The Bible Series 1 Corinthians

Through the preaching of George Whitefield in the eighteenth-century Robert Robinson was saved out of a background that was gross and godless. Robinson was in his young twenties. In fact, at the age of twenty-three, in 1758, he was led of God to put into print his testimony which we know today as the hymn words, “Come, Thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above; Praise His name—I’m fixed upon it—Name of God’s redeeming love.”

Robinson defected. He left the claims of Jesus Christ in the dust and he lived like a carnal, godless man,…

Surrounded by the world we often find it difficult to engage in the Off Road areas of scripture… they are calling us to live a life marked by Christ…

1 Corinthians Letter Info

We find ourselves reading this letter from not just Paul but THE APOSTLE PAUL… it comes with authority

We also discover that this is written to what Paul states as the SANCTIFIED CHURCH… these are believers not just a group of people at a building or part of an organization…

This will prove important to remember as you read through this letter.

It is written near the end of Paul’s second mission journey about 54AD

Corinth is a major city and massive in size and population… 700,000

Immorality is rampant in this city, religious prostitution, pagan gods, worldly sins and evils abounded there!

Paul is writing with a fatherly/ pastoral heart in this letter...

It is personal and heartfelt… ECHOS God’s Heart as well

He is responding to some concerns and questions sent to him in a letter

He has to correct them but his heart aches for these people he knows, loves, and cares for

Paul’s greeting reveals his heart so much and his closing as we will see demonstrates his care for these people…

Paul’s Greeting

This opening few verses of Paul sets the tone and mindset for his readers… then and even now! 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

1 Corinthians 1:1–9 NASB95

Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Consider the rendering of verse 10 in the NLT… 1 Corinthians 1:10

1 Corinthians 1:10 NLT

I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

Look at the foundation Paul sets forth as he begins this letter...

APOSTLE vs 1… there is authority that comes with this correction

In vs 2… they are clearly defined as to who they are

The Church

They are sanctified in standing

They are Saints by calling (they should be)

Their Position

Their Power

Their Potential!!!

This letter comes with God’s grace and should offer PEACE… (divisions and sin had sabotaged this)

They are gifted and blessed by God vs 4-8

God is and will work… faithful in vs 9

We are CALLED TO UNITY in Christ (John 17)

In verse 10 Paul lays out his desire for HARMONY… (not to eliminate diversity) Paul emphasizes Christ (10 times) in these verses…

It is Christ at work in us, through us, and it is He who is building up His Church!!!

IF… we are His church, His bride, The Spirits Sanctuary, God’s children, and as such the Family of God

THEN… you and I had better believe He has something to say about how we behave, how we represent, and how we reflect the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!

Paul expresses this as we read through and look at the overview of this letter…

1 Corinthians Overview

This is very much so a letter of CORRECTION: bringing into conformity with a standard

Paul is aligning this church with Christ UNITY

We are to conform to the image of Christ SINGULAR

God has set forth His standard HIS ALONE

CHARGE 1:1-10

We already looked at this powerful and pointed CHARGE Paul delivers in his opening verses… he stresses our Oneness and Unity

IF… God has called us to UNITY we as children of God we must understand it is SIN THAT BRINGS DIVISIONS...

CONCERNS CH 1-4… DIVISIONS

Paul in this section deals with the expressed concerns given to him...

Divisions (exalting leaders)

Wisdom ( the foolishness of the cross)

Contrasting wisdom of man and God

Ministering according to your own wisdom… BEWARE!

Immaturity… divisions on popularity or status, works done (planter, grower)

They were gifted, but relying on the gifts rather than the GIFT GIVER

There was a pride in themselves!

After he expresses some of the concerns they wrote him about concerning DIVISIONS… he boldly addresses the SIN & Fornication in this church…

CONDEMNATION CH 5-6… DISORDER

Do not think that because we are saved by GRACE that God does not deal with sin or want His church to deal with sin…

Immorality accepting sins around them (when we minister in our own wisdom we find ourselves embracing sin)

Incest son with mother in law (remove this sin for repentance)

Paul makes note that this sin would even shock the world around them!!!

Litigations among believers (deal with things as brothers and sisters)

Do Not taint the name of God this way…

Sexual Immorality (our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit!!!) 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NASB95

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

COUNSEL CH 7-15… DIFFICULTIES

Chapters 1-6 deals with the WORLD seeping into the CHURCH… now we begin to look at in Ch 7-15 our TESTIMONY as the CHURCH pours into the WORLD! Paul gives counsel on our actions and interactions concerning our testimony.

Marriage one of our greatest opportunities to have a testimony & ministry

Discusses marriage, celibacy, divorce, and remarriage

Christian Liberty

Paul discusses food offered to idols

He shares how he will forgo things in order to minister and share Christ

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 illustrates this concept Paul teaches beautifully!!! (Off- Road Romans 14)

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 NASB95

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Public Worship

Here Paul addresses improper use of their Spiritual gifts that were given to them by the Holy Spirit

He addresses their wrong approach to the Lord’s Supper

This was a meal

Prominent people ate their fill (indulgence) while others went hungry

What was intended for UNITY was bringing distinct DISUNITY

Bread the body

Cup the blood

Remember Christ selflessness and come unified to remember

Love is expressed as the greatest to pursue because it embodies the heart and motive of God

The description is not one of feelings or emotions

Rather we see a clear definition of ACTION and CHOICE

Jesus Himself said that the World would know we belong to Him because of our LOVE and UNITY with each-other!

Resurrection

Paul reiterates in his final arguments the power of the Resurrection!!!

It was not just His death, and burial but the RESURRECTION that brings POWER & HOPE for the believer

CLOSING CH 16

This church in Corinth has a lot to work on!!! … Don’t we all!… I love how Paul closes this letter

Not beat up and down

Not as one who wants to hide and give up

Rather, he builds up, and challenges them to ADVANCE!!! 1 Corinthians 16:13

1 Corinthians 16:13 NASB95

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Think on These Things

Robinson had defected… until one day he stepped into a stagecoach occupied by a woman whose face was buried in a book. It was a book of verse. She did not know him nor he her. But she began to read this particular poem, and said to him, .... “Listen to this, ‘Come, Thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.’ ” He sat quietly, surrounded by guilt.

And then she got to that stanza, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.” He said, “Stop! Stop! I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that verse many years ago. I would give a thousand worlds to enjoy the feelings I then had.”

Robinson came back!!! Oh how easily we can be “prone to wander”… Paul closes this letter with not what the church deserved, but rather with what they needed (GRACE & LOVE)… 1 Corinthians 16:21-24

1 Corinthians 16:21–24 NLT

Here is my greeting in my own handwriting—Paul. If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.

REMEMBER LOVE IS ACTION… John 3:16 “God loved the world so much He gave...”

Oh He has loved so greatly!!!

Our love for Him is SEEN and DEMONSTRATED by our actions as well

May the world around us SEE our love for the Lord!