Corinth, We Have A Problem

Background

It was the capital city of the province Achaia.

This tells us this was a major city.

Roman Corinth was prosperous, cosmopolitan, and religiously pluralistic, accustomed to visits by impressive, traveling public speakers and obsessed with status, self-promotion, and personal rights. From a Jewish or Christian viewpoint, as with any pagan city, its inhabitants were marked by the worship of idols, sexual immorality, and greed.

This doesn’t sound too different from society today. This is encouraging because if they’re going through the same things that we’re going through today, that must mean what Paul writes to them must apply to us.

The purpose of 1 Corinthians is to correct certain misunderstandings that the church had about subjects such as sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, wisdom, and so on.

Bottom line: This church had issues!

Chapter 1

What is a Christian?

1 Corinthians 1:4–9 NKJV

4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

V. 4) Paul thanks God for grace given to the Corinthians. When was the last time you thanked God for giving someone, other than yourself, something?

V. 5) Paul focuses on thanking God, not the Corinthians, for what He has done for them, not for what the church has done. It sometimes makes me cringe when I hear churches saying “Look what we’re doing for people” or “Look at all the good this church is doing” We need to get into a mindset of “Look what God is doing through us. He’s giving us wisdom and gifts and grace.”

V. 4-9) If you ever wondered what the definition of a Christian is, look right here!

A Christian is someone who has been given God’s grace.

They have been given spiritual gifts from God including wisdom and knowledge of Himself.

Someone who is eagerly waiting the return of Christ who knows, and doesn’t doubt where they’re going when they die.

And someone who is in active fellowship with Jesus.

Same Mindset

1 Corinthians 1:10–17 NKJV

10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

V. 10) Paul is begging that the Corinthians get on the same page. He uses the phrase “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” because he needs to express how serious this is, but also to bring unity among them. By using the word our, he shows commonality among the Corinthians.

I love what this commentary says “Unity in a local church cannot be based on race, class, or social or economic circumstances. The only common factor in otherwise diverse Christian congregations such as Corinth is every member’s relation to Christ.”

Paul uses an example of baptism here. Some people believe that baptism is required for salvation and some people don’t. Paul wants to stress the importance of preaching the cross of Christ over everything else in this section of his letter.

One of the biggest debates in the church today is baptism. Is it required for salvation? Some people believe it is, others don’t. Again, Paul is emphasizing the subject of the cross and minimizing debates that ultimately don’t matter. One commentary says “It would appear that Paul followed the example of Jesus in this matter. Christ preached, and delegated baptism primarily to his disciples (John 4:1-2 “1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),” Paul followed the same practice; he proclaimed the gospel and left baptism primarily to his converts, who supervised the ongoing life of the church.” As someone who has been taught that baptism is only an outward expression of an inward commitment, I want to say this. I’m going to teach the importance of baptism regardless of its salvation implications. That may sound reckless, but hear what I’m trying to say. If you’re a Christian, you believe baptism is important. You’re going to get baptized or encourage people to get baptized anyway so why argue about it?

When Paul talks about them being united and having no divisions among them in this sense, he is saying “I want you to preach the message of the cross. If you don’t agree on anything else at least be unified on this.” He goes into more detail in verse 18.

The main point of this chapter is that we need to be unified.

We’re Not All That

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 NKJV

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, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

People in this world are divided into one of two categories. Saved or perishing.

There is no human logic to explain the cross of Christ. There is no way we could make any sense out of God’s decision to send His perfect son to die an excruciating, painful death when He had the ability to speak sin out of existence; however, if He would have done that, we wouldn’t have a choice but to worship Him because there would be no other choice. God desires for you to choose Him.

It pleases God when a lost person gets saved.

So the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. God uses that “foolish message” to save His people from Hell and it pleases Him to do so. Do you want to please God? Lead people to Christ!

Jews were constantly requesting a sign in the gospels. Greeks were big on human wisdom. Plato, Aristotle, etc.

God Hates Pride

1 Corinthians 1:26–31 NKJV

26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Everything that you have is from God. All your skills, talents, gifts, and wisdom all come from God almighty. You may have gone to school and done well for yourself, but it is only by God’s grace that you still have breath in your lungs. If you’re going to boast in anything, boast in the Lord. If you’re going to give anything glory, give glory to God. Stop disqualifying yourself because you’re not educated, strong, talented whatever. God just wants you to show up! He’ll take care of the rest.