1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 1:1-12, “Introduction To 1 Corinthians”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO

1.1. In our study today we are going to look at the introduction to the epistle of 1 Corinthians

2. BACKGROUND FOR THE BOOK:

2.1. The city of Corinth then and now:

2.1.1. During the time when this letter was written, Corinth was the fourth largest city in the world, next to Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria. Today it is a relatively small city.

2.1.2. Greece, where Corinth is located, is the country in Europe that is a peninsula and located just east of Italy. On it’s southern coast is the Mediterranean Ocean.

2.1.3. Greece is divided into north and south by the sea and a large isthmus that connects the north with the south. It is on this isthmus that the city of Corinth is located. Corinth is fifty miles west of Athens.

2.1.4. In the days when this book was written navigation going up the coast of Greece on the west or east side was dangerous, and yet there was much commerce between the northern part of present day Greece and the southern part. Most commerce went by land between the north part and the south, right through the city of Corinth as ships would come through the isthmus rather than go up the west or east coasts and run the risk of a maritime accident. Because of the constant flow of people and commerce, Corinth became a very large and wealthy city.

2.1.5. Corinth became populated with people from all parts of the world and so it was also an ethnic melting pot.

2.1.5.1.There were many religions represented by the varieties of people in Corinth. The culture of the city was heavily influenced by the Romans and the Greeks, as well as every other nation.

2.1.5.2.There were also a large number of Jews that lived in the city.

2.1.5.3.The city was known for corruption, as 1,000 prostitutes worked in the temples and streets, and drunkenness was a common sight. In this book, Paul lists some the city’s characteristic sins: fornication, idolatry, adultery, effeminacy, homosexuality, stealing, covetousness, drunkenness, reviling, and swindling (1 Cor. 6:9-10). The city had such a reputation all over the world that to be called a “Corinthian” meant to be a fornicator and a drunkard.

2.1.6. The combination of wealth, moral corruption, and ethnic diversity caused the city to be open to the gospel, as many were suffering the consequences of a debauched lifestyle. It also caused much corruption to enter into the church once the gospel began to be preached by Paul.

2.1.6.1.In every culture in which the church goes there will be a struggle to keep the corruption of that culture out of the church.

2.1.7. The apostle Paul had gone to Corinth during his second missionary journey. Paul met Aquilla and Priscilla, fellow tent makers, when he first arrived in Corinth. He worked making tents with them for the rest of his stay. Paul started the church in Corinth, and pastored it for 1 1/2 years after which time Apollos became the pastor. Crispus, the leader of the Jewish synagogue became converted, as had the previous synagogue leader, and these men were responsible for many people coming into the new church.

2.2. PURPOSE FOR THE WRITING OF THE BOOK:

2.2.1. The book of 1 Corinthians is what is known as a “Corrective Epistle”, for it was written primarily for the purpose of correcting the wrong behavior of God’s people in the church in Corinth.

2.2.2. Paul had written a now lost letter previously to the Corinthians in which he exhorted them specifically not to associate with immoral people. The church thought that Paul meant for them not to associate with unbelievers who were immoral, however Paul meant for them not to associate with immoral people who had come into the church claiming to have become Christians, yet who had not given up their immoral lifestyle.

2.2.3. The church in Corinth had written a letter to Paul with questions concerning several issues which they were concerned, such as marriage, divorce, etc.. However, soon after receiving their letter Paul had gotten a report from Chloe’s people about many grievous sins which were being tolerated by the church. The worst sin was that of a man committing incest with his father’s wife. It bothered Paul that the letter he had received from the Corinthians had mentioned nothing of the grievous sins reported by Chloe’s people. The people in the church in Corinth were merely tolerating the behavior of those who were living in sin.

2.2.3.1.From his previous dealings with the Corinthians, their letter, and the report he had gotten, Paul knew that in writing a letter he had to address a whole bunch of issues relating to their church.

2.2.4. Paul writes that he composed this letter with many tears, for he realized how much the sin that the church had allowed brought dishonor to the Lord, plus their tolerance weakened the testimony of the church to the lost. He also cared greatly for each believer who was being duped by the devil and missing out on the many blessings Christ could be giving them. He was so concerned for them that they receive his rebuke which he writes here and repent.

2.2.5. He wrote this letter to deal with several issues, such as:

2.2.5.1.Divisions that were present in the church.

2.2.5.2.Brother taking brother to court with lawsuits.

