Lessons #01 and 02
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Introduction
The epistle we are about to consider was written by Apostle Paul while in Ephesus to the church in Corinth. Corinth was a prosperous city because of its location as a place where the land route between East and West passed and so was an important commercial city with three seaports. This being the case, it had the problems associated with cities of great prosperity with seaports. In fact, as someone has suggested, it could be described as the New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas combined of the ancient world. At the time of this epistle, it was the third-largest city of the Roman Empire. Although it was surpassed in culture by Athens; nonetheless, it was a city of cultural diversity that hosted the biannual Isthmian games, which drew many people from across Greece. The flux of people into Corinth during this game required availability of tents to shelter them. The implication is that tent making was a lucrative trade in Corinth and may explain one of the reasons Apostle Paul went to stay with Aquila and his wife in his first trip to Corinth that led to the founding of the church in that city. The city was known for its adornment of the temples of their gods such as Aphrodite, Isis and Serapis, Artemis, to name a few. Not only did they have temples for these gods but they had different buildings for mystery religions such as the Eleusinian mysteries, and for Roman imperial cult worship. In addition, the city was infamous for its sexual immorality. The notoriety of the old city of Corinth for sexual immorality was reflected in a coined Greek word (korinthiazō) that means “to act like a Corinthian” that indicates that to act like a Corinthian was an idiom that means to commit fornication. Thus, the city was known for all kinds of vices of big commercial centers with sea port and for its idolatrous practices.
The church in Corinth was founded by Apostle Paul during his second missionary journey after he left Athens. When the apostle arrived in Corinth, he stayed with Aquilla and his wife Priscilla who were then expelled from Rome due to the edict issued by Claudius, according to Acts 18:1–3:
1After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 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 the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
As was the custom of the apostle to first preach the gospel to the Jews, he preached to them in the synagogue in Corinth but after they rejected the gospel he left them and turned his attention to the Gentiles in Corinth, as we can gather from Acts 18:5–7:
5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when the Jews 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 clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
Undoubtedly, the first members of the local church in Corinth were those converted through the preaching of the apostle. These members consisted mostly Gentiles and certainly some Jews, as implied in Acts 18:8:
Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
It was in this city that the Lord encouraged the apostle to continue preaching the gospel since no one would harm him. Consequently, he spent a year and a half preaching the gospel and teaching believers the word of God in Corinth, as stated in Acts 18:9–11:
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
Since the apostle spent a year and a half teaching the church, there should be no doubt that he taught them doctrinal truths of the Christian faith that in this epistle we should not be surprised that he asks the Corinthians questions that will imply that they forgot doctrinal truth he taught them. Anyway, it was in Corinth that the Jews also complained against the apostle to the Roman proconsul who refused to hear the case, according to Acts 18:12–17:
12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court. 13 “This man,” they charged, “is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” 14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. 15 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.” 16 So he had them ejected from the court. 17 Then they all turned on Sosthenes the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio showed no concern whatever.
After spending a year and a half, the apostle left Corinth with no further information given about the church. Our glimpse into the spiritual life of this church comes through the epistle we are about to study.
First Corinthians is the first of the four letters of the apostle to the Corinthians that probably were intended for the church of Christ at large although it was indeed his second letter to them, Second Corinthian being the other. From these two epistles to the Corinthians intended for the universal church of Christ, we deduce that the apostle wrote two other letters to this church in Corinth that are not preserved. A first letter of the apostle that was not preserved for the church is referenced in his instruction regarding how to deal with immoral persons in the local church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 5:9:
I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
The third letter of the apostle that was not preserved described by some as “letter of anguish” is mentioned in his fourth letter that is Second Corinthians, as we can gather from 2 Corinthians 2:2–4:
2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 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.
The letter the apostle referenced here is taken by most commentators as a letter not preserved for the church while a handful of commentators take this letter as preserved in whole or in part in chapters 10 through 13 of Second Corinthians or that the letter refers to First Corinthians. That notwithstanding, there is at least one of the letters of the apostle to the Corinthians that was not preserved for the universal church. We do not know with certainty the reason for not preserving one or two of these letters of the apostle to the Corinthians. However, we can be certain that it was not preserved because the Holy Spirit did not intend for these letters to belong to the universal church probably because they were intended to address problems that were unique to this local church that may not be faced by any future local church or because the doctrinal contents of these letters are taken up in other epistles of the apostle.
