Because church was a secular term (referring to the gatherings of the citizenry in a city-state to discuss and decide on matters of public interest [Mare]), Paul calls the gathering of Christians in Corinth the church of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 6. d. That no flesh should glory in His presence: This is the end result. i. Lord: A title designating not only master and boss, but also the Lord revealed in the Old Testament (known as Yahweh or Jehovah). : In Pauls day, the Jewish world was looking for a, . The Corinthian Christians are called saints, but this was not based on the outward performance of the Corinthians. When Paul first came to Corinth, the ruler of the synagogue was a man named Crispus. When Paul looked at the Corinthian church, he could say: These people proclaim Jesus, they know about Jesus, there are the supernatural gifts of God among them, and they are excited about Jesus return. Whatever problems they had, these are some pretty impressive strong points. 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. The Apostle Paul spent eighteen months there on his Second Missionary Journey and established a church there. Crucified meant weakness, defeat, and humiliation. Understanding the tension between the, Those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called, : Paul continued his description of the Corinthian Christians. Where does that atom go in the resurrection? But God does not need every atom of a mans body to make a resurrection body. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You can check these in your browser security settings. a. Paul: The apostle Paul follows the normal pattern for writing a letter in ancient times. Gods wisdom is not mans wisdom multiplied to the highest degree. Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. The Corinthian Christians are, , but this isnt exclusive to them. i. He is describing them as they appear to the perishing man, the wise man of this age. We dont need to waver, we dont need to change direction, we dont need to fall, and we dont need to quit. Over time, two things happened: the church lost its passion for Jesus and His gospel, and ivy began to grow on the archway. a. But he had no desire to compete with other apostles for the Most Valuable Apostle award. Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Death is swallowed up in victory: A resurrected body is not a resuscitated corpse. The idea is that we have been purchased to permanent freedom. Unfortunately, many of them never communicate any encouragement with their correction and advice. Where is the wise? ii. They, iii. Grace is always first, peace always second. They did not value the wisdom expressed in the message of the cross. Since every cell of my body contains the DNA blueprint to make a whole new body, God can no doubt take one cell of my dead body and make a glorious resurrection body out of that old blueprint. Paul writes this letter from Ephesus, where these people from Chloes household visited and told him about the condition of the the Corinthian church. And the Greek there is hard to translate. : Paul would argue hard for his apostolic credentials, because he knew he had to be respected as an apostle. Spiritual elitism is terrible, no matter whose name it is practiced in. Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie. However, we learn something just from the meaning of the ancient Greek word " apostolos ," which has the idea of "a special ambassador." Paul was a "special ambassador" of Jesus Christ to the world and to the church. What of the dead in Christ before that day? Specifically, they wanted the sign of a miraculous Messianic deliverance. Through much of this book, Paul deals with the moral problems of the Corinthians: envy, divisions, pride, immorality, greed, irreverence, and selfishness. There are not a handful of self-deluded souls; there are literally hundreds who saw the resurrected Jesus with their own eyes. The first trumpet meant, strike the tents and prepare to leave; the second trumpet meant, fall into line; the third and last trumpet meant march away. This last trumpet describes the Christians marching orders at the rapture of the Church. b. i. Paul expressed the same idea again in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. 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. There will come a day when in Gods eternal plan, He gives those dead in the Lord their resurrection bodies, and then in an instant He gathers all His people to meet Jesus in the air. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory, : Some take this to mean there will be different degrees of glory for believers in heaven. I know thou art no more able to destroy me, but thou art sent as a messenger to conduct me to the golden gate wherein I shall enter and see my Saviours unveiled face for ever. If the dead do not rise, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.. Angels and human beings denote the universe, as gazing upon the conflicts and struggles of the apostles. ii. i. Session 1: The God of All Comfort. There may have been many more meetings that are not described in the gospels. ii. a. Yet, these positives were no great credit to the Corinthian Christians themselves. Remove this, and all our hopes for eternity sink at once. There is inherent power in the preaching of the true gospel, when it is received with faith. 