01 The Greeting That Warns a Church in Trouble (1 Corinthians 1:1-9 )

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. This is the podcast where we explain not only what scripture means, but how we figure it out. Today we'll be studying 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 1 through 9. The lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast, or you can find them on the website. You'll find those at wednesdayintheword.com slash 1COR 1. Thanks so much for listening. Well, this is the first talk in our series on 1 Corinthians. Last week we looked at Acts 18 as background for this letter, and I'm going to assume you're familiar with that information. I'll put a link to that podcast in the lecture notes in case you want to go back and listen to it. Of all Paul's letters, I think Romans, Galatians, and First Corinthians are the most important. I've taught both Romans and Galatians, but though I've studied First Corinthians on and off for years, I've never had the opportunity to teach it in person. Mainly because it doesn't fit in the usual ten week or twelve week format. It's just too long and it raises too many issues. So I decided to podcast it. If I stick to my current outline, it's gonna take over forty-eight podcasts to cover the book. I plan to get through the first eight chapters and then I'll probably take a break and maybe do another short series. Or we may stop along the way to delve into some of the issues Paul raises. So it may take longer. One of the benefits of podcasting is that we can take as long as the material requires without trying to shorten it into a few weeks, and I look forward to doing just that. I want to start by talking about how we approach this letter. While it's true we face this kind of choice when we approach any book of the Bible, I think this question is particularly relevant to the Corinthian letters because of the nature of the content. There are two fundamental ways to approach this letter and we have to decide which one we're going to take. The choice stems from two different views of what the Bible teaches us about the Christian life. And I'll tell you up front, I'm going to approach this letter the second way. The first approach comes from the perspective that once we believe in Jesus, faith and salvation is a settled issue. So under this view, salvation is solely determined by whether and when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and we prayed some version of the sinner's prayer. Having done that, salvation is a settled issue and something we don't have to think about anymore. What we need to think about now is how to improve the quality of our Christian life in obedience. Therefore, what we worry about now is how we improve our lives as disciples of Christ. After all, this view would claim, most of the Bible is written to folks who are already believers. Thus, most of the Bible is not about how to become saved, though of course that issue is addressed. Instead, most of the Bible is answering questions like, How should I live my life now? How can I be a better follower of Jesus now and eventually enter into eternal life? Since most of the Bible is not about coming to belief and coming to salvation, most of the Bible is aimed at telling us how to live a better life as Christians today, how we can find a more rewarding experience now and ultimately our eternal reward. So from that perspective, it's fairly easy to understand a letter like First Corinthians. Paul is writing to believers, he calls them saints and brothers, and he starts the letter with some warm greetings. He's not trying to convert them because they're obviously already believers. The question of whether they've embraced the gospel, that's already been settled. So why does he write this letter? Well, these believers have various practical problems that they're struggling with, and Paul is giving them practical advice on how to handle those issues. So how do you deal with divisions in the church? How do you get rewards in the next life? How should we exercise church discipline? What's the place of sexuality in marriage? Should we eat meat sacrificed to idols? Should women cover their heads when they pray in public? How should we conduct the Lord's Supper? How do we exercise our spiritual gifts? And so on. Paul addresses all of those topics in this letter. So under this approach, in Paul's mind, whether or not his readers are saved is a settled issue. And what he wants to do for them in this letter is give them instruction and advice on how to be better Christians and lead more godly lives. From this perspective, not everything in the letter is going to be equally interesting to us. Some issues are going to resonate and some won't. Some issues we still face today and some we just don't. We're probably all interested in rewards in heaven, the place of sexuality. But women covering their heads, well, that's really not one of my top ten life issues. And I don't think I've ever encountered meat sacrifice to idols, it's just not an issue. And then there's that stuff Paul says on marriage. Does that even apply to us today? First, it's difficult to understand, and really times have changed, and Paul probably wasn't even married, so why should we follow his advice? And that leaves us with a letter that's filled with practical advice, a large portion of which is just not that practical for us, because much of it doesn't address situations that we find ourselves in today. Well, that's one way to think about this letter, and I'd like to suggest a second perspective, which I think is the better perspective and is the way I'm going to approach First Corinthians. From this perspective, salvation and faith in Jesus is not a one-time event that we can settle and forget. Faith is a radical change of heart that we grow to understand and which works itself out into maturity over the course of our lives. Faith is something that we live out in the middle of whatever practical