Failure to recognise that the greatest of God’s servants are just that – servants!

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. (NIV)

Cf. John13:16. The apostle is not greater than the foot washing Christ who sends him.

1 Corinthians 15:10 By the grace of God I am what I am

as the Lord has assigned

God has a task for every one of us. But it’s God himself who is building his church.

Note vv7-8

7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour.

This shows us the final cause of division:

5 Failure to recognise that we’re all serving the same God with the same purpose – that his church should grow, both as individual members and as a body

Summary so far:

There were serious divisions in the church in Corinth mainly with regard to leadership.

The causes of division we have identified are:

Immaturity

Behaving ‘only in a human way’ – like the world

A Celebrity culture

Failure to recognise church leaders for what they are – servants

Failure to recognise that we’re all serving the same God with the same purpose – that his church should grow.

We now turn to:

The basis of Paul’s appeal for unity

Back to chapter 1

10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ means with the authority of…

Why did Paul claim that authority?

Christ had commissioned him as an apostle (Acts 26:15-18) – He knew his gifting

15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.

16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you.

17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

He was conscious that he was writing scripture

1 Cor. 14:37

If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command

For us, recognition of the authority of Scripture is the only true basis for unity

Jesus himself had prayed for their unity (John 17:11, 20-23)

John 17

11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name – the name you gave me – so that they may be one as we are one.

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,

21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:

23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

How unity can be achieved

1 By recognising that unity is God’s will (1:10)

10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

2 By recognising our unity in Christ  (expressed in baptism and communion)

Baptism

14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,

To be baptised into the name of someone means that the person baptised has given himself/herself to the person into whose name they have been baptized.

As Christians we have yielded our lives to Christ because he was crucified for us.

So our baptism is a symbol of our unity because we have all yielded to the Lordship of Christ.

Communion (1 Cor. 10:16-17)

16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

3 By recognising our proper place in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:24-25)

24 … God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body…

4 By emphasising the things that unite us rather than those that divide us (esp. the cross

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

5 By respecting those with whose opinions we disagree – baptism an example

As we have seen, baptism is a symbol of our unity in Christ

Yet Christians are divided over what baptism is!

To me the New Testament is clear.

Baptism is by immersion and is for believers only.

(The reference in 1:16 to Paul baptizing the household of Stephanas provides no secure basis for the doctrine of infant baptism. Paul’s statement in 16:15 that they had devoted themselves to the service of the saints suggests the contrary).

But I recognise that many sincere Christians have a different view.

So how do we reconcile our differences on such issues?

We may never persuade our friends in other churches that our view of Scripture is the right one. (Hopefully in any one local church all the members would be agreed on this).

Baptism is important. The Lord Jesus commanded it.

So when Paul says that he is glad he baptized none of them he is not minimising the importance of baptism, but he recognises that baptism does not cause salvation.

The Spirit does that through the preaching of the Gospel – but baptism is the God-ordained response upon believing the Gospel.

But whatever our view on baptism, Jesus died for us all.

We are all of Christ (not Paul or Apollos or Peter) because of Calvary. 

We have all believed the same gospel.

When we remember the cross, any differences we may have with our fellow-Christians pale into insignificance.

Talk 2: Thanking God despite the problems (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

Today we’re going to make a start on the text of 1 Corinthians, but first let’s take a quick look at why Paul wrote this letter.

The general purpose of the letter is revealed by its contents and may be summarised as follows:

1. to set right disorders in the church

1. division (chs 1-4)
2. immorality (chs 5-6)
3. public worship (chs 11-14)

2. to answer questions

1. eg on marriage (ch 7). Cf Now for the matters you wrote about (7:1) with Now about (7:25, 8:1, 12:1, 16:1, 16:12)

3. to correct doctrinal misunderstanding

1. on Christian liberty (chs 8-10)
2. on the resurrection (ch 15)

So let’s make a start on the text.

Today we’ll be looking at Ch.1:1-9 which I’ve titled Thanking God despite the problems

We’ll begin by reading verses 1-3 where Paul greets the Corinthians 

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ–their Lord and ours:

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

v1     Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God

Paul is confident of his apostolic authority.  He is called by Jesus to be a ‘sent one’ (see Acts 9).  This was the will of God.  He stresses this to the Corinthians.

If they did not recognise his authority, they would not obey his instructions. 

But he needed to be sure of his authority too. We need to know who we are in God.

And our brother Sosthenes

Possibly the synagogue ruler who had opposed Paul in Acts 18:17.

If so, it was an amazing conversion.  Now he’s one of Paul’s valued companions.