This epistle to the Corinthians that we are about to examine is one that conveys that the Lord is in control of all things on this planet whether good or bad for His own purpose even when we do not understand the things that happen. How is this book a support of the fact that the things that happen on this planet are in God’s plan for His purpose, you may ask? It is because without the problems in the church of Corinth, we would not have this epistle, and so we will not have a book that provides answers to some of the troubling situations that we face today in the Christian faith. Hence, it was necessary for the problems in Corinthian church to exist as part of God’s plan so that the Holy Spirit will provide the church answers to problems that would exist in history of the church on this planet that otherwise we would not have ways to handle. For example, we would not have a way of knowing that Christians should not take their fellow believers to court of unbelievers if such problem did not exist among believers in Corinth. The point is that although there were many problems in Corinth, they were part of God’s plan of working out His purpose for the church.
Be that as it may, the epistle was written to deal with moral and doctrinal issues that were present in the church of Christ in Corinth because of the influence of pagan practices on the Christian faith. The Corinthians were steeped in their culture so that when they became believers, they still had problems with separating themselves from cultural practices that are in conflict with the Christian faith. They had a hard time pulling away from their culture in many aspects of their lives. For example, how should they conduct themselves in relationship to food sacrificed to idols, especially during Isthmian games. Believers would have faced the problem of what to do with respect to the civic right that entitled them as citizens to enjoy the civic dinners given by the president of the games. They would know that the gods were celebrated during the games and the food eaten during that period was sacrificial food to the gods. Their problem is in a sense similar to what the evangelicals face in this country in that for the most part they find themselves in idolatry and do not recognize it. How you may ask? Well, it is in their blind support for any political party. When they identify themselves with a party they worship power rather than God, that is they become idolatrous. This may sound strange to you because many of us do not understand the true nature of idolatry as placing anything above God. Let me illustrate my point. There are situations where political candidates clearly act contrary to the Scripture or their immoral conducts are evidentially contrary to God’s word but the evangelicals support or excuse such candidates because they believe that such candidates will advance their agendas more than the opposing candidates who may not be as immoral as the other. When this happens then a believer has become idolatrous because he or she puts human ideology or political party over the Scripture, not to mention the fact that such a believer has put his or her trust on a human being instead of the Lord to solve human problems. The sad thing is that such a believer does not understand that no human being can straighten what God has made crooked as the Scripture declares in Ecclesiastes 7:13:
Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
The illustration I have given is one that many Christians in this country find themselves during elections that will be equivalent to what believers in Corinth faced during the Isthmian games in that they allow popular culture guide them instead of the truth of God’s word. In any event, this epistle provides answers to many problems that the Corinthian believers faced that are the ones we also face in modern Christianity. Thus, a study of this epistle and application of the truths found in it should enable us to handle some troubling problems in the Christian faith as we struggle to live in a culture that is increasingly antagonistic to the Christian faith.
The many epistles the apostle wrote to the Corinthians imply that they probably had more problems as a local church than the other local churches founded him. Their problems were those exasperated by their location in an affluent society of the ancient world. This epistle, therefore, is concerned with three things: moral issues, worship problems, and the gospel message with related doctrine of resurrection. With this understanding, let me give an overview of the epistle.
