1 Corinthians 1

[00:00:00] You are listening to the Through the Bible Studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge. Join us as we continue our

[00:00:10] study through the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians. Here's Nate. The book of 1 Corinthians is a book where Paul is going to

[00:00:23] to concern himself with two main things. Number 1 in chapter 1 through 6 Paul is going to answer a report that he has heard well

[00:00:38] in Ephesus from the church in Corinth. The two things that he had heard reports about were number 1 that there were divisions

[00:00:47] that were happening in the Corinthian church. Number 2 that there were reports of sexual immorality in the church. Paul is going to answer those

[00:00:58] reports in the first half of his letter. But the second thing that Paul is going to do is he is going to answer a letter from the

[00:01:08] Corinthians where they asked Paul various questions. And this makes the book of 1 Corinthians an absolute treasure because they are

[00:01:20] frankly questions that we would ask in our modern era as well. They would ask Paul about marriage, they would ask Paul about things

[00:01:31] offered to idols which helps us understand liberties and freedoms. And when we should lay those liberties down, they would ask Paul about

[00:01:40] public worship and spiritual gifts. They would ask Paul about the afterlife, the resurrection, when that was coming what that would

[00:01:49] be like. And they would also ask Paul about the potential gift to the Jerusalem church or at least Paul would answer

[00:01:58] that question or deal with that subject. And so the book or the letter of 1 Corinthians now begins very simply with a reference to Paul's

[00:02:10] apostleship when Paul says Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother, Sosthanese. So what we learn here in

[00:02:22] the first verse is that the letter is from Paul and he includes a brother named Sosthanese. Not that Sosthanese was actually the author but

[00:02:33] Paul is including him in his greeting. Paul here references the fact that he is an apostle. Now that term is a term that originally

[00:02:45] was used to describe someone or something that had been sent out oftentimes in connection to the ocean like a dispatch or a fleet that had been

[00:02:57] sent out onto the ocean. But the New Testament does not use it as much as a dispatch or for a fleet but developed the word or

[00:03:08] term apostle to mean an authorized agent of Jesus Christ. And usually is an indication of the first apostolic group, a special group that is not repeated in our modern era.

[00:03:25] And so Paul was one of those apostles, an authorized agent of Jesus Christ. Now he does include Sosthanese and that begs the question who is this man? He might have been Paul's

[00:03:41] Emanuensis, the person that Paul wrote this letter through or dictated the letter to. He seems to have been known by the Corinthian church because Paul refers to him as our

[00:03:54] brother Sosthanese. Likely he was the former ruler of the synagogue there in Corinth. It's interesting when you read of Paul's visit to Corinth in Acts chapter 18 where the church was initially established, they had a ruler named

[00:04:14] Chris Piss who was the leader of the synagogue who eventually became a believer but then was apparently replaced by Sosthanese and the Jewish legalists took a charge against Paul to the current governor, a man named Galio. And after Galio paid no attention to their accusations against Paul

[00:04:40] and actually kind of reversed Paul's fortunes by stating that Christianity was a subset of Judaism, therefore legal to be preached in the Roman Empire because Judaism was already an approved religion throughout the Roman Empire. The Jews then responded by beating up Sosthanese. They beat him in front of the tribunal. Galio paid no attention to that.

[00:05:08] And it's very possible that after that event Sosthanese said to himself, I'm tired of this. I'm tired of this legalism and so I'm going to pursue Jesus Christ and perhaps became a believer at that time or at that season in his life. But that is who the letter is from Paul and perhaps written through the Emanuensis or the scribe Sosthanese.

[00:05:34] Paul then addresses the letter, verse 2, to the Church of God that is in Corinth. To those sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ both theirs, both their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:59] So this letter as we already know in turning to first Corinthians is a letter to the Church of God that is in Corinth. Now close your eyes, if you can I realize many of you will not be able to at this time so if you are able to safely close your eyes I want you to imagine living in Corinth.

[00:06:20] 700,000 citizens would have roamed the streets of Corinth at the time of Paul. It had dual seaports on either side of the city one leading to the aegean sea one leading to the Adriatic Sea which made it a highly successful trading town.

[00:06:45] The city was filled with shrines and temples the most notable of which ascended 1800 feet above sea level to the false god Aphrodite.