But Sosthenes was a common name and so probably a different person is referred to here. 

2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours:

ekklesia (church) comes from the verb ekkaleo which means ‘call out’

In using the term Paul is stressing their separation from the world. 

They are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy or saints.

Christians are called saints in the NT because they are God’s people (cf Israel) not necessarily because of their moral condition.

It was God’s church in Corinth.  It did not belong to the Corinthians.

Here the local church is referred to, but in 15:9 Paul uses ekklesia to refer to the church universal. 

together with all those everywhere

All who call on the name of the Lord Jesus, wherever they are, are sanctified in him.

The letter was not just written to the Corinthians.

It has a universal application. Its general principles may be applied to Christians of all cultures and generations, but some of its specific instructions would be meaningful to the Corinthians alone.  It was written for an ad hoc situation in Corinth. 

Call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Compare Joel 2, Acts 2, Romans 10: whoever shall call…

Paul in his thinking connects an expression that in the OT refers to Jehovah with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The deity of Christ is implicit throughout his writings.  Right at the beginning of his letter Christ is exalted.  Note the close link with the Father in verse 3.

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul adapts a traditional secular greeting (chairein – rejoice) to charis (grace) and combines it with the Jewish shalom (peace) to make his own Christian greeting, Grace and Peace.  These two words summarise his theology.

Now in vv4-9 Paul moves from greeting (vv1-3) to thanksgiving

Thanksgiving (4-9)

4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

5 For in him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge –

6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.

7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

There were problems in the church – very serious ones – but Paul saw the Corinthians as they were in Christ.  That is how we should see each other – and ourselves.

5 For in him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge

Again, in him.  Every area of our lives is enriched because we are in Christ.

Paul possibly has in mind here spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues and words of knowledge – Note the reference to spiritual gifts in v7

However he may well be speaking in more general terms about speaking and knowledge.

6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.

Confirmed here means ‘validated’.  The Gospel message was validated by the change in their lives.  Plummer suggests three possibilities:

1. a) established durably (cf v8)
2. b) verified by its influence on character
3. c) was brought home to them by the witness of the Spirit

However, the following verse suggests that a charismatic change is in mind here. 

Further, in you (Gk. en humin) may be translated in your midst.

7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

spiritual gift

NIV has supplied the word spiritual which is not in the Greek. Charisma is an actualisation of God’s charis (grace). The word is used not only of spiritual gifts as in 1 Corinthians 12, but also of natural gifts (eg 1 Cor. 7:7). 

However, in the light of the connection with the second coming here, very possibly spiritual gifts are referred to, for they are a foretaste of the age to come (cf Ephesians 1:13, Hebrews 6:4-5).

As you eagerly wait for….  Christ ….  to be revealed

Here Christ’s coming is referred to as a revelation (apokalupsis).  Other expressions used are ‘end’ (telos), ‘day’ (hemera), ‘appearing’ (epiphaneia), and ‘coming’ (parousia).  They are used pretty much interchangeably in the NT and in my view it is a mistake to try to distinguish between them at least chronologically.

8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will keep you strong to the end

What an amazing promise, bearing in mind the state of the Corinthians

on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Compare the OT the Day of the Lord (Amos 5:18-20, Joel 2:31).  For Paul the Lord is none other than Jesus Christ.

9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful

fellowship with his Son

This is also the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:13, Phil. 2:1)

Summary – thanking God despite the problems

The problems:

disorders in the church

division (chs 1-4)

immorality (chs 5-6)

public worship (chs 11-14)

doctrinal misunderstanding

on Christian liberty (chs 8-10)

on the resurrection (ch 15)

 Things Paul thanks God for:

4 I always thank God for you because of

his grace given you in Christ Jesus.

5 For in him you have been enriched in every way–in all your speaking and in all your knowledge–

6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.

7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

8 He will keep you strong to the end,

so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Why study 1 Corinthians?

Because it is part of God’s Word, the Bible

Because it is highly relevant to our lives as individuals and to the church today

It teaches us important lessons about:

The secret of true wisdom

The importance of unity

The seriousness of immorality

The nature of marriage, including the right person to marry!

The right use of freedom

The way we should worship

The correct use of spiritual gifts

The overriding supremacy of love

The certainty of resurrection

Before we start to look at the text, I’m going to give you some basic background information on:

The city of Corinth

Paul’s letters to the Corinthians

How the Corinthian church was started

The city of Corinth

Corinth is in Greece. It’s on the Isthmus, a narrow strip of land – just over 4 miles wide – joining the northern and southern parts of Greece.