The local church in Corinth had members that were steeped in various sins that there is nothing to be thankful about them. Nonetheless, the apostle under the Holy Spirit after the standard salutation to the Corinthians as practiced in letters of the ancient, was able to be thankful to God for them not because of their lifestyle but because of God’s grace towards them manifested in His spiritual blessings to them that include the spiritual gifts the church has received from God. The salutation and the apostles’ thankfulness to God for the Corinthians are given in the first nine verses of the first chapter. Following these, the apostle proceeded to deal with the various problems of the church in Corinth
The first problem the apostle addressed in the church was that of division. He began with an appeal for unity before he even mentioned the problem of division in the church. This would have been strange to appeal for a solution to a problem that has not been clearly identified except that the Corinthians were already aware of the problem of division among them since some of their members from Chloe’s informed the apostle of it. To ensure the Corinthians he understood this problem of division, he described its nature as division that is centered on personalities with whom the Corinthians identified. Some of them identified with Apollos and others with himself but the apostle reminded them that they were baptized in the name of Christ and not in the name of these personalities they were drawn. To bolster this point, he reminded them that he only baptized a few of them so that no one could claim he was baptized in his name. Of course, the apostle conveyed to them that he was not in the ministry of water baptism but that of the preaching of the gospel. This problem of division with the apostle’s treatment of it is given in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17.
Apparently, the Corinthians were ridiculed by their pagan neighbors concerning the preaching of the apostle and his teaching to them while he established the church. Therefore, the apostle tackled the problem of his preaching, beginning with the fundamental message of the preaching of the cross of Christ in 1 Corinthian 1:18-25. The apostle understood the kind of ridicule the Corinthians contended with, so as a way of comforting them, he addressed how some perceive the gospel. He conveyed to them that unbelievers perceive the preaching of the cross as foolish, but they should know how powerful that message is because of the salvation that it brings which the Corinthians have experienced. Those who deride the preaching of the cross of Christ perceived it as foolish because they approach the preaching based on human wisdom. Hence, the apostle assured the Corinthians that the preaching of the gospel is superior to the wisdom of the world, especially as the wisdom of the world could not lead anyone to the true knowledge of God, something that the preaching of the cross does, leading to the salvation of those who believe the message. It is not only that unbelievers have wrong perception of the preaching of the cross but their assessment of it is faulty as indicated by the focus of the Jews on miraculous signs and of the Greeks on wisdom. Of course, the cross is quite troubling to both Jews and Gentiles when it should not be since its preaching reveals the description of Christ as both the wisdom and power of God and further reveals the superiority of God when compared to humans. The Corinthians are beneficiaries of God’s wisdom and power revealed through the preaching of the cross, that is, the preaching of Christ, in that they are in Christ giving them a special status before God. The apostle in effect reminds them and us of the special relationship we have with God. Everyone that has believed the message of the cross of Christ is indeed special and so if you are a believer you stand in a special relationship with the God of the universe.
Understanding of what a high privilege it is to be in Christ, may lead to boasting. Therefore, the apostle discoursed the matter of boasting in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. There is a wrong and right kind of boasting. The wrong kind of boasting is based on human achievements. This being the case, the apostle clearly conveyed to the Corinthians that they could not boast before God based on their human achievement, as many of them were not great as measured by the world’s standard. Besides, because God has done the unbelievable in which He used the preaching of the cross to bring about salvation that could not be achieved through human wisdom, He removed any basis for human boasting. Hence, what is left for believers is the right kind of boasting, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. In effect, you are not to boast of your status on this planet, but you should boast that you are in the Lord Jesus Christ because of God’s grace to you. You are the recipient of salvation that is given through the preaching of the cross of Christ as the Corinthians were. The implication is that it is what Christ has done for you should be the object of your boast.
