"God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord!" (I Corinthians 1:9)
Paul begins his epistle to the Corinthians pretty much as he begins all his epistles--identifying himself as being "called as an apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the wlll of God"! To establish up-front his authority as an emissary of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there by God's appointment! Saying, in effect, "I'm an apostle! Listen to me! I'm speaking here with authority, and what I'm about to say (or write!) comes directly from Jesus Christ Himself by the will of God, for that's my calling"! This declaration was particularly important for this epistle because its message was "corrective" in nature! And so resisting him and his message, as they might be tempted to do, was the same as resisting God"! (So says Constable!)
Paul, an apostle? He wasn't one of "the 12," specifically chosen by Christ to be with Him during His earthly ministry and to whom He would entrust the establishment of the church! He wasn't there when Christ "comforted" His disciples by promising them (in John 14:8-17) that upon His death He would "ask the Father, and He would give them another Helper (the Holy Spirit), who would be with them forever;" nor when (in Matthew 28:18-20) He gave them the Great Commission; nor when He appeared to His disciples one last time, after the resurrection, promising that they would "receive power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them...and be My witnesses...;" nor when (in Acts 1:9-11) His disciples saw Him "ascending to heaven"! And, lastly, he wasn't there on the "day of Pentacost" (in Acts 2), which ushered in the "apostolic age!
Rather, he was a persecutor of the church that would be established! And Acts 9:1 says that "while he was still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord...on the road approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do"! You know the rest of the story! How a disciple named Ananias was told in a vision from God to minister to him! "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel"!
And so, Paul became an apostle! And the Scriptures confirm this!
In I Corinthians 9:1, Paul asks: "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you (the Corinthian believers) not my work in the Lord? ...For you are the seed of my apostleship!"
And in I Corinthians 15:8, after listing the ones to whom Christ appeared after His resurrection, he says, "...And last of all, as if to one untimely born, He appeared also to me!" But then goes on to say that he was "the least of the apostles, and not fit to be an apostle, because he persecuted the church"!
And so, along with introducing himself to the Corinthians, he also calls Sosthenes, "our brother"! Who was Sosthenes? Acts 18 indicates that he was at one point the leader of the synagogue in Corinth after Cripus, the former leader, had become a believer! Sosthenes apparently brought Paul before the judgment seat following the demands of the Jews, but was later "beaten" by them, after Gallio, the proconsul, threw out the case against Paul! Apparently Sosothenes didn't do the job of making the case! Then, interestingly, as MacArthur notes, by the time Paul writes I Corinthians, Sosthenes had become "a brother"! Wow! God works in wondrous ways!
Notice that Paul doesn't refer to the church which is in Corinth as "the church of the Corinthians," but as "the church of God which is at Corinth"! And he's not referring to the church as a building but as a "community of believers"! "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"! Wow!
"Saints"! One of Paul's favorite words, used 60 times in his epistles! Referring to all those who are "in Christ"! J. Vernon McGee says "all of mankind is divided between "saints" and "ain't"! MacAthur points out that we need to understand that there's a difference between someone's "position" and his "behavior"! Between his "standing" and his "state"! The Corinthians were saints and "holy," and "sanctified" because they believed in Christ, not by the way they lived! They had not yet made their life match their position! They had not yet become who they are!
And that explains why Paul is writing this epistle, and why beginning with verse 10 he begins to "exhort" them for living the way they were! They needed to become aware that the basis for the exhortations of their behavior was the fact that they were "saints"! They needed to be "de-corinthianized"! Or, as MacArthur puts it, "the fact of who we are is the premise upon which the word of God bases the fact of what we ought to be"!
So, be ready for next week's lesson, as Paul begins to "drop the hammer"! (So to speak!)
But before we get there, Paul writes about the "benefits--past, present, and future--of being saints! So the Corinthians (and all of us too!) would want to realize them! Paul writes in verses 4-9 (in the Phillips translation): "I am always thankful to God for what the gift of His grace in Christ Jesus has meant to you--how, as the Christian message has become established among you, He has enriched your whole lives, from the words on your lips to the understanding in your hearts. And you have been eager to receive His gifts during this time of waiting for His final appearance. He will keep you steadfast in the faith to the end, so that when His day come you need fear no condemnation. God is utterly dependable, and it is He who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord!"
What are the benefits of being a saint, according to this passage?
They come in three dimensions and cover all periods of our lives--past, present, and future! In the past, there's grace! In the present, there are gifts! And in the future, there are guarantees! Our past is forgiven, our present is taken care of, and in our future there are guarantees!
God's grace! Unmerited, and undeserved favor! "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one can boast!" (Ephesians 2:8-9) And why did He do it? Titus 2:14 says, "Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds"!
This grace equips us to do good deeds--in the present! Verses 5-7 says "that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech (utterance!) and knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are lacking in any gift..."!
Colossians 2:10 says, "...and in Him you have been made complete"! And II Peter 1:3 say, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godlines through the true knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence"!
And so Paul is telling the Corinthian believers that they have all that they needed to live a life pleasing to the Lord, and that by God's grace they were given (the gifts of) speech and knowledge in order to testify of their faith in Christ to others, and to edify the church! (The problem was that they were using the gifts they were given and this explains again why Paul will use the remaining epistle to "exhort" them to change!)
But the best is yet to come for the Corinthians, and for all the saints of God, in every place (verses 7b-8 say), as they "await 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..."
And how can we be sure? Verse 9 says (because!) "God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord"!
And that sets the scene and provides the basis for how Paul will pick up with His exhortations, beginning in verse 10--in next week's lesson!
Until then...
