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The Apostle Paul's First
Epistle to the Corinthians |
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Chapter 1
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1Paul, called as an apostle of Yeshua Messiah by
the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2To
the assembly of God which is at Corinth, to
those who have been sanctified in Messiah
Yeshua, saints by calling, with all who in every
place call on the name of our Master Yeshua
Messiah, their Master and ours: 3Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Master
Yeshua Messiah.
As he did in all of his epistles, Paul opened
this letter emphasizing that he was an emissary
sent by Yeshua the Messiah ("apostle," literally
in the Greek, "apostolos").
Stating his position, especially with the added
"by the will of God," was not an attempt at
self-glorification but rather to establish his
authority, that the words of this epistle
carried weight. Paul also mentioned that this
epistle was also from Sosthenes, a brother in
the faith, who according to Acts
18:17
was a ruler within one of the synagogues in
Corinth. Since Sosthenes was a native of Corinth
and knew the people and situations intimately,
his presence at the writing of this epistle
further cemented the authority of the words of
this epistle. Verse 2 provides us with a
definition of how Paul used the Greek word
"ecclesia," which is usually translated as
"church" but is more accurately should be
translated as "assembly." The Assembly of God is
made up of those who have been sanctified in the
Messiah Yeshua; those who can also be called
"saints” or more literally, "set apart ones." To
be a saint is to be one who, by faith and
faithful practice, identifies with the Messiah
Yeshua, calls on His name for salvation and
imitates His holy life by obeying the
commandments of God. Gentile believers within
the Assembly of God, therefore, should not
consider themselves as distinct from the people
of Israel for they are simply living out the
calling of the people of Israel, alongside
faithful Jewish people. Paul then added his
usual greeting of "grace to you and peace,"
which beautifully sums up the process of
salvation; God bestows His grace upon His
people, resulting in peace between man and God.
4I thank my God always concerning you for the
grace of God which was given you in Messiah
Yeshua, 5that in everything you were enriched in
Him, in all speech and all knowledge, 6even as
the testimony concerning Messiah was confirmed
in you, 7so that you are not lacking in any
gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our
Master Yeshua Messiah, 8who will also confirm
you to the end, blameless in the day of our
Master Yeshua Messiah.
Paul informed the Corinthians that he always
thanked God for the grace that He had given
them. Taken at face value, this is a simple
giving of thanks for the gift of salvation but
this actually might be a bit of a subtle insult.
Much of this epistle consists of rebuke and
correction both in terms of the Corinthians'
thinking and practice. That Paul would always
focus on the grace given to the Corinthians may
indicate that he recognized how much the
Corinthians were in need of it. This, however,
applies to all believers since none of us
deserve salvation and are far from being
perfect. Furthermore, that Paul would call the
Corinthians saints (cf. 1:2) shows that
there is a difference between our position
before God and the practical state of our lives
before God. Though salvation is a free gift
based upon the merit of the Master Yeshua, it is
upon us, through God's strength, that we become
practically holy in this life. Though we will
learn about the Corinthians as we go along in
the study of this epistle, Paul firstly
described them in positive terms; specifically
in the areas God blessed them. In the Messiah,
the Corinthians were enriched in everything;
specifically, the Corinthians were blessed with
the ability to come out of pagan life in the
areas of speech and knowledge. These areas of
empowerment confirmed that the message of
salvation through the Messiah had truly reached
the Corinthians. Even more so, the Corinthians
were not lacking in any gift, which is a
translation of the Greek word "charisma."
It is a common misconception among Evangelicals
that the gifting that God gives to each believer
is something that needs to be sought after. On
the contrary, using each of our personalities
and personal talents, the Spirit of God has
empowered and enabled each believer to display
certain gifts. It is up to each believer to
properly use such gifting for the edification of
the assembly. The building up of the body of the
Messiah is the duty of each believer as we await
the revelation (literally, "apokalupsis,"
which means "unveiling") of Messiah, which
refers to His second coming. As usual, Paul
encouragingly taught the salvation that
believers enjoy, despite our shortcomings, is a
full salvation, one that will be made complete
in resurrection, that is, on the day of our
Master Yeshua the Messiah.
