6/10/2021 0 Comments 1Corinthians CommentaryIt is AD 55. Paul is on his third missionary journey, and has been staying at Ephesus for nearly three years in order to come alongside Prisca and Aquila -- the first two evangelists in the region -- to firmly plant a strong church body there [Ac 18:19; 19:10; 20:31]. Then comes a report from the church of Corinth, the original sin city of the Gentile world, which deeply troubles Paul [1Co 1:11]. The church, rather than being a church and exposing and rebuking the godless culture around them, has allowed its many vices to seep into its life, sullying their evangelistic witness for the Lord and stumping their spiritual growth. The church has fallen into chasing after their own self-fulfillment and prideful self-identity rather than remembering what their true purpose on earth, as followers of Christ, is. Unbelievers were comfortably masquerading themselves as true members of the church with impunity, and they were introducing confusion and chaos; they were counterfeiting the spiritual gifts of tongue and prophecy, and were spewing the popular Gnostic heresies that strike at the message of the gospel. This letter is just one of many letters to the Corinthians that reflect Paul's earnest concern for the testimony of this problem church, even when he is far away in some place. He deeply cares about them as if they were his own children, since he is the one who founded the church [Ac 18:8].
Your strong beliefs or lack thereof inform your emotions, and your emotions motivate behaviour. And Paul seamlessly blends his teachings of doctrinal truths with his appeals to their humanity to form a bottom-deep rationale in the psyche of the Corinthians, so that they are persuaded to obey his practical instructions (e.g. Paul tells them that they have been given all knowledge to govern the world in righteousness someday, and appeals to their sense of shame in order to dissuade them from taking each other to a legal court that is presided over by unbelievers.). No church is immune from the same chaos of the Corinthian church, and we the readers, by God's providence, learn from Paul's addressing the church's issues, which we all face. 1co1 Greetings from Paul and the guy who got beat up for bringing a charge against Paul back when Paul first preached at Corinth. Paul begins by reminding them of their place in the bigger picture of Christian community. Paul, by means of thanksgiving prayer, reminds the Corinthians of the love of God for them, and encourages them to live purely and confidently: Paul thanks God for their salvation which was confirmed by God's bestowing spiritual gifts on them all, and for their embarrassment of riches of God's Word. Paul encourages the Corinthians to live in light of Christ's imminent second coming, a powerful catalyst to setting your priorities right, and also to live in full confidence that their souls are completely secure, since God is faithful and their salvation is completely wrought by God's work. God calls, and God will confirm you to the end. Paul exhorts the church to be united in their convictions, and get along with each other. Stop creating cliques inside the church by rallying around a celebrity apostle in order to brand yourself, and certainly don't rally around Paul. Remember, the Jews think you are blasphemers, and the Gentiles think you are all morons for being Christians. Paul has done nothing but preach a foolish message of a crucified Messiah, with no concession to trending philosophies and reason. Only you see the glory of God in the message, only because God chose you, the world's weak, and fools. There is nothing and nobody to celebrate, except God who did all the work of opening your eyes, and giving you the entire salvation package. 1co2 Paul again reminds the Corinthians that their faith in the crucified Lord was created by God Himself, not by some eloquent communication skills of one weak, cowardly preacher. The Spirit makes the inaccessible mind of God accessible and known by those whom God predestined to know. 1co3 Paul cannot discuss with them deeper truths, but has to give them baby talk. They are acting like unbelievers or like immature infantile believers. Stop forming celebrity cults around teachers. There is no one who is the cause of your faith except God, and there is no one who is the target of your faith except Christ, the foolish message. The teachers are not rivals, but all are working together for the same end, who will have to stand and give an account for their work, just like everybody else. So why pick and choose which club to belong in? All of them are yours. Take heed to not get swept up into a personality worship inside the church. Learn from God's past dealings with those who cause desecration of His temple. 1co4 Paul wants the celebrated heroes of the faith to be perceived rather as low galley slaves who have no choice but to serve the church under incredibly weighty obligation to their Master. Paul couldn't care less what his approval rating is among the fans, or what their presumptuous criticisms of his ministry and motive are. Paul's conscience is clear before God, and he knows God doesn't care about what the groupies think. He will wait for the evaluation of his ministry from the only One whose judgment he cares about. Paul continues to admonish the church to honour all workers the same, all of whom served them. Paul uses sarcasm to communicate his amusement at the stark contrast between the reality and the church's own self-aggrandizing daydreaming. All the apostles are like prisoners being led to gladiatorial games, whose death and misery are to be spectated on, and who cannot ever attack back. Paul reminds the church of his love for them as their spiritual father, and because of their connection, he is going to visit the unruly house, and use the rod if necessary. Paul wants the church to not be arrogant but be imitators of him. 1co 5 Corinth has gone so far in their self-satisfaction as to tolerate an instance of sexual immorality that even a regular Gentile unbeliever would be scandalized by. Paul is not fazed at all with his absence from Corinth, but empowers all believers to make the necessary decisions to maintain the integrity of the Christian life within the community by cutting off and thrusting out all elements in their midst, that corrupt it, back into the world. While we must engage in social discourse with non-Christians, Paul calls for Christians' fellowship to have zero tolerance of the presence of any professing Christian who practices any of the common vices of the world. 