May God be with you all,
Lowell
Paul begins his epistle to the Corinthians pretty much as he begins all his epistles--identifying himself as being "called as an apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the wlll of God"! To establish up-front his authority as an emissary of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there by God's appointment! Saying, in effect, "I'm an apostle! Listen to me! I'm speaking here with authority, and what I'm about to say (or write!) comes directly from Jesus Christ Himself by the will of God, for that's my calling"! This declaration was particularly important for this epistle because its message was "corrective" in nature! And so resisting him and his message, as they might be tempted to do, was the same as resisting God"! (So says Constable!)
Paul, an apostle? He wasn't one of "the 12," specifically chosen by Christ to be with Him during His earthly ministry and to whom He would entrust the establishment of the church! He wasn't there when Christ "comforted" His disciples by promising them (in John 14:8-17) that upon His death He would "ask the Father, and He would give them another Helper (the Holy Spirit), who would be with them forever;" nor when (in Matthew 28:18-20) He gave them the Great Commission; nor when He appeared to His disciples one last time, after the resurrection, promising that they would "receive power when the Holy Spirit would come upon them...and be My witnesses...;" nor when (in Acts 1:9-11) His disciples saw Him "ascending to heaven"! And, lastly, he wasn't there on the "day of Pentacost" (in Acts 2), which ushered in the "apostolic age!
Rather, he was a persecutor of the church that would be established! And Acts 9:1 says that "while he was still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord...on the road approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do"! You know the rest of the story! How a disciple named Ananias was told in a vision from God to minister to him! "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel"!
And so, Paul became an apostle! And the Scriptures confirm this!
In I Corinthians 9:1, Paul asks: "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you (the Corinthian believers) not my work in the Lord? ...For you are the seed of my apostleship!"
And in I Corinthians 15:8, after listing the ones to whom Christ appeared after His resurrection, he says, "...And last of all, as if to one untimely born, He appeared also to me!" But then goes on to say that he was "the least of the apostles, and not fit to be an apostle, because he persecuted the church"!
And so, along with introducing himself to the Corinthians, he also calls Sosthenes, "our brother"! Who was Sosthenes? Acts 18 indicates that he was at one point the leader of the synagogue in Corinth after Cripus, the former leader, had become a believer! Sosthenes apparently brought Paul before the judgment seat following the demands of the Jews, but was later "beaten" by them, after Gallio, the proconsul, threw out the case against Paul! Apparently Sosothenes didn't do the job of making the case! Then, interestingly, as MacArthur notes, by the time Paul writes I Corinthians, Sosthenes had become "a brother"! Wow! God works in wondrous ways!
Notice that Paul doesn't refer to the church which is in Corinth as "the church of the Corinthians," but as "the church of God which is at Corinth"! And he's not referring to the church as a building but as a "community of believers"! "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"! Wow!
"Saints"! One of Paul's favorite words, used 60 times in his epistles! Referring to all those who are "in Christ"! J. Vernon McGee says "all of mankind is divided between "saints" and "ain't"! MacAthur points out that we need to understand that there's a difference between someone's "position" and his "behavior"! Between his "standing" and his "state"! The Corinthians were saints and "holy," and "sanctified" because they believed in Christ, not by the way they lived! They had not yet made their life match their position! They had not yet become who they are!
And that explains why Paul is writing this epistle, and why beginning with verse 10 he begins to "exhort" them for living the way they were! They needed to become aware that the basis for the exhortations of their behavior was the fact that they were "saints"! They needed to be "de-corinthianized"! Or, as MacArthur puts it, "the fact of who we are is the premise upon which the word of God bases the fact of what we ought to be"!
So, be ready for next week's lesson, as Paul begins to "drop the hammer"! (So to speak!)
But before we get there, Paul writes about the "benefits--past, present, and future--of being saints! So the Corinthians (and all of us too!) would want to realize them! Paul writes in verses 4-9 (in the Phillips translation): "I am always thankful to God for what the gift of His grace in Christ Jesus has meant to you--how, as the Christian message has become established among you, He has enriched your whole lives, from the words on your lips to the understanding in your hearts. And you have been eager to receive His gifts during this time of waiting for His final appearance. He will keep you steadfast in the faith to the end, so that when His day come you need fear no condemnation. God is utterly dependable, and it is He who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord!"
What are the benefits of being a saint, according to this passage?
They come in three dimensions and cover all periods of our lives--past, present, and future! In the past, there's grace! In the present, there are gifts! And in the future, there are guarantees! Our past is forgiven, our present is taken care of, and in our future there are guarantees!
God's grace! Unmerited, and undeserved favor! "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one can boast!" (Ephesians 2:8-9) And why did He do it? Titus 2:14 says, "Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds"!
This grace equips us to do good deeds--in the present! Verses 5-7 says "that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech (utterance!) and knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are lacking in any gift..."!
Colossians 2:10 says, "...and in Him you have been made complete"! And II Peter 1:3 say, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godlines through the true knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence"!
And so Paul is telling the Corinthian believers that they have all that they needed to live a life pleasing to the Lord, and that by God's grace they were given (the gifts of) speech and knowledge in order to testify of their faith in Christ to others, and to edify the church! (The problem was that they were using the gifts they were given and this explains again why Paul will use the remaining epistle to "exhort" them to change!)
But the best is yet to come for the Corinthians, and for all the saints of God, in every place (verses 7b-8 say), as they "await 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..."
And how can we be sure? Verse 9 says (because!) "God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord"!
And that sets the scene and provides the basis for how Paul will pick up with His exhortations, beginning in verse 10--in next week's lesson!
Until then...
May God be with you all,
Lowell
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