The Zone Gathering

This week I was able to visit the “Journey” group for an amazing time of fellowship and discussion of 1 Corinthians.  What a powerful book!  The Corinthian church was mired in problems — both corporately and individually.  Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is as relevant today as it was for first-century Christians.

Background

1 Corinithians was written by the apostle Paul (1:1) to “the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours” (1:2).  This introduction reveals two important things about 1 Corinthians: (1) it was written to believers; and (2) the lessons contained within its 16 chapters are for the church today.

Paul wrote his epistle from Ephesus around A.D. 56.  The book of Acts records the founding of the Corinthian church (Acts 18:1-8) and Paul’s previous work there.  Paul actually is believed to have written 3 to 4 letters to the church at Corinth, although only two (1 and 2 Corinthians) are preserved in the New Testament.

From its opening chapter, you can see that the church at Corinth was experiencing some serious problems.  In her book Discover the Bible for Yourself, Kay Arthur describes the situation at Corinth in this way:

“Sin abounded in the cosmopolitan city of Corinth, the chief commercial city of Greece.  Corinth overlooked the narrow isthmus that connected the Greek mainland with Peloponnesus and received ships in its two harbors.  The Corinthians were intrigued by Greek philosophy and captivated by the disciplined training and athletic events held at the Isthmus.  At one time the city was home to at least 12 pagan temples.  The people, then, desperately needed to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, the One crucified for sinners.”

Temple prostitutes connected with the temple of Aphrodite (the Greek goddess of love) abounded throughout Corinth, breeding blatant immorality.  In fact, the Greek verb translated “to Corinthianize” meant to practice sexual immorality.  The citizens of Corinth permitted this immorality, loved to listen to great orators, held slaves, and basically led “the good life.”  Their greatest need was freedom — freedom from sin and death that could only be found through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians is a bold letter in which Paul challenges the divisions and problems within the church, which were numerous.  His purpose for writing the epistle is given in 1:10-11: “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.  For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.”

Nelson’s Compact Bible Handbook describes the theological contribution of the book of 1 Corinthians in this manner:

“The problems which Paul faced in the church of Corinth were complex and explosive.  The correspondence which resulted is rich and profound in theological insight.  Corinth, like its neighboring city of Athens, symbolized Greek culture in its desire for wisdom and power.  Paul relied instead on the irony of the cross, ‘to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness’ (1 Cor. 1:23).  The foolishness of the gospel — indeed, its offensiveness to cultured Greeks — was indication of its power to save.”

The basic theme of 1 Corinthians is this: Avoid division and immorality.  Paul lays out his concerns in the 16 chapters which follow.

Structure

The first six chapters of 1 Corinthians are devoted to addressing the problems which Paul had learned were plaguing the church, namely, divisions and immorality.  Chapters 7-16 address specific problems about which the leaders at Corinth had contacted Paul, usually designated by the phrase “now concerning,” which appears several times (7:1, 25; 8:1; 12:1; 16:1).

A thorough reading/study of 1 Corinthians is enlightening — Paul addresses many of the same issues that believers and the church struggle with today.  He dismisses quarrels concerning which apostle(s) baptized individuals within the church (ch. 1), claiming such division to be ”foolishness” when compared to the true wisdom found only in Jesus Christ (ch. 1-2).  He stresses that the church belongs to God alone and that Jesus Christ is its foundation (ch. 3).  He reminds the Corinthians that the Lord judges the motives of men’s hearts (4:5) and cautions leaders to remember that their gifts, authority and spiritual wisdom are not their own doing (ch. 4).

Paul confronts immorality within the church and advises believers to disassociate with other believers who are engaged in immoral behavior (ch. 5).  He urges Christians to avoid suing one another before heathen/pagan courts (6:1-8) and warns that immoral/unrighteous individuals will not inherit the kingdom of God (6:9-20), a common theme in many of Paul’s writings (see also Rom. 6:16, 13:13; 1 Cor. 5:11; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5).

In the remaining chapters, Paul addresses a series of problems about which the Corinthians are presumed to have contacted him.  He addresses the issues of marriage and divorce (ch. 7), whether eating meat sacrified to idols was wrong or could cause other believers to “stumble” (8:1-13), and compensation for ministry (ch. 9). 

In chapter 10 he warns believers against falling into immorality and urges them to pursue holiness.  He states that “all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.  All things are lawful, but not all things edify” (10:23) and encourages believers that “whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (10:33).

Paul addresses the role of women in the church (11:1-17) and the proper manner in which to take the Lord’s Supper/communion (11:17-34).  He teaches about the value of exercising spiritual gifts in the church, so long as we remember that there are a variety of gifts, but one Spirit (ch. 12).

One of the best-known and oft-quoted passages of the Bible is chapter 13, the “love” chapter.  Paul defines what true and godly love is, which would be a stark contrast to the kind of “love” the Greeks worshiped in the goddess Aphrodite.  This chapter also unifies chapter 12 with chapter 14, which begins “pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (14:1).  Without love, all of the other spiritual gifts — including tongues and prophesy, the focus of chapter 14 — are meaningless.  Love enables these gifts to be used for the common good.

Paul ends his epistle with a powerful affirmation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the coming resurrection of the saints (ch. 15) before addressing a few personal matters in chapter 16.  I love the challenge issued by Paul at the end of the book: “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love” (16:13-14).

Things to Ponder

In what ways does our society mirror that of first-century Corinth?  Do we still struggle with division in the church and immorality?

How would the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13 revolutionize our world if we lived it out?

Do we encourage the practice/exercise of spiritual gifts within our church and small groups?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 8:36 am and is filed under Bible Drills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.