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First Corinthians

Background Information

•Paul is the author.

•He wrote it in 55 A.D. three years after his first visit to Corinth.

•Paul spent 18 months in Corinth.

•He supported himself by tent making.

•The church was founded on his second missionary journey

Background Information

•Paul reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue.

•Read Acts 18.4-5

•The Corinthian Church was probably at first a synagogue congregation.

•Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue was Paul’s first convert.

•Read Acts 18.8

Background Information

•The Jews got hostile with Paul and rejected the message.

•Sosthenes, one of the chief rulers of the synagogue was publicly flogged by a Greek mob.

•Read Acts 18.7

Background Information

•On his third missionary journey, Paul stayed in Ephesus.

•Read Acts 19.1

•Ephesus was only eight days journey by to the city of Corinth.

Background Information

•While in Ephesus, Paul got bad news about the church in Corinth.

•The bad news was that the church in Corinth was divided and broken into factions.

•There were quarrels and differences of opinion at the church in Corinth.

Background Information

•Due to the situation at Corinth, Paul decided to write a letter to the Corinthians.

•According to R. Dykes Shaw, the letter has three outstanding features.

–Warning against a factious spirit.

–Rules for a Christian conscience.

–The exaltation of the cross.

Background Information

•Corinth was a Greek city-state.

•Corinth is located 50 miles west of Athens.

•Corinth was a great commercial center.

•Corinth had a port on the east and one on the west.

Background Information

•Corinth was a prominent religious center with many temples.

•The most popular temple was in honor of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

•The worship of Aphrodite fostered immorality.

Background Information

•Due to its strategic location, Corinth acquired the best and worst of both Roman and Greek cultures.

•Corinth was a center for arts, crafts, and trade of every kind.

•Corinth was frequented by prostitutes, thieves, adventures, vagrants, and religious cultists.

Background Information

•Corinth was known as “sin city.”

•To act as a Corinthian was a synonym for gross immorality.

•To be “Corinthianized” was to be in the lowest state of moral corruption.

Open Your Bible to I Cor.

•Read I Corinthians 1.1-3

Discussion Question

•Why do you think Paul is mentioning his apostleship?

Paul the Apostle

•Paul mentions his apostleship to establish credibility and acceptance for his teaching.

•Paul’s apostleship is unique.

•Due to Paul’s apostleship being unique, it may have been questioned by some.

What is an apostle?

•Apostle comes from the Greek word apostello.

•Apostello means “a person sent.”

•The term apostle was used to refer to the 12 who followed Jesus.

What is an apostle?

•To be an apostle the following requirements needed to met:

–Been with Jesus

–Seen the risen Jesus

–Commissioned by Jesus

Discussion Question

•What do you think should be the requirements for becoming an ordained minister?

Sosthenes

•Read Acts 18.17

•The Sosthenes in Acts 18.7 is probably the same as the one joining Paul in writing the letter to the Corinthians.

•He was probably a Jew who converted to Christianity.

Sosthenes

•Paul calls Sosthenes brother.

•By calling him brother, Paul is probably giving the Corinthians a gentle reminder that the church needs the unity of a family.

Discussion Question

•How do you feel about calling others in the church brother or sister?

Discussion Questions

•How do we show each other that we are a family at Union Church?

•In what ways do we show the world around us that we are a family?

To The Church of God in Corinth

•The Greek term for church is ekklesia.

•An ekklesia in secular usage was an assembly or meeting of citizens gathered to decide matters of public interest.

•The term is used in the LXX (Greek translation of the Hebrew OT) for the “congregation of Israel.”

To The Church of God in Corinth

•Ekklesia as used in the NT always refers to people and not to a building.

•The early Christians did not have buildings.

•Buildings did come about until the fourth century AD.

To The Church of God in Corinth

•This phrase is probably establishing a connection of the local body of believers in Corinth with other believers in the church outside Corinth.

•It refers to the church universal.

To Those Sanctified in Christ Jesus

•Sanctification is the process of God setting us apart and makes us holy.

Called to be Holy

•Translated “called saints”

•Saint means “holy one”

Together with all those everywhere who call on the name

•With what should this phrase be connected?

–The sender?

–The recipient?

–The greeting in verse 3?

One Commentator’s Opinion

•It is best to identify it with verse 3

•“If he wishes grace and peace for the church at Corinth, so he does for believers elsewhere.”