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.. 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. i. Paul will often (more than 17 times in the letter) refer to Jesus as. The doctrine of Christ's death and resurrection, is the foundation of Christianity. Surely, Paul remembered his converts, but the issue of baptism, though important, was not as important to Paul. The words, are inserted by translators. The Corinthian Christians did not deny Jesus resurrection; they denied. They are not lost; they are sown. (Spurgeon). 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. There is much in 1 Corinthians that is unflattering to the Christians of Corinth. The resurrection of Jesus, iv. Perhaps this same Sosthenes in Acts 18:17 is now with Paul, so Paul calls attention to the man with him whom the Corinthian Christians would know: Sosthenes our brother. ii. (50-53) The need for the resurrection. 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. Paul always remembered how he had sinned against Jesus church. We know He lives because the historical evidence, , the brother of Jesus, who is seen as a prominent leader in the church in Acts 15. Paul then received reports from people in Chloes household about disturbances in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:11); and he may have received a delegation from Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:7) who brought him questions from the congregation (1 Corinthians 7:1). d. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory: Some take this to mean there will be different degrees of glory for believers in heaven. All will be resurrected in the sense that they will receive a resurrection body and live forever. They did not value the wisdom expressed in, i. Lady Huntington, the rich and influential friend of Whitfield and Wesley, said she was going to heaven by an m: it isnt any noble; instead it is not many noble. 3. Thy teeth are broken, oh old lion, wherefore should I fear thee? Everything good the Corinthian Christians have from God has come to them by. 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). Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? The answer is, Yes! God does it and we do it. ii. Later, in 2 Corinthians 6:1, Paul pleads that we might not receive the grace of God in vain: : Paul compares himself to the other apostles. Therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, : Because we know death is defeated and we have an eternal, resurrected destiny with Jesus Christ, we should stand firm and unshakable all the more for Him right now. : Here, Paul refers to God the Sons desire to glorify God the Father through all eternity. 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. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentilesthat a man has his father's wife! It was founded on a promise of God, when He said for I have many people in this city (Acts 18:10). (Read 1 Corinthians 14:15-25) There can be no assent to prayers that are not understood. An example of this is in Acts 23:12-13, when more than forty men took a vow that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. : Paul thanks God for the gifts among the Corinthians, even though they were causing some trouble. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. iii. Three glimpses of the bodys glory were seen, in Moses face, in Christs transfiguration, and in Stephens countenance. (Trapp), iii. e. Was Paul crucified for you? That he does, : I am in constant peril of my life. Pauls life was lived so on the edge for Jesus Christ that he could say, , . His life was always on the line; there were always people out to kill him. It might be easy for us to think they werent even saved! Their problem with the resurrection also indicated the source of many of their moral problems. 1 Corinthians 15:20-58 - The Glory of the Resurrection - Enduring Word Of the apostle's doctrine not a trace can be found in all the teaching of philosophers. Crispus is likely mentioned in Acts 18:8, Gaius in Romans 16:23. b. I thank God Christ did not send me to baptize: For Paul, preaching was more important than baptizing, though he was certainly not opposed to baptism. That is of little importance to me, because I am not an apostle because of a popular election. At the first meeting of the resurrected Jesus with His disciples, Thomas was absent and Judas had killed himself. . iii. They know Jesus rose from the dead., followers of Jesus before His Ascension, though Acts 1:15 mentions only the 120 who were in the Jerusalem area. c. To us who are being saved it is the power of God: Though it is a strange message, and regarded as foolish by the perishing, to those who trust in it and are being saved, this message of the cross becomes to them the actual power of God. is simply a thing to be understood by spiritual, rather than by merely human perception. From the first Adam, we all are made of dust, but from the last Adam we can be made heavenly. He has destroyed the wisdom of the wise, just as He said He would., i. He is happy to do it in this way, which offends the height of human wisdom. This speaks to the vital need described in Romans 12:2: ii. Barclay says yes, and simply points out that Paul was dead wrong here. They have not been chosen because, That no flesh should glory in His presence, : This