1co 6 Corinthians have litigious intentions against one another, and are taking each other to court. As the people who have been taught all knowledge to discern what pleases and displeases the Lord [1Co 1:5] -- so much so that they will govern someday the future kingdom -- it makes no sense for them to not be able to resolve their petty disputes amongst themselves that they have to take the matters before unbelievers who cannot even think rightly about God [1Co 1:14] and who have zero invested interest in the unity of the church. Paul tells self-defensive, proud Corinthians they have been saved from a life of all kinds of the common Corinthian vices to inherit the kingdom. It is better to cut your losses and live for the kingdom, than to take revenge on each other. While Christians have been released from bondage of all ceremonial laws (i.e. "all things are lawful"; ref. 1Co 6:12), Paul admonishes for self-control in areas where there can be bondage of the spiritual kind: Corinthians have justified sexual immorality as necessary bodily function, just as crucial as satisfying hunger. On the contrary, Paul says your bodies are God's own Holy of holies, and are essential pieces of Christ's kingdom, bought and owned by the Master. It makes as much sense for Christians to defile their own bodies with lust as it does for Christ to share His people's allegiance with a harlot. 1co 7 In the chaos of Corinthians' immoral culture, Paul addresses the confusion of the believers in regard to God's rules about sexual relationships. Paul commands ample sexual gratification through legitimate way of monogamy for people who cannot restrain their urges. Marry only another believer; marriage is not an evangelistic tool to convert the opposite sex. For the new converts who were already married to an unbelieving partner, marriage bonds apply unless the partner leaves of their accord. Paul reassures the believer that their marital partnership with their unbelieving spouse will not sweep them also in God's judgment against the unbelieving spouse, but rather their righteous influence on any unbeliever in their family will bring certain spiritual blessings from God to the unbelievers by way of association, kind of like the partial fulfillment of Abrahamic blessing. At the end of the day, Paul says it is of small significance what your temporal, social, marital status is [ref. 1Co 7:18,19,29-31]. Paul redirects their preoccupation with the earthly, inconsequential frivolities of life, so they might focus on obedience and single-mindedness for Christ's eternal kingdom. However, in regard to the ease with which one maintains single-minded devotion to Christ, Paul says the unmarried has more spiritual advantages than the married. As an unmarried: 1. You are in good company with the apostle Paul, an imitator of Christ. Paul is an example of a living sacrifice for the gospel [1Co 7:7; 11:1]. 2. You have full bodily autonomy, and you are free from the life-long obligation of sexually gratifying the marriage partner whenever he/she desires [1Co 7:3]. 3. You are not harassed by sexual temptations because you have self-control over sexual desire [1Co 7:9]. 4. You are not burdened with the stresses and anxieties of a married life in a hostile, Christ-hating world [1Co 7:26,28]. 5. You are free to fully serve the Lord without the distractions that the married people face perennially from their temporal obligations to their husband/wife [1Co 7:32,33]. 6. You live a simpler life, and do not need to deal with any of the many marriage issues that Paul has to painstakingly address here in this chapter. Paul does not want any believer to feel spiritually inferior to another, so he firmly points out that both singleness and marriage are good gifts from the Lord, and in no way is he mandating celibacy [1Co 7:7,35]. But he humorously and unequivocally makes it known that he still prefers singleness to marriage by a mile. He encourages the unmarried people to stay unmarried, and only offers marriage by way of concession. 1co 8 All the local butcher shops were affiliated with pagan cult festivals, and they would sell the left-over meats from the events. Many Corinthian believers are new Gentile converts whose past lifestyle was entwined with the pagan cult activities. The brothers whose conscience is strong enough to exercise their freedom to eat the meat without misgiving should also know it is their duty to restrict their freedom so that they do not violate the conscience of those Gentile believers who are careful to disengage from all things in their past pagan life. God doesn't care whether or not you can eat meat. God does care that your eating might make you feel superior to weaker believers, and, through peer pressure, that you might make them to eat and weaken their convictions. This incurs deadly anger from the Lord who takes personally the belittling of the weaker believer. Paul would just as soon become a vegetarian rather than plunge a brother into a loveless environment. 1co 9 The Lord saves whomever through the preaching of the gospel, regardless of who the messenger is. At the same time, Paul understands the importance of the preacher's credibility and reputation. Paul wants to cut the legs off of any detractor who would malign him and say that he preaches with a selfish motive. Paul would rather die than to give his enemies a justifiable ground to say anything other than the fact that, beyond all reasonable doubt, Paul makes absolutely zero personal benefit from the preaching, but he preaches only because he fears God would chasten him if he doesn't. Paul wants it known: Paul is a duty-bound slave, not a travelling salesman. Paul uses social analogies to illustrate the reasonableness of the Lord's chosen apostles to have financial support from churches: 1. No soldier goes to war and has to have a part-time job to sustain themselves. 