Welcome fellow-MOBsters to our study of I Corinthians!
So why, you might ask, should we be involved together in studying the book of I Corinthians?
Well, most basically, because it's God's inspired Word--II Timothy 3:16-17 says, specifically "breathed out" and revealed to us, and for us, by God through holy men of God who spoke as they were "moved" by the Holy Spirit! And "profitable" (as KJV puts it!) for "doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect (meaning "mature"), thoroughly furnished unto all good works"! The Phillip's translation says "the Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for resetting the direction of a man's life and training him in good living...the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his work"! And so, the inspired Word of God is "profitable"! "Useful!" And, although not specifically cited, necessary! We couldn't do without it!
The apostle Peter wrote (in II Peter 1:16-17): "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to HIm by the Majestic Glory, 'This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased'--and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain! So, we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God!"
And so, why should we, as MOBsters, study and share together His Word? Hebrews 10:223-25 say: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deed, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as we see the day drawing near"! We meet together as "brothers"!
And what better book of the Bible to study--for such a time as this--than the book of I Corinthians which was written by the apostle Paul "to the church which is at Corinth," specifically to address various questions and issues which concerned early believers, some of whom required "reproof and correction," which would prove "useful" to them, for training them in how to live! Questions and issues which have confronted and challenged believers (and the Christian church) down through the ages, and which are relevant, and even moreso for consideration by believers (and the Christian church!) in our day!
So, what do we know about the city of Corinth during the time of Paul, that provides the context for his epistle?
So, what do we know about the founding of the church of Corinth? Acts 18 describes in some detail, how the apostle Paul first arrived in Corinth on his second missionary journey, meeting and staying with Aquila and Priscilla who, like himself, were tentmakers by trade, but also committed believers! Verse 4 describes Paul "reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks," and verse 5 says that "when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ"! He spent a year and a half there preaching the gospel, and "many believed and were baptized, including Crispus, the leader of the synagogue"! And the church was established and thrived! But not without great opposition from the Jews, who (verse 12 says) "with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, while Gallio was proconsul at Achaia." Accusing him of "persuading men to worship God contrary to the law"! Paul must have been discouraged, even tempted to leave, but verse 9 says "the Lord appeared to him in a night vision and said, 'Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city"! Wow!
Paul would eventually leave Corinth and take Aquila and Priscilla with him back to Ephesus, where they would meet Apollus, "an eloquent man" who had been a follower of John the Baptist, and who (Acts 18:24-26 says) "after having been taken aside and had the way of the Lord explained to him more clearly (by Aquila and Priscilla!) became "mighty in the Scriptures"--and would follow Paul and become the second teacher/preacher of the church of Corinth!
It was from Ephesus that Paul would later write the epistle of I Corinthians! What, you might ask, was the occasion and purpose for Paul's writing? I Corinthians 1:11 says that he had been informed "by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you,with some of you saying, 'I am of Paul,' and others, 'I am of Apollos,' and 'I of Cephas,' and 'I of Christ!' Has Christ been divided?" Paul asks!" In addition, various passages indicate that he also wrote his first epistle to address certain specific issues that the Corinthians themselves had written to him about, e.g, concerning marriage, in I Corinthians 7; about "eating things offered to idols," in chapter 8; and about spiritual gifts, in chapter 12! And more! (Paul, the man! The pastor! The apostle would come to "resemble the pastor/teacher faced with the care of the church on the firing line of Christian warfare," the Bible commentator, S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. wrote!)
And so it was obviously written to address problems and issues in the church, with a major emphasis on "reproof and correction, along with training in Christian living," rather than on doctrine (as emphasized in Romans and Galatians)! Concerned first and foremost with "ecclesiology"! (John Neal said that "church life can become a messy business"!)
But what's the overall theme of I Corinthians?
Constable writes that one phrase in Corinthians 1:2 suggests the basic theme of the book, that being "the church of God which is at Corinth"! The church of God, composed of "believers"! And the city of Corinth, characterizing "the world"! Two distinct and opposing entities with which the whole epistle deals!