The Apostle Paul’s preaching of the cross with his teaching of truth is directed to the Corinthians and so the apostle had to bring their attention to his preaching to them. It is this that he did in 1 Corinthians 2:1-16. They are two major concerns of the apostle regarding his preaching to the Corinthians. The first is concerned with its manner that the apostle addressed in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. He reminded the Corinthians that his preaching was not based on superior eloquence or wisdom that the Greek prided themselves about but that it was a demonstration of the Spirit’s power as he avoided anything that distracted from focusing on Christ crucified. The apostle was aware what some believers do not recognize, which is that the preaching of the word of God should involve fear with trembling, knowing that without the Spirit the most eloquent presentation of truth is ineffective. Anyway, understanding that it is the ministry of the Spirit that determines the effectiveness of a message from God should help the Corinthians not to focus on personality of the preacher of God’s word. This is something that many Christians should understand. God uses all kinds of personality to communicate His word and so no one should be hung up on such matters. Unfortunately, many Christians do not understand this truth so that they vow within themselves not to listen to a given teacher of the word of God because the person’s profile does not fit the one the individual has created regarding whom God would use. God’s ways are not our ways so what you may think concerning whom He should use to advance the truth would often not agree with His thought. That aside, the second concern of the apostle regarding his preaching or teaching directed to the Corinthians is that they understand it involved the secret wisdom revealed by the Holy Spirit as he discoursed in 1 Corinthians 1:12-16. He conveyed to the Corinthians that the truth he preached is one that not only involves secret wisdom revealed by the Holy Spirt but also one that can only be known by believers upon whom the Holy Spirit had acted so they could understand the truth conveyed to them. Those upon whom the Holy Spirit does not work to open their minds to the truth could not possibly understand the preaching of God’s truth. Therefore, it should not come to them, and to all of us, as surprise that unbelievers, no matter how educated or how intelligent they are, fail to comprehend the simple message of the gospel so that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them. The truth is that a person’s intelligence or lack of it has nothing to do with understanding of divine truth. Such understanding is the work of the Holy Spirit as He acts on an individual to help the person perceive the truth. In any event, the apostle wanted the Corinthians, and so all of us, to recognize that the preaching of the gospel does not depend on human eloquence or learning but upon the power and the working of the Holy Spirit as the word is preached.
Responding to the gospel message and initial teaching of God’s word, does not mean that a person has attained perfection or spiritual maturity. Therefore, the apostle addressed the problems of worldliness and various misunderstandings in the local church in Corinth, the same two problems that are present in any local church of our time. Worldliness in a local church makes it difficult to teach the word of God. Pastors in many local churches are unable to teach truth because their members, like the Corinthians, are worldly as evident in the partisanship in such local congregations. It happened in the case of the Corinthians, the partisanship centered around two personalities, Apollos and Paul. Thus, the apostle discussed the worldliness of the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4.
The misunderstandings of the Corinthians are addressed in 1 Corinthians 3:5-23. There are several kinds of misunderstanding that will cause problem in a local church, but the apostle focused on five of these. The first is failure to understand that only God is important in the church and not any person. The second is failure to understand that any meaningful activities in the spiritual life is centered on the Lord Jesus Christ since He is the foundation of the church. The third is a doctrinal failure of understanding that the church is God’s temple. The fourth is failure to understand that believers could enter self-deception of thinking that they are wise because they understand things of this life that do not help in understanding spiritual matters. For example, a person who is highly educated may think that such education means that the individual is wise spiritually when that is not necessarily the case. The fifth is failure to understand that it is improper to boast about personalities in a local church since all believers are in Christ and He is the one that is important, again being the foundation of the church.
We do not deny that believers in local churches often admire their pastors, but it is important to remember that they are stewards of Christ who appointed them to their office and their function. Thus, Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians that he and the other workers are stewards of Christ who are expected to be faithful in their assignment whose work should not be prejudged by the congregation as that is the prerogative of the Lord Jesus. This reminder is given in 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. Following this reminder, the apostle 1 Corinthians 4:6-21, not only forbids human boasting but uses himself as an example of the correct attitude believers should have, especially in the face of suffering. As a caring pastor, the apostle challenged Corinthians to imitate his example since he cares for their spiritual well-being for he was the one who led most of the members of that local church to Christ and so his concern for them as their spiritual father. Every pastor who is concerned about his local congregation has the burden of not only teaching but the burden of caring for their spiritual welfare in how he nurtures believers. This nurturing does not mean that a pastor should compromise the truth but that he should communicate the truth in a spirit of love.