2. No farmer works the field without expecting to enjoy the fruit of their labour. 3. No shepherd tends his flock without drinking the milk to sustain himself. More pointedly, Paul makes the case that the Lord has already granted the preachers the right to earn their living through their preaching (ref. 1Co 9:9; 1Co 9:13). As a high-ranking apostle, Paul has every right to be provided for so that he may focus on his ministry. But he chooses not to be a financial burden to churches, not even to the Corinthians, who owe their life to Paul (ref. 1Co 9:2,11,12). Rather, he relinquishes all his rights and freedoms so that the preaching of the gospel may not have even a shadow of ulterior motive. Not only does Paul give up all his rights, but he also humbles himself to the customs and sensibilities of the unbelievers, Jew or Gentile, with whom he is trying to build rapport. Paul is always looking to "trade up" (ref. 1Co 9:19) by exchanging his temporal rights for the souls of men. Such self-sufficiency, and self-discipline is necessary in the business of preaching, since a reputation that is marred by greed will end the career of a preacher and close all opportunity for preaching. 1Co 10 To illustrate disqualification from God's blessing, Paul speaks of Israel's acts of idolatry, immorality, and calling God's persistent care for them into question in the wilderness. Paul simply says: don't be like Israel in the wilderness, lest the same fate befall you. Paul again expresses the freedom of Christians from external dietary and ceremonial regulations is to be used only for what honours God, benefits others, and will not offend believers or unbelievers. 1co 11 When Paul expresses here his commendation to the church for remembering him "in everything," and clinging to all the words of God that he taught, he essentially holds them hostage and obliges them to also listen to what he is about to next teach them. In Corinth, it was a custom for women to have distinctly longer hair than men, and to don a head covering when in public. Women who uncovered their hair, or who shaved their heads were either prostitutes, or part of the feminist movement that clamoured for their right to rub out all gender distinctions. The women in the church, chalking it up to their Christian freedom, were repeating their popular motto "All things are lawful," [1Co 10:23] and throwing off their cultural head coverings. Paul tells the Christians, especially the women, to fall in line with the customs for what constitutes femininity and masculinity. Although both men and women are both equal in spiritual standing, and mutually essential for each other (i.e. the woman was created from the rib of the man, and men have their birth from women), there is a distinction of behaviour for each gender which is pleasing to the Lord. The women must honour their God-given place of supportiveness, and the men must honour their place of leadership. Paul lists reasons for men and women to respectively own their masculinity and femininity (hence, to respect the established gender customs of the day): 1. God designed humanity to continue the flow of basic hierarchy that starts within the Godhead. God the Father is the authority over the Son, and the Son humbly submits to His will. The Son is the authority over every man, believer and unbeliever, and every man has the duty to submit to the Son. And the man is the authority over the woman, and the woman-kind must submit to his authority. To upset this basic order is to oppose God. To belittle the role of submission is to belittle the Son Himself, who is the perfect model of submission. 2. Man is God's appointed representative on earth (man is "the image and glory of God"; he shows forth God's attributes, His beauty; ref. 1Co 11:7), and carries with him the heavy responsibility of ruling over the creation with His standard of righteousness, but primarily by delegating to, and involving woman. Woman equally shares the responsibility of righteous dominion over the creation, but primarily by encouraging, counselling, and submitting to man (woman is "the glory of man"; she shows forth man's attributes, his beauty; ref. 1Co 11:7). It is unbecoming for man to not exercise his God-given authority, and it is equally unbecoming for woman to not respect her God-established authority. 3. Man was created first, and then the woman was created to be a helper to man. This clearly designates woman in a supportive role. 4. The holy angels, who each function within a hierarchy of all the spiritual beings, were also created in the image of God as mankind was. They have known nothing but humble service to God, and submission to their fellow angels who are higher in rank. They are each perfectly content to cherish their God-given role. They all stay united in order to carry out God's vision. And these same angels are watching your attitude, women. Do not give them a reason to abhor you because of your rebellion against His law. 5. By instinct, people know long hair beautifies woman (long hair is "a glory to her"; ref. 1Co 11:14), while long hair makes man look effeminate. Physiologically, God designed women to have faster rate of hair cell growth. Some believers were desecrating the sacred remembrance of the Lord's new covenant, celebration of the Lord's sacrifice for sin, by provoking and alienating others. Paul warns them that the Lord will chasten them, even with death, unless they repent. 