Constable goes on to write: "The church of God is a community of people who share the life of God, are under the governing will of God, and cooperate in the work of God! The city of Corinth was ignorant of the life of God, governed by self-will, and antagonistic to the purposes of God! These two entities stand in vivid contrast to one another and account, Constable maintains, for the conflict that we find in the epistle"!
Constable further notes that the "atmosphere" of the epistle is Paul's concept of the responsibilities of the church in the city. The church was commissioned to carry the gospel to the city--to "invade" the city--but because it was a "carnal" church, the "spirit of the city," and the Corinthian cultural influence of intellectual influence, instead, invaded the church! Intellectual permissiveness led to the lowering of moral standards, and with the extreme immorality of the culture, and the unsaved citizens caught up with the worship of Aphrodite on the mountain, which they viewed as perfectly acceptable conduct, there developed a "live and let live" philosophy which characterized the city but, sadly, even crept into the church! The church always fails, Constable writes, "when it becomes conformed to the maxims, methods, and manners of the city (or the world!) in which it lives! But it succeeds when it stands separate from the city and touches it with its supernatural healing life"!
MacArthur similarly notes that "the most serious problem of the Corithian church was "worldliness, and an unwillingness to divorce the culture around them; and that many of the believers could not consistently separate themselves from their old, selfish, immoral, and pagan ways"! Which was why Paul found it necessary to write to correct this, as well as to command the faithful Christians not only to break fellowship with the disobedient and unrepentant members, but to put them out of the church!
And so, while the major thrust of this epistle is on "reproof and correction," rather than on doctrine, Paul (according to MacArthur) "gives seminal teaching on many doctrines that directly relate to the matters of sin and righteousness," recognizing that "wrong living results from wrong belief. Sexual sins, for example, including divorce are inevitably related to disobeying God's plan for marriage and the family; and proper worship is determined by such things as recognition of God's holy character, the spiritual identity of the church, and pure partaking of the Lord's supper"! As we'll discover, Paul will also emphasize "the message of the cross" (which the Corinthian church apparently had abandoned), divine versus human wisdom, the work of the Holy Spirit, sanctification of believers, spiritual gifts, the theology of love, and the doctrine of the resurrection, among other topics! All of which "establish foundational truth for godly behavior"!
Constable ends his commentary with a fitting challenge! "We live in a cultural climate very similar to the one in which the Corinthian church lived. It's a culture characterized by intellectual pluralism, situational ethics, and personal selfishness! We face the same challenge the Corinthian believers did. Consequently, what this epistle reveals is extremely relevant for us! We have responsibility for how people in our city think, how they live, how they behave, and whom they glorify! What they need is the message of the cross delivered in the power of the resurrection! This is the message of hope that "the city" needs to hear! Consequently we need to be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord!"
One more thing! I Corinthians has some great verses that address many of the key issues and concerns that faced the church of Corinth, and that are just as relevant in our day as they were in Paul's day! Verses that we'll be citing in our study, which are well worth memorizing, and which we'd do well to commit to living by! To list a few (Forgive my exclamation marks! They do have a purpose!):
May God be with you all til we meet again!
Lowell
So why, you might ask, should we be involved together in studying the book of I Corinthians?
Well, most basically, because it's God's inspired Word--II Timothy 3:16-17 says, specifically "breathed out" and revealed to us, and for us, by God through holy men of God who spoke as they were "moved" by the Holy Spirit! And "profitable" (as KJV puts it!) for "doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect (meaning "mature"), thoroughly furnished unto all good works"! The Phillip's translation says "the Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching the faith and correcting error, for resetting the direction of a man's life and training him in good living...the comprehensive equipment of the man of God, and fit him fully for all branches of his work"! And so, the inspired Word of God is "profitable"! "Useful!" And, although not specifically cited, necessary! We couldn't do without it!
The apostle Peter wrote (in II Peter 1:16-17): "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to HIm by the Majestic Glory, 'This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased'--and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain! So, we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God!"
