Category: Podcast

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.

Paul’s apostolic instructions to a charismatic congregation, as found in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14.

Paul’s apostolic instructions to a charismatic congregation, as found in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14.

Paul’s apostolic instructions to a charismatic congregation, as found in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14.

Paul’s apostolic instructions to a charismatic congregation, as found in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14.

Paul’s apostolic instructions to a charismatic congregation, as found in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14.