1 Corinthians

The Epistle to the Corinthians.

1. Christ the Wisdom of God

I think it is interesting how in the first three chapters Paul sees the issue of wisdom and folly as being connected to divisions in the church. It makes one think of people who are obsessed with systematics, and dogmatic purity - these are the sort of people who are the most divisive, don't you think? At the same time, we are all building on the same foundation, Jesus Christ, and some will build with precious stones and others with hay. I definitely want to be in the most refined of the precious stones category. But it is on the basis of the power of Christ and the spirit that we ought to be seeking wisdom, even the real wisdom of the Greeks. Really we must be concerned with power more than talk - the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. Dealing with talk is secondary to discerning the spirit, and living out its power.

1:1: Same Sosthenes as the leader of the Corinthian synagogue? (Acts 18:17) Seems unlikely to be anyone else to me, just pure gut instinct.

Interesting which books Paul has co-authors for.

10: Christians should be like-minded.

11: Chloe's people? Funny phrase.

12: Do not follow after teachers or theologians.

Implies that people were perceiving differences between Peter and Paul's teachings.

17: Very bold verse. Paul did not see the sacrament as essential to his particular vocational ministry.

Nor did he see eloquence as essential -- despite all his long eloquent letters! -- as eloquence empties the cross of Christ of its power. How so?

18-21: Love this passage so much. All of the learning and eloquence and wisdom fail. What seems stupid and the foolish end up conveying the truth.

1:22: Some people want to have the perfect theological / philosophical system, and some people want to experience God more mystically, to revel in the ways he turns their world inside out. A sign or miracle from God is not him breaking the natural order of the world; he is breaking our imperfect understanding of the natural order. I think he designed the natural order perfectly, and part of that design is the possibility of miracles to correct the damaging effects of sin on the created order, to remind us of his power and to humble our knowledge. Some people are fine not knowing anything and don't want to be forced to have a consistent rational system; some people want to know everything and don't want God to shatter their presumptions. But I think those are both ditches. It is good to seek wisdom and to await signs, to expand your sense of the known and the unknown, to order your conscious intentions rightly and to glorify God to the best of your ability. But that only gets you so far. The root is Christ crucified, and if we get too caught up in our own understandings of the rational or our own experiences of the miraculous, the symbolically potent, then it distracts us from the point.

23-25: To this day the cross of Christ is foolishness and a stumbling block to Jews and gentiles. 2000 years and the spiritual dynamics are the same.

26-29: The worldly hierarchies of nobility, power, and wisdom are a transient thing; God raises up the lowly to shame the proud and all their nobility and power and wisdom come to an end.

30-31: Jesus has given us what we need so we don't need to boast in ourselves.

2. God’s Wisdom Revealed

1-5: Christianity is not about complicated systems of doctrine.

This is why I don't care for apologetics, which seems to appeal to wisdom for the sake of the immature.

Instead we must demonstrate the Spirit and its power. Its fruits and its wonder-working.

Many 'serious' Christians just study doctrine and dig themselves deeper into putting faith in the wisdom of men.

6-8: Secret wisdom?

By rulers of the age, does Paul refer to the scribes and Pharisees, the Romans, the angels, the elementary powers... seems especially the religious authorities of the Jews, who crucified Christ, but maybe he includes the Roman rulers in this.

9: Human religious reasoning fails because God has prepared things our heart can't imagine.

10: God does reveal things to us not thorugh reason but for the Spirit that searches his depths.

11-13:

We are seeking to comprehend God's thoughts. He reveals them to us spiritually.

Our words don't come from reasoning but, as Christians, we can utter things prompted by God's spirit, which Christ gives to us. The flow of words and thought come from him

Then why have any teachers to interpret spiritual truths to those who are spiritual? God does not have us live as individuals but within communities of people who can be a vessel for the Spirit to us in what they do and say.

14: Being too realistic makes you blind to the actual truth.

15: How do we know if we qualify as spiritual enough to judge all things and not be judged ourselves?

16: Is Paul just referring to himself and the elders as having the mind of Christ here or all Christians?

3. Servants of God

1: Many are infants in Christ. Ready to learn more about him but not still ready to hear many deep spiritual truths.

2-4: Fleshly behavior and quarrels don't necessarily disqualify you from Christianity entirely but they are sign that you are not ready to receive deep spiritual insight.

It's not that mystic insight makes you more holy, but that once your behavior is peaceful and loving then your mystical insight is worthwhile.

Don't be merely human. We are called to be superhuman.

5-9: Teachers are workers in God's kingdom and they each have their own role.

3:10-15 Obviously Paul is talking primarily about teaching and wisdom and different kinds of doctrinal development (some theologies are gold and some are hay, and it will be proven which is right in the fire of the judgment) - but it seems like this could extend to any kind of work in general, depending on the gifts of the individual believer; the teaching of the teachers, service of the servants etc.