9God is faithful, through whom you were
called into fellowship with His Son, Yeshua
Messiah our Master. 10Now I exhort you,
brethren, by the name of our Master Yeshua
Messiah, that you all agree and that there be no
divisions among you, but that you be made
complete in the same mind and in the same
judgment.
Indeed, God is faithful to complete the
salvation He has begun in us, a salvation which
can be described as fellowship with the Master
Yeshua. The word "fellowship" can be understood
as "common-life," which demonstrates that the
life we've been called into is not one of
isolation. In our devotion to the Messiah, we
join with brothers and sisters who have likewise
been called. As a result of this calling, Paul
exhorted the Corinthians towards unity; using
gentle language, calling them brothers, he
pleaded that they "all agree." Literally, the
phrase "all agree" can be understood to mean
that Paul wanted the Corinthians to all say the
same thing. In each community, there must be
commonality among the essential doctrines and
beliefs. In other words, the only way to true
unity is when everyone is committed to the truth
of the word of God. Paul's exhortation was in
the name of the Messiah, which indicates that
unity is the desire of the Master Himself. This
is evident in His prayer in John 17:11,
where He prayed that His disciples would be
unified just as He and the Father were unified.
In each community, God's people should concern
themselves to become unified with each other,
with the Master, which will lead to unity with
God. This, of course, requires self sacrifice
and patience but this is the high calling of the
believing life.
11For I have been informed concerning you, my
brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are
quarrels among you. 12Now I mean this, that each
one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of
Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Messiah."
13Has Messiah been divided? Paul was not
crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized
in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I
baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15so that no one would say you were baptized in
my name. 16Now I did baptize also the household
of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether
I baptized any other. 17For Messiah did not send
me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in
cleverness of speech, so that the cross of
Messiah would not be made void.
Paul was told about the divisions among the
Corinthians by Chloe's people. Chloe was likely
an influential and rich individual that
supported Paul's ministry. When the Corinthians
would quarrel, some would group off into
factions, citing a prominent leader's authority
to make their case. By calling on the authority
of Paul, that group was recalling that it was he
that established the believing community in
Corinth (cf. Acts 18:7-8). Apollos, on
the other hand, was the one who taught mightily
in Corinth (cf. Acts
18:24),
so some rested on his authority. Some recognized
that neither Paul nor Apollos were among the
original disciples of the Master, so they called
upon the authority of Cephas, that is, Simon
Peter. Some, likely seeing the folly of citing
mere human authority, rested on the authority of
the Messiah Himself. Usually this is taken as
the self-righteous position by commentators but
there is no reason to think so, since to rely on
the Messiah's authority is what Paul went on to
say is the right answer. He did so by asking a
series of questions, showing that it was not he
who was crucified nor were they immersed in the
name of Paul. The Messiah's authority is not
divided; it is useless to rely on the authority
of one apostle as over against another since all
apostles were serving the same Master and under
the same authority. The bottom line is that we
should all be submitting to the Master and His
teachings in all things. All Apostolic teaching
is to point us to the Messiah, enabling us to
submit to Him and His ways. Paul's ministry was
not to baptize and, indeed, he himself only
immersed a few. Instead, Paul's ministry was to
proclaim the gospel but not with cleverness of
speech because, according to Paul, if the
success of the gospel message was predicated
upon intellect, the cross of Messiah would be
made void. If the reception of the gospel was
based purely on intellect, there could be room
for boasting but since the gospel message itself
is actually a foolish message to the ears of
sinful man, God's power is demonstrated through
its acceptance.
18For the word of the cross is foolishness to
those who are perishing, but to us who are being
saved it is the power of God. 19For it is
written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET
ASIDE."
