1 Corinthians 1
Questions answered from 1 Corinthians 1
Short answers from Always Ready that cite this chapter
Chuck Smith on 1 Corinthians 1
Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-31
Let's turn to I Corinthians, chapter 1. Paul introduces himself as the writer with Sosthenes in the first verse.
Notice the words to be are in italics. That means that they were added by the translators, and they were not there in the Greek.
Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother ( 1 Corinthians 1:1 ),
Now there is a name Sosthenes that is related to Corinth. When Paul was in Corinth, he was brought by some of the Jews before the Corinthian magistrate, Galileo. And charges were brought against Paul by the Jews concerning their religion. Galileo said, "Look, if the guy were guilty of treason or something against the government, then I should stand in judgment of him, but because its just religious matters, why do you take my time?" And he ordered them out and the men that were there beat up on Sosthenes who was the chief ruler of the synagogue, and thus, probably the chief conspirator in bringing Paul before the Roman magistrate. If this is the same Sosthenes, it is also interesting from a standpoint that here he was leading this uprising against Paul, and now the companion of Paul. And it is fascinating that often when a person is under heavy conviction of the Spirit, he gets cantankerous against God or the people of God. Sometimes people are so antagonistic towards the Lord, we sort of write them off in our minds. We think there is no way they would ever come, but what we don't realize is it is all a big shell about ready to crack, and they realize it is about ready to crack and that is why they are struggling so hard. So Paul joins his name with Sosthenes in greeting the church of Corinth. Corinth was the center of the world commerce. It was an extremely luxurious city. If you'll take a look of your map of Greece, you'll find that the southern area of Greece is almost an island. Greece narrows down to this very narrow isthmus and Corinth was there in this very narrow isthmus of Greece, only four miles across the land. Thus, any commerce going from north to south, that is from Macedonia to Achaia, had to pass through Corinth. It came to be that most of the commerce that was going from east to west also passed through Corinth, because around the southern tip of Greece the Cape of Mathene was so treacherous that the early sailors really did not like to sail around southern Greece. So they would usually sail to Corinth. If their ships were light enough, they would take them out of the water and put them on rollers and roll them across the four miles and then launch them again in the Aegean and sail on to Puteoli, the port of Rome, or the same thing coming back. If the ships were too big to transport across the land, then they would often unload the ships and just take the cargo across this four miles. Nero, seeing the advantage of the shipping coming through this area, attempted to build a canal, but he failed to do so. But those men who built the Suez Canal, when they were completed with that project, they built the Corinthian Canal, and today you'll find that there is a canal connecting the Aegean Sea with the Adriatic Sea. This Corinthian Canal is operable today and the ships are able to save many miles from going around the southern end of Greece. Corinth was not just a commercial center. It was a center of philosophical thought in those days. There came a phrase, "He speaks in the Corinthian style," which meant very articulate, precise and colorful. These men were more interested, not in what they said, but how they said it. Giving a lot of flair and color and all to their speeches. They loved oratory. Doesn't matter what the guy said, just as long as he was a good orator. They were attracted to oratory, but also interested in philosophical thought. Corinth was also one of the most debased, wicked cities in the world. With all of their philosophy, they could not keep that city from sinking into the lowest kind of debauchery. Thus, "He lives like a Corinthian" was a very common phrase that became a part of their vernacular to describe a man who was always drunk and living in open debauchery. In the Greek theater, whenever they would portray a drunk, they would always refer to him as the Corinthian. Now, in the midst of this pagan city, one of the lowest as far as morals goes, there was a Church of God, the Ecclesia. Now the word ecclesia is a word that is common in Greek, but it usually referred to the city counsel. They were called the Ecclesia, those who have been called to rule in the city, they were known as the Ecclesia. So there was the Ecclesia of Corinth, the city counsel, those who ruled over the city affairs. But there was also the Ecclesia of God, those who are called to reign and to rule with God, the church. And the word ecclesia has been translated church, but it is really those who are called to rule.
Notice he didn't say the Church of Corinth. I think we make a mistake today when we talk about the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, as though the church is divided. Paul speaks of the church of God,
So we are the Church of God which is at Santa Ana, but we are not the only Church of God at Santa Ana. There are many, but we are one. We need to recognize and realize the oneness of the church. So he does not address the Church of Corinth, but the Church of God which is at Corinth, a very important distinction. God help us that we will make that distinction also in our minds and not think of ourselves exclusively as God's sole representative in an area, or to think that God is limited to one representation in an area. There is a very tragic mentality existing among the local church who have made the mistake of thinking that God has only one church in a given area, and of course, it's the local church they are in. All of the rest of the churches they immediately exclude as "Babylon" and they are the only true representatives of the unity of the body of Christ within a given area wherever they go to establish the local church. Now, nothing could be more bigoted than that. And foolish as to think that we are God's exclusive representatives in this area because we have now affiliated with the local church, but we are a part of the local church, thus, we have become. They did offer us that privilege years ago, which we promptly rejected as Romaine was kicking them off the grounds. The Church of God is the Catholic Church in the true sense of the word, the universal church of God in which every true child of God is a member, is a part. You see, there's only one person who can say "my church" and that's Jesus Christ. We are all members of His church, His body, and the thing is you really can't join it. You've got to be born into it; born again by the Spirit. So God help us and deliver us from any kind of exclusivism. Now as we get into Corinth, the Corinthian letter, there's a division when we get to chapter 12. The beginning of chapter 12, he says, "Now concerning spirituals, brethren, I want to write to you a few things." In the first eleven chapters he is dealing with carnal things. Those from the household of Chloe had reported to Paul a lot of the mess that the Corinthian church was in, a lot of carnality, fighting, divisions, bickerings. And so Paul wrote to correct these carnal abuses that were existing in the Corinthian church. But then when he finishes that, he says, "Now I want to talk to you about spiritual things; enough of the carnal things, now I want to talk to you about spiritual things." And he begins to talk to them about the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, the supremacy of love, and the power of the resurrection in the latter part of the book, the spiritual things. But he had to get the carnal things out of the way first. So he deals in this early part with some of the problems that existed. One of them was division within the body. So he addresses the church of God which is at Corinth seeking to show them and bring them into the consciousness of the universal church of God, Jesus Christ. "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth,"
to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus ( 1 Corinthians 1:2 ),