And so, why should we, as MOBsters, study and share together His Word? Hebrews 10:223-25 say: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deed, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as we see the day drawing near"! We meet together as "brothers"!
And what better book of the Bible to study--for such a time as this--than the book of I Corinthians which was written by the apostle Paul "to the church which is at Corinth," specifically to address various questions and issues which concerned early believers, some of whom required "reproof and correction," which would prove "useful" to them, for training them in how to live! Questions and issues which have confronted and challenged believers (and the Christian church) down through the ages, and which are relevant, and even moreso for consideration by believers (and the Christian church!) in our day!
So, what do we know about the city of Corinth during the time of Paul, that provides the context for his epistle?
- The city of Corinth was located on a high plateau on a narrow strip of land, called an "isthmus," on the southwest part of Greece, about 40 miles west of Athens.
- It was a thriving, prosperous, strategically-located city in New Testament times!
- All north and south overland traffic, including that to and from Athens, had to pass through Corinth, and through its harbors flowed the commerce of the world, leading it to prosper as a major commercial center not only for most of Greece, but for much of the Mediterranean area, including North Africa, Italy, and Asia Minor!
- The Isthmian games, sponsored by Corinth, and held in the city were one of the two most famous athletic events of that day, the other being the Olympics!
- The Acropolis, with its famous temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, stood on a 2,000 foot high mound overlooking the city and became the center for pagan worship--housing, we're told, a thousand priestesses, ritual prostitutes, who each night, came down into the city to ply their trade with foreign visitors and local men!
- All causing great human trafficking, and resulting in the adoption of the vices of the world, and in a Corinthian culture so morally corrupt that its name became synonomous with debauchery and moral depravity!
- And so, to "corinthianize" came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery!
So, what do we know about the founding of the church of Corinth? Acts 18 describes in some detail, how the apostle Paul first arrived in Corinth on his second missionary journey, meeting and staying with Aquila and Priscilla who, like himself, were tentmakers by trade, but also committed believers! Verse 4 describes Paul "reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks," and verse 5 says that "when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ"! He spent a year and a half there preaching the gospel, and "many believed and were baptized, including Crispus, the leader of the synagogue"! And the church was established and thrived! But not without great opposition from the Jews, who (verse 12 says) "with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, while Gallio was proconsul at Achaia." Accusing him of "persuading men to worship God contrary to the law"! Paul must have been discouraged, even tempted to leave, but verse 9 says "the Lord appeared to him in a night vision and said, 'Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city"! Wow!
Paul would eventually leave Corinth and take Aquila and Priscilla with him back to Ephesus, where they would meet Apollus, "an eloquent man" who had been a follower of John the Baptist, and who (Acts 18:24-26 says) "after having been taken aside and had the way of the Lord explained to him more clearly (by Aquila and Priscilla!) became "mighty in the Scriptures"--and would follow Paul and become the second teacher/preacher of the church of Corinth!
It was from Ephesus that Paul would later write the epistle of I Corinthians! What, you might ask, was the occasion and purpose for Paul's writing? I Corinthians 1:11 says that he had been informed "by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you,with some of you saying, 'I am of Paul,' and others, 'I am of Apollos,' and 'I of Cephas,' and 'I of Christ!' Has Christ been divided?" Paul asks!" In addition, various passages indicate that he also wrote his first epistle to address certain specific issues that the Corinthians themselves had written to him about, e.g, concerning marriage, in I Corinthians 7; about "eating things offered to idols," in chapter 8; and about spiritual gifts, in chapter 12! And more! (Paul, the man! The pastor! The apostle would come to "resemble the pastor/teacher faced with the care of the church on the firing line of Christian warfare," the Bible commentator, S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. wrote!)
And so it was obviously written to address problems and issues in the church, with a major emphasis on "reproof and correction, along with training in Christian living," rather than on doctrine (as emphasized in Romans and Galatians)! Concerned first and foremost with "ecclesiology"! (John Neal said that "church life can become a messy business"!)