It might be all kinds of different church cultures and traditions and ideas, but it must all be built on Christ. And certain things will be tested and destroyed, and other works will be timeless and glorious.

God will reveal the warp and weft of our love-work on the earth when all's done.

The Day of Christ's judgment means Christ judging everything everyone did.

3:16-17: ! Important to note that many people interpret this in an individualistic way, but the you is plural and in context the temple he is talking about is their unity as a church that he has put so much work into. The purpose of teaching should be to build up the holy ones into unity with one another and with Christ, not to tear down. Anyone who destroys the unity of believers will be destroyed by God. (poignant words from a man who persecuted and killed christians)

How do I know what I am doing and saying is building up God's temple rather than tearing it down? Couldn't there be plenty of mistaken ideas in my teaching that lead to division and hatred?

18-23: What is wisdom worth in the face of inheriting all things in the reign of Christ?

This is where many people's belief gives up. They are willing to believe in God and in Christ, but they refuse to act as if all things were truly theirs. This results in the attitude of a prince and a heir. Of someone who can rest. But a grubby striver must always be worrying and toiling and grasping and fighting fighting fighting for themselves because they don't believe things actually belong to them.

They don't fully believe God's promise.

4. Apostles as Servants

1: By mysteries of God, does he mean the mystery of the faith or the sacraments?

2-5: Stewards and teachers may go astray or they may run afoul of society or the law or of church courts. But God will judge. Christ will unveil everyone's intentions.

6: 'that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another'

What are the different things this could mean?

Really I think this part of 1 Corinthians shred most of the case the historical church has for persecuting heretics, because so much of heresy is really just unsatisfactory extrapolation from the text. but maybe that's just me.

7-13: Insane speech. A spectacle to angels. Wow.

What all is Paul getting at here? Why is emphasizing his weakness vs the strength of the Corinthians?

14-18: So bold. Paul teaches himself. He makes himself a father. Urges that he be imitated. Sends his son (in ministry) Timothy to remind them of 'Paul's ways in Christ' - imagine sending all the churches you have visited a message to remind them of your own way in Christ! And going around teaching them how to behave based on how you behave.

4:19-20: 'I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.' the work of the spirit in the church goes far beyond theological speculation.

21: Not sure why Paul would contrast coming with the rod vs. coming with gentle love? In the kingdom of God consisting in power, is he envisioning to bring some kind of spiritual or miraculous judgment upon the evildoers?

5. Casting Out the Immoral

1-2: Might be easy for Christians to become arrogant - normal morality does not apply to us - because we receive spiritual gifts from a heavenly king. However, we still must be deeply humble and fearful to trespass against sexual purity.

Churches in our day that tolerate sexual immorality do so out of pride, and they suffer a terrible withering.

Those in unrepentant immorality must be expelled from Christian fellowship and we should all mourn it rather than celebrate it.

3-5: We don't want the sexually immoral to suffer eternal destruction of hellfire. We hope that anyone in these aberrant sexual relationships have their spirit saved, but their body must be given up to be judged.

'By delivering to Satan' does Paul refer to the accusatory religious Jews who were seeking civil penalties against Christians for their heresy. Normally Christians should defend their own against the persecuting powers, but some Christians do commit terrible crimes and immoralities and they should receive the physical punishment in the hope that Christ will still save their spirit.

6-8: How do we know that our congregation is pure enough? Aren't many of us falling into different temptations?

9-13:

We will always be in contact in this life with sexually depraved people, because they populate the whole world. But Christians are called to live a life set apart from that.

the test for whether or not we should have fellowship with another person claiming to be a believer is if 1) they really believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected and 2) they live a life of holiness, free from sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, reviling (?), drunkenness, swindling. Don't eat with people claiming to be Christians who practice these things. But when it comes to more abstract doctrinal disagreements ('I am of Thomas' 'I am of Van Til'), we must place first the fact that all things are ours together under Christ, regardless of what we think Paul or Peter or whoever has said.

When do Christians gain the authority to judge outsiders? Is that only in the future kingdom of God or do we look back at history and see times when Christians have reigned and laid down the law?

Nevertheless it seems like for many long millennia we have not run out of insincerity and impurities that we must judge and cast out to be destroyed.

6. Christian Lawsuits and Sexual Purity

1-8: Paul prophesying that saints will judge the world may be true in a glorious heavenly sense, but it is also true on earth over the past two thousand years. Judging the world, judging angels...