issues and circumstances we find ourselves in over the course of our lives. Rather than thinking of salvation as a one-time event, think of it as like a baby progressing to adulthood. We start with a meager, basic understanding of what it means to follow Jesus, and as we live our lives, we grow in knowledge and maturity. As we face issues and struggles and the problems of daily life, we become stronger and we grow in knowledge and maturity in the faith. And life is a struggle, and salvation and growing in faith is a lifelong journey. The choice as to whether I will believe the gospel repeatedly confronts me in many, many various situations in my life. Because life throws us curves. Life takes unexpected turns, we face trials and tragedies, and those all present us with the choice, how am I going to respond? Who and what am I going to count on? I say I believe, but in this choice, in this situation, will I live it out? Will I act in a way that's consistent with the faith I claim to have? Or will I get taken in and deceived by the lies of my culture or my own sinful evil heart? I have a daily choice about how will I speak, how will I act, what will I value, how will I treat others, how will I respond to evil and sin in myself and others. So daily I'm faced with questions over how to live out the faith I claim to have. From this perspective, then, what is Paul doing in this letter? Well, I would say like the rest of the New Testament, he is writing to encourage his readers in the midst of the struggle. He's reminding them that they have to live out their faith daily. Salvation is not a choice you can make once and forget about. It's a choice that has implications and produces radical changes, and they must persevere in that choice and follow faith wherever it takes them. So will they repent? Will they continue to believe when the culture tries to entice them away? What are they going to set their hope on? What are they setting their hearts on? So I would say Paul is writing to a church, like every church, that contains a mixture of genuine believers and those who are not believers. Now in Corinth, those whose faith is questionable have gained a prominent place in church leadership, and there is a lot of discord and dissension going on in the church. And as we'll see, many have gone so far as to reject Paul as an apostle and they've challenged his authority. Yes, they would say they're Christians, but they would say they're better Christians than Paul is, and no one should listen to what Paul has to say on anything. With most of the practical issues Paul addresses in this letter, he's really giving them a warning. He's saying how you Corinthians are responding to these issues is revealing a lot about the maturity of your faith or the lack of maturity. How you're responding says a lot about what you personally believe, and you know it's not looking good. For each of the issues Paul addresses, he says, Here are the implications of believing the gospel in this particular situation. Right now, the way you Corinthians are responding makes it look like you don't really believe the gospel at all, and I need you to wake up. My question for you is are you going to believe the gospel or not? Because if you believe the gospel, here's the perspective you should have on this issue. Let me give you a quick example, and we'll get to this in more detail later. The very first thing we're going to see in this letter is divisions in the church. People in Corinth are lining up behind different teachers. And I'm going to argue that Paul is concerned about something deeper than whether or not they are getting along with each other. He's not simply saying, I want you all to play nice with each other and get along, and here's some strategies for church harmony. The real problem is why they aren't getting along. He's concerned about what has brought them to this place where they are dividing up into groups. What do they believe to be true that has caused them to take sides like that? That's the real problem. His primary goal is not to create a better functioning church. His primary goal is to encourage his readers to embrace the gospel and all of its implications. If they will do that, will it lead to better community life? Well, most likely. Embracing the truth and following it does bear fruit. But that's not his primary concern. His primary concern is the way they live out the faith they claim to believe. His goal is not harmony, he wants them to be people who care about the truth and follow it. So his goal is not to say, here's five strategies that are going to help you get along better. His goal is to say this is the truth and you're living like it's not true. Now we'll talk more about that in the first chapters, but you can see that knowing what Paul says is fundamentally true is immensely helpful to us today. We can apply that to any situation we find ourselves in, even if we never face the kind of divisiveness that the Corinthian Church faced. The underlying issues that Paul appeals to are very relevant and very practical to us today. Consider the issue of meat sacrificed to idols. That's not a problem we face today. And if Paul is just giving a piece of practical advice on how to be a more godly person, then why would I even need to read that section? It's never going to apply to me. Someday, if somebody does come along and offer me meat that has been sacrificed to idols, I can go back and read that section and figure out what I ought to do. Otherwise, I'd probably just ignore that section. But there's more going on here. Paul is addressing more than the practical problem of what should I do with this meat that was sacrificed to idols. He's concerned about the attitude toward the gospel and the truth that the Corinthians are displaying in the way they're dealing with this issue of meat. That's what Paul's really concerned about. There are fundamental principles of the gospel at stake in that issue, and that's what Paul