2.2.5.3.He gave instructions and a warning concerning the Lord’s supper.

2.2.5.4.Eating food which had been sacrificed to idols and thereby causing your brother to stumble.

2.2.5.5.Matters concerning marriage and divorce.

2.2.5.6.The proper use of spiritual gifts.

2.2.5.7.The primacy of agape love amongst brothers and sisters.

2.2.5.8.The fact of Christ’s resurrection (as some were saying there was no resurrection).

2.2.6. The church in Corinth was growing and the Lord was saving people and giving them spiritual gifts, but Paul was very concerned that the church remain a pure bride of Christ without spot or blemish.

2.2.7. The people in the church in Corinth were associating with so called believers who were arrogantly and openly living in gross sin, whom they should have disciplined, and they were dissociating with non-believers whom they should have been witnessing and reaching out to.

2.2.8. The issues which are brought up as a result of studying the book of 1 Corinthians afflict all cultures and times, but are especially relevant in the beginning of the twenty-first century, and especially in the United States where I live.

2.2.8.1.I believe that the mainstream church in America today is in many ways almost a replica of the Corinthian church prior to the writing of this epistle by Paul.

2.2.8.2.Not much has really changed in man’s sin nature in 2,000 years, and the church of every era in time needs to study this book in order not to fall into the same traps that occurred in Corinth 2,000 years ago.

3. VS 1:1 - “1:1 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,” - Paul declares his calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ

3.1. In all of his letters except the ones to the Philippians and Thessalonians, Paul first asserts his authority in teaching and exhorting by declaring his apostleship, to which Christ had called him.

3.2. The church in Corinth was filled with divisions and factions, and Paul had to first assert his absolute authority in all matters concerning the faith.

3.3. Paul went for several years to the deserts of Arabia where Christ personally taught him all of the doctrine which he taught. Then when he reappeared, he went to the apostles in Jerusalem and told them of his training and they then gave their sanction that Paul indeed was called as an apostle by Christ.

3.4. Sosthenes is named by Paul in the letter since he penned the letter at Paul’s dictation.

4. VS 1:2 - “1:2 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:” - Paul states to whom this letter is addressed, to the ‘church of God which is a Corinth’

4.1. Paul does not address this letter to individuals in Corinth but rather the church, as he does in some of his letters.

4.2. He calls them the ‘church of God’ because the church is made up of those who belong to God. The ‘church’ is not a religious organization or agency formed by man, rather it is a living spiritual organism consisting of each member whom the Lord has called out from the world into His church. In this book, Paul calls the church Christ’s very own body with Christ as the head.

4.3. Since Paul also mentions, ‘all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord’, the letter is also for application by all Christians of all times.

4.4. In spite of all that did not bring glory to God in the lives of the church at Corinth, Paul still calls those in the Corinthian church “saints.” The people are “saints” by calling, not by any extraordinary holiness in and of themselves.

4.4.1. All believers in Christ are declared to be “saints” according to Paul and the rest of the record of scripture, regardless of the extent their faithfulness, being well known or unknown, or being a leader or a follower.

4.4.2. To be a “saint” means to be one who is set apart to God. The word is translated literally “holy ones”, as the root of the word is “hagios”, which is defined as holy. John McArthur writes, “To the extent our living is holy, it is because, in Christ we already are holy and have the counsel and power of His Holy Spirit”.

4.4.3. We Christians need to accept the fact that by knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior that we are saints and that we are sanctified. We cannot improve upon our position with God, it is determined once for all that we are saints. We are not under a works relationship with God, and if we belong to God we will somehow merit His good favor.

4.4.3.1.We are fully accepted in Christ.

4.4.3.2.We are accepted not based upon our own holiness or merit, but upon the grace of God alone.

4.4.3.3.As Paul writes, Christ is our sanctification, our holiness, our justification (see (1 Cor. 1:30 for instance), and we are saints positionally by simply receiving as a gift Christ’s offer of salvation.

4.5. Paul says the church has been “sanctified” at a point in time past (aorist tense in the Greek).

4.5.1. To be “sanctified” means to be “set apart as a holy thing to God.”

4.5.2. In Heb. 13:12, the author (probably Paul) wrote about how Christ through His blood has sanctified all of us who are believers in Him, “12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.”

4.5.3. In Heb. 10:10-14, the author wrote about how that Christ had once for all sanctified all believers to Himself through His cross, “10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

4.6. Paul calls the Corinthians to unity will all other believers by saying that their Lord is our Lord. All Christians are in a common faith, and there is to be no divisions or factions among groups.