[00:07:00] Now her worshipers made free use in that temple up on that hill of 1000 consecrated prostitutes in her temple. So this is a town where people came to escape morality and instead sought commerce and entertainment and pleasure.

[00:07:23] It is very similar to many of the cultures of the west today places where morality is completely turned upside down. Now Paul would write this letter to the Corinthian church from Ephesus that's where he had heard the report will see that once we get to chapter 16, likely on his third missionary journey not his first stop in Ephesus.

[00:07:52] So he then begins his letter in verse 4. He says, I give thanks to my god always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus that in every way you were enriched in him and all speech and all knowledge even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you so that you are not lacking in any gift as you have been.

[00:08:22] So you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord.

[00:08:39] Here Paul begins the letter with a word of thanks. This is very common in Paul's letters and it helps us to receive encouragement in our own lives that there is usually something to be thankful for.

[00:08:54] For the Corinthian church was filled with great errors, great mistakes, great carnality. Yet Paul was thankful to God for what he saw in the Corinthian church.

[00:09:08] Now here is what Paul celebrated the existence of the Corinthian church for. Number one in verse 4 he says that they were a sign of the grace of God.

[00:09:20] He says I thank my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus just the fact that the Corinthian church even existed in such a debased society was a sign that God's grace is more powerful than the sin of man.

[00:09:42] Number two Paul also is very thankful because they were a spiritually wealthy group of individuals. They had been enriched by God verse 5 in speech and in knowledge and in verse 7 he says that they did not lack any gift so they were a powerful group of people.

[00:10:07] They were well gifted by the Lord. They were talented in Jesus and Paul is thankful for that. Number three he is also thankful because they were waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:10:25] They were looking forward to the day that Jesus Christ would return and establish his visible rule and reign here on earth. And then number four he was also thankful for them because verse 8 Jesus had sustained them and would sustain them to the end. That was the promise of the Lord that he would sustain the church in Corinth to the very end.

[00:10:54] And then he was also thankful that they were number five in verse 9 called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. Did you know that you are called if you're a believer into the fellowship of God's son.

[00:11:12] You are called into that family you are called into that relationship. You are called into that intimacy with the God of the universe and so Paul expresses there in a few short sentences his thankfulness to God and his thankfulness for the Corinthian church.

[00:11:33] Now in verse 10 Paul moves on into the subject of the letter when he says to them, I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This means with the authority of and from Christ that all of you agree literally say the same thing and that there be no divisions among you.

[00:12:00] But that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment where it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you my brothers.

[00:12:13] Now apparently there in Ephesus Paul had received a report from Chloe's people as what he says there in verse 11 she was a member apparently of the Corinthian church.

[00:12:26] And her household which could mean staff or friends or family members had made a report to Paul of the situation in the Corinthian church.

[00:12:41] And Paul's appeal was for them to agree that there would be no divisions and that they you be be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

[00:12:53] Now what what Paul is driving for from the Corinthians is that they would come to agreement literally this means speak the same thing it was apparently an expression taken from Greek political life which might be paraphrased.

[00:13:10] Drop party cries you know get rid of this partisanship you know where you're focused on your own thing your own party your own group get rid of that speak the same thing be on the same team.

[00:13:25] Now when Paul said that he wanted harmony not the elimination of diversity you know for if you imagine for example a quilt that has many parts but is one that's what Paul wished for in the church in Corinth.

[00:13:43] Not that people would be the same or not that he wished for sameness but that he wished for in their sameness for them to be unified together to realize that they were on the same team and in the same family together.

[00:13:59] I think my own family would be a great example of this each one of us myself my wife and all of our children we all have very different personalities from one another but we are one family the whole bridge family together.

[00:14:16] Now Paul elaborates on this request and on this report in verse 12 when he says what I mean is that each one of you says I follow Paul or I follow a palos or I follow seaface or I follow Christ is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul.

[00:14:46] Apparently what Paul had heard from Chloe's household is that there were four main camps there in the church in Corinth.

[00:14:55] One group said that they were the Pauline camp they said I follow Paul Paul after all was the originator of the church in Corinth and was also a champion of the Gentile people of which the people in Corinth were mostly non Jewish.

[00:15:15] And so many people followed him but the thing is Paul was unimpressive in speech and in appearance and that leads us to the second camp those who said I follow a palos now when you read acts 18 and 19 what you discover is that Apollo's had followed Paul in his ministry in Corinth after Paul departed Apollo's arrived.