wants to drive home, and that's what we want to learn. Because we can apply those fundamental principles to many different situations that we find ourselves in today. And that's the kind of thing we want to be looking for as we go through this letter. From my perspective, every issue Paul addresses in this letter carries with it this note of warning that calls us to consider what do we actually believe that would lead us to take that action. Because Paul is saying the actions and the choices you are making are contrary to faith and contrary to the implications of believing the gospel. And these are life and death matters, as in eternal life and death. Let's look at these issues in the light of the implications of believing the gospel. That's what Paul's saying. Now, just to be clear, I am not saying you have to be a perfectionist to be a believer and that the Corinthians are failing to toe the line somehow. I do not believe that the gospel advocates that we have to have perfect obedience after coming to faith. In fact, I believe the opposite, we will continue to sin and life will continue to be a struggle this side of heaven. But I also believe that faith matters, that faith changes us fundamentally so that we begin to want different things, to value different things, we hope for different things, we strive for different things, and the tone and the character of our lives changes. If we never change, if we never make progress toward change, then it calls into question whether we really believe. My goal then in this series is to explain the situation in Corinth as best we can understand it. Sometimes that's difficult to figure out, but we'll do our best. Then I want to try to explain what Paul said and why he said it, and then finally talk about what those whys mean for us today. Now I'm gonna be more successful at some passages than others, but that's the goal. Let's get started. We're gonna start with First Corinthians chapter one. I'm reading from the New American Standard Version of the Bible, and I'm gonna read the first three verses. Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Sosthenes our brother, to the Church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Like most New Testament letters, this one starts out identifying the author, then the recipients, and it's followed by a greeting. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth, and we learn from Acts that Paul spent about two years in Ephesus, and he used Ephesus as a kind of base for what we call his third missionary journey. It's during that time that he writes this letter to 1 Corinthians. So he wrote it from Ephesus probably around 55 AD, and then he writes 2 Corinthians about a year later, probably from Macedonia. It is quite common for Paul to start his letters by reminding his readers who he is. In this letter, he says two important things about himself. He says he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he is an apostle by the will of God. That is, he's an emissary, we might say, or an ambassador of Jesus Christ. He was chosen and given the authority to speak for and about Jesus. That's what being an apostle means. Paul is claiming to have the authority to speak for Jesus. And he was given this authority by the will of God. Paul emphasizes that a lot. He didn't study, he didn't pass an exam, he wasn't elected, he didn't enlist, he didn't apply for this job, it's not an office or a role that he sought. He was chosen by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he speaks primarily to the Gentiles. And as we'll see, his apostleship is going to become an issue in the letter. As we study, it will become apparent that many of the folks from the church in Corinth don't accept Paul's apostleship at all. In fact, by the time we get to Second Corinthians, Paul has to defend the fact that he's an apostle. In some of his letters, he doesn't mention that he is an apostle by the will of God, but in this letter that fact's going to become important. And so Paul states right up front, I am writing to you as a representative of Jesus, and God's the one who chose me for this role. Paul includes Sosthenes in his greeting. Sosthenes is probably known to the Corinthians. We met him in Acts 18. Paul had to appear before Galio, the proconsul, and Galio refuses to get into the dispute. He says, You're just arguing over the finer points of Judaism, and he refuses to get in and settle the issue. The Jewish crowd in their anger then grabs Sosthenes, who's the leader of the synagogue, and they beat him up. I suspect Sosthenes was not inclined to stick around after that event, so when Paul left Corinth, he went with Paul and is traveling with him, but we don't know that from scripture. Paul is probably dictating this letter to Sosthenes. We know that Paul is dictating because at the end he mentions that he wrote a particular part with his own hand, implying that he didn't write the rest of the letter with his own hand, and most likely he's dictating to Sosthenes, and that's why he mentions him in the greeting. There's no evidence that Sosthenes contributed at all to the content of the letter. The ideas in the content are all Paul's. He says unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Church of God which is at Corinth, the Greek word for church simply means an assembly of people. It does not refer to a building and it does not refer to a denomination or any kind of organized structure. In the New Testament, this word is used sometimes to refer to the elect, that is the entire assembly of all the people who trust in Jesus. Jesus says he will build his church, his assembly on the rock that Peter was, and on that day when he returns, we will all be assembled together. We will be his church. But most of the time this word is used just to refer to an assembly of people in a particular local place. So here we have the assembly of God in Corinth or the church in Corinth. It is that group of people who gather