4.7. Knowing that we are called as ‘saints’, we are encouraged to be holy in our behavior just by knowing who God is.

4.7.1. As we see what we are already in Christ, His grace begins to energize and motivate us in a tremendous way to live a life that is pleasing to Him in all aspects, fulfilling His calling for our lives.

4.7.2. However, if we begin to live as if we are trying to earn God’s favor, then we are nullifying and spurning the work of Christ on the cross on our behalf. We also lose all of the benefits of His grace for us.

5. VS 1:3 - “1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” - Paul sends his typical salutation of grace and peace

5.1. Using the words ‘grace’ and ‘peace’ makes this a typical greeting by the apostle Paul.

5.1.1. All that we have as Christians is from God’s “grace”, and in fact our entire faith in which we stand can be called ‘grace’.

5.1.2. The result of knowing God’s grace is to be at “peace” with God (the peace treaty was signed with Christ’s blood) and to have His “peace” in our lives.

5.2. Paul says the greeting is from God our Father, since God is the Father of all Christians.

5.2.1. The Jews did not address God as “Father”, and it was only when Christ came and taught His disciples to pray to God saying, “Our Father who art in heaven” that it was first revealed to men that through Christ each Christian is brought into relationship with God as his “Father.”

5.2.2. Paul’s greeting is also from the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son from all eternity (the 2^nd person of theTrinity).

6. VS 1:4 - “1:4 I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,” - Paul thanks God for the grace of God given to the Corinthians

6.1. Paul gave thanks always for the Corinthians, for the things that God had done in their lives. Having come to Christ amidst such corruption in Corinth was truly a work of God’s grace.

6.2. Paul gave thanks for them in spite of the fact that there was much in their lives which he was not pleased, and he knew needed to be dealt with.

6.2.1. Paul specifically says that he gave thanks for the grace of God that was given to them. The Corinthian Christians had been saved only by the grace of God. Paul wrote in Eph. 2:8,9 about how that salvation comes about through the grace of God, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast”.

6.2.2. We Christians must always realize that we need to give thanks for all of our brothers and sisters in the Lord, for the good things that the Lord has done in their lives. We cannot just look at what needs changing in their lives.

6.3. We Christians need to realize concerning God’s grace:

6.3.1. The “grace” which we have received gives us unmerited, undeserved, and permanent forgiveness.

6.3.1.1.God will not take away our salvation after we have received His grace if we make a false move or make temporarily relapse into a sinful act.

6.3.2. Since grace is a gift that is free to us, we need to realize that when we have received God’s grace that we do not need now to begin trying to pay Him back.

6.3.2.1.Our debt to God as a result of our sins is so great that we could never pay God back, only Jesus Christ could pay the debt that we ourselves owed.

6.3.3. Grace cannot coexist with human merit.

6.3.3.1.In Isaiah 64:6, it is written that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have no righteousness apart from that which is imputed to us through Christ. Our salvation is not based partly upon our righteousness, our degree of goodness has no value in God’s eyes.

7. VS 1:5-6 - “1:5 that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,” - Paul reminds the Corinthians about all of the things that God had done in enriching their faith and lives

7.1. The church at Corinth had every spiritual gift, the church was growing and God was at work within them in a powerful way. The problems which the church had were problems that occurred because the church had grown so fast and there were many in the church who were very new in their faith, and perhaps some which did not really know Christ personally as their Lord and Savior.

7.2. Paul writes, ‘in everything you were enriched in Him’, signifying that they had received every kind of enriching which Christ was able to give them as a church. He says that they were enriched in all speech and knowledge since they knew what was involved in becoming a true Christian, and they were able to share that ‘knowledge’ with unbelievers.

7.3. The church in Corinth had a testimony of Christ and were able to share the gospel. Paul writes that the testimony concerning Christ was ‘confirmed in you’, which is the Greek aorist tense and thus means that at a point in time past they had been confirmed. As it is with all Christians, they had at a point in time asked Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, and thus the testimony of Christ was confirmed in them, and they were assured of their salvation.

7.3.1. We Christians ought to have assurance of our salvation, because it is based upon the promises which God has made to us. The apostle John wrote about a believer’s assurance of salvation in 1 John 5:11-13, “And the witness is this, that God has give us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life”.