A pastor’s concern and care for the local church involve addressing problems that he is made aware by any member of the local church, especially if the problem has the potential of rendering a local church ineffective. In other words, a pastor who is the steward of Christ should be careful in maintaining the purity of the local church as far as it depends on him. This means that sinful conducts among members that are obvious should not be swept under the rug as we say but should be addressed if the local church is to maintain spiritual purity. This point is derived from the next issues the apostle wrote in his first epistle to the Corinthians. The apostle received report of two behaviors that affect the purity of the local church. The first report concerns sexual immorality in the local church and the second concerns disputes among believers who end up in court before unbelievers. The apostle dealt with the first problem of sexual immorality by instructing the Corinthians on how to deal with it that involves discipline of the one who was guilty of such sin. Without revealing the source of his information, the apostle provided his instruction regarding the problem of sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13. He then moved to the second problem of disputes among believers in which some took their fellow believers to court. He argued that it was inappropriate to do so and in so doing provided the guideline believers should follow to settle dispute among them. His argument is given in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11. Then the apostle again returns to the first problem of sexual immorality specifying that believers should avoid it, as he described in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.
When a person is converted, such an individual will have many questions concerning how to conduct oneself because of the culture in which the person lives. In other words, when there is genuine conversion, there is a recognition that some of the general behavior of the individual’s society may not be appropriate for the new convert that understands of his or her new relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The Corinthians were no different, so they asked the apostle about two issues of concern in their society. The first is about marriage. Regardless of the society in which a believer lives, marriage is always going to be a concern for a believer. Thus, the apostle discussed the various problems related to marriage in 1 Corinthians 7:1-40. He discussed a reason to marry which is avoidance of sexual immorality in verse 1 and 2. Staying with the subject of sex, the apostle in verses 3 to 7 deals with sexual obligation in marriage. Because of the situation of the Corinthians with respect to the political climate as it impacts the Christian faith, the apostle lauds singleness in verse 8 and 9. This aside, some of those in the congregation who were married recognized that their spouses were unbelievers. This raised the question of what to do with such a marriage. Hence, in verses 10 to 16, the apostle discussed such a problem with the major demand of not separating from the unbelieving spouse unless the unbeliever does not want to remain in the marriage. Not to divorce the unbelieving spouse, implies that the believer should not be concerned with changing his or her present status which is elaborated by the apostle in verse 17-28. Of course, the apostle recognized that the Corinthians would not understand the reason he praised singleness, so he returned to the subject of singleness by describing its wisdom and further recommendation to those who want to marry in verse 29-40.
The second nagging question of the Corinthians concerns idolatry. We can understand this because the Corinthian society was steeped in idolatry. The implication is that the practices associated with idolatry permeated the society. This would mean that virtually everything in the society is affected by idolatry. This would create problem to those who are believers. One such problem involves eating of food or meat that was sacrificed to idols. Apparently, meat that was available for public consumption was one that was offered to idols before being sold. In this case, there is the problem as to whether the believer should eat such meat or not. Believers who understood that idols are nothing had no problem in eating this meat, so the apostle cautioned those who do regarding their use of their knowledge in 1 Corinthians 8:1-7. He informed them that they should be concerned for the weak believers among them as he wrote in verses 8-13. This concern, of course, involves forgoing one’s right in order to help a weak believer, something that we modern believers probably are not aware or do not practice.
As in every congregation of believers in Christ, there were some among the Corinthians that were not pleased with the apostle that they questioned his rights as an apostle. Therefore, the apostle discussed his rights as an apostle, especially, as it pertains financial support in 1 Corinthians 9:1-14. The apostle, of course, did not receive support as such from the Corinthians although he had the right to do so. Hence, he used his refusal of support from them as an example of a kind of self-discipline that is necessary to be victorious in the spiritual life as he discoursed in verses 15 to 24.
After referring to his example of self-discipline, the apostle returned to the subject of idolatry this time with a different focus. His focus was on Israel’s example that he discussed in 1 Corinthians 10:1-22. He was eager to assert that Israel’s experience with idolatry and what happened to them, especially, in the desert as they journeyed to Canaan is one that believers should pay attention since what they experienced should teach believers to avoid idolatry. It is possible to think that if a person is not involved in idolatry that such a person could do whatever the individual pleases. To ensure that there is no misunderstanding of what is permissible to the believer, the apostle discussed what freedom in Christ is about in 1 Corinthians 10:23-33.