But what's the overall theme of I Corinthians?
Constable writes that one phrase in Corinthians 1:2 suggests the basic theme of the book, that being "the church of God which is at Corinth"! The church of God, composed of "believers"! And the city of Corinth, characterizing "the world"! Two distinct and opposing entities with which the whole epistle deals!
Constable goes on to write: "The church of God is a community of people who share the life of God, are under the governing will of God, and cooperate in the work of God! The city of Corinth was ignorant of the life of God, governed by self-will, and antagonistic to the purposes of God! These two entities stand in vivid contrast to one another and account, Constable maintains, for the conflict that we find in the epistle"!
Constable further notes that the "atmosphere" of the epistle is Paul's concept of the responsibilities of the church in the city. The church was commissioned to carry the gospel to the city--to "invade" the city--but because it was a "carnal" church, the "spirit of the city," and the Corinthian cultural influence of intellectual influence, instead, invaded the church! Intellectual permissiveness led to the lowering of moral standards, and with the extreme immorality of the culture, and the unsaved citizens caught up with the worship of Aphrodite on the mountain, which they viewed as perfectly acceptable conduct, there developed a "live and let live" philosophy which characterized the city but, sadly, even crept into the church! The church always fails, Constable writes, "when it becomes conformed to the maxims, methods, and manners of the city (or the world!) in which it lives! But it succeeds when it stands separate from the city and touches it with its supernatural healing life"!
MacArthur similarly notes that "the most serious problem of the Corithian church was "worldliness, and an unwillingness to divorce the culture around them; and that many of the believers could not consistently separate themselves from their old, selfish, immoral, and pagan ways"! Which was why Paul found it necessary to write to correct this, as well as to command the faithful Christians not only to break fellowship with the disobedient and unrepentant members, but to put them out of the church!
And so, while the major thrust of this epistle is on "reproof and correction," rather than on doctrine, Paul (according to MacArthur) "gives seminal teaching on many doctrines that directly relate to the matters of sin and righteousness," recognizing that "wrong living results from wrong belief. Sexual sins, for example, including divorce are inevitably related to disobeying God's plan for marriage and the family; and proper worship is determined by such things as recognition of God's holy character, the spiritual identity of the church, and pure partaking of the Lord's supper"! As we'll discover, Paul will also emphasize "the message of the cross" (which the Corinthian church apparently had abandoned), divine versus human wisdom, the work of the Holy Spirit, sanctification of believers, spiritual gifts, the theology of love, and the doctrine of the resurrection, among other topics! All of which "establish foundational truth for godly behavior"!
Constable ends his commentary with a fitting challenge! "We live in a cultural climate very similar to the one in which the Corinthian church lived. It's a culture characterized by intellectual pluralism, situational ethics, and personal selfishness! We face the same challenge the Corinthian believers did. Consequently, what this epistle reveals is extremely relevant for us! We have responsibility for how people in our city think, how they live, how they behave, and whom they glorify! What they need is the message of the cross delivered in the power of the resurrection! This is the message of hope that "the city" needs to hear! Consequently we need to be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord!"
One more thing! I Corinthians has some great verses that address many of the key issues and concerns that faced the church of Corinth, and that are just as relevant in our day as they were in Paul's day! Verses that we'll be citing in our study, which are well worth memorizing, and which we'd do well to commit to living by! To list a few (Forgive my exclamation marks! They do have a purpose!):
- I Corinthians 3:16--"Do you not know that you are a God's temple and and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple!"
- I Corinthians 6:18-20--"Flee from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body! Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God! You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body!"
- I Corinthians 10:12-13--"Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed that lest he fall! No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it!"
- I Corinthians 13:13--"But now faith, hope, and love abide; these three, but the greatest of these is love!"
- I Corinthians 15:20-22--"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead! For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive!"
- I Corinthians 15:57-58--"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain!"
May God be with you all til we meet again!
Lowell
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