BIBLE STUDY --- NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS

1 CORINTHIANS – PART 1

AUTHOR

There is no doubt about who wrote 1 Corinthians, for all scholars agree that the apostle Paul wrote it on his third missionary journey while he was living in Ephesus. By this time Paul was a mature, middle-aged {perhaps 55 years old} missionary, fully seasoned from planting churches around a quarter of the Mediterranean world.

DATE AND ORIGIN

Paul worked in Corinth from about AD 50 to 52. After a brief stay in Jerusalem, he returned to his missionary work, this time at Ephesus {Acts 19}, where he ministered for three years {AD 53–55/56}. During this period, he wrote at least three letters to Corinth and made a visit as well. His first letter, often called “the previous letter,” is referred to in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. We know from this reference that the letter was misunderstood, but we know little of its content, for it has been lost. Sometime in AD 55, after hearing reports from Chloe’s household {1 Corinthians 1:11}, who were probably members of Chloe’s house church, he dictated a second letter to Corinth, our 1 Corinthians. This was probably sent off in the hands of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus {16:17}. Paul would later write a third letter to Corinth, called “the letter of tears” {2 Corinthians 2:2-3}, and then finally 2 Corinthians.

BACKGROUND

Corinth was a seaport city, destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC and rebuilt in 46 BC by Julius Caesar. After 27 BC, it was the Roman capital of Achaia, where the proconsul had his residence {Acts 18:12}. The city itself was really three cities: the port of Cenchrea, about eight miles {13 kilometres} to the east, where ships from the Aegean would unload; the port of Lechaion, about a mile {1.6 kilometres} to the west on the Gulf of Corinth, where the ships would be reloaded, their goods having been transported in wagons over the isthmus and the ships on rollers; and the city itself on the high ground in between. The acropolis of the city, on top of the steep, high Acrocorinth, contained the temple of Aphrodite, where 1,000 female slaves were dedicated to the service of this goddess of love. This distinctive cult of Corinth was dedicated to the veneration of Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, who is identified with the Roman Venus. Associated with such religious practices was a general moral degradation. Corinthian morals were notoriously corrupt, even when compared with pagan Rome. Down in the city was the synagogue {Acts 18:4}; for while the city as a Roman colony was largely populated by Italians, it had attracted other peoples from the Mediterranean, among whom were the Jews.

PURPOSE AND TEACHING

The main concern of Paul in 1 Corinthians was the unity of the church. There was a self-centeredness in Corinth that resulted in building cliques within the church, in flaunting knowledge and liberty in the face of others scandalized by it, and in selfish displays in the worship services. Two other major concerns also surface in the book. First, along with other pagan practices, the lax sexual ethics of Corinth had influenced the church; Paul needed to erect some barriers. Second, there was a problem in accepting the resurrection of the body; Paul realized that this issue had implications for the core of the faith and vigorously affirmed the resurrection. Both of these latter two areas, as well as aspects of the unity issue {particularly their concern with knowledge}, have been identified by some scholars as Gnostic motifs, leading to the conclusion that Paul was opposing a Gnostic party in Corinth. Careful examination reveals, however, that while some of the elements floating in the Corinthian milieu would later contribute to the development of Gnosticism, it would be anachronistic to call them gnostic. While recognizing protognostic ideas in the Corinthian situation, it is important to keep interpretation within the first-century context. Thus, the focus of Paul’s concern was the church, its unity and purity. Paul was fighting to keep this church from disintegrating into a number of competing and bickering factions divided over moral and doctrinal issues. Furthermore, he wanted to keep the focus of the church on Yeshua, the exalted Adonai.

CONTENT

GREETING, 1:1-9

Paul begins with a standard greeting, followed by his usual thanksgiving prayer. Two features stand out.

First, the greeting associates Sosthenes with Paul. While we cannot be sure who Sosthenes was, he was surely well known to the Corinthians; probably he was the Sosthenes whom Acts 18:17 identifies as the ruler of the synagogue, following the conversion of Crispus.

Second, Paul stresses the Corinthians’ abilities in speech, knowledge, and spiritual gifts. They had all of these, and these were genuine, but it was precisely these good things that they were abusing. Paul’s solution is not to suppress these gifts {indeed, he thanks YHVH for them}, but to place them in a new context.

REPORT FROM CHLOE’S PEOPLE, 1:10–4:21

The Corinthians had made Paul, Cephas {Peter}, Apollos, and even The Moshiach into party leaders. We are not sure what each of these groups stood for, but one might guess that the Pauline group stressed Paul’s slogans of liberty; the Petrine group, the need to hold to Jewish practices; and the Apollos group, the value of philosophical understanding and oratory. Whatever they stood for, Paul is appalled that it breaks their unity. His first response is to argue that his behaviour was not calculated to build a following but to point to the Moshiach. That is, he did not insist on personally baptizing converts; who performed these acts did not matter, since they were all baptized into the Moshiach. Paul immediately moves to the underlying issue, that of various persons wanting to show themselves better or wiser than others who did not have the insights of their party in the church. Their seeking for wisdom contradicts Paul’s preaching of the gospel.