7.4. In Christ, we Christians need to realize that we have everything that we need pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4). Christ is our sufficiency, therefore we have everything available to us that we “need” in Christ.

7.4.1. We have all that we need to live godly lives in Christ.

7.4.2. In Christ, we have all of God’s power available to us for witnessing powerfully and effectively (Acts 1:8).

8. VS 1:7 - “1:7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,” - Paul reminds the Corinthians how that God had given them every kind of spiritual gift in Christ

8.1. Paul says that every spiritual gift available was manifested in the lives of the church in Corinth, for they were ‘not lacking in any gift’. There were problems in the church in Corinth, however God had also given them incredible spiritual gifts that they might be used greatly for His service.

8.2. Paul reminds them also that they were waiting eagerly for the Lord to return again and for the resurrection of their bodies.

8.2.1. We Christians ought always to realize that the return of Christ is ‘imminent’ (could occur at any time) and be ready always in our hearts and minds for Christ to return.

8.2.1.1.In order to be ready we need to be sure moment by moment that we are obediently trying to do the things that the Lord wants us to do. This is the only way we can be ready for the Lord to return.

9. VS 1:8 - “1:8 who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Paul tells the Corinthian church that God shall confirm them even unto the end

9.1. God is committed to the salvation of those who have truly committed their lives to His Son as Lord and Savior. He will keep us, His church, in our sanctified position as saints until Christ returns for us, and in the day of judgment of believers we will be found to be blameless because our salvation is based upon what Jesus has done on our behalf, not upon our own works.

9.1.1. Paul told us in Gal. 2:16 that we are justified by our faith in Christ, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified”.

9.1.2. In this verse Paul also asserts the “perseverance of the saints”, saying that by the work of grace that God has done in a Christian’s life will cause him to be faithful to Christ until the end, if he has truly come to have salvation.

9.1.3. If a believer in Christ really falls completely away from Christ we must question whether or not he ever had salvation, for how could he fall away if he had the genuine thing?

9.1.4. In John 15:6 we read that if a person does not abide in Christ after coming to salvation that he will be gathered up and burned, signifying eternal damnation, “6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

9.1.4.1.To abide in Christ is the fruit (or result) of a genuine conversion experience.

10. VS 1:9 - “1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” - Paul reminds the Corinthians of God’s faithfulness in their lives

10.1. The salvation of Christians is based upon God’s faithfulness, not ours. God is faithful in that He will keep and abide by all of His promises which He has made in the scriptures concerning our salvation.

10.2. We Christians can rest in the assurance of our salvation because God is faithful, and He will not renege on any of His promises to us as He is not prone to change.

11. VS 1:10 - “1:10 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.” - Paul exhorts the Corinthians to unity in Christ

11.1. Paul tells the Corinthians that there is no excuse for divisions to be among them. The Spirit of God will make a body of believers to be of one mind if they are indeed walking in the Spirit.

11.2. The source of disunity is people walking in the flesh life instead of walking in the Spirit.

11.2.1.We as Christians often are guilty of living our Christian life in the flesh instead of the power and direction of the Holy Spirit.

11.2.2.To walk in flesh is to walk in such a way as we please ourselves instead of God, and it ultimately means to look out for number one (ourselves).

11.2.2.1.Walking in the flesh we can only live in a selfish manner. Even if we do good deeds there seems always to be some sort of selfish ulterior motive behind our actions.

11.2.3.As Christians either Christ is enthroned as Lord of our life, or we are on the throne. Jesus said that no man can have two masters, and our lives are either being controlled by self (our flesh), or Jesus is Lord and Master of all of our life and He is on the throne of our life.

11.2.4.When we are on the throne of our life, Christ is dethroned, and when we talk to other people we are concerned usually only about getting our own opinion across, not listening to their’s.

11.2.4.1.Because of our sinful nature which still hangs around we are by nature not good listeners as we tend not to value other’s opinions.

11.2.5.We are the “Me” generation in America today as we have seen the people in our culture in the last 50 years become increasingly more and more self-centered and self-indulgent. Each day in the news we have seen increasingly more people in our culture go to greater and greater extremes showing that we think only of ourselves.

11.2.5.1.This “Me” attitude we have seen in the news:

11.2.5.1.1.We routinely see people commit acts that go against our very instincts as parents as they kill or molest their children just for their own gratification.

11.2.5.1.2.We routinely hear of murders committed over what are really minor things that are done to them.