[00:15:45] And so the most was eloquent Apollo's was fervent in speech and once he became a believing man he became a great weapon in the hands of the Lord.

[00:15:55] So there were some who said I follow Apollo's others said I follow seaface now seaface is Peter's name in Aramaic and so this is perhaps a way for people to say I am following the one Christ chose the one who walked down talked with Jesus.

[00:16:22] And now and tongue in cheek here for a moment of course it's hard for us to imagine a group of people wanting to connect themselves so strictly to Peter.

[00:16:33] So that's a common mistake you know that nothing not that there's anything wrong with Peter but perhaps there were those even in those early in that early age that had an inordinate affection for that man.

[00:16:47] And then others perhaps with the tone of superiority perhaps claiming to be more spiritual than others said I follow Christ they may have been the spiritual elitists who felt that they had something that others lack.

[00:17:03] And maybe even said to themselves that they did not need any human spiritual leader but that they only needed Christ.

[00:17:11] So you have the Paul camp, the Apollo's camp, the seaface camp and the Christ camp.

[00:17:17] But Paul followed up with questions after reiterating those four camps he asked number one is Christ divided verse 13.

[00:17:28] You see no matter how divisive his people might be they are still one.

[00:17:35] No matter how many times someone said I'm of Paul or I'm of Apollo's or I'm of seaface they were still one group in Christ Jesus.

[00:17:44] The second question Paul asked is was Paul crucified for you?

[00:17:50] What he's trying to remind them is that he was only a messenger not the one who atone for their sins but the one who told them about the atonement for their sins that Jesus Christ had performed.

[00:18:05] They were guilty of placing the messenger up on a pedestal.

[00:18:10] And Paul is just saying look I was not crucified for you none of us were.

[00:18:15] And his third question was were you baptized in the name of Paul?

[00:18:21] In other words Paul was not in it to make personal prosolites but followers of Jesus Christ.

[00:18:28] The church I pastor our vision statement is Jesus famous we want Christ to be known Christ to be celebrated.

[00:18:37] We want the glory of Christ to expand and contentions and divisions are often a hindrance to God's work through the church.

[00:18:48] So we must watch out for them.

[00:18:51] So Paul went on in verse 14 to say I thank God you know speaking of baptism and gaining followers for yourself Paul said I thank God that I baptized none of you except for Gaius and Christmas.

[00:19:06] So that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.

[00:19:11] I did baptize also the household of Staphonus beyond that I do not know whether I baptized anyone else for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom less the cross of Christ should be emptied of its power.

[00:19:31] Here Paul states that he did not baptize many only Christmas who was the original ruler of the Corinthian synagogue.

[00:19:41] Gaius who according to Romans 16 23 was likely Paul's host well in Corinth and the household of Staphonus who were the first converts in a Kea according to first Corinthians 16.

[00:20:00] So he says look there in Corinth I only baptized a handful of people.

[00:20:06] Now it's fascinating to read that Paul stated Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel for baptism and communion is a response to the gospel but is not part of the gospel.

[00:20:24] You see Paul obviously did not believe that baptism was necessary for salvation as some groups profess today or else he would have included it in the process or the message of the gospel.

[00:20:39] But here he said no Jesus didn't send me to baptize but instead to preach the gospel.

[00:20:46] So Paul here then gives an introductory statement regarding one major reason for division amongst them.

[00:20:55] He says there in verse 17 Jesus did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel and then notice this and not with words of eloquent wisdom less the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

[00:21:10] You see Paul was determined not to use eloquent words of wisdom for the Corinthians because they were looking for them and he did not want the cross of Christ to be emptied of its power.

[00:21:24] You see there is a version of Christianity which is highly intellectual, nuanced and accurate yet void of power.

[00:21:33] There needs to be humility there. Now this isn't even a rebuke against intellect or against nuanced positions or against accuracy.

[00:21:45] Now what this is a statement against is it is against those who are drawn to the eloquence, to the outward form Paul did not have that in his ministry to the Corinthian church.

[00:22:00] It is a clue as to the problem in Corinth and so in verse 18 he begins to tell them one of the reasons for their division they had misunderstood the message.

