1 Corinthians Introduction
Notes
Transcript
We finished studying the book of John, and I was praying about which book to study together next. Someone suggested 1 Corinthians to me, and that is the book that we will begin studying together today.
I am excited to delve into this book. As I read through the book a couple times, and as I began studying it myself over the past weeks, I found that 1 Corinthians is very practical for us today. As one pastor, Pastor Stephen Um put it in his commentary on 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians—The Word of the Cross Chapter 1: Surprised by Encouragement (1 Corinthians 1:1–9)
Yes, there will be interpretive questions to ask and cultural differences to comprehend, but on the whole 1 Corinthians presents us with an original context that looks strikingly like our modern-day setting. Here we meet a church that faces issues much like the ones we face. How are we to handle disagreements among God’s people? What does a Christian sexual ethic look like when promiscuity is the cultural norm? In what ways does the gospel shape the institution of marriage? How should we relate to the cultural customs and practices of those with whom we disagree on matters of faith? How can the gospel tear down barriers that we have built between others and ourselves? We could go on.
There was a lot going on around and within the church in Corinth which occasioned this letter. To better understand the letter, and how it is truly applicable to us today, we need to take some time to understand the city and culture of Corinth.
Corinth (map)
Corinth (map)
The city of Corinth was on the isthmus between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf. The waters below Peloponnese were treacherous, so ships would go to Cenchreae on the East, and Lechaion on the West. Passengers and cargo would be transported across the isthmus, often travelling through Corinth.
There was also a roadway created with wooden rails so that some smaller ships would actually be hauled across the 1 mile stretch between the gulfs.
It position on the trade routes made it into a cosmopolitan city, a true melting pot of cultures.
Originally, the Greeks who lived here worshipped Aphrodite. On top of the Acrocorinth, the mountain overshadowing the city, was a temple to the goddess, with 1000 prostitutes. Corinth had the reputation for its great immorality.
The Romans destroyed the city in 146 BC, and later rebuilt the city as a Roman colony, inhabited initially by Roman veterans and freed men. It has a special status as a Roman colony, and was the capital of the province.
However, the Greeks returned, and the position on the trade routes encouraged the city to grow and once again become very corrupt. The Corinthianize was to engage in gross immorality.
The city was a center of commerce, and one where you could make your fortune. Individuals were socially mobile. They aspired to affluence, and position. Once they made it, they flaunted their success, making generous donations, and leaving monuments, or markers to themselves. Archaeologists have found evidence of one man who had started as a slave, earned his freedom and rose to office in the city.
Corinthians were cutthroat business people. It was about who you knew and how you could use others to get ahead.
One commentator, David Garland, put it this way:
1 Corinthians—The Word of the Cross Chapter 1: Surprised by Encouragement (1 Corinthians 1:1–9)
To use terms from American culture: schmoozing, massaging a superior’s ego, rubbing shoulders with the powerful, pulling strings, scratching each other’s back, and dragging rivals’ names through the mud—all describe what was required to attain success in this society.
Corinthians had interests in philosophy and rhetoric. The better you were at convincing others, the more you could get ahead.
As you go through the book of Corinthians, you will find people who are at odds with one another. Some of it had to do with pride from knowledge. Other issues stemmed from the cutthroat culture that was all about self. yet other issues stemmed from the immoral culture having influence on them.
Corinth in the Bible
Corinth in the Bible
Paul first came to Corinth while on his second missionary journey. We find the account of his time there in Acts 18:1-18.
Let’s read this account together.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.
But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.
For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”
So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment.
“This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”
Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you.
But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things.”
So he drove them off.
Then the crowd there turned on Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the proconsul; and Gallio showed no concern whatever.
Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.
When Paul came to Corinth, he had just been beaten and jailed in Philippi. He had been chased from Thessalonica, and later Berea by Jews who caused him a lot of trouble.
He had gone from there to Athens where he reasoned with the people, and some believed, though we get the sense that many sneered at him and the notion of the resurrection. An issue we find was also prevalent in Corinth as we study 1 Corinthians.
This is likely why, when Paul first came to Corinth, he came in weakness and fear.
I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
However, after assurance from the Lord, Paul had a fruitful ministry in Corinth, and a church was born.
Paul left Corinth, after between 1.5 and 2 years there.
he sailed to Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila and from there left them to go to Antioch in Syria.
Priscilla and Aquila met Apollos in Ephesus and discipled him. Then, Apollos went to Corinth to help the church and preach the gospel.
We find him mentioned in Paul’s letter, 1 Corinthians.
