Making Sense of 1st Corinthians CH1
We’ve been in a series called “Making Sense of the Bible” since the beginning of the year, and we’re going to keep it going. Up to this point, we’ve been in what we call the Old Testament—although from the perspective of people who know about Jesus and the Gospel. We don’t forget about the New Testament when we read the Old. Jesus says over and over that He is the fulfillment of the Scriptures, and when Jesus or anyone in the New Testament refers to the Scriptures, they’re talking about the Old Testament. For Jesus and all the early Christians, the 39 books of the Old Testament were the Bible.
But since Good Friday and Easter were last week, when we celebrated the cross and the resurrection—the central event in history, the institution of the new covenant between God and man. The New Testament. I thought we’d hang out in the 27 books of the New Testament for a while.
To get a handle on it, here’s a brief overview: It’s four biographies of Jesus, we call them the “Gospels,” and one brief history of the early church after the resurrection—it follows Peter for a few chapters and then Paul for the rest of the book, as they take the message of Jesus from Jerusalem to the rest of the world. Those five books tell the story of how Jesus saves the world and what the first believers did in response.
The rest of the New Testament isn’t in story form. It’s made up of letters that were written to some of the churches that were planted in those first few years. Letters that were written by eyewitnesses of Jesus: a couple of HIs disciples—Peter and John, two of Jesus’ half-brothers—James and Jude, and 13 letters by a former Jewish leader named Paul who was trying to destroy Christianity until Jesus, who was supposed to be dead but was very much alive, how He showed up in person and changed Paul’s mind. After that, Paul becomes the most important leader in the church, taking the message of the Gospel to the whole Roman Empire. I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say we owe our knowledge of salvation to him.
So, today we’re going to start looking at one of his letters. The way this would have worked back then, Paul would write a letter to be read out loud to the congregation when they gathered for worship. Sometimes he’s writing from prison, sometimes while he’s making extended visits to the churches he had started. Maybe someone would show up and let him know what was going on in the church at Ephesus, or Colossae, or Philippi, or in today’s case—Corinth. He’d send a letter addressing whatever concerns they told him about. In the case of 1st Corinthians, he’s also answering a bunch of questions they had asked him.
These letters were written to a specific group of people in a particular place in a very different culture and time. They don’t always translate neatly to our day. Still, they are the inspired Word of God, handed down through the ages so we can understand who we are in Christ.
Did Paul know he was writing Scripture when he wrote these letters? Probably not. Did the church consider them to be on the same level as Scripture when they read them? Actually, yes.
One of the Twelve Disciples, the most outspoken and stubborn one, the clear leader of the Apostles after Jesus came back from the dead and ascended to heaven, was Peter. What do you think Peter thought of those letters Paul wrote to the churches?
2nd Peter 3:16,
“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. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:15–16
Paul might be hard to understand, ignorant and unstable people might distort his words—just like they do with the “other Scriptures.”
Peter and the rest of the early church considered Paul’s letters to be on the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures. So, we do too.
Within 20 years or so of the Resurrection, there is evidence that the four Gospels and the 13 letters of Paul were collected in a codex, an early prototype of a book, and were being read in Christian worship. It would be about four hundred years before all the churches agreed on the order and inclusion of the other nine or ten books, but the Gospels and letters of Paul were accepted by the whole church right away. By the way, the only reason the other books took longer to be included in the Bible is that not all of the churches had access to them. It would be 1500 years until the printing press was invented, until then everything had to be hand copied. And in case you’re wondering, there are tens of thousands of surviving handwritten manuscripts. The New Testament we have today is completely reliable and trustworthy.
The New Testament completes the story of the Old Testament. It tells us about the Messiah who had been promised since Genesis—who He is, how He saved the world, what that means for all of us. And then it’s pretty much a divinely inspired commentary on the Old Testament.
Okay, that’s my very brief New Testament introduction.