[00:22:13] Verse 18 for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

[00:22:24] For it is written in this comes from Isaiah 29 verse 14 I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

[00:22:36] Paul here announces in verse 18 that to us who are being saved the word of the cross is the power of God.

[00:22:46] This is very similar to what he wrote in Romans chapter 1 verse 16 when he said I am not ashamed of the gospel where it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[00:23:03] Now notice there that he uses the word saved and he says we are being saved you see salvation is a broad word it includes initial entrance into God's family in kingdom but also continual deliverance and future restoration.

[00:23:24] So during the time that we are in we are saved and that we are justified in the cross declares us as innocent the cross being the power of God we are reconciled to God as part of our salvation because the cross declares us friends with God.

[00:23:45] We are sanctified we grow because the cross declares us as consecrated unto God and we are redeemed because the cross declares us completely paid for and liberated by God it is the word of the cross by which we are being saved for it is the power of God.

[00:24:14] Now he quotes there from Isaiah 29 verse 14 where God said I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will for this is a loose quote of Isaiah 29 14 you see there was a time where Israel was following human wisdom by forming an alliance with Egypt to defend themselves against a Syria when only God's intervention would be the one who would defend the world.

[00:24:43] Would do in that moment God would destroy the wisdom of the wise the people who said we must turn to Egypt and with for the discernment of the discerning you see there's the way that man thinks about things and there is the way that God thinks about things.

[00:25:03] And so Paul continued by saying in verse 20 where is the one who is wise where is the scribe where is the debater of this age has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world for since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe here Paul announces that God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.

[00:25:33] This is the Romans 1 process in miniature and he says in verse 21 the world did not know God through wisdom in other words God's all wise purpose was it humans would not find him through all their philosophical and religious wisdom but through the preaching of the cross.

[00:25:57] This does not deny the truth that people have a certain knowledge of God through natural creation but it tells us they will not find salvation except by hearing of the cross of Jesus Christ for Jews verse 22 demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and follow the Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of the world.

[00:26:27] The power of God and the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men now here Paul breaks down the world view of all of humanity into two main groups the Jews who seek signs presumably to identify the Messiah and Greeks seek wisdom.

[00:26:57] To find out answers to questions about God and light but those who are called a third group who come out of those first two groups well for them Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God you see in Jesus the way up is down the way down is up Jesus humbled himself and found exaltation

[00:27:23] and the gospel has the same way of filtering out the proud hearted.

[00:27:28] And so Paul announces the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men this is not Paul's way of being irreverent and announcing that God is foolish or weak it's his way of showing how the cross is the last thing humanity would devise.

[00:27:48] So do you expect the word of the cross to be sensible to people who are perishing he says in verse 26 for consider your calling brothers that not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful nor were many of noble birth but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose what is low and despised in the world.

[00:28:17] And despised in the world even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are apparently not many in the Corinthian church were wise powerful or of noble birth not many were intellectuals not many were the influencers of the culture and not many were the elites the nobility

[00:28:36] and God chose the foolish in the weak in the low and despised now Paul is not saying that God will or can never save a person with worldly wisdom power or nobility in fact he had all of those things.

[00:28:51] And so did some of them in Corinth, Christmas, Sostenies, Arastus the city treasurer, Pricilla and Aquila but what Paul is saying is that God will not save a person with those things for humility is required to receive the gospel.

[00:29:08] For instance Paul had to put off all of those elements to come to Christ and then be used by him.

[00:29:15] Paul might be saying as well that God will use the humble to do his work and certainly a scan of biblical history shows us that God is willing to use people who are not well known, not well educated, not well received for his kingdom and for his glory.

[00:29:36] And Paul also might be saying that less of the upper class of a given society will receive Christ.

[00:29:44] There will be an impediment to the gospel and it will be their intellectualism or their fame or their power or their influence or their elitism.

[00:29:58] Then he goes on to say in verse 29, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Why does God do it this way? Why does God choose to save in that way?

[00:30:10] Well, so no human being might boast in the presence of God. Verse 30, because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that as it is written

[00:30:25] from Jeremiah 9.23, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Why is it that the Lord has saved in this way so that we would not boast in ourselves, that we have somehow saved ourselves, that we have somehow seen the light and that we deserve the credit for it?

[00:30:48] No, we have no reason to boast because God did not use us to save us. He did it of himself. God bless you.