Paul had more interaction with Corinth which we discern from his letters, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians, as well as the book of Romans.
1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians were likely written during his third missionary journey, during the period of 2 years he spent in Ephesus. This was a another city on the trade route, and there was much travel and communication between the cities.
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
Apparently, what we have preserved as 1 Corinthians, was Paul’s second letter to the church there. He had written an earlier letter, but apparently, that letter caused some confusion, so he clarified that in this second letter.
The situation had deteriorated in Corinth, and in this letter Paul clarifies what he wrote in the first letter. He also addresses issues of which he was hearing, and he responded to questions the church had for him. He also apparently sent Timothy to help with the situation there.
For this reason I have sent 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.
From the context of 2 Corinthians, we find out that Timothy’s visit was unsuccessful, and Paul ended up visiting again. Paul refers to this visit as a painful visit.
So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.
In this letter, we see that Paul made a visit, which apparently did not go well. He also refers to this trip as he plans to make a third visit to the city.
Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
Because Paul’s second visit went as it had, he sent a third letter to them.
He references this letter in 2 Corinthians 2:4 and 2 Corinthians 7:8.
For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
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—
yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.
Apparently that letter was used by the Lord to finally bring many of the Corinthians to repentance. We do not have that third letter, preserved. Only the mention of it in 2 Corinthians, which was the fourth letter written to them.
2 Corinthians does have a harsh section in chapters 10-13, likely written to address the minority who had yet to repent. However, the bulk of the letter was Paul rejoicing that they, the majority of the church, had repented.
It is likely during this third visit that Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, as he prepared to go to Jerusalem, having been warned by the Spirit that he was going to be bound, arrested and mistreated.
We find Paul mentioning many of those who were in Corinth, including some mentioned in this letter of 1 Corinthians.
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon, of the church in Cenchreae.
Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.
Interestingly, Erastus has archaeological evidence remaining.
That is Paul’s interaction with the church in Corinth as recorded for us in God’s word.
Knowing a little of the background of Corinth, the fact that this letter is primarily dealing with problems in the church, and that they did not respond to this letter of correction / instruction, nor did they respond well to Paul’s succeeding visit, let’s delve into the beginning of 1 Corinthians.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—
God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
Paul - called to be an apostle
By the Will of God
Sosthenes - Paul’s accuser, turned friend and coworker in Christ
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
Sanctified - set apart to God, for God
Called to be His holy people - Identity, position
The Corinthians were constantly striving to find their identity. They were in a cosmopolitan setting. Many cultures and influences were around them, demanding for their conformity. Who were they to be? What were they to be?
The culture pushed them to be achievers, finding position and authority.
Paul assures them that they had already achieved more than they could hope and dream. They had the patron of patrons, the supporter everyone would love to have, the Lord Almighty!
They had an identity! They were God’s special people. They were chosen and called by God Himself! They had an esteemed position they could never lose!
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and Peace only come from God, not from success, or worldly pursuits
I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—
Praise was given for success. Those were not as knowledgeable, those who were not as influential, those who were not worldly successful were looked down upon. Those who were less talented or gifted were viewed as inferior.
Thus, the Corinthians studied rhetoric. They strived to gain knowledge and wisdom.
Paul assures them that they don’t need to strie. They have been given rhetoric, and knowledge from the God of all wisdom.
God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.
When others wanted to throw doubt on their faith, their worship of the Resurrected Christ, they could look to what God had done for them. They could see the change God had made in their lives!
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
They could see the gifts that God had given them, and know that he was working in them! They did not lack anything they needed as a church to function as one and worship Him in spirit and truth!
He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And they had assurance. In the world, success could be had one moment, and lost the next. Through the intrigues of life and the workings of others who were cut-throat and looking out for themselves, their wordly positions were always in jeopardy.
However, in the Lord, our position is secure. No matter how bad life gets, the Lord will keep us secure.
Blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus. How could that be, when we see the issues they were facing?
Because of the blood of Jesus!
God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
And, because God is faithful.
What about me?
What about me?
As I read 1 Corinthians again this week, of course the problems and issues stood out. They are the bulk of the letter.
However, this introduction, as well as Paul’s closing remarks give a wrapping of hope to this letter. Though the Corinthian church was hurting one another, hurting Paul, and hurting the testimony of Jesus Christ to the world, Paul saw the good. He saw the work of God in them, and for them.
As we look at our own lives, and the troubles surrounding us, the troubles that attack our souls and our hope, there is hope, as Paul lays out before us so well.
You have a calling
You have an identity
You have God-given ability
You have a satisfying goal
You have a faithful God