I am an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, not the will of any man.. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world: Looking again at the Corinthians, Paul can say you arent wise according to the world, you arent mighty, you arent noble but you are among the foolish things of the world.. Their desire for wisdom was not bad, but their rejection of Gods wisdom was. Though the idea of glorying in the death of a Savior seems foolishness to the world, it is salvation to those who will believe. Paul quotes from an ancient, secular comedy play, Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God, : For Christians to resist Gods process of transformation by the renewing of our minds is to neglect the knowledge of God. f. See how important the truth of the resurrection is! The Corinthian Christians are called saints, but this isnt exclusive to them. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? It wasnt because the Corinthian Christians did not believe Jesus rose from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 EXEGESIS: THE CONTEXT: Corinth was an important and wealthy city on the isthmus (narrow strip of land) separating Northern and Southern Greece. They were called saints. Probably, was Pauls scribe (or, more technically, his, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called, with a building where Christians meet. Answer: First Corinthians 13:8-10: "Love never fails. 1. Grace isnt given because of any works, past, present or promised; yet it is given to, iii. That there be no divisions among you: The ancient Greek word for divisions is schismata. Although we derive our English word schism from this Greek word, it does not really mean a party or a faction; it properly means tear or rend. Pauls plea is that they stop ripping each other apart, tearing up the body of Christ. Is God supposed to do it or am I supposed to do it? ii. It was founded on a promise of God, when He said for I have many people in this city (Acts 18:10). The ancient Christians were for the most part slaves and men of low station; the whole history of the expansion of the church is in reality a progressive victory of the ignorant over the learned, the lowly over the lofty, until the emperor himself laid down his crown before the cross of Christ. (Alford, quoting Olshausen). They preached the resurrection of Jesus, and the early Christians believed the resurrection of Jesus. : Paul thanks God for the gifts among the Corinthians, even though they were causing some trouble. This also demonstrates Jesus credibility, because He proclaimed He would rise three days after His death (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19). In its Gentile sense it denotes chiefly the citizen-assembly of a Greek city but it is its Jewish usage that underlies its use to denote the community of believers in Jesus. iii. You can also change some of your preferences. 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 - The Gospel of Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 15:20-58 - The Glory of the Resurrection 1 Corinthians 16 - A Collection and a Conclusion 1 2 Bible Commentary Quick Navigation Start Here! how God's power is perfected in our weakness. Enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge, : This was the effect of grace in the life of the Corinthian Christians. Love suffers long: Love will endure a long time. : In the previous part of the chapter, Paul demonstrated beyond all doubt that Jesus rose from the dead, and the importance of that fact. Paul understood this principle well, writing, . 2. The person who is gifted with prophecy is the person whom God has inspired to speak His words to people in their own language. Sin is the ultimate cause of death (Romans 6:23, Genesis 2:17), and the, : This defeat of death is only possible for those who live. God raises the dead. But largely, the smarter one sees himself, the less regard he has for God. Their desire for deliverance was not bad, but their rejection of Gods way of deliverance was. They are saints together with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? : This refers to a few different meetings, such as in John 20:26-31, John 21:1-25, Matthew 28:16-20, and Luke 24:44-49. : The death of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, is the center of the gospel. iii. Jesus does not belong to any one party. These cliques ignore the truth of unity over all diversity in the church, even if they were all in the name of spirituality. What you sow: Paul says our bodies are like seeds which grow into resurrection bodies. 3. Declare that His solutions prepares another generation for life. 8. The name Joshua means, Yahweh is salvation.. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. How sobering this is! The work of God in the Corinthian Christians could be seen by, iii. Unfortunately, many of them never communicate any encouragement with their correction and advice. i. Next, come every day, just as you did at conversion, to the cross of Jesus, as a poor guilty sinner. Perhaps it would be something along the lines of the way a body was transported on the old Star Trek series; the molecules would alter, and the person could pass through a solid object, and re-assemble themselves into a solid person. 2. : Its hard to understand what our resurrection bodies will be like, so Paul will use, Raised in incorruption raised in glory raised in power. Third, hold this world with a loose hand. Grace to you and peace: The greeting including grace and peace is typical of Pauls letters, and draws from both Greek and Jewish customs. No doubt, many of the Corinthian Christians were beginning to think of themselves in high terms because of Gods work in them. Paul uses this exact phrase five other times in the New Testament. iii. Without grace there is and can be no peace, but when grace is ours, peace must of necessity follow. (Lenski). Those who believe that Jesus gathers His people, may not refer to the last trumpet of the seven trumpets of Revelation at all, but simply refer to the, was a figure of speech that came from the Roman military, when they broke camp. The Corinthian people were also world known: for partying, drunkenness, and loose sexual morals. The way Paul lived his life all-out for the gospel was evidence of the truth of the resurrection. It is a mysterious passage, and there have been more than thirty different attempts to interpret it. Paul doesnt only consider believers in Corinth to be. But the ancient Greek word for church (ekklesiai) was a non-religious word for an assembly of people, typically gathered together for a specific purpose. For those who are not in Jesus Christ, death still has its sting. How much of this came in because of they kept evil company? When Paul explained it like this, it shows how foolish it is to focus on anyone but Jesus. There are not a handful of self-deluded souls; there are literally hundreds who saw the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes. Death is swallowed up in victory: A resurrected body is not a resuscitated corpse. O Death, where is your sting? i. Paul expressed the same idea again in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. ii. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, it (and not from man, but from Jesus Christ, according to Galatians 1:11-12), and Paul. Evil company corrupts good habits: This is not a quotation from the Old Testament, or even from the words of Jesus. All the more, this is why they had to hold on! Spurgeon gives seven steps to dying daily in a sermon titled. What is there wise (in the Greek sense of wisdom) about a crucified Messiah?. How does His death do anything for our sins? God has made them all foolish through His wisdom. 1. Surely, Paul remembered his converts, but the issue of baptism, though important, was not as important to Paul. Their idolatry was to conceive of God as ultimate Reason, meaning of course what we deem to be reasonable. (Fee). The growth of the ivy, covering the message, showed the spiritual decline. Gods wisdom is not mans wisdom multiplied to the highest degree. 1 CORINTHIANS - PROBLEMS OF A LOCAL CHURCH Click chart to enlarge Charts from Jensen's Survey of the NT - used by permission. It is important to understand that when Paul says, . They got this bad thinking by associating either with Jews who did not believe in the resurrection (such as the Sadducees) or by associating with pagan, Greek philosophical types, who did not believe in the resurrection (Acts 17:31-32). ii. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing: To those who reject the salvation of the cross, the idea of being saved through the work of a crucified man is foolish. Paul knew that God gives His grace, we work hard, and the work of God is done. The double speaks, as in 2 Corinthians 5:2, Romans 7:24, out of P.'s painful self-consciousness: cf. But he had no desire to compete with other apostles for the Most Valuable Apostle award. c. But that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment: The contrast to divisions is to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. : Here, Paul refers to God the Sons desire to glorify God the Father through all eternity. This was the meeting where Jesus appeared in the room with the doors and windows shut, and breathed on the disciples, giving them the Holy Spirit. The term, (someplace bad). Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. Paul writes this letter from Ephesus, where these people from Chloes household visited and told him about the condition of the the Corinthian church. The relationship of, the Son Himself will also be subject to Him, i. c. You do not sow that body that shall be God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body: When you plant a wheat seed, a big wheat seed does not come up. a. I thank my God always: Paul will later spend most of this letter rebuking sin and correcting error, yet he is still sincerely thankful for Gods work in the Corinthian Christians. iii. You see that the mark of a child of God is that by the grace of God he is what he is; what do, His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, : Though grace made Paul what he was, Paul still, i. (24-28) The resurrection of Jesus leads to the resolution of all things. iii.Redemption is a word from the slave trade. We should work hard in everything now, working for the Lord, because right now counts forever! Significantly, Paul did not say, we baptize for the dead, but asked, . i. Paul knows that he is not one of the twelve apostles, but he is on par with them because, like them, he is chosen by God. (Robertson), ii. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from Godand righteousness and sanctification and redemptionthat, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.. The resurrection of Jesus, iv. The resurrection body of Jesus was material and could eat (Luke 24:39-43), yet it was not bound by the laws of nature (Luke 24:31, 24:36-37). Certainly, this meeting of the resurrected Jesus with His brother. In light of I thank God that I baptized none of you, it is impossible to claim that Paul was a sacramentalist. a. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother. i. I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. As is evident from 1 and 2 Corinthians, Pauls standing and authority as an apostle were not appreciated among the Christians of Corinth. Session 4: Treasure in Clay Jars. is typical of Pauls letters, and draws from both Greek and Jewish customs. No one saw the actual resurrection of Jesus. The great gospel of Jesus Christ, the very power of God unto salvation made empty and of no effect through the pride and cleverness of men! On the positive side, Paul says love is: patient, kind, and selfless. Of course, Paul did baptize a few in Corinth. Should it not show us that gifts are nothing, unless they are laid on the altar of God; that it is nothing to have the gift of oratory; that it is nothing to have the power of eloquence; that it is nothing to have learning; that it is nothing to have influence, unless they all be dedicated to God, and consecrated to his service? (Spurgeon). While therefore it is unscriptural to make baptism essential to salvation or a certain means of regeneration, it is nevertheless a dangerous act of disobedience to undervalue or neglect it. (Hodge). Otherwise, you have believed in vain. From the first, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. b. Yet, these positives were no great credit to the Corinthian Christians themselves. i. For the unbeliever, this life alone gives them any chance at pleasure, and whatever happiness they can find now is all the happiness they will ever know. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. : We dont often think of the burial of Jesus as part of the gospel, but it is. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. a. Later in this letter, Paul writes that he transferred to himself and Apollos what applied to others (1 Corinthians 4:6). What the Church supremely needs is to correct the spirit of the age.. He writes of the constant imminent danger to his physical life. All flesh is not the same flesh explains why animals do not rise in the resurrection. Were the ones really right with God!. Grace, by definition, is given freely. A truly Christian minister will seek much more to do spiritual good to men's souls, than to get the greatest applause to himself. i. Paul brilliantly links together the ideas of sin, death, and our identification with Jesus death and resurrection in Romans 6:1-14. d. Through our Lord Jesus Christ: This defeat of death is only possible for those who live through our Lord Jesus Christ. The hearing and trusting of the true gospel will bring the, . He is, b. I. We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. These bodies which are subject to disease, injury, and one day decay, are unsuited for heaven. c. Sosthenes our brother: This man Sosthenes is perhaps mentioned in Acts 18:17, as the head of a Corinthian synagogue who was beaten because he protected Paul. Were the ones really right with God!, iv. , he uses the term as a figurative title. Were the ones really right with God!, : There was the Apollos Party, who declared We are following in the footsteps of a man who is great in power and spiritual gifts, and an impressive man. Remove this, and all our hopes for eternity sink at once. b. Foolish one: In the wording of the ancient Greek, it is even stronger: Fools! Rather, He is saying that the worlds wisdom and education does not bring us salvation in Jesus Christ. (58) Final application: how our destiny of resurrection means we should stand fast for the Lord right now. III. Were the ones really right with God! (Acts 18:24-25), : There was the Peter Party, who declared We are following in the footsteps of the man who is first among all the apostles. There is much in 1 Corinthians that is unflattering to the Christians of Corinth. All the redeemed on the earth at that time will rise up to meet the Lord in the clouds, and will receive their resurrection bodies. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloes, : Chloe was a woman (probably a Christian) whose business interests caused her representatives (those of her. ) For those who are not in Jesus Christ, death still has its, . Corinth was a major city of business, especially because of its location. This is the sting of death to you, unconverted ones, not that you are dying, but that after death is the judgment, and that you must stand before the Judge of the quick and dead to receive a sentence for the sins which you have committed in your body against him. (Spurgeon). If it were if the teaching of baptismal regeneration were true then Paul could never thank God that he baptized so few in Corinth, and he, as an evangelist, could never say Christ did not send me to baptize. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. It is certain that a blind man is no judge of colours, a deaf man is no judge of sound, and a man who has never been quickened into spiritual life can have no judgment as to spiritual things. (Spurgeon). And so it is written, The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience. This may be a foolish question (Paul calls his imaginary questioner Foolish one in 1 Corinthians 15:36), but it is a question Paul will answer. Where is the disputer of this age? Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. II. He was also humble enough to know that even his hard work was the work of Gods grace in him. We may pride ourselves on not having the problems of the Corinthian Christians, but do we have their positives? Jesus also made a special appearance to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5). That Paul did not regard baptism as essential to salvation is also seen by the fact that he did not keep careful track of those he baptized: Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. Paul came speaking plainly, without any attempt to dazzle with eloquence or intellect. i. We work in a partnership with God, not because He needs us, but because He wants us to share in His work. It is significant that often the most educated people have the least regard for God. They got this bad thinking by associating either with Jews who did not believe in the resurrection (such as the Sadducees) or by associating with pagan, Greek philosophical types, who did not believe in the resurrection (Acts 17:31-32). The gospel, Those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved. So he was fired from or quit his job as ruler of the synagogue! After what has been said about the value of love only one admonition is in place: "Pursue love!" To remain willfully ignorant of the truth is. Were the ones really right with God!, : There was the Jesus Party, who declared You all are so carnal, following after mere men. They, iii. "THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS" Chapter Fifteen OBJECTIVES IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER 1) To see how the resurrection of Jesus is the basis of our faith 2) To determine why we believe that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead 3) To notice the sequence of events which will occur at the end of time as presented in this chapter 4) To understand In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul deals more fully with what makes a person an apostle. You can also change some of your preferences. He knew this was not his own accomplishment, but it was the work of the grace of God in him. However, we never speak of the physical sufferings of Jesus to make us feel sorry for Jesus, as if He needed our pity. I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. In terms of what love "is not," Paul says it is not self-seeking, short-tempered, and offensive. Verse 1 Corinthians 15:3. i. Salvation is not the achievement of human wisdom; it is the embrace of Gods dramatic, unexpected act of love at Calvary. The Corinthian Christians are, , but this was not based on the outward performance of the Corinthians. Paul, knowing death is a defeated enemy because of Jesus work, can almost taunt death, and mock it. To remain willfully ignorant of the truth is sin. Paul now will show why this is true of the cross and the message of the gospel. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For the message of the cross: In 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul declared the idea that the cross could be made of no effect if it were presented with the wisdom of words. But God did not respond to the polling data. Session 1: The God of All Comfort. 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