First, the message of a crucified the Moshiach {1:18} made no sense within the wisdom and values of either Jews or Greeks. It demanded a whole new way of looking on life -- YHVH’s way.

Second, YHVH had not chosen them on the basis of their status in society; quite the contrary, he had made their only status the equal status they received from him {1:26-31}.

Third, their faith had not been based on Paul’s oratory but on the gifts of the Spirit that Paul had manifested {2:4}, which had convinced them that YHVH was acting in Paul. Thus, it was not argument that led them to YHVH, but YHVH’s Spirit. Therefore, it was the Spirit, not human reasoning, that would continue to reveal YHVH to them. Unless they became fools with respect to the world’s ways of reasoning, they would never be able to rethink life from the perspective of the Spirit, who gives true wisdom.

Fourth, they were not acting on this spiritual level when they claimed Paul and others as party leaders; this activity demonstrates the evil impulse in human beings {“the flesh” or “fallen human nature”} at work since it elevates human servants rather than the YHVH who works equally in each of them.

Fifth, these servants were working together to build one “temple” for YHVH based on the one foundation in Yeshua the Moshiach, that is, the church. YHVH alone will judge how each believer contributes to the work of building the church. But woe to the person who divides the church, for “if anyone destroys YHVH’s temple, YHVH will destroy him” {3:17}. {Note that here the temple imagery is used collectively; the church is the temple. In chapter 6 it will be used individually; each believer is the temple.}

Finally, he points to their over realized eschatology, for with their spiritual gifts {which were genuine} and vaunted wisdom {which was worldly} they claimed they were reigning with The Moshiach {4:8-13}. Paul, with ironic sarcasm, points out how different this claim is from the lifestyle of the apostles.

The apostles lived like Yeshua -- a life of suffering, expecting exaltation later. The Corinthians were trying to have their exaltation now without crucifixion. Paul closes this section with an admonition. He softens his words toward some who would be responsive, urging them to copy his lifestyle. The teacher was the message {verses 14-16}. Timothy will also faithfully live the truth before them. Then he threatens the “arrogant” {verse 18}, pointing out that he will not challenge their words but their spiritual power if he comes.

THE REPORT FROM THE CORINTHIAN MESSENGERS, 5:1–6:20

Paul now turns to three issues raised by oral reports from the messengers bearing the Corinthians’ letter to him. The first issue is that of church discipline {5:12-13}. Paul cites a case of flagrant immorality -- that of incest. This immorality was so clear {even pagans considered it immoral}, that it was not a case of ignorance of the Christian principles. Further, the church had taken no action but rather boasted in its tolerance, perhaps on the basis of a misunderstanding of Paul’s teaching on freedom from the Law. Paul presents three principles in this section:

1 -- the primary goal of church discipline is the repentance and restoration of the offender;
2 -- the secondary goal of church discipline is the protection of the church {5:6-8}; and
3 -- the church is not to seek to judge or control the actions of evil persons in the world -- they are YHVH’s responsibility -- but to discipline those within the church {verses 9-13}. Paul will use these principles also in the following chapters {cf. 7:12-16}.

The second issue is that of lawsuits between the believers {6:1-11}. The Corinthian society was as prone to litigation as our own, and the believers did not see anything wrong in suing each other. Paul was troubled. If the believers are to judge the world, they certainly should not bring the world in to judge issues within the church. Rather than put their cases before “those who are least esteemed by the church” {6:4, i.e., pagan judges}, they should decide the cases within the church. Paul has an even better way than bypassing the pagan courts, and that is to simply suffer the wrong {1 Corinthians 6:7}. Applying the teaching of Yeshua quite literally {Matthew 5:38-42}, Paul argues that it would be best to allow themselves to be defrauded. Instead, the Corinthians are willing to step on their brothers in the Moshiach to get what they feel are their rights. This raises the issue as to whether greed is not still in their hearts {1 Corinthians 6:9-11}. While Paul accepts people who formerly did all sorts of evil {for Yeshua has cleansed them}, he makes it very clear that anyone presently practicing greed or immorality is not part of the kingdom, whatever their doctrinal commitments may be. The final issue in this section is that of casual sexual intercourse {6:12-20}. In a world where virginity was important if a woman wished to be married and where slaves in the temple of Aphrodite were available as prostitutes, prostitution was the major form of casual sex. The libertine party used two slogans: “All things are lawful for me,” a saying that may well have been derived from Paul’s teaching, and “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” -- that is, since the body works this way, it must be the Creator’s purpose. Paul qualifies rather than contradicts their slogans. Freedom is subordinate to other goals {6:12, 20}. The body is not made to be used as we wish, but is to be dedicated to Adonai, as the doctrine of the resurrection demonstrates {verses 13-14}. Furthermore, sexual intercourse is an act of the whole person, unlike eating {Paul cites Genesis 2:24; cf. Yeshua in Matthew 19:5}. Therefore, this act takes a member {i.e., the person} from the body of the Moshiach and makes him a unity with a prostitute {1 Corinthians 6:15-17}. Thus, immorality is unlike other sins that are external to the self, for it changes the self and thus defiles the body, the place where the Holy Spirit dwells. It disregards the fact that the Moshiach has redeemed the body, and that the whole of the believer belongs to YHVH, not to the believer.