There is a sense we can say that so far in the summary of this epistle the apostle had been dealing with moral issues or matters that affect the purity of the local church in Corinth, but these are not the only problems that a local church confronts, especially, the church in Corinth. Therefore, the Holy Spirit turns the attention of the apostle to the problems of worship that for the most part are the same problems that the church of Christ still faces at present time. There were three areas of problems of worship in the local church in Corinth that are still problems to the church although not necessarily in the same fashion.
A first problem in worship in the local church in Corinth concerns head covering that the apostle discussed in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. The problem of head covering seems not to be of great concern among believers in the West but that cannot be said of believers in other parts of the world that have problems with this matter in that if women do not have a head covering during worship they may be considered not spiritual or in violation of scriptural instruction. The apostle, of course, did not immediately address the issue of head covering. Instead he began with a praise to the local church in Corinth for holding on to the tradition they received from him that is not the ordinary tradition of the type passed from one generation to another in a given culture but that of the truth of the gospel. This praise is given in verses 1 and 2 of the eleventh chapter. This is followed by a discussion of the significance of head covering in verses 3 to 15 with a final verdict concerning the matter in verse 16.
A second problem in worship in the local church in Corinth that was a concern to the apostle is that of the Lord’s Supper. The celebration of the Lord’s supper is still a problem in the church today. There is the problem of how often it is to be celebrated and who is qualified to celebrate it. Thus, we find, for example, that some local churches have what they describe as closed communion service in which only the baptized members of their local church would be allowed to participate in it while others permit any believer in Christ to participate regardless of their denominational affiliation with the understanding that all believers are commanded to celebrate the ritual. This aside, the apostle did not per se deal with this last issue, but his concern was primarily the problem of abuse of the celebration that was taking place in the local church in Corinth. Therefore, the apostle wrote a stinging rebuke to them as how they have failed to practice the ceremony in the right spirit that the Lord of the Jesus intended. This rebuke is given in verses 17 to 22 of 1 Corinthian 11. Following the rebuke, the apostle gave instruction concerning proper practice of the ceremony in verses 23 to 34 that certainly involves that a believer who participates in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper should be mindful of his or her spiritual life. Being mindful of one’s spiritual life involves monitoring of the condition of one’s soul as it relates to the matter of sin.
A third problem in worship in the church in Corinth is regarding to spiritual gifts. Without doubt, the problem of spiritual gifts is one that continues to exist in the church and would probably continue until the return of the Lord of church. Apparently, the concern about spiritual gifts is one that caused most problem in the local church in Corinth than the other two problems of head covering and the Lord’s Supper. We say this because of the space the apostle devoted to dealing with this problem in this epistle. In fact, no other subject in this epistle took more space in addressing than it. This, we can learn from the fact that using the English translation, we find that the apostle devoted 84 verses to deal with the problem, no other single problem takes this much space in the epistle. The apostle first wrote regarding the existence of different spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. This was followed by the acknowledgment of the unity in the diversity of spiritual gifts as well as in the body of Christ in verses 12-26. Then the apostle in verses 27-31 listed some of the offices in the church, some of which could be directly related to the different spiritual gifts the apostle already mentioned, like the office of prophets that correspond the gift of prophecy. But the apostle mentioned the office of the apostles that cannot be identified with a specific spiritual gift. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit through the apostle indicates that there are spiritual gifts that are more beneficial to a local church in time of worship than others. These gifts are the ones the apostle encouraged the church to desire. Even then, the Holy Spirit knowing the attitude of many in the church of Corinth directed the apostle’s attention to the topic of love as a more excellent pursuit for the church. It would appear that some of those who had the gift of speaking in tongues boasted about it to the point that those without it resented them. In effect, their attitude is similar to that we see among Christians today towards their fellow believers who claim to have the gift of speaking in tongues in the vilification or labeling of such believers with names intended to demean them. Therefore, the apostle described how exercise of love is more excellent over the exercise of other spiritual gifts. This he did in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. The topic of love is one that is not easy to define so the apostle did not so much define love as to give its characteristics both negatively and positively in verses 4 to 7. Of course, the characteristics of love the apostle gave, implies that the kind of love he meant in his epistle is not the ordinary love that people assert they have because they have an emotional regard for someone. No! The love he described that its exercise is more excellent than the exercise of other spiritual gifts is that love that is produced by the Holy Spirit. For some of the positive characteristics of patience and kindness he mentioned are both the facets of the fruit of the Spirit that the apostle listed in the fifth chapter of his epistle to the Galatians. That aside, the apostle compared love to the gift of speaking in tongues to indicate that love is more permanent than the exercise of the gift of tongue as he described in 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 which is a passage that today is central to the debate among scholars regarding the cessation or non-cessation of the gift of tongues or other miraculous gifts. Certainly, the gift of speaking in tongues caused so much problem in the church in Corinth, as it is today, that the apostle after discoursing on the excellence of love returned to focus specifically on the problems associated with speaking in tongues that about half the space the apostle devoted to the problem of spiritual gifts was used to deal with the problem of speaking in tongues. His approach to the problem of speaking in tongues involved two things. The first is the comparison of speaking in tongues to the exercise of gift of prophecy. This he did in 1 Corinthians 14:1-25. The second concerned the regulation of both the exercise of the gift of tongues and prophecy during worship in verse 26 to 40.