1co 12 Paul addresses the demonic deception about the person of Christ. He emphatically warns the church to not be deceived about blasphemous messages about Jesus that are being supposedly channelled from spiritual beings through mystical pagan rituals. And the Gentile Christians were all too familiar with the pagan rituals. All believers have the Spirit of God within them, and the Spirit gives each a different skillset that will build each other up. The Lord gives each a unique ministry arenas where they should practice their gifts. God gives each a unique effect. Hence they will depend on each other like they are one body, "whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free." Paul addresses some ungrateful and envious Christians who are discontent with the gifts they have been given, and who want the more ostentatious and fascinating gifts (e.g. tongues). Paul reiterates that every gift is necessary for the proper function of the entire body, especially the gifts that work quietly behind the scenes. Hence, Paul calls for mutual respect and care in the church, the body of Christ. Paul lists the spiritual gift palette from which the Spirit decides what unique blend each receives (some are temporary sign gifts for authenticating the gospel preachers prior to the completion of the canon of Scripture; ref. Ac 2:22; Ac 4:29,30; Ro 15:18,19; 2Co 12:12; Heb 2:4): the ability to harmonize disparate principles from God's word and practically understand what the right course of action is in a certain scenario; the ability to grasp the meaning of God's word and understand its insights; the ability to encourage hope and fortitude in times of severe difficulty; the ability to completely heal sicknesses without any necessary subsequent rehab (discontinued); the authority over demons to cast them out at will (discontinued); the ability to proclaim new revelations (discontinued after Apostle John's final letter); the ability to authenticate the source of the new revelations (discontinued, but the principle of discernment lives on with the complete canon of Scripture now as the standard); the ability to speak unlearned foreign languages at will (discontinued); the ability to interpret the foreign languages (discontinued). Then Paul lists God's unique callings for each believer in the life of a local church: most importantly, a missionary/apostle who plants a local church through the preaching of the gospel, and who authenticates the message with miracles; secondly, a prophet who proclaims new or established revelations from God; thirdly, a teacher/elder who explains God's word in an understandable way; then, in no particular order, an exorcist who casts out demons, a healer who cures miraculously, a deacon/leader who can efficiently organize any ministry in order to handle practical day-to-day matters, and the tongue-speakers who serve as a sign of coming judgment on unbelieving Israel. 1co 13 Paul speaks of the centrality of (agape in Greek) love to the exercise of every spiritual gift and sacrificial ministry. Love seeks to meet the needs of someone else selflessly, and the chief need is to help them become like Christ (Ro 8:29). This love has characterized the life of Jesus, and the chief act of love was His self-sacrifice for His people (Jn 15:13), and Paul adjures Corinthians to imitate Christ. Without this love: the ability to speak foreign languages at will becomes no different from noisy clamour of idolatrous pagan festivals; the ability to declare divine revelations and wisdom becomes useless; the ability to stand steadfast in the times of trial becomes meaningless; and sacrificing your belongings or your acceptance of torture and death brings no eternal rewards. Paul admonishes the Corinthians towards love by telling them how a believer knows he has the (agape) love for another, the love of choice, the love of action, the love of empathy, the love that seeks out the interests of the other: Love is patient. Love bears the pain of all shortcomings (covering over someone's many ugly aspects with silence, and sharing in the blame, and accepting the consequence of all the ugliness). Love is full of faith (confidently believing the best about someone, and giving them full trust) and full of hope (never giving up on someone, for whom love cares too much, despite experiencing despair and betrayal, and eagerly anticipating the vindication of hope). Love endures all setbacks (withstanding all assault against your resolve to love that person). Love understands the priority is the kingdom. Love does not breed self-importance. Love will stand by the side of the weaker brother, and be a constant channel of encouragement, accountability, and guidance for his progress of becoming like Christ and for his portion of work for the kingdom. Love is kind (generous and helpful). Love imposes no condition upon others to gauge who is worthy enough to be its recipient. When love observes a need of another, it immediately orients the believer's brain to think about how best to fulfill the goal to love that person, given the possible scenarios that may play out, and does not hesitate to decide and act. Love never envies. Envious people compare themselves with one another to see who has a greater privilege. Rather than applying and honing themselves so they may fulfill their own God-given responsibilities and rather than working together as a united front for the kingdom of Christ and esteeming each other as unique, divinely gifted fellow workers, instead they boil inside in seething resentment toward the other for their ostentatiously greater privilege. They are idolatrous and guilty of the same sin of Cain, Abel's brother; they seek approval from men rather than from God; they seek glory for themselves, rather than attributing to God all the glory. They then wish misfortune on the person for the termination of their privilege, or seek to sabotage their God-given work. Love never brags. Arrogant people, on the other end of the spectrum from the envious people albeit equally idolatrous, are enamoured with their own privileges, and flaunts them in order to draw attention to themselves rather than to God. They spew out their empty air of conceit to seek prominence among their