Welcome to Corinth

This is the first lesson in a series on 1 Corinthians. Please read all about it in the Introduction. I’ve broken the post into sections with journal prompts at the end of each part. These would be great daily stopping points. I’ve also linked the Scripture references to biblegateway.com; click the blue font references. These links will help you build a fascinating background for 1 Corinthians this week. 

So grab a spiral notebook to do some journaling and join me……

Week 1: Welcome to Corinth and Meet Paul (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

Back in the old days we got paper letters that came in the mailbox. Sometimes the paper letters were addressed by hand. If my name was written on the envelope, the first thing I would do is check the return address to see who had sent it. 

And THAT is what we are going to do in our study. Before we even sneak a peek at the letter of 1 Corinthians we are going to examine the envelope. First the return address, the Apostle Paul. 

Who was he?

Paul, the preacher formerly known as Saul.

You can read all about Paul’s salvation experience in Acts 9 (33-34 AD). God’s calling on his life is made clear in Acts 9:15. One of my favorite places to read Paul’s story is in his own words in Acts 22:3-21. In a nutshell, Paul was born a Benjamite Jew (5-10 AD), trained as a Pharisee by Gamaliel (15-20 AD). He was also a Roman citizen. As a devout first century Jew he held the coats of the executioners at the first Christian martyr’s death (31-34 AD, Acts 7:58). He then persecuted Christians in Jerusalem and beyond. During one of these trips from Jerusalem to Damascus he met Jesus (33-34 AD) and from there began a radical lifestyle of church planting, ministry, and writing for the next 30 years (36-67 AD). Finally he gave his life for the gospel as a martyr in Rome (64-67 AD). He never married or had a family apart from other believers. He summarizes his life in Philippians 3:4-10 stating his desire to know Christ and be found in Him, everything else is trash in comparison.

Journal Prompt: As you studied Saul/Paul, what did you learn brand new that surprised you? What did you learn that applies to your life today?

A few years ago I studied the life of Paul and learned something that God used to challenge and change me profoundly. You’ve heard the statements about failure….it’s the only way we learn, better to try and fail than never try…..you know - those statements. But the truth is that I’m not a fan of failure. My life and parenting had become firmly cinched in the “make good choices” philosophy, which really is just a positive spin of “don’t fail.” Paul’s life, before I even started chapter 1, brought my firmly held conviction into stark contrast to the gospel. Did you read Paul’s story? Don’t miss the fact that he was successful in his pre-Jesus life. Since we are big fans of Christians and Christianity we vilify Paul when he was Saul dragging Christians out of their homes and holding coats at their executions. We appreciate his dramatic bright conversion, but we see it as a bad guy turned good. In his culture he was a successful guy turned crazy. Paul was ambitious and successful and moving up the religious ladder quickly. He had the best pedigree, the best education, the best ambition for success. He gave up everything to follow Jesus and never looked back. In Acts 9:21 Paul is preaching in Damascus mere days after his weirdly radical salvation experience. Those hearing him are confused saying, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name {Jesus}?” In the Amplified version made havoc is translated as harassed, overthrew, destroyed. Yeah, we don’t like that guy. Once Paul became a believer of Jesus the truth of his successful choices in his former life must’ve nearly crushed him. He had destroyed those who called on Jesus’ name. The first words Paul ever hears Jesus say are, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Acts 9:4. Jesus takes the persecution of His people personally. He doesn’t always rescue the way we hoped, but He rescues the way He knows He must and says that when a believer is persecuted, so is He. Imagine the grief as that realization washes over Paul. He failed, blindly and wildly failed. Have you ever tried your very, VERY best, convinced of the rightness of your efforts only to look back and see that you were wrong? Big time wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it? Me either.

This gap has the potential to crush us.

This gap is also the place of hope where we are finally rescued from success and failure.

And that’s the thing about Jesus’ way, about God’s Kingdom. It’s never success and failure. It’s recognizing that at the end of ALL our efforts there is only Him. He steps into that gap where by faith alone we walk away from our failure and our success. He reaches out and brings us into something miraculous that builds His Kingdom. Have you taken that step? Saul did it as a blind man in Damascus.

My journal, Spring 2010

Saul = he who destroyed those who called on Jesus’ name (Acts 9:21)

BECAME

Paul = the chosen instrument to carry Jesus’ name to Gentiles, kings, Jews (Acts 9:15)

This is what I wrote in my journal as I learned this new framework for viewing success and failure….

“He makes all things new. He redeems the ways I’ve destroyed His name with my bad choices so that I can become a chosen instrument to carry His name.”

Journal Prompt: How have you been more focused on success and failure than stepping out by faith to meet Jesus? How would you write the “Saul became Paul” formula above with your own name describing your own life?