11.2.5.1.3.We constantly hear of businesses and people committing white collar crime just because they know that they can do it.

11.2.5.1.4.Numerous kids have taken guns to school and killed teachers or students they disliked and in many cases they just randomly kill any kid around.

11.2.5.1.5.There was even recently a pharmacist in the news who had been making thousands of dollars on each cancer patient that he gave chemotherapy drugs to by diluting the dosages to where they would only get a few percent of the actual drug in each dosage. No one will ever know the number of people who may have died because of this man’s selfish “Me-centered” greed.

11.2.5.2.In this past week, with the events of the bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we have seen leader after leader in our country saying and even singing the song, “God bless America.” However, we must realize that singing a song and amassing a big rally with famous actors and artists is not going to bring God’s blessing. God cannot bless America until:

11.2.5.2.1.America repents.

11.2.5.2.2.We turn away from this “Me” attitude.

11.2.5.2.3.We repent of our sins and of kicking God out of our legislatures and laws, our public schools, our television media who have determined to generate more business this fall by having more shows where people blasphemy God and where there is more sexually explicit content than ever.

11.2.5.2.4.We stop being the top nation for the manufacturing and distribution of pornography.

11.2.5.2.5.Etc., Etc.

11.2.5.3.This “Me” attitude of the world has crept into the church in America in our day, and it is a sad thing for me to say, but I believe that the mainstream church in America today looks a whole lot more like the world than it does the Lord to whom they belong.

11.2.6.We will see that to combat this “Me” attitude amongst the church in Corinth, in chapter 12 of the book Paul writes about how each organ and part of a physical body exists to promote the health of the whole. This is a good picture of how the church, Christ’s body, should function. No organ of a person’s body rebels against the needs of the body in order to promote itself, and neither should the members of Christ’s body try to promote their own selfish concerns at the expense of the whole body.

11.2.6.1.If one part of the body begins to live only for itself we have a name for it, it is called “cancer”.

11.2.6.2.If one organ of the body is weak and beginning to fail, it is sometimes the case that other organs of the body will try to help that organ out by doing its function. We in the church should also try to help out the weak member of Christ’s body, not tear them down and undermine them. This does not mean that we do not find occasion for rebuke when done in love, it just means that we are not to tear down our brothers and sisters but seek to build them up.

11.2.6.3.We must learn to die to self, and then we will fill our God-given role as the organ or joint in Christ’s body that He wants us to be.

11.3. The Corinthians were very self-willed and quarrelsome, and thus divisions had begun among them. Paul knew of these quarrels and divisions because of the report from Chloe’s people.

11.4. The Spirit of God will bring unity of doctrine as well as purpose to a body which has rejected the flesh life to walk in the Spirit.

11.5. Paul exhorts them to maintain in Christ unity of mind as well as of judgment. Paul’s exhortation to them is particularly strong as he exhorts them to do this in the Name of Christ.

11.5.1.His ‘Name’ refers to Him, His kingdom, and all that He stands for. It is a strong plea which Paul makes to them, asking them to be of one mind for Christ’s sake.

11.5.2.We in the church need to realize that if we will die to self and look to the Lord to lead us, He will make us all of one mind and purpose. The Holy Spirit is not divided, neither is Christ (as Paul writes later in this letter), and He will make us all of one mind. The only reason for divisions and factions in the church today is that men are walking in the flesh as they were in the Corinthian church of Paul’s day.

12. VS 1:12 - “1:12 Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, ‘I am of Paul’, and ‘I of Apollos’, and ‘I of Cephas’, and ‘I of Christ’. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” - The people in the church in Corinth had formed schisms based around their favorite teachers and leaders

12.1. It appears that for the most part, the church had become divided up into parties based primarily upon who had led them to know Christ. Paul had led some, Apollos led others, and perhaps Peter led others. However, there was another group that realized that the church was Christ’s church, however they were of the same party attitude and had a super-spiritual attitude, they were ‘of Christ’.

12.2. Paul rebukes the Corinthians saying that Christ is not divided, and neither were His servants Paul, Apollos, or Peter. Therefore, neither should any of His servants ever be divided. For after all, were they not to be simply being led by Christ in all that they were doing in life?

12.3. Paul was appalled by the thought that some in the church were claiming to be ‘of Paul.’

12.4. Christ cannot be divided, and therefore neither can we be divided who are His church upon the earth, that is, if we are truly following Him and walking obediently in His will.

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