peers, and cause others to envy and feel inferior. Love does not behave gracelessly. Love also informs social etiquette and manners, because it concerns itself with what makes the other person happy and complete. Love is tactical empathy: treating others the way they would like to be treated. Love is never self-seeking. Love is focused on others' needs rather one's own. Love has as its priority the glory of Christ and His kingdom, and would seek to meet its own needs only insofar as, by doing so, it may sustain itself for the purpose of fulfilling its ministry. This inner attitude of selflessness is the bedrock of all expressions of love. The degree to which one imitates Christ's attitude and takes the form of a slave is the same degree to which one is able to fulfill the law of Christ, to love. Love disables any outburst of selfish, impatient anger. Love does not breed self-defensiveness that lashes out against any criticism, or self-important attitude that must have its own way. Love allows large margin of error for others and seeks out a mutual understanding. Love gives them a sense of stability in their relationships. Love is not vindictive. Love does not keep a permanent judicial record of all the wrong done against it, nor does it repay evil for evil. Love rejoices in the sea of forgiveness which extinguishes the spark of personal offense. Love does not celebrate iniquity. Love is zeal for the Lord, and sharing in His priorities. Love earnestly hates all that is contrary to the holiness of God. Love does not stand in solidarity with the wicked, nor does it sanctimoniously delight in publicly disgracing a particularly scandalous person, nor does it vicariously enjoy the iniquity through gossip. Love celebrates the truth of God, as the truth is believed and obeyed. Love draws attention to wherever the truth is honoured, and celebrates the work of God in that person. Love builds up, validates, appreciates, and encourages. Love lasts forever all the way to eternity, unlike the temporary gifts of prophecy or tongue-speaking. The gift of tongue-speaking, Paul says, will soon dwindle away to historical oblivion after it has served its purpose of warning unbelieving Israel. Prophecy will meet its abrupt end when the eternal kingdom will put an end to its necessity. The knowledge of God received by believing God's complete revelation (the Scripture), though it is sufficient and complete for saving faith and godly living, we have not yet experientially realized the fullness of the goodness of God and all the "already, not yet" promises that are in Jesus (eradication of sinful flesh; Romans 8:30). Paul uses 2 analogies to illustrate the limited nature of knowledge through Scripture compared to the full knowledge we will have someday: 1. it is like seeing a person's face through a frosted glass, but in the future, we will see the person clearly and face to face. 2. it is like being stuck in the world of a child, having childish preoccupations, but in the future, we will be preoccupied with more mature things. Love is superior to hope or faith, since both of them will realize their goals, and be no longer necessary in the eternal kingdom, but love will stay forever. Paul wants the Corinthians to consider their vehemency with which they chase after the ostentatious gifts and instead chase after love with the same vehemency. 1co 14 Paul says this agape love will prevent the other end of the extreme, which is to abandon all exercise of spiritual gifts in the name of equality and be barren of the spiritual vibrancy which God has willed for His people. Paul wants all the believers to exercise their gifts freely and to the utmost, yet fuelled and informed by this love. Paul above all things wants love and order to reign over the Corinthian church. Love dictates the exercise of gifts in the context of the church life to always be done for the benefit of another, in order to build them up in knowledge, encourage them toward obedience, and to comfort them in trouble. Love, in order to fulfill its goal, necessitates an environment of order and clarity, not of chaos and confusion. However, the loveless Corinthians, for the purpose of self-aggrandizement, were creating a clamorous and frenzied environment by blurting out whatever and whenever they wished and speaking over each other, some with the genuine gifts of tongues (languages) or of prophecy, some with counterfeit pagan-like ecstatic gibberish or a false revelation, and some who have something that they just feel compelled to say. In this loveless and chaotic environment, the believers were not built up, and any curious unbeliever who is visiting would conclude the church is an institution for the mentally insane; thus God is dishonoured and the gospel is discredited. Therefore, Paul instructs the Corinthians to set some common-sense regulations for the exercise of the speaking gifts within the context of church life, something they reasonably would have done if they had love. Paul refuses to allow them to attribute their undisciplined behaviour to the Spirit's leading, since the Lord gives sober-mindedness and self-control. Any gifted person who speaks tongues or prophecy does so of their own volition, not because they are irresistibly compelled as if they are demon-possessed. For the women, Paul commands them to continue the God-given universal tradition as old as time itself (since Genesis 2:18) which is for all time, culture, and place: they are to assume the graceful, submissive role of receiving instructions. They are to fight the curse of Genesis 3:16, and resist their fallen desire to upset the divine order of authority and submission. This law of propriety for women does not permit them to disrupt the corporate worship by speaking publicly and disgracefully draw attention to themselves, even if they seek to learn. Paul tells them to honour the leadership of their own husbands by coming to them instead with the questions. Far from being inferior, however, are the unique God-given supporting, nurturing