is the end result. d. Those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints: Paul continued his description of the Corinthian Christians. The hearing and trusting of the true gospel will bring the power of God into your life. The growth of the ivy, covering the message, showed the spiritual decline. a. This remarkable, instant gathering of Christians unto Jesus in the clouds has been called, iii. For believers, the promise is sure: we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. Chuck Smith points to a grammatical construction that would be different if this trumpet were the trumpet of Revelation 11. iii. The first trumpet meant, strike the tents and prepare to leave; the second trumpet meant, fall into line; the third and. Some mock the idea of resurrection. Ironside says that the last trumpet was a figure of speech that came from the Roman military, when they broke camp. A, iv. July 15, 2017 / by Enduring Word 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 - Diversity and Unity in the Gifts of the Spirit. e. The foolishness of God is wiser than men: God was at His most foolish and very weakest at the cross, but it was infinitely wiser and stronger than anything man could do. No one will stand before God and declare, I figured You out or You did it just like I thought You should. Gods ways are greater and higher, and nothing of the. We should work hard in everything now, working for the Lord, because, Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. God has made different churches and different ministries with different callings and characters, because the job of preaching the gospel is too big for any one group. We are following in the footsteps of no one less than Jesus Himself. 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. "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 d. Those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved: The verb tenses of are perishing and are being saved are significant. f. See how important the truth of the resurrection is! They both describe a work in progress. After that time, there will be a final, Satan inspired rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10), which Jesus will crush and finally and forever, is an Old Testament figure for total conquest. (Mare), The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, : Death will be present during the millennial reign of Jesus (Revelation 20:9 and Isaiah 65:20), but afterward, death will be abolished. While our present bodies are adapted for the environment of time and earth, our resurrection bodies will be adapted for the environment of eternity and heaven. On all counts, the resurrection body wins! ii. As Paul said to Agrippa in Acts 26:8, This may be a foolish question (Paul calls his imaginary questioner , Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. ii. 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. Paul will tell the Corinthian Christians something they could not have known by reason or research. ii. (39-41) The analogy of living and heavenly bodies. At some point before He died, before the veil was torn in two, before He cried out, ii. We dont need to waver, we dont need to change direction, we dont need to fall, and we dont need to quit. He writes of the constant imminent danger to his physical life. Let a man so consider us: Paul asks that he, and the other apostles ( us) be regarded by the Corinthians as servants. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, : Paul says to the Corinthians, Look at yourselves. means good news. As the word was used in ancient times, it didnt have to describe the message of salvation in Jesus Christ; it could describe any good news. Instead, a stalk of wheat grows. Specifically, they wanted the sign of a miraculous Messianic deliverance. It doesnt matter if you get the praise or the encouragement; sometimes you will and sometimes you wont. Their desire for wisdom was not bad, but their rejection of Gods wisdom was. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. (20-23) The resurrection of Jesus was the firstfruit of our resurrection. This is due to the fact that grace is the source of peace. It wasnt because the Corinthian Christians did not believe Jesus rose from the dead. His boasting is both, (that is, in the Corinthian Christians) and, . Paul praises God for their positives, and expresses confidence that God will take care of their weak points, and, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, i. Corinth was a major city of business, especially because of its location. He will destroy the wisdom of the wise, not bow down before it. But in the first century, saying message of the cross was about the same as saying message of the electric chair except worse! The church also had even lost Jesus in the message, preaching religious platitudes and social graces. Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. Where did the Corinthian Christians get their strange ideas about the resurrection, ideas Paul spent this chapter trying to correct? In light of all this, how could the Corinthian Christians let go of such an important truth? Of course, Paul did baptize a few in Corinth. I speak this to your shame. Those baptized by the great apostle Paul had no advantage over those baptized by some unknown believer. Einstein asked them, how much of all the knowledge in the world they had amongst themselves collectively, as a class. The term church of God has Old Testament associations, especially in the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament). Jesus gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and hes our man. 1 Corinthians 15:35 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary - StudyLight.org As noted above, in this chapter Paul deals both with Christ's resurrection (15:1-11) and with our own (15:12-58). ? Our resurrection body will be a heavenly (. ) I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Study Guide for 1 Corinthians 15 by David Guzik - Blue Letter Bible i. Paul faced all this for the sake of the resurrection of the dead, both Jesus resurrection and the believers. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where, : In this quotation from Isaiah 29:14, Paul shows that in spiritual matters, God opposes the wisdom of man. It isnt. . i. (45-49) The two Adams and their bodies. How sobering this is! through the pride and cleverness of men! They say, Here is a Christians body, lying in a grave with no casket. i. Each of these were resuscitated from death, but none of them were. The apostle was addressing Christians, and warning them to beware of the temporal judgements with which God chastised his offending servants. Answer: First Corinthians 13:8-10: "Love never fails. : In verses three and four, Paul will describe the. i. Barclay on joined together: A medical word used of knitting together bones that have been fractured, or joining together a joint that has been dislocated. If one preaches the word with a reliance on, i. The expression means that he was public in his trials, and that this was exhibited to the universe. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul deals more fully with what makes a person an apostle. : When you plant a wheat seed, a big wheat seed does not come up. God has made them all foolish through His wisdom. i. : Its hard to understand what our resurrection bodies will be like, so Paul will use, Raised in incorruption raised in glory raised in power. 7. It is one thing to prefer one minister to another, but we cannot divide into cliques behind one minister or another. July 16, 2017 / by Enduring Word 1 Corinthians 13 - Agape Love. Used by permission. God loves them, bears them hearty good-will, and bestows on them his fatherly smiles and blessings. But because of all the time Paul spent in Corinth, and all the letters he wrote them, we know more about the Christians at Corinth than we know about any other church in the New Testament. e. If the dead do not rise, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Pauls third proof for the resurrection in this section is also compelling. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. The last trumpet may not refer to the last trumpet of the seven trumpets of Revelation at all, but simply refer to the last trumpet believers hear on this earth. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Click to enable/disable essential site cookies. ( 1 Corinthians 4:1-2) Servants and stewards. 2. Paul writes this letter from Ephesus, where these people from Chloes household visited and told him about the condition of the the Corinthian church. iii. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body" (15:42-44). It is truly the, i. Paul reminds us of something important: death is an, . 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? 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. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. No one was present in the tomb with Him when His body transformed into a resurrection body. This is a question Paul doesnt really answer in the following verses, because the answer is obvious. O Hades, where is your victory? (42-44) Comparison of the two kinds of bodies. Which is at Corinth: Corinth was one of the great cities of the ancient world, and a community very much like Southern California. Grace means that God gives freely, for His own reasons. To the church of God: Most people today associate the word church with a building where Christians meet. 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. ii. At these meetings He ate with them, comforted them, commanded them to preach the gospel, and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His ascension. iii. 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. Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1 by Matthew Henry - Blue Letter Bible You can check these in your browser security settings. If there were not men who differed a little in their creeds, we should never get as much gospel as we do God has sent different men to defend different kinds of truth; but Christ defended and preached all Christs testimony was perfect. (Spurgeon), ii. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother. But dont expose Him to the horror and the humiliation of hanging on a cross. But God wanted Christ crucified, and if we dont embrace the cross, even with all its strange contradictions and demands, then we are lost. How can we die daily? These meetings were important in proving to the disciples that Jesus was who He said He was. 2. Paul was in Athens a day or two; he stayed in Corinth for a year and a half. 1 Corinthians 15 - Bible Study Tools AND YOUR POINT, PAUL?
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