Who Call on the Name?

•Read Romans 10.12-13

•Joel 3.5

Who Call on the Name?

•To call on the name is to put trust in that person.

•Example: I bought a H.P. laptop computer because I put trust in the name of H.P.

Grace and Peace

•Paul uses this same verse in his letters to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Romans.

•Read Ephes. 2.14

•Read Romans 5.1

Grace and Peace

•Grace is the foundation of our Christian experience.

•Peace is the outcome of God’s redemptive work on the cross.

•The source of grace and peace is God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Question

•How do you think an unbeliever would respond if you used the phrase “grace and peace” in your greeting in a letter, phone call, or personal conversation?

I Cor. 1.4-9

•After giving a greeting, Paul in his letters usually finds something to be thankful for.

•Paul is thankful for the people, the believers at Corinth.

Question

•If Paul were going to write a letter to Union Church, what do you think he would give thanks for at Union Church?

Prayer Life

•Verse four tells us about Paul’s prayer life.

•He regularly interceded for the believers at Corinth.

Question

•Other than Sunday morning, is there a time set aside for regular intercession for the friends and members of Union Church?

Rich

•Verse five can be translated as “made rich” or “enriched.”

Question

•In what ways do you think a believer is rich?

Read

•Read Rom. 2.4; 10.12; 11.33

Gifted People at Corinth

•Some people at Corinth were gifted in the area of speaking.

•Some people at Corinth were filled with knowledge.

•Knowledge refers to a body of Christian doctrine.

Preaching and Enrichment

•The little word “as” ties preaching and enrichment together.

Question

•In what ways do you find enrichment through hearing the Word preached?

Testimony of Christ

•The testimony of Christ refers to the gospel.

•Testimony means bear witness.

•The gospel bore witness to the deity of Jesus, his messiahship, and his death and resurrection.

Confirmed

•“Confirmed” means to establish.

•The gospel was established at Corinth in the hearts of the people who became believers.

•The believers were living proof of the reality of the gospel.

Gift

•The problems at Corinth were not due to a lack of spiritual gifts.

•It was the misuse of gifts that was the problem at Corinth.

Gift

•The Greek word translated as gift is “charisma.”

•“Charisma” means a gift freely given-one that was not deserved.

Gift

•“Charisma” may refer to spiritual gifts or it may refer to the gifts of God in general such as His love, kindness, and grace.

Waiting For Jesus

•Waiting for Jesus to be revealed.

•One commentator said: “The earnest expectation of the Lord Jesus became one of the marks of early Christian piety.

•Read John 14.3; Acts 1.11; II Pet. 3.12 Rev. 22.20-21

Be Revealed

•Be revealed means a disclosure, an unveiling of Christ.

•Christ will be revealed as Lord and as Judge of the world when he returns.

Day of the our Lord Jesus

•The day of our Lord Jesus is similar to the day of the Lord in the OT.

•Read Amos 5.18

Strong

•He will keep you strong.

•Strength comes from God and not from ourselves.

Question

•Think about a crisis or a difficult moment in your life.

•In what ways did God keep you strong through the crisis or difficult time?

Verse 9

•Compare verse 9 with Phil. 1.6

Effectual Call

•The Shorter Catechism: what is effectual calling? (Question 31)

•“the work of God’s Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered in the gospel.”

Fellowship with His Son

•To be partakers with the Son in his feelings, his sufferings, and his glory.”

•Read I Pet. 4.13; Rom. 8.17; Matt. 19.28; John 14.19

Perseverance of the Saints

•This verse teaches the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

•This doctrine tells us that our faith can withstand anything.

Blameless

•The Greek word for “blameless” does not mean perfect.

•It denotes those whom against whom there is no ground of accusation.

•Compare verse 8 with Ephes. 5.37

Question

•In what specific ways has God shown His faithfulness in your life? At Union Church?

Compare

•Compare with Phil. 1.6

Effectual Calling

•What is effectual calling?

•From the Shorter Catechism Question 31

•“the work of God’s Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered in the gospel.”

Fellowship With His Son

•To be partakers with the Son in his feelings, his sufferings, and his glory.

•I Pet. 4.13

•Rom. 8.17

•Matt. 19.28

•John 14.19

I Cor. 1.10-17

•“I  appeal” or “I beg” or “I beseech”

•Calvin says: “acting like a good experienced surgeon, who touches the wound gently when a painful remedy must be used, Paul begins to handle them more severely.”