Welcome to Corinth

Now back to that envelope. This letter was written to the church in Corinth. Located in a perfect location; first century Corinth was a large port city connecting the Southern Greek peninsula to the mainland of Greece. It was a wealthy city steeped in pagan idolatry and philosophy, a melting pot where many cultures and religions mingled. Originally it had been a Greek city. It was destroyed in 146 BC by Romans and then rebuilt 100 years later as a Roman colony.

photo messiah-study.net

photo cwr.org

Apollo's Temple (#12 in photo above)
photo pbworks.com

In Acts 18:1-17 you can read about the birth of the Corinthian church. For those of us that love church it’s a precious story. It’s here in Corinth that Paul met Aquila and Priscilla, also Jewish tent-makers. What a comfort their friendship must’ve been to Paul. They spent 18 months together sharing Jesus and building the church (49-51 AD). After that Paul moved on to a 3-year ministry in Ephesus. While there he started getting reports about problems in the church in Corinth. It was a large church having a hard time with arrogant division, sexual immorality, social snobbery, and plenty of confusion about worship, marriage, and resurrection. They were losing focus, trying to be successful in the Kingdom and in the culture.

Journal Prompt: What similarities (from their start to their trouble) between the Corinthian church in Paul’s day and your church can you identify? Write a prayer asking God for a renewed love for your church and humility to be a part of renewed vision, encouragement, and God-led change in your personal place of service.

And so Paul writes…..

Hi there Corinthians.

Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-3

It’s no accident that the first image God uses to describe His people in Corinth is “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” He then says they are “called to be saints together….” Sanctified and saints both come from the same word meaning to be holy, set apart; to “withdraw from fellowship with the world by first gaining fellowship with God.” (Zodhiates, 878). Does it seem strange to you that this book would open with a reminder about holiness? Why not a good encouraging pep talk from their fearless leader? Why such a weighty theological concept? Paul obviously has not read any blogs stating that the word sanctified is too churchy to be user-friendly. “Cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life” is the way The Message defines sanctification. Inside-Out Holiness is what I call it. Please don’t miss an important part of the definition of sanctified, go back up and read it again. It’s not enough to withdraw from fellowship with the world (that’s second). What must we do first? Do you see it? Gain fellowship with God (that’s first). Inside-Out Holiness keeps these in order, settled under and surrounded by the grace of God.

I just clicked on msn.com and saw these headlines; popular sofas are falling apart, Ariel Castro commits suicide, pics of Jessica Biel’s wedding dress, woman in apartment has 130 cats, Russell Brand is kicked out of a party for telling Hitler jokes, tension in Syria. Did you feel the jarring nature going from discussion about sanctification to a mix of horrible and vain news? It’s easily our reaction to withdraw, click exit and quick. Withdrawing from the world is pointless without first gaining fellowship with God. How often do we forfeit our sanctified influence in a God-less culture because we withdraw without God-full direction? Our 1^st century Corinthian brothers and sisters were missing this point. If we make the following chapters and verses of instruction in 1 Corinthians a To-Do list then we are missing the point too. Read every single word of 1 Corinthians with Inside-Out holiness in mind.

Several years ago some close friends were facing a scary surgery. When I walked into the hospital room my friend nearly ran to me, embraced me, and whispered in my ear, “I had really hoped you would come.” We need each other. We need family and friendship to help us face real life scary stuff. God encourages these believers that they are in this life together, “with all those who in every place call upon the name of…Jesus.” So the first thing the Corinthians would hear is not “Do your best to BE holy” but “YOU ARE holy together.” Those two statements are very different, aren't they? Listen, we gotta get this sanctification together concept to understand the book of 1 Corinthians. That’s all I have to say about it, but stick with it for a little while until it soaks in really, really, really good.

Then the rest of the greeting: Paul wishes them Grace and Peace. One commentary described it as “a wish-prayer expressing Paul’s deep theological conviction about what God had accomplished in Christ; grace is the source of Christian life and peace is its consummation.” (Garland, 30)

Take a few minutes to read what these two words mean from a former blog post. These are two of my favs. Grace. Peace. They are the perfect blending of who we are and who He is.

Journal Prompt: Write the definition of sanctified in your own words. Then answer the question “How often do we forfeit our sanctified influence in a God-less culture because we withdraw without God-full direction?” using your definition.

So Thankful

Read 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

God knows the licks are coming. He knows that a big chunk of this letter is going to be corrective. He starts first with the issue of identity (1:2-3-sanctification together) that we've already discussed. These believers already belong to God and need the reminder of who they are and where they belong. After that is addressed, he makes a Thankful List in these verses. It includes grace given, the gifts of speech and knowledge the Corinthian believers have been given, guiltlessness sustained through Jesus, and God’s faithfulness.

The study notes in my ESV Study Bible say this:

“There is no condemnation on the final day for those who like the Corinthians, are in Christ Jesus. They already have been justified and, in a sense, even sanctified, so no one will be able to bring a charge against them at the judgment. The Corinthians have a long way to go before their behavior matches their status before God. But Paul is confident that God, who is faithful will make them what they should be.” – ESV Notes, 1:8-9

Journal Prompt: How far is the gap between your behavior and your status before God? Make a “Thankful List” using Paul’s in verses 1:4-9 as an example. Close with a prayer asking God for renewed confidence to trust His faithfulness to "make you what you should be."

And so we open the letter and we read “Dear Corinthians…..”

Although we don’t get much further, we can still learn some beautiful things.

Things We Can Learn:

• God redeems what we destroy.
• Redemption is ONLY possible through Inside-Out Holiness, which is our true identity.
• We can follow God through the refining process that matches our behavior with our God-given status.