Lesson 33 (Gospel Doctrine): 1 Cor 1-6

[pelagius]

Lesson 33 notes: 1 Cor 1-6

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I. Introduction

• Today, we turn to Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian saints. It might not really be Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian saints; only the first surviving letter (see 1 Cor 5:9).
  
  
• Authorship: Paul is the author of this epistle; it is considered authentic by most scholars.[1] I suppose that one could argue that Paul coauthored the letter with Sosthenes:
  
  

  (1) Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.

  Note, that like his letter to the Galatians Paul points out that he writes a portion of the letter with his own hand:
  
  

  (19) The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. (20) All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss. (21) The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.

• Date Written: Paul mentions that he wrote the letter from Ephesus in the spring (1 Cor 16:8). However, the year of composition is a little more difficult to pin down. Scholars have proposed a date range from 52 to 57.[2]
  
  
• The Recipients: The recipients of the letter are the saints at the city of Corinth (a city in Greece). Corinth had a vital Jewish community by the early 1st century CE.[3] Corinth sometimes is referred to or depicted as “Sin City” but scholar, Jerome Murphy O’Conner, points out that this assertion, “has been shown to be totally devoid of foundation … Corinth was no worse than any other Mediterranean port.”[4]

[b]II. Comparison: Feeding

• I am going to depart a little bit from my normal approach and not overview or talk about the main themes. I want to actually jump into the material in chapter 3. Read 1 Cor 3:1-4:
  
  

  (1) And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (2) I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. (3) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

• Note, the reference to meat here is a more general reference to solid food. Thus, for example, the NRSV translates verse 2 as, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready.”
  
  
• What envying and strife and divisions is Paul referring to? Does 1 Cor 1:11-13 help give us any clues?
  
  

  (11) For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. (12) Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. (13) Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

  Are you surprised that problems like this arose in early Christian congregations?
  
  
• Why does Paul use the milk verses meat metaphor? What does it emphasize? What does Paul mean when he says, “I … could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ?”
  
  
• The milk verses meat metaphor is certainly one that resonates with the modern church. Do you think we use it in the same sense as Paul used it? What is Paul focusing on?
  
  
• What does Paul link with being carnal or “of the flesh?” Are the things Paul mentions in these verses the same that we usually associate with being carnal? What makes these things carnal and why would Paul bring these things to the forefront? What do these verses suggest about the contrast between “carnal” and “spiritual?”
  
  
• How are these verses linked with the end of chapter 2?
  
  

  (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (15) But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (16) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

• Why does Paul talk about the workings of the Holy Ghost and then follow it up with the milk versus meat comments? Are they meant to contrast? Is he trying to puncture the pride of the Corinthian saints?

III. Comparison: Agriculture

• Read 1 Cor 3:5-9:
  
  

  (5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? (6) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (7) So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. (8) Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. (9) For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

• What is Paul trying to tell the Corinthians about church leadership? Do you think his argument applies today?
  
  
• Why link the missionary work of Paul and others with an agricultural metaphor? What does it emphasis about the role of the missionaries and the role of God?
  
  
• What is verse 9 all about? The NRSV translation of the verse may be helpful:
  
  

  (9) For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

  Who is the “ye” or the “you” in these verse? Is it plural or singular? Does it make a difference?
  
  
• Why mention a building when the main metaphor is about agriculture?

IV. Comparison: Construction

• Paul changes the metaphor in 9 and then builds (couldn’t resist) around this new metaphor. Read 1 Cor 3:10-17:
  
  

  (10) According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. (11) For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. (12) Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw? (13) the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. (14) If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. (15) If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. (16) Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (17) If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

• Are you surprised the Paul refers to himself as the master builder? Is he bragging? Or is there another reason why he emphasizes and describes himself as the master builder? What does it tell us about this building?
  
  
• Why is Christ the foundation and not the master builder? Why is Christ as the foundation an important part of the metaphor given the problems of the Corinthian church?
  
  
• What are verses 13-15 about? Do they refer to judgment of all people or does this have specific reference?
  
  
• How are verses 16-17 related to the rest of the chapter and this pericope in particular? Is it important that the underlying Greek indicates that the “you” is plural? Actually, can we tell that the “you” is plural just from the context?
  
  
• According to Paul who is the temple of God? Is the temple metaphor here, in context, different than the way we usually apply or interpret this scripture?
  
  
• I think Paul’s discussion here is beautiful. He builds this “building” metaphor about the congregation at Corinth, but he doesn’t describe the building very much. We learn that Christ is the foundation and the missionaries built, but then Paul reveals that the building is the Temple of God. What should we learn from the idea that a congregation is a temple of God?

V. Wisdom

• Read 1 Cor 3:18-23:
  
  

  (18) Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. (19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” (20) and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (21) So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, (22) whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future? all belong to you, (23) and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

• How are these verses related to the metaphors that proceed these verses?
  
  
• According to Paul, how is the wisdom of the world different from the wisdom of God?
  
  
• Why is leadership mentioned again?

Endnotes

1. Barton, John, and John Muddiman (Editors), 2001, Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford University Press, 1108.
   
   
2. Brown, Raymond E. (editor), Joseph A. Fitzmyer (editor), and Roland E. Murphy (editor), 1990, The New Jerome Bible Commentary, Prentice Hall, 798.
   
   
3. Brown, Raymond E. (editor), Joseph A. Fitzmyer (editor), and Roland E. Murphy (editor), 1990, The New Jerome Bible Commentary, Prentice Hall, 799.
   
   
4. Brown, Raymond E. (editor), Joseph A. Fitzmyer (editor), and Roland E. Murphy (editor), 1990, The New Jerome Bible Commentary, Prentice Hall, 790.