1 Corinthians: Faithbuilders Bible Study Guide

By Mathew Bartlett and Derek Williams

A simple verse by verse guide to the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. It’s great for individual or group use. Every chapter has thought provoking discussion questions to aid study and sample answers are provided.

• Bible text quoted in full (New English Translation).
• Unlike in most group studies, it

• Language: English
• Publisher: Apostolos Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Aug 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781912120222

Mathew Bartlett

Mathew Bartlett holds a MA in biblical studies from Chester University, and is researching for PhD in Lukan rhetoric.

Book preview

Chapter 1: The Church of God

Greetings

1:1 From Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother.

It is appropriate in a letter which deals with the doctrine and discipline of a local church, for Paul to begin by establishing his apostolic credentials; especially when we consider that these credentials were challenged by many in Corinth (see 1 Cor 1:12; 2 Cor 13:3). From the start, Paul makes clear that he had the authority to speak in Christ's name. No one has the right to take such an office in the church unless called by God, as Paul was.

Paul usually dictated his letters, and his amanuensis on this occasion was Sosthenes, most likely a native of Corinth. Some suppose him to be the synagogue ruler referred to in Acts 18:17, later converted under Paul's ministry, but it this by no means certain. We may only say for sure that he was a brother.

1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

The letter is addressed to the church of God in Corinth. The word translated church was used to describe any gathering of people,¹ but Paul specifically uses it for the church of God – that specific group of people who have been purchased for God with Christ's own precious blood and set apart for Him.

Through Christ’s death, the believers at Corinth had already been sanctified (set apart for God) and were called to be saints. Paul’s concern was always that those who are made holy by Christ should endeavor to live holy lives, but some Corinthians were failing to live up to this high calling. The call to holiness is an indispensable part of Christ’s call to all who believe. God’s purpose for His church is the same today as it always has been – that its members should be holy, for I am holy (1 Pet 1:16).

To a far greater extent now than in Paul’s time, we can find believers all over the world. These are "all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Each believer shares in the same holy call by the abundant grace of God and Paul found it necessary to emphasize this to a fledgling church, whose members considered themselves unusually blessed and spiritually superior to others. The church of Jesus Christ is far bigger than any one congregation, or any one denomination, no matter how large or how blessed. Blomberg is right to observe that, the Corinthians must recognize that they are not the center of their religious universe, but merely one cog in a large wheel.²

Even a cursory review of modern western churches reveals that some are making the same mistake as the Corinthians by thinking themselves exceptionally blessed. May we never forget that a church with a congregation of four, meeting in a suburban slum in the poorest part of Asia, is as important to God as a rich, modern church in the West with a congregation of thousands. Indeed, as Johnson observes:

The universal church … is manifested … in the various particular churches in which the faithful gather to express their faith … and commune with their fellow Christians.³

1:3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Paul employs his usual greeting; it was a common enough greeting in letters of those times, but for Paul the words carried special significance. The word grace expresses God's gift to all men through His Son Jesus Christ; whilst peace speaks of the wholeness, fullness, and satisfaction of the entire life – spirit, soul, and body – which are available through Christ. Both grace and peace come to us from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who are the joint origin of them.

A Church Called into Existence by God

1:4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus.

Paul thanks God that by His grace the Corinthians had received Jesus Christ as Saviour, and consequently they had received every spiritual blessing that is found in Him (1:7). Paul was anxious to correct a lack of gratitude among the Corinthians. It might be argued that this lack of gratitude to God made them fail to grow spiritually in Christ. Since God gave everything they possessed freely through Christ, their self-satisfied attitude (1 Cor 4:8) was entirely out of place. As Leon Morris says:

Human achievement means little to Paul …. His thanks are not for anything that the Corinthians have done by their own efforts, but for what the grace of God given them in Jesus Christ … has accomplished in them.⁴

1:5 For you were made rich in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge.

Is it ironic, perhaps, that Paul chooses first to mention the two gifts of which, as Parry says, the Corinthians were especially proud.⁵ God in His grace had spiritually enriched them in their perception of the truth and in their ability to make this revelation known to others.

1:6 Just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you.

The Corinthians could neither have understood nor received the benefits of the gospel until they had first heard it for themselves from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. The gospel did not originate with them, even though its power had been confirmed in them as they responded to its call. In their lives, as in the lives of all believers, God’s Word had accomplished its purpose: saving and sanctifying them through the new birth. Yet the Corinthians had not simply heard the gospel; they had experienced its effects in their lives, which had been completely changed (see 1 Cor 6:11). It is because the gospel has such an effect in the lives of converts that their message rings true to others. As Morris says:

The changed lives of the Corinthians demonstrated conclusively the validity of the message that had been preached to them. The effects of the preaching were the guarantee of its truth.⁶

1:7 So that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Corinthians lacked nothing of eternal worth, for in Christ God had freely given them all things (Rom 8:32). In his Ephesian epistle, Paul asserts that God has blessed all believers with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3).