Unfortunately, it does not seem like many in the evangelical church have this as a stated goal for their flock. The end goal of maturity should be competence to judge cases with justice. Not everyone will reach that end, but that is the goal that we should all be striving towards. To prepare to inherit the kingdom in this life and the next. This is a much grander quest than I think what many churches settle for, which is merely offering a therapeutic experience; comfort is of course a necessary ministry of the church but there are deeper encouragements that come from being trained to judge sin and immorality justly, in preparation for judging the world and angels.

This of course begins with painfully just assessments of our own sin, and thanksgiving to God for his mercies.

I wish I had more legal and judicial training. It is something evangelical churches should prioritize as a marker of their culture in distinction to the world, which does not care to train the young in matters of justice and discernment. We must be raising up people wise enough for this task.

Are we defrauding our brothers without realizing it by not giving them the love that is their due?

And definitely do not bring fellow Christians to court while you have any other recourse.

9-11: Funny that Paul repeats his list from last chapter again here. He clarifies: yes, we in the church have committed some of those deeds. But we seek cleansing from it all in the name of Christ.

12-20: This is the Christian ethic of the body. We must not be adulterous or promiscuous or joined to prostitutes, because our body is to be a temple of the Holy Spirit given from God. One spirit with Christ. Members of Christ's body. Our bodies were bought by Christ to be kept utterly pure and safe. For the ultimate end of resurrection and walking with God.

Sexuality is the normal way mankind experiences the joining of flesh together, and so Christian sexuality must be entirely orderly and good, because of the hope we have for our flesh.

7. Marriage

1-2: Now, on the other end of things, since we are called to purity, many Christians have naturally concluded: well we just shouldn't have sex. But that just tempts us to even more immorality! So it is good for everyone to be married.

3-4: Conjugal rights refers to the fact that a married couple now own one another's bodies. It is the duty of Christian husbands and wives to love and have sex with one another. It is a betrayal of conjugal right to refuse to care for the basic needs for sexuality and intimacy that people have.

People can also be very needy and messed up with what they want sexually, or be all tormented and not even know what they want, but at its most simple and pure, sexual touch between a man and woman is a basic human impulse.

Notably, Paul does not say that the woman is merely an object owned by the man. She too is an owner. Wives are not collectibles for men. Rather, when a man marries a woman he is choosing the woman he thinks will be worthy to possess his body. His strength will be devoted to her. This is why men should seek out wise women.

5: Humans almost universally struggle with self-control over their sexual urge. For almost everyone, it's like riding a bull as soon as you go through puberty, whether you mostly register it as a physical urge or emotional urges, it's up and down.

The apostolic Christian ethic here from Paul says that because this impulse is so strong, married people should regularly have sex with each other unless they mutually agree to fast for a time for the sake of praying together. This would be very appropriate for times of mourning, or begging God for some gift. But generally, staying apart leads to all kinds of temptation and bitterness.

This is also why betrothals should be short. A man and a woman should not be in a relationship for years and years without being married; because either you do the natural thing and begin having sex, but in a pseudo-monogamous fornication that's outside the public accountability and faithfulness of covenant; OR you aren't having sex with each other and then are frustrated and tempted all the time and are not receiving the intimacy that your flesh needs from one another.

6-9: Having discussed how vital it is for most to be married, Paul does acknowledge that singleness in purity also has many advantages. He notes that this is his personal sense of the matter: Those who are currently single should not worry about marriage and should enjoy the benefits of singleness as much as they can. But, our natural state is to burn with passion, and marriage is a good resolution to this.

10-11: In distinction to this personal comment he has just made, he reminds the Corinthians of Jesus Christ's command: that we should not divorce. Husbands and wives should not separate. If a woman leaves, she should not take another man. (Paul avoids discussing polygamous relationships by focusing on that women should not remarry.)

12-14: Christians should not divorce their unbelieving spouses. Being family of a believer makes you holy in a way because you are set apart from the world by contact with them, in spite of your own unbelief.

Children, even though they are not yet of age for belief or unbelief, are set apart from the world due to their parents calling to holiness. The children may prove unfaithful and leave the church, but otherwise they are being made clean and holy from their infancy, due to Christ's work all around them, regardless of their own sinfulness.

15-16: When an unbelieving spouse separates, you may let them go. You are free and you may have peace. Presumably, you may take a new believing spouse. But we hope that all the unbelieving spouses may be saved by the witness and holiness of their believing spouse.

10. Warnings from Israel’s History

10:11: Important to note this interpretation of the Exodus story: the example happened for them, but that it was written down is for our instruction, we 'on whom the end of the ages has come.'

15. The Resurrection of the Dead

15: in saying 'in adam all die' he might not be talking about fallen humanity but the inconsistency of unfallen Adam's state, the fact that he could fall, and the difference between that precarious prefall earthly existence and future Christian existence in the resurrrection, which is eternal and stable