The phrase "word of the cross" can refer to all
of God's revelation since acceptance of the
Gospel cannot be separated from the whole of the
Scriptures. Nevertheless, it's likely that Paul
referred to the specific element of the
Messiah's crucifixion when he stated that the
word of the cross is foolishness to those who
are perishing. The word foolishness is a
translation of the Greek word "moria,"
from which we get the word "moronic." Without
the work of the Spirit of God, to our natural
minds, the message of a Jewish King dying on a
cross for the sins of His people is indeed a
silly message. For those whom the Spirit of God
has illuminated the mind to comprehend the
spiritual ramifications of such an event, the
crucifixion of the Messiah is the power of God.
God is in the business of showing the folly of
man's wisdom as compared to His wisdom and Paul
demonstrated this by quoting Isaiah 29:14.
In the context of Isaiah, the king of Assyria
wanted to attack Judah but God told the prophet
that deliverance would come and the king would
fail but not as a result of the wise men of
Israel's planning. Even the best of man's wisdom
pales in comparison to the wisdom of God.
Furthermore, God doesn't need the intellect of
man to accomplish what He desires.
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20Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For
since in the wisdom of God the world through its
wisdom did not come to know God, God was
well-pleased through the foolishness of the
message preached to save those who believe.
In the Hellenistic world that the Corinthian
believers lived in, it was easy to get caught up
in reverence of the great thinkers of the time.
Likewise, in our day, it's easy to be enamoured
with science, psychology and philosophy but
these things, in and of themselves, will never
lead us to God or the truth about our existence.
In comparison to the wisdom of God, the wise
man, scribe and debater is left in the dust. In
fact, when compared to the wisdom of God, the
wisdom of the world becomes foolish. There is
perhaps no better example of this than that of
the theory of evolution. Whether it is the
absurdity of the big band theory where "twenty
billion years ago nothing exploded" or that
living matter evolved from non-living matter,
something that has never been observed in human
history, evolutionary thinking is man's foolish
attempt to explain our origins without God.
Whenever human wisdom ignores God's revelation
about our existence, it becomes foolish. We can
define and contrast the wisdom of the world and
the wisdom of God thusly:
the
wisdom of the world
is knowledge apart from the
revelation of God
and the
wisdom of God
is
knowledge filtered through the
revelation of God, enlightened by the Spirit.
It's God's wise plan to have even the best of
the world's wisdom never result in knowing Him
so that all glory can rightfully go to Himself.
Indeed God is well-pleased to save those who
believe in such a basic message, demonstrating
that salvation is not based upon intellect but
upon God's grace.
22For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks
search for wisdom; 23but we preach Messiah
crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to
Gentiles foolishness, 24but to those who are the
called, both Jews and Greeks, Messiah the power
of God and the wisdom of God. 25Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men.
God demonstrates His power to save people by
making salvation come through an unbelievable
message; a message that neither Jews nor Greeks
are willing to accept. For the Jewish people to
accept Yeshua as the Messiah there would have to
be the evident signs that He indeed is Moshiach.
For Greeks to be interested and espouse a
message, it must be one that engages the mind
and is full of wisdom. The message of a Jewish
King crucified satisfies neither Jewish nor
Greek expectation. To the Jewish people, the
Messiah is the king of Israel, the one who would
fulfill the promises made to the Abraham and
David and return Israel to her Land and to the
Torah. To proclaim a message of a crucified
Messiah goes completely contrary to Jewish
expectation of the Messiah; in fact, the Jewish
people were well aware that the man who was hung
on a tree was cursed of God (cf. Deuteronomy
21:23, Galatians 3:13). The reality is that
Yeshua, the Crucified One, truly is the Messiah
and even though their expectations of the
Messiah were accurate, the Jewish people are
still expected to believe that God's salvation
comes through the death and resurrection of the
Messiah. Without the work of the Spirit, though,
the message of the crucified Messiah is an
unbelievable message for Jewish people. To the
Greek mindset (which is representative of all
Gentile culture), it’s unfathomable why anyone
would care about, let alone be devoted to, a
message about a Jewish peasant who was crucified
in Israel. Even more to this point, today we can
add that this event happened two-thousand years
ago, making it even less relevant. To say that
the very Son of God, who lived a perfect life,
brought salvation from sin and death by dying on
a cross makes the message even more ridiculous.