The apostle having discussed the problems of worship, especially that of the exercise of spiritual gifts, proceeds to deal with an important subject that is at the heart of the Christian faith. No one becomes a Christian without hearing and responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the apostle then described the gospel message he preached as well as the grace of God that enables him to do so in 1 Corinthian 15:1-10. The most central issue of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ is His resurrection from the dead. Without Jesus’ resurrection then we would have no gospel message. Apparently, there were those who had trouble with the concept of resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in Corinth since the learned Greeks found such a concept unbelievable as in the response of the philosophers the apostle reasoned with in Athens, according to Acts 17:18–20:
18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
Therefore, the apostle dealt with the subject of resurrection more extensively in this epistle than any other epistle, devoting great space to treat it. In fact, the space devoted to the subject of resurrection is second only to that of spiritual gifts since the apostle discoursed it in 48 verses compared to the 40 verses devoted to the consideration of the subject of marriage. It is not difficult to understand the space the apostle devoted to the subject matter of resurrection because it is the foundation of the Christian faith or message. Remove resurrection, the Christian faith crumbles. We are saying that without resurrection the Christian faith reduces to the level of any of the religions of this world. It is the fact of resurrection that sets apart the Christian religion, as the term is used, from the world religions. Hence, it was important for the apostle to vehemently defend the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The apostle’s discourse of the subject of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 is, no doubt, extensive but it is also a demonstration of the wisdom God gave him in accordance with the testimony of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Peter about the writings of Apostle Paul, as we read in 2 Peter 3:15:
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
Apostle Paul began his discourse of resurrection with the consideration of the implications of the denial of resurrection of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:11-19. This was followed by a teaching regarding the order in resurrection, where Jesus Christ is described as the first fruits of all who have fallen asleep. This order is discussed in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. Then, the apostle returned to consider implications of denial of the concept of general resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:29-34. The apostle ended his discourse of resurrection by handling of the questions about resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.
Having discoursed the burning issues of moral conduct, worship, and resurrection, the apostle ends his epistle with final matters. The first of these concerns the collection of gifts for the saints in Judea referenced in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4. The second is about the apostle’s travel plans and his associates, Timothy and Apollos that he presented in 1 Corinthians 16:5-12. Then he gave his final exhortation to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 16:13-18. Finally, the apostle ends his epistle with greetings and benediction in 1 Corinthians 16:19-24.
We have given the summary of the epistle so that we are ready to begin our detail consideration of it. But before we do, it is important to recognize that the epistle itself is one that reveals pastoral concern of the apostle. He was troubled about the spiritual life of the local church in Corinth that he did not withhold any truth that will enable them to grow spiritually or deal with their problems. Therefore, it is my hope that we all can learn together the various truths given in the book so that our local church will not be guilty of the same kind of problems that vexed the apostle regarding the church in Corinth. May the God help us to navigate through this epistle in a way to honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
12/01/17