It was a very important trading city.  Goods were transported overland to avoid the lengthy sea-voyage around the Peloponnese (the southern part of Greece).

The old Greek city had been destroyed in 146BC and refounded by Julius Caesar as a Roman colony in 46BC.  As a result, there were both Greeks and Romans living there as well as Jews (Acts 18:4). 

A cosmopolitan city, Corinth was intellectually alert, materially prosperous, and morally corrupt.  It was possibly because of its influential position that Paul stayed there 18 months (Acts 18:11).

Paul’s letters to the Corinthians

We will be studying the letter we know as 1 Corinthians

But actually Paul wrote at least four letters to the Corinthians

How do we know this?

Letter 1

A problem of immorality had arisen in the church. Paul wrote to them about this. This letter is referred to in 1 Cor. 5:9..

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people

Letter 2 (1 Corinthians)

Letter 3

2 Corinthians 7:8-9

8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it–I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while–

9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.

Compare 2 Corinthians 2:2-4

Letter 4 (2 Corinthians)

When was 1 Corinthians written?

Acts 18 records Paul’s appearance before Gallio who was proconsul in charge of Achaea probably from the summer of AD 51. (The dates of Gallio’s proconsulship are given by an inscription found at Delphi).

Paul, therefore, probably reached Corinth in about March AD 50 and stayed there until about September AD 51. 

From this, following the chronology of Acts,

Barrett concludes that the most probable date for the letter is early 54 or late 53. 

Fee comes to a similar conclusion, dating Paul’s departure from Corinth some time in AD 51-52 and the writing of the letter some three years later (i.e. 54-55AD).

How the Corinthian Church started

This is recorded in Acts 18:1-20

Paul is on his second missionary journey. He has had much to encourage him:

          the conversion of Lydia

          of the fortune-teller

          of the Philippian jailor

but he’s had his discouragements too:

          disagreement with Barnabas (15:37-40)

          beating and imprisonment (16:22-24)

          Jewish opposition at Thessalonica and Berea (17:5-13)

          apparent lack of success at Athens (17:32-34).

By the time he reached Corinth he was in weakness and in fear and in much trembling (1 Corinthians 2:3).

v2      There he met a Jew named Aquila …. Priscilla

Aquila and Priscilla were Jews who had been living in Rome.  They had moved to Corinth because Claudius Caesar had expelled all Jews from the city (18:2).  Paul stayed with them when he arrived at Corinth because they were fellow-Jews and also tent-makers.  We do not know if they were already Christians.

v3      and worked

Note Paul’s willingness to work with his hands, although an apostle – cf. 1 Corinthians 9:1-14.

v4      he reasoned

Although Paul placed great emphasis on the power of the Spirit in the proclamation of the gospel (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 – see also Romans 15:19-20) he also sought to persuade his hearers by reasoning with them from the Scriptures.

v5      Silas and Timothy

When Paul had left Thessalonica it looked as though his attempts to plant a church there had failed (17:5-10).  Now Silas and Timothy arrive with news that the church is going on (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:1ff).  So Paul is encouraged by this and renews his efforts to win the Jews for Christ.

v6      I will go to the Gentiles

Rejected by the Jews, Paul washes his hands of them and turns to the Gentiles.

v7      went next door

Paul leaves the synagogue and moves next door!  He starts a meeting in the house of Justus.

v8      Crispus, the synagogue ruler

Paul’s move next door seems to have made an issue of things.  Crispus is confronted with the all-important question, and decides for Christ.  Many then follow his example.

v9      a vision

The Lord assures Paul that he has many people in this city.  He knew that there would be many who would receive the Gospel if Paul would stay and preach it to them. 

(Note that this was a specific statement to a specific person about a particular city at a particular time.  Christians should beware of generalising such specific statements).

v11    So Paul stayed there

After all the opposition he had faced it might have been easy for Paul to have given up in despair.  But God has encouraged him.  By divine revelation he was to stay in Corinth for a year and a half.  He has reasoned (v4) and testified (v5), but people must be taught the word.

Eventually Paul left Corinth and came to Ephesus with Aquila and Priscilla (vv18-19), where he left them while he journeyed to Jerusalem (v21). 

While they were there Apollos arrived in Ephesus (v24).  Recognising the divine potential in him, Aquila and Priscilla explained to him the way of God more adequately (v26). 

Consequently, when he moved on to Corinth (cf. 18:27 and 19:1) he was greatly used in building up the young converts (v 27) and in winning many Jews to Christ (v28).  In this connection he was possibly even more successful than Paul.