Heirs to a great estate must, whilst they are children, learn to live and behave in a way fitting to their position before taking on the full responsibilities of adult life. These young Christians, although blessed by God, had first to grow into spiritual adulthood before they could appreciate their inheritance.

When Paul refers to every spiritual gift having been given to them, he is speaking of the local church collectively and not of any individual. No one believer has exclusive possession or right to any gift or grace of the Holy Spirit, but the church has them all. Of course, one gift of God that we all share is the gift of eternal life (Rom 6:23); but the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given as the Spirit wills, and He may give several gifts to each believer. These gifts, together with the ministry gifts of Christ (Eph 4:11) and all of God’s gifts (e.g. Rom 12:7–8), are for the building up of the body of Christ, that the church might mature spiritually.

One day, when Jesus comes again, there will be no more need for Christians to mature, for we will reach our goal, which is a perfect likeness to Jesus. There will be no partial blessing or partial revelation then, such as might be received through spiritual gifts; for we shall see Him as He is and we shall know Him as we are known (1 John 3:2; 1 Cor 13:12).

In these introductory verses, Paul has endeavored to direct the Corinthian’s attention away from their blessings and gifts to the great Giver Himself.

1:8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, who has given us all things through the gospel, will ensure that we lack nothing on our spiritual journey, so that we may continue to walk with Jesus Christ to the end of our lives. Those who are Christ’s when He returns will be found blameless, for no allegation can be laid against those whom He personally guarantees (Rom 8:33).

1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with His son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul turns the young believers’ attention away from their own condition, with their blessings and their failures, to the God in whom their salvation originated, and in whom it will ultimately be consummated. Paul focussed on the faithfulness of God rather than the fickleness of humans,⁷ for despite the problems in the church of Corinth, Paul was confident of the end result. As Prior notes, His confidence in the church at Corinth is based [not on their own merit but] on God’s generosity and faithfulness.⁸

Paul believed in the preservation and ultimate glorification of the saints and knew that God is faithful to keep His promises. These promises, whilst Paul announced them through the gospel, were not the promises of men, but of God who cannot lie (1 Thess 2:13; Tit 1:2). God had called them into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ through the gospel.

No one can become a Christian except in response to the call and will of God. Since we are called into communion with Christ, we are also called into fellowship with all other believers; our common fellowship with Christ being the basis for our solidarity. The reason Paul states this vital truth at this point is that in the following verses he will apply it to the first of the practical problems facing the Corinthians: that of division in the church.

Concerning Divisions in the Church

1:10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose.

Since all Christians know God as Father, they are brothers and sisters in Christ. Just as it is important for families to live together in harmony, so Paul begs the Corinthian believers, as part of God’s family, to agree with each other. Jesus Himself had prayed for this unity in John 17:21–23.

Lightfoot says that the phrase agree together (in the AV perfectly joined together) is used [in the Greek of the period] to describe political parties that are free from factions or different states who have friendly relations with each other.⁹ Whilst this is a good definition, Paul’s use of the word has an even deeper meaning when one relates it to his view of the church as one body, the body of Christ. Paul’s efforts through this epistle to engender a practical unity among the Corinthians consist of several exhortations which are very well summarised by Blomberg:

This section gives four methods of achieving unity: focussing on the cross of Christ (1:18–2:5), understanding true spiritual wisdom (2:6–16), recognising the fundamental equality of all believers (3:1–23), and treating Christian leaders appropriately (4:1–21).¹⁰

1:11–12 For members of Chloe's household have made it clear to me, my brothers and sisters, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, I am with Paul, or I am with Apollos, or I am with Cephas, or I am with Christ.

Chloe's family may well have been members of the church at Corinth, who were alarmed by the factions in the church. Some commentators (including Blomberg) have assumed that the differences were largely doctrinal and that Paul’s appeal for unity should be applied to those who disagree over points of doctrine.

Whilst we would all do well to praise the merits of Christian unity, and recognizing that there are many lesser matters of doctrine on which we can agree to differ, we may be tempted to forget that Paul's stance when it came to Christian doctrine was drastically different to the conciliatory approach taken here. Heretics were dogs (Phil 3:2), to be rejected (Tit 3:10), even handed over to Satan (excommunicated – 1 Tim 1:20). The weight of evidence in the New Testament would tend to support the view that Paul would never endorse the idea of unity being maintained at the expense of Christian doctrine. Error has always and can only divide the Christian church, whilst truth is the power which unites.

Although problems involving purity of doctrine had arisen at Corinth, these are dealt with separately (especially chapter 15), for they were not the issues which divided the Corinthian church. Rather, at Corinth, the people had become obsessed with the gifts and personalities of those teachers whom they most admired.

Some were attracted to the fluent preaching of Apollos, whilst others admired Peter; although whether this was because of his early association with Jesus, his Jewish upbringing, or his rugged fisherman's manliness, we can only guess. Others were loyal to Paul, who had established the church. But whatever the reasons were for these factions, they dismayed Paul.

1:13 Is Christ divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul?