In the Name of our Lord Jesus

•Matt. 7.22

•Phil. 2.9-10

•To appeal to the name of Jesus is to use the authority of Jesus

•Matt. 28.18

Brother

•By using the word “brother,” Paul is softening the rebuke.

•The rebuke comes not from vengeance, but it comes from love.

•The use of the word brother suggests how wrong their dissensions and divisions were.

Agreement

•Paul is seeking for the believers at Corinth to find agreement and stop their schisms.

Agreement and Calvin

•Calvin says: “For the most important principle of our religion is this, that we be in concord among ourselves. Moreover, on this agreement the safety of the church rests and depends.”

•Question: Do you agree or disagree?

United

•Paul asks for them to be united or knit together.

•The Greek word is a medical word for the joining together of bones that have been fractured or joints that have been dislocated.

Question

•Does being united mean that we agree on everything?

Chloe

•We do not know how Chloe was.

•Apparently, some members of Chloe’s household were believers.

•They traveled from Corinth to Ephesus.

Four Groups

•Paul identifies 4 groups or factions.

•Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ.

•The groups were using these names.

•The individuals had nothing to do with the quarrels.

•The names were used without the knowledge and consent of that person.

Group One

•Paul

•Probably a Gentile party using their Christian faith to turn liberty into license.

•Probably used Christianity as an excuse to do whatever they liked.

Group Two

•Cephas

•Probably Jews who were teaching that believers had to observe the law.

•Legalists

Group Three

•Apollos

•Eloquent Acts 18.24

•Jew from Alexandria

•Alexandria was the center of intellectual activity.

•Probably intellectualized Christianity

Group Four

•Christ

•Probably a group that was self righteous

•Probably claimed they were the only true group of Christians

Cause of Divisions

•Don’t know for sure.

•Probably personality cults

•Preferences for one preacher over another

Questions

•Is it good to show preferences?

Christ Divided

•If the church is divided, then Christ is divided.

•Divisions tear up the body of the church thus they tear up our Lord.

Question

•How would Paul have responded to all our denominations?

Paul Crucified

•Was Paul crucified for you?

•Obvious answer is “no.”

•Paul uses his name to make his point. He does not use the name of Apollos, or Cephas.

Baptism

•Baptism was not done in Paul’s name.

•Baptism is done in the name of Jesus.

•Acts 2.38; 8,16

•Baptism is done under the authority of Jesus. In baptism, we come under the authority of Jesus and property of Jesus.

Baptism

•Barclay says: “This phrase ‘into the name of’ implies absolute and utter possession.

Paul and Baptism

•Paul is glad that he only baptized a few people at Corinth because it would have given them a greater opportunity for misunderstanding which would cause more divisions.

Paul and His Calling

•Paul points out that his calling was not about baptism.

•The chief aspect of his calling was to preach.

Paul and Preaching

•Preaching was not to be done with eloquent words, but in simplicity under the power of the Holy Spirit.

•The cross is at the center of Paul’s preaching and ministry.

Eloquent Words

•If Paul would have preached with eloquent words, it would have diminished the power of the cross.

The Cross and Eloquent Words

•Barclay says: “To decorate the story of the cross with rhetoric and cleverness would have been to make men think more of the language than of the facts, more of the speaker than of the message.”

I Cor. 1.18-25

•The cross is at the center of Christianity.

•The message of the cross is foolishness in the eyes of the world.

•The Greek word for foolishness is “moros” from which we get our English word moron or moronic.

The Cross and Jews

•The cross is foolish in the eyes of Jews because anyone who died on a tree was accursed of God.

•Deut. 21.23

•Jews did not think of a suffering messiah.

The Cross and Jews

•The Jews were looking for a messiah that would deliver them from the Romans.

•Jesus did not seek to deliver the Jews from the power of Rome.

The Cross and Greeks

•The cross was foolishness to the Greeks.

•The Greeks saw God as “apatheia.”

•“Apatheia is more than apathy. It refers to the inability to feel.

•God must be incapable of feeling so that none may ever affect Him.

The Cross and Greeks

•A God who suffers is a contradiction in terms for a Greek.

•The idea of God in the flesh (incarnation) was revolting to the Greeks.

The Cross and Greeks

•Greeks seek wisdom.

•Christianity did not fit the mold for Greek understanding of wisdom.

•Preachers did not use eloquent words.