roles women play in the body of Christ, but equally as essential for the proper working of the body. For tongue-speaking: 1. maximum 3 speakers are allowed for one session, and only one speaks at a time; 2. if there is no interpreter, Paul does not allow any tongue-speaking. For prophecy: 1. maximum 3 speakers are allowed, and one speaks at a time; 2. when one prophet speaks, the others are to listen silently and discern if it is genuinely from the Lord; 3. when a new revelation is given to one, he must be allowed to speak while other prophets keep silent. Secondly, Paul instructs them to give priority to the gift of prophecy over tongues, because: 1. prophecy is superior to tongues in regard to its capacity to love: i) prophecy gives understandable truths of God to everyone, while tongue-speaking is like a tone-deaf playing of a musical instrument, not even understood by the one speaking, unless there is an interpreter. ii) prophecy can overwhelm an unbeliever with the fear of God and bring him to repentance, by exposing his secret evils (Heb 4:12), while tongue-speaking cannot. 2. prophecy has as its primary purpose to benefit believers who are able to receive "the depths of God" (1Co 2:10), while tongue-speaking mainly serves as a sign for unbelieving Israel to warn them of God's impending judgment through the sword of Gentile nations (Is 28:11; Jer 5:15). Anticipating a resistance against his instructions, Paul quickly reminds them he is only a messenger of the Lord, and they are resisting the Lord's command at their own peril, and -- since they claim to be led by the Spirit -- to their own discredit. Unless they have higher authority than God, or have a private revelation that tells them otherwise, Paul sarcastically says, they should listen and obey. 1co 15 There were some people within the church -- probably being influenced by the prevalent Gnostic philosophy that claims all material things are inherently evil -- who were spreading confusion by teaching others that it is impossible for man to be raised from the dead in physical bodily form. Thus, since this present life is apparently the first and last opportunity to experience sensual pleasures with no eternal repercussions, the philosophy affords a powerful temptation for sinners to fulfill all their lustful desires they always fantasized about doing as if it were their last day on earth. Paul strongly warns the Corinthians against being confused by this deception which indirectly strikes at the core of the gospel, that is, the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Far from being confused, Paul rightly identifies the people who are espousing this deception within the church as those who have never come to a saving faith by believing the gospel. Paul admonishes the church to mark these people out, and to not follow them in their soul-damning error which consequently gives license to their debauched and immoral lifestyle. Paul exhaustively explores the logical conclusions of this Gnostic belief that says there can be no bodily resurrection. The resurrection of believers and the resurrection of Jesus stand or fall together, and if the Messiah Himself did not rise from the dead: 1. The message of the gospel is a sham. Paul and the other apostles are liars, who are guilty of falsely testifying that God raised Jesus from the dead. 2. The faith of the Corinthians are worthless. The very existence of the Corinthian church is but a monument to just another fantastical religious cult. And the people, who come to Christ in hopes of being reunited with their dead loved ones, are all duped. 3. The believers remain condemned in their guilt, since there was no resurrection to prove that Jesus' substitutionary death satisfied God's justice on their behalf. Then those who die believing in Jesus eventually are lost in eternal perdition. 4. The believers are the most pitiable people in the world, since they choose to suffer meaningless persecution because of their false hope for which there is no pay-off: the future resurrection. Paul blasts the darkness of the sophisticated, yet false, Gnostic belief system with the unforgiving, blazing light of the indisputable, historical fact of Christ's resurrection. His resurrection is the guarantee that the dead believers also will be raised. For the sake of the true believers who are being molested by this heresy in the Corinthian church, Paul builds a rock-solid, invincible case of defense for the physical resurrection of Christ: 1. The ancient Scriptures, the Old Testament, foretell of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah. And the Scriptures can never be broken, according to Jesus. 2. The very transformed lives of the Corinthian Christians, whom the Lord redeemed from worshipping idols to worship the true God of Israel, bear witness that Jesus is alive. 3. There are more than 500 eye-witnesses of His resurrection, most of whom are still alive and bear witness. 4. All the gospel missionaries' lifestyle bears witness, who risk their lives in obedience to the risen Lord's command to make disciples of all the nations, that they have all seen the risen Lord. 5. By the force of his God-wrought life, Paul sets himself up as a powerful witness, and an example of faith to follow. Paul bears witness that the risen Lord has revealed Himself to him. Apart from the risen Jesus personally appearing to him, there is no reasonable explanation for Paul's radical transformation from being the most zealous persecutor of the Christians to becoming a preacher of the gospel. Being careful to attribute his toilsome zealousness all to God's working in and through him, Paul says he has worked harder and accomplished more than all the other preachers combined; he is the singular reason for the birth of churches throughout the Roman Empire. If he has not seen Christ and if there is no resurrection, then it makes no sense to Paul that he would daily risk his life, suffer so much, and work so hard for the gospel; he would just as soon join the pagans in their hedonistic