Since it was God who had called them all into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ, they owed their salvation to Him alone and not to any other. True, they had each heard of Christ through assorted teachers, but they had only come to know the God's grace in all its fullness through Jesus Christ. Given that He is the sole source of Christian grace, how could the church possibly have become divided?

Using a series of rhetorical questions, Paul shows the absurdity of their behavior. Is Christ divided can be translated has Christ been parcelled out?¹¹ Of course not, for Christ is one. Paul’s point is that since Christ is the same Christ to all, so His church must also be one. The absurd question was Paul crucified for you? is intended to focus the attention of the believers on the death of Christ as the basis of their salvation; the sacrificial act which brought the church into being. In later verses, Paul reiterates the centrality of the cross, which the Corinthians for the time being seemed to have disregarded. Only Christ, by His death, could redeem sinful men and women for God.

The third question is: were you baptized in the name of Paul? Some Christians had not realized the significance of their baptism, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Since they were baptized in Christ's name, their loyalty was to Him and not principally to their leaders.

1:14–16 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name! (I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Otherwise, I do not remember whether I baptized anyone else.)

It turned out, says Paul, that it was just as well that I didn't baptize any of you, except in a couple of special circumstances. Otherwise, you would probably say that you were baptized in my name (my paraphrase). As far as he could remember, Paul had only baptized Crispus, Gaius, and the family of Stephanus. These exceptions would have been occasioned by special circumstances rather than by special favors (as was the case for the Philippian jailer in Acts 16).

As usual in the New Testament, the word name as used here implies more than a title; it denotes the whole personality. If Paul had baptized in his own name, such baptism would signify that converts had been brought into fellowship with Paul and that their allegiance was to him. This was not the case; for Paul had simply directed the Corinthians to the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -- and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless.

It had not been Paul's practice to baptize, for this was not the task which Christ had entrusted to him. Quite simply, he concentrated on more important things. After all, if Paul had not preached the gospel, there would have been no converts to baptize!

Paul’s preaching of the gospel was never marked by eloquence and clever rhetoric, for preaching like that would only provoke man’s admiration or envy. Paul preached God's word plainly and simply so that the message and its subject (the crucified Christ) might not be hidden from view, for Paul understood this message to be God’s power to save (Rom 1:16; John 12:32).

The Foolish Message of the Cross

1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Since it appears that the cliques in Corinth were caused by the sophistication of the Corinthian believers, Paul reminds them of the simple (and ostensibly foolish) message of the cross.

The word of the cross seems utter nonsense to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, those who will spend eternity separated from God (those who are perishing – the unbelievers). The immense power and glorious truth of the message can only be understood via revelation from God. Human wisdom is incapable of grasping the message of salvation; for even if men were to investigate and study throughout innumerable ages, they could never imagine God’s plan of salvation through the cross of Jesus.

When Paul speaks of the cross, he is not speaking of a piece of wood, but the place where Christ offered Himself as the faultless sacrifice for the sins of the world. God’s power to liberate men from sin and unbelief is contained within the message of the cross, and all who place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will experience this power. The gospel is not a message about God’s power, it is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16), with the ability to impart faith to open hearts (2 Cor 4:4–6).

1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.

Paul quotes from Isaiah 29:14 to show that whilst man’s wisdom might be of no benefit to him, a lack of it will be no barrier to him. God has purposed to bring about the salvation of human souls only through the message of His Son’s death on a cross.

1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic Law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish?

How can anyone teach or inform the omniscient (all-knowing) mind? Since this world and all that is in it are passing away, all the wisdom and learning which humankind has accumulated over the centuries will pass away too. Whilst education and learning may yield many benefits for the present time, they are of no value when considering eternal things. Here then is a subject which has nothing to do with intellectuals. Paul accentuates his argument by a series of rhetorical questions. The learned are nowhere to be found, they hide in shame, for God has chosen to make nonsense of the wisdom of the world.

1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching.

God has wisely and intentionally chosen to save men and women through the message of the cross. It was never God’s plan that men should attain a knowledge of Him by exercising their own minds, as Green says, "we cannot come to know God in personal salvation through human wisdom…. We come to know God only through trusting in the message about Jesus Christ crucified."¹² This method seems foolish to us, but God saves all who believe (Luke 10:21).

1:22 For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom.

It was typical of the Jewish nation to demand supernatural evidence for what they believed. They often demanded such signs from the Lord (e.g. Matt 12:38; John 6:30). Moses had come to them with such signs, so they considered that everything from God must come in the same way. The truth was that they had become obdurate and unbelieving in their hearts, and so being unable to take God’s word at face value, they sought the most extraordinary corroboration.

The Greeks, on the other hand, were fascinated by philosophy. Luke records that the men of Athens spent all their time discussing and considering new ideas (Acts 17:21). They honored their philosophers and thinkers, many of whom are still famous today (e.g. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle). Athenian society despised those who did not appreciate the latest thinking. Elements of this culture may still be detected in modern Western society, including the great importance placed on knowledge and learning in our school and university systems. Yet, as Procter rightly observes, all this has no saving power for mankind.¹³

Here,