To put this into perspective, it's as if some
regular guy from a local small town got
arrested, sent to death row, was executed in an
electric chair and then rose from the dead three
days later. To the Gentile mindset, such a
message is unbelievable. Amazingly, for those
who are called from among Jews and Greeks, the
message of the cross demonstrates both the power
and the wisdom of God, which satisfies each
group. The difference, of course, between those
who believe and those who don't is the work of
the Spirit of God. Without the work of the
Spirit, illuminating the heart, the gospel
cannot be believed. Paul then, in verse 25,
provided us with a wonderful principle to
summarize these truths. In regards to God's
revelation and how God accomplishes His desires,
if it is perceived as foolish or weak by man, it
is actually wiser and stronger than man could
ever be.
26For consider your calling, brethren, that
there were not many wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble; 27but God has
chosen the foolish things of the world to shame
the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of
the world to shame the things which are strong,
28and the base things of the world and the
despised God has chosen, the things that are
not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
29so that no man may boast before God.
To further bolster his point that the
“foolishness” of God is wiser than the wisdom of
men and the “weakness” of God is stronger than
men, Paul had the Corinthians remember their
lowly positions when they were called to
salvation. Among the Corinthians, and among
believers in general, there were not many who
were wise according to the world’s standard of
wisdom. Likewise, there were not many mighty, a
translation of the Greek word “dunatos,”
which refers to the powerful of the world.
Furthermore, there were not many who were noble,
which specifically refers to noble birth. No one
could claim that God saved them based upon their
intelligence or position within society. In
fact, according to Paul, God had chosen the
foolish (literally, moronic) things of the world
to shame the wise. Likewise, God chose the ones
were in a helpless position to shame the people
of the world in secure positions. God
specifically chose those who were foolish and
helpless to show the self-righteous people of
the world that He alone can bring people to
Himself. If that wasn’t enough of a humbling
description of believers’ position at the time
of salvation, Paul then said that God chose the
base things, the despised, the things that are
not, to nullify the things that are. To put it
another way, God chose the good-for-nothings of
the world to take away the possibility of the
noble people of the world to boast before God.
The reality is that absolutely no one can boast
before God, the only reason why some know God is
due to His own power. Before God, we are nothing
and it is He who saved us based on His gracious
character; no one can ever claim to have been
smart enough to accept the gospel.
30But by His doing you are in Messiah Yeshua,
who became to us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification, and
redemption, 31so that, just as it is written,
"LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."
No man can boast before God because it is by His
doing that believers are in the Messiah Yeshua.
There is nothing that man can do to become a
believer because they are dead in their sins and
helpless to come to the truth (cf. Ephesians
2:4-5, Romans 5:6). God, in His grace, gave
us life and united us with His Son, the Messiah
Yeshua. Paul then listed four specific areas
that identifying with the Messiah gave us access
to. Firstly, wisdom from God, which refers to
true knowledge, applied with proper application.
It is only through God’s revealed word, both in
the Scriptures and in the Word incarnate, that
we can know what is wise. Secondly,
righteousness, which refers to the fact that
through Messiah we are declared innocent before
God and in Him we have a true example of
righteousness lived out. Likewise, thirdly,
sanctification, which refers to being set apart
for salvation and set apart from this world.
Again, through the Word of God as revealed in
the Scriptures and in Yeshua, we can learn what
it means to be truly different for God. Lastly,
because of God’s doing, in the Messiah Yeshua,
we have redemption; redemption refers to the
fact that we were sinners, lost, without hope
and without God in this world but through the
Messiah’s death we were made righteous and holy,
brought into the family of God. This is
especially true for Gentile believers who were
separate from Messiah, excluded from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without
God in the world but
by the blood of the Messiah we were brought near
to enjoy all of the above. Without God’s power,
without the work of the Spirit in our lives,
there is no way we could come to Him and enjoy
all that He is. God’s sovereignty in salvation
is what the Scriptures mean when it says that we
are saved by grace; if God did not save us we
would never be saved. As believers, we should
glory in God alone, for if we are to boast may
it never be in ourselves but only in the Lord,
just as Paul’s quote of Jeremiah
9:23
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