lifestyle. His claim, then, to have seen the risen Christ must be true, and consequently, his hope of the resurrection must also be trustworthy. Having established the resurrection of Christ, Paul follows it with its logical corollary: we also will experience our yet-future resurrection. It is not impossible; it is necessary. Since a man -- Adam, the first leader of humanity, brought death to all his progeny through his violation of God's law, it is only logically consistent that a man -- Jesus, the Leader of the faithful (the fact of His humanity which the Gnostics was also denying) -- brings a new life to His own people through His perfect obedience [Ro 5:19]. Paul, anticipating the Gnostics' mocking voice to still be a nuisance to the believers, silences them forever with his defense of the reasonability of the believers' future resurrection through use of illustrations: 1. By divine design, the body of an ugly seed, when sown (figuratively buried in death), becomes a very different body of a marvellous plant. 2. God gives different kinds of earthly body to man, beast, bird, and fish. God also gives each celestial body its own unique beauty. God can certainly create a new body as He chooses. 3. The first leader of mankind passes on his attributes to his generations: constantly deteriorating, of a cheap dollar-store worth, frustrated by handicaps that prevent his plans, limited to physical-spatial boundary. The second Leader of mankind must also pass on His attributes to His own people: immortal, of an infinitely heavy worth, having all power to accomplish all His intentions and desires [Php 4:13], able to explore the spiritual-invisible realm. 4. The eternal kingdom of God is meant to be inherited only by those who will never die. Their bodies will not die, because they will have no capacity to break God's law. They will never break God's law, because they are made righteous in Christ [2Co 5:21]. This is not impossible; It is necessary. Paul reveals a truth kept hidden since long ages past until now: all believers, who are alive at the herald of the Lord's return (ref. 1Th 4:16 and Ex 19:18,19 where the sound of a trumpet heralds the coming of God), will undergo a split-second transformation and be given new resurrection bodies (as previewed by Enoch in Ge 5:24 and Elijah in 2Ki 2:11), along with all dead believers who also will be resurrected. After that, God the Father will install His Messiah of Israel to reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords over all the earth with a rod of iron [Ps 2:9] until the history of man runs its full course. When the Messiah annihilates all His enemies' forces to smithereens so that the very presence of sin (and consequently death) itself would be non-existent, then the end of history comes. And the Son will humbly hand over the final eternal kingdom for His Father to rule. In light of these certain and great truths, Paul urges the believers' hope of resurrection to be like an embedded nail that cannot ever be removed; be staunch in your faith. Go above and beyond in "the Lord's work": seeking and saving the lost [Lk 19:10], and building them up in the faith [Ac 1:3], that is, evangelism and discipleship. Every tiny work you do for Christ has an eternal meaning, and the degree to which you work yourself to exhaustion for Christ is the same degree to which you will reap eternal rewards. 1co 16 Nobody earthly minded is any earthly good. After he uplifts the minds of believers to the heights of the truths of their future resurrection and Christ's return, Paul imposes on the Corinthian church their God-given mundane duties here on earth: to maintain the fellowship of believers. Instead of seeing themselves as a beacon of light by which God will lead the Gentiles to the truth, the Jewish people had nothing but self-righteous contempt for Gentiles, and saw them as nothing but fuel for hell-fire. The Gentiles returned the animosity, and has a pattern of evicting, butchering the Jewish race all throughout history, whom they saw as a constant threat to national security. Paul knows no better way to break down the barriers of hostility and solidify the unity the Gentile and Jewish believers have in Christ than to facilitate agape love in times of need. The Jewish believers have met the dire spiritual need of the Gentiles by sharing with them the life-giving message of their Messiah, and now it is the Gentile believers' turn to meet the dire financial need of their Jewish brethren in Jerusalem by sharing their wealth. Paul commands this financial gift: 1. to be collected in every church. 2. to be collected regularly in every Sunday gathering as a spiritual discipline, not because of some special circumstance (e.g. the apostle Paul showing up to intimidate people into giving). 3. to be contributed to by every single believer, with no exception. 4. to be of no specific amount, but according to the proportion of each believer's ability and desire. At the same time, Paul encourages the believers to give generously by promising to deliver the gift to Jerusalem himself if the gift was large enough. As he discloses his plan to personally visit the Corinthian church, Paul shows how he approaches a ministry: 1. Paul chooses a place in which he sees there is a serious problem, and he immediately plans how to address it. The level of its difficulty is irrelevant, and he does not have an ounce of self-preservation in him. In fact, the greater the difficulty, the greater attention it attracts from Paul. 2. Paul is motivated by a genuine concern, and he will not leave the ministry until the problem is resolved. 