Two Groups

•Group One: those on the way to destruction who find the cross foolish

•Group two: those on the way to salvation who find the cross to be God’s power

•Rom. 1.16-17

Verse 19

•Read Isa. 29.14

•Paul uses the OT to show how wrong it is to accept the world’s view of the cross.

•The opinion of the world counts for nothing in the eyes of God.

•God will destroy the so called wisdom of this world

Verse 19

•Calvin says: “Paul makes use of this testimony of Isaiah’s in order to prove that the wisdom of this world is useless and valueless, when it lifts itself up against God.”

Verse 20

•Paul is taunting the notion that wisdom can be found in the world through the leading spoke persons of the world (the wise man, the scholar, the philosopher or debater)

Wise Man, Scholar, Philosopher

•Wise man: refers to the Greeks

•Scholar: Jewish teacher of the law

•Philosopher: one who uses human reason alone to discover God. Refers to bo

World’s Wisdom

•The world’s wisdom is really foolishness in God’s eyes.

•We can’t find God’s wisdom by going to the world.

•The wisdom of God is released in Christian preaching.

•The world calls preaching foolishness.

Who Switched the Price Tags?

•What the world counts as wisdom is really folly in God’s eyes.

•What the world counts as foolishness is really wisdom in God’s eyes.

Jews and Signs

•Jews seek signs.

•Read Mark 8.11-13

•Israel tempted the LORD

•Read Num. 14.11, 22

Question

•What is wrong with asking God for signs?

Greeks and Wisdom

•Greeks seeking wisdom means they seek out those who speculate about God through human reasoning.

•Christianity is not people speculating.

•Christianity is revelation: God in the flesh in Jesus Christ.

The Jews

•The Jews were looking for a messiah that would conquer the Romans.

•The Jews were looking for a messiah that would do spectacular things.

Christ Crucified

•The idea of a suffering messiah who dies on a cross was inconceivable to the Jews.

Stumbling Block

•That which causes one to stumble

•Often large stones were found on public roads and paths that caused people to stumble and fall.

•It might be like driving in PA and all our pot holes. 

•Stumbling block applied to Jesus Rom. 9.32-33; I Pet. 2.7-8

Christ Crucified

•To the Jew Christ crucified was a stumbling block.

•To the non Jew (Gentile) Christ crucified was foolishness.

•Crucifixion was reserved for the guilty and the lowest of criminals.

Jesus as a sacrifice

•The idea of Jesus as a sacrifice for sin was not something the Greeks could grasp.

•Despite these problems, God has his “chosen ones” in both categories (Jews and Gentiles).

Chosen Ones

•In the eyes of the chosen ones, Christ is the power of God.

•The Greek word for power is dunamis from which we get our English word dynamite.

•Christ is also the wisdom of God.

Verse 25

•“What Paul means is that God’s smallest, least significant thought is more worthwhile than the wisest plans of mankind. And God’s seemingly insignificant expression of his creative and providential power is greater and more effective than the mightiest thoughts and acts of men. He has complete control

Verse 25

•And fully accomplishes his purpose while the power, acts, and thoughts of men are in comparison nothing.”

Read I Cor. 1.26-31

I Cor. 1.26-31

•Verse 26 Paul speaks about the circumstances under which God has called his people.

•Not many were from the intellectual philosopher class

•Not many were from the politically powerful class

•Not many were from the upper level of society

Corinth and the Lower Class

•The church at Corinth included many from the lower class.

•There were 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire.

Corinth and the Lower Class

•“There is no doubt that Christianity spread rapidly among the lower classes and that this was part of its offensiveness.”

Question

•Why do you think Christianity spread rapidly among the lower class?

Verse 27

•God chose what appears to be foolish in order to shame what appears to be wise in the eyes of the world.

Verse 28

•Paul is referring to the lower level of society-the lower class.

•In the eyes of the world, slaves appear to be nothing.

The things that are

•The things that are or the people who appear to be important are nullified.

•Those who appear to be important can accomplish nothing for their own salvation because their wisdom, power, and importance are ineffective.

Boasting

•Instead of personal boasting, the chosen one must realize that salvation is all of God’s grace.

•All credit or praise belongs to God.

•Christ is true wisdom

•Wisdom is not found in eloquence or speculation. Christ is our true wisdom.

Christ

•Christ is also our righteousness.

•Read II Cor 5.21