1st Corinthians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to a church he planted in the city of Corinth on his second missionary journey. When you think of Corinth, you should picture a port city like New Orleans—with the same reputation for getting down and dirty. Everyone did what they wanted without fear of judgment. The Big Easy combined with Las Vegas. Lots of people traveled to Corinth and what happened in Corinth stayed in Corinth. There wasn’t a more decadent place in the Roman world. If someone said you were acting like a “Corinthian” they meant you were sexually promiscuous and have no morals. It was a party town.
And right there in the middle of it all, there’s this new little church talking about Jesus. Saying the God who created the world came in human flesh to save it—and you know how He did it? He became super weak, vulnerable, gave up His power and glory, and let the bad guys kill Him on a cross.
Sell that story to a bunch of people who think the most important things in the world are standing up for yourself, being strong and powerful, fighting for your rights, and getting the most out of life. People who don’t take no crap off no one. People who worship strength, wealth, and pleasure. People who don’t back down from a fight. People who spend their free time daydreaming about sexy superheroes like Thor, Hercules, Aphrodite, Isis, Jupiter… Depending on whether you were more into Marvel or DC, I mean, Greek or Roman gods.
They were all so open-minded. So modern. Any of that sound familiar?
Paul had planted this new little church. They were a diverse bunch. A few of them were Jews, most of them were gentiles. A few of them were rich, some were poor, a few of them were slaves. Some of them were educated, some not. Some of them were all about the glory of Rome, some of them were all about Israel, others couldn’t care less about politics and were only concerned with the Kingdom of God. There were probably about a hundred of them, and they met in the home of one of the wealthier members.
I’m starting the New Testament with Paul’s letters to the Corinthians because I think their situation was a lot like ours.
But it was 2,000 years ago. It was also very different. Not everything is going to translate easily to our world. That’s why it’s my job to not only read the Scriptures in worship but also to explain and apply them to our time, our congregation. To build a bridge between the world of the Bible times and our world.
But not just to have a Bible study for Bible study’s sake. Two very important things need to happen if it’s going to be faithful preaching: first, the text needs to be applied to our situation. The law, commands, requirements—the application of what the Scripture is saying has to be made clear. There are always different paths we can take, and God’s Word shows us the way of wisdom and righteousness.
That’s the part that usually stings. We tend to do the wrong things and make a mess of our lives. This is the part of the sermon that is supposed to correct us. Get us pointed in the right direction.
This is the part of the sermon that can leave us feeling convicted. Guilty. Remorseful.
So a faithful sermon has to do something else—it has to point you to Jesus. To forgiveness. To absolution. In the Lutheran world, this is called “law and Gospel.” Not to pit them against each other but to do what we can to encourage the Holy Spirit to do His important work in our lives: the one-two punch of law and Gospel. The law corrects us and shows us our need for the Gospel. It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. We’re going to see this over and over in 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Paul will strongly correct them and then he’ll remind them of the grace and mercy of Jesus.
So, here we go, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.
Sosthenes was the leader in a local synagogue, the places of worship where the Jews met to pray and read Scripture. A lot of time, Paul would show up in a new town and preach the Gospel at the synagogues first. Once he had a few believers, he’d start a church. Paul is probably dictating this letter to Sosthenes who’s writing it down for him. There’s some evidence that Paul had really bad eyesight.
I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.
When he says “God’s church” He is literally saying “God’s people.” The word for “church” is ekklesia, which simply means “assembly.” God’s Assembly. The people who have been called out of the world, out of darkness, out of sin and bondage. How were they called? The same way you were: they heard about what Jesus did for them. The cross and the resurrection. You call on the name of Jesus and you’ll be saved. Made holy to live holy. Notice that Jesus is both Savior and Lord, though. He’s not one without being the other. When Paul calls them “holy” he actually calls them “saints.” It’s always plural. Church is plural. Saints is plural. We’re all in this together or we’re not in it at all.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus.
We’re going to find that the people in this church are really into their “spiritual gifts.” It’s actually become a big problem between them, but upfront, Paul is letting them know he’s thankful for them and their ministry. He just wants to remind them that the ministry is supposed to be about Jesus.
Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. (he lays it on a little thick) This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Don’t miss that part about what the ministry of the church and all this spiritual stuff is for: to stay strong in your faith until Jesus comes back—to be free from blame, blameless, to be “innocent before God” when the LORD comes back down here to judge the world. That’s what all this “forgiveness of sins” is all about. Being ready for the apocalypse. God is faithful and will keep His Word. The promise He made through Jesus. But don’t pretend like judgement isn’t coming.
Now Paul is going to get to the main theme of this letter. Unity. They were very divided. Kinda like our world today with all our politics: conservatives versus liberals, our denominations: Baptists versus Catholics versus Methodists versus Calvinists versus Pentecostals versus Lutherans. Just kidding, no one knows enough about Lutherans to be versus. I’m trying to fix that. Ha.
I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church.
Paul’s going to bring up some really awful things the people in this church are doing but it’s worth pointing out that he still considers them to be Christians—people made holy because they belong to Jesus—he’s talking to “brothers and sisters.”. He wants you, who are members of the same church, to get along with each other.
Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. (Now he’s going to tell them why he’s bringing this up.) For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”
I’m a follower of Luther. I’m more into Calvin. I like Spurgeon. I’ve always been more of an Osteen guy—said no one, ever.
We’d never be like that at NewChurch, right? Kemperites are like, I’m here because Kemper’s here. Others are like, I really like Frank. Or, Peter and Tara. Then there’s always someone who’s like, “I just follow Jesus.” They don’t say it, but what they mean is, because I’m better than you.
Clearly, the whole point is to follow Christ. Not to pit pastors and leaders against each other. Not to be all smarmy and Jesus juke everyone for not being as holy as you are.
Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
One body. One church. One Lord Jesus. One baptism. When you are baptized, it’s not the pastor who’s actually baptizing you—it’s God who’s doing the work. It’s God, through the water and the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit—He’s the one connecting you to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. God does the baptizing. Just like in Communion God is the one who’s doing the remembering.
Even in preaching, the power doesn’t come from how clever and deep the preacher is, or how eloquent the presentation is—the power is 100% in the Word of God. The proclaiming of the commandments and promises of Jesus. Law and Gospel. You were dead in your sin but thanks be to God, He has made you alive because of Jesus. Preaching isn’t just a Bible study—preaching the Gospel is speaking the promise of the forgiveness of sins to a congregation because of Christ’s death and resurrection. You have sinned. You have failed. Jesus has forgiven you and offered you life. Call on His name, trust in His promise, and be saved. This is the message of the cross.
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
A quote from Isaiah 29:13 where God also says,
“These people honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from Me.”
Yikes.
So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
(In other words, education isn’t going to save you. The only thing that’s going to save you is trusting in God’s plan of salvation which is the cross of Christ.)
It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
And Americans say, “No thanks. I’ve heard all that Jesus stuff before. Christians are hypocrites. I’ll pass.”
But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
God’s weakness—don’t lose focus, he’s talking about the cross. That God came to earth, laid down His life, and died to save His people.
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.
(He’s talking about the cross.)
And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
(He’s talking about the cross.)
God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.
(What’s he talking about? The cross. That’s right.)
As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God has united you with Christ Jesus.
(This is what baptism is. When you hear “in Christ” you should think “baptism.”)
For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself.
(What is wisdom? It’s the application of knowledge. It’s how to live life the way God intended. Jesus lived His life the way God intended. He did that for you and me—because we would never be able to.)
Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
(Let me say that so you can hear the Gospel: Christ made you right with God; He made you pure and holy, and He freed you from sin.)
Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only in the LORD.”
You have been called out of the world to be members of Christ’s assembly, His people, His church. He sanctified you. He made you holy. By His death and resurrection. God showed you grace because of Jesus. Now apply that grace to every aspect of your life. Lead with grace. No quarrels, no division, no cliques. Your God, your hero, your Savior, laid His life down for you. He wants you to humble yourself and lay down your life for each other. Everyone who follows Jesus, follows Him to a cross.
It all has to return to Christ. Everything we say, everything we do. Paul is going to do this over and over again in this letter. That was chapter one, we’ll continue with chapter two and see how far we get next week.