3. Paul plans back-up redundancies if the first plan does not work out. Paul humbly acknowledges his place of being at the Lord's disposal. The Lord could at any time throw at him some contingencies that could change his plans, so he sends his trustworthy, qualified disciple Timothy to Corinth [1Co 4:17] to do his work of edification while his original plan is on hold. 4. To whomever he delegates a ministry (in this case, Timothy), Paul vests him with full authority to act on his behalf and makes sure the people knows it. Knowing how children can misbehave in the absence of their regular authority figure, Paul says to the Corinthians: Do not think that you can give Timothy any less attention just because he is not me. There is an unbreakable chain of accountability and transparency in any effective ministry that involves everyone, including the ministering person and the ministered people; The delegate is Paul's eyes and ears, and he will later give a full report to Paul about how they responded to his ministry; and the way you treat the person who comes in the name of Paul is the same way you treat Paul, and ultimately the Lord Himself. If you disrespect Timothy, there will be a reckoning. 5. Paul calls on others (i.e. Apollos) to help address the problem (i.e. to help destroy little cliques formed around their celebrity preachers, two of whom are Paul and Apollos). A ministry is not a one-man show. You need others to come alongside to help. Paul considers co-workers as equal partners in the ministry. 6. Paul allows his co-workers the freedom to choose which of the ministries in their personal lives should have the priority, and to come and help him at a time of their choosing, because he respects and trusts them. It should humble the self-important Corinthians that neither Apollos nor Paul, two of their celebrity idols, dropped everything that they were doing to come serve them themselves, because they had more pressing matters to attend to. This letter and Timothy should be a sufficient service for now. Living in constant anticipation of the Lord's imminent coming produces a consistent, diligent, and righteous witness [1Co 1:7; 1Co 16:22]. In a similar way, Paul humorously gives no option for Corinthians but to behave themselves with constant vigilance, by telling them he and Apollos are coming soon, but at a time unannounced [1Co 4:18-21]. Based on this, Paul exhorts the Corinthians to be rock solid in the faith, and not waver in the teachings of the apostles, God's Word. Thirdly, "act like men"; stop acting like useless, self-absorbed children; be courageous enough to take initiative, and conduct yourself according to the Lord in whom you have believed; live and die for the great cause of Christ's kingdom. Fourthly, "be strong"; no matter what opposition you face, keep becoming more and more effective in your work. Lastly, Paul hearkens back to the importance of love which should be a foundation for every ministry. Make sure your ministry has a clear purpose of loving someone who is in need, otherwise it is useless. But Paul knows Corinthians need more than a drill sergeant yelling at them from a distant Ephesus (in the form of a letter) to keep them faithful in following his commands. Even the threat of the imminent coming of Paul has an expiration date. What they need is a day-in, day-out, tangible role models, by whom they can constantly gauge their own lives, so that their constant patterning after the practices of the role models will eventually create a life-long habit. So Paul wants to counsel the Corinthians, in the most personal and in-your-face sense that a letter could allow, to fall in line under leadership of men like Stephanas, and study them, as if their lives depend on it. Their qualities are: 1. These are men of initiative and self-commitment. They have charged themselves with a responsibility to serve their fellow believers. 2. They are men who know exhaustion. They work to the maximum of their energy. 3. Their presence graces people. They are a rare breed of people who has the skill to diagnose and fix problems too complex for an average mortal. When Paul was despairing at the state of the Corinthian church, the angel-like visit from these men of Corinth has surgically put to complete rest his fears and anxiety. On top of laying on their conscience the Lord's imminent return, Paul's unpredictable coming, and exemplary leaders, Paul adds one more accountability system to teach unruly Corinthians to behave, by telling them their existence has not gone unnoticed by other Christians on a world-wide scale. Paul tells them other churches, including Aquila and Prisca (close fiends of Paul, and also well-respected, staple leaders in the Christian world) send them warm, enthusiastic greetings, as if they know nothing yet about the embarrassing problems of the church. And if you correct your behaviours, nobody will hear embarrassing things about you in the first place, Paul suggests. Oh, and one more small thing: Paul tells the Corinthians to be more physical (i.e. greet each other with a non-sexual, brotherly kiss) in their expressing love to one another. Just as a faith without works is dead, words alone while standing aloof from each other will not tighten the bond of unity among the brothers or among the sisters [Jas 2:14-17]. Expressing even a simple tactile affection will go a long way in solidifying the bond of unity they already have in Christ, and help heal the broken brotherhood. Paul signs off his letter with a warning for anyone who may dare think of any one part of his letter as anything less than God's authoritative word. Paul dictated this long letter (while somebody else wrote down his words), not for the joy of hearing his own voice, but for the church's edification. The true believers will acknowledge and respond in obedience to Paul, because they love the Lord Jesus [Jn 14:15]. The false believers amongst them will disregard Paul, because they have no love for the Lord [1Co 2:14]. Consequently, responding with anything less than a full obedience has a consequence of eternal damnation. This should motivate the true ones to fully distinguish themselves as true, and the false ones to fear the coming judgment and repent.
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CategoriesAll Discourse Doctrines Gospel Humour NT Commentaries OT Commentaries Tactical Life Date
August 2023
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