together in Corinth because they all believe in Jesus. It never refers to a building, it's always a group of people. Now the church at that time tended to meet in houses, and this church probably met in several houses, since there were limits on how many people you could fit into one house. Typically a wealthier person would open his or her home, and because he or she had a large open area where people could meet, that's where the church met. The church in Corinth was a mixed population of Jews, Greeks, and Romans, probably also a mix of wealthy landowners and then freed slaves. And I expect this group probably didn't mix easily. It was probably a somewhat volatile group and it was predominantly Gentile. Paul describes them as those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, along with everyone who calls on the name of Jesus saints by calling. Saints here means those who are set apart by God. The idea is that we live in a world of rebels where people have turned their backs on God and deny him. But out of these rebels, God has set aside some to be his own people. He's called them out of the rebels, out of the evildoers, and forgiven them, given them his spirit and made them his people. These are the saints. They are set apart by God to be his people. They have been made holy in that sense that they have been forgiven and accepted. So just like vessels in the temple were holy and distinct and set apart for a particular purpose in the temple, so we, his people, are holy and distinct and set apart to be forgiven and given a place in the kingdom of God. So in the temple, if you had a certain spoon that was used to spoon out the incense, it was holy. Holy and distinct, and you weren't to use that for any other purpose than what it was used for in the temple. It was set apart to be used by God. And that's the idea with his people. The saints are those who have been set apart to be God's people. Now, since there is something distinctive about being kept for God, it comes to mean like God, to have his holy character. Because God's people are not just different in that God has it forgiven and accepted them. We are different in that we have been given a share in God's holy character. We have been called to be righteous and holy as God is. And that's going to become an important theme in the letter. Now by this greeting, I would not understand Paul to think that every last person in the church in Corinth is a genuine believer. And we're going to see Paul warn them that they may not be believers at all. And the warnings get more severe until by the end of 2 Corinthians he's basically says, examine yourself, test yourself, and see whether you have faith or not. You're questioning whether I'm an apostle, but I'm telling you you need to take a look at yourselves and see if you're believers at all. So in writing this greeting, Paul is not saying, I have great confidence that every last one of you will share eternity with me. His eyes are open. He knows there are genuine believers in Corinth, and he is grateful for the work that God has done there among them. But he also knows that some people may be fooling themselves, they're claiming to have faith when they don't really, or they may just be hypocrites. And I say that to make the point that we should not assume that everything Paul says in the letter is addressed to believers. We need to remember that he has his doubts about some of them. Just because Paul speaks to the church in general doesn't mean that the faith of his readers is a settled issue. His warnings often have to do with the question of faith. Do you really believe or not? And their salvation or their lack of maturity in their faith is going to be a big issue throughout the letter. Now before Paul gets into the body of his letters, he often expresses his gratitude for what God has done in the group he's writing to, and so he does in this letter. Let's look at verses four through nine. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful and through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I admit that sounds like a pretty positive description of the Corinthian church, and if this was all we had to go on, we might conclude that all was well at the church in Corinth, but this is not all we have. We have two letters, and those letters tell us that there were problems in the church at Corinth. Paul thanks God for making them rich in speech and knowledge in verse five. And as we read the letter, we're gonna see that speech and knowledge is a big issue in the church. The first thing we're gonna see is Paul correcting them for their worldly view of speech. As we'll see, they think Paul is not an impressive speaker in contrast to Apollo's and probably themselves, and they look down on Paul's way of speaking. Knowledge is another big issue in the letter. Later in the letter he's going to say that knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. And he will say you can have all the knowledge in the world, but without faith, hope, and love, you have nothing. So I think these words are in this opening prayer of thanksgiving because they are themes that are going to come up in the letter, and they have some overtones when you put them into the context of the letter. Yes, they are rich in speech and knowledge, but they're abusing that gift, and they are using it arrogantly, and Paul is seeking to correct them. He's gonna warn them that they don't really know as much as they think they know. In one seven he says they're not lacking any gifts. Gifts are also going to be a big issue when we get to chapters twelve through fourteen, and he's gonna correct their attitude and their understanding of spiritual gifts and challenge them to take a more humble and biblical perspective. So why does he say this up front? Well, some people think he's being sarcastic or ironic here, but that doesn't make sense to me. I don't think Paul would be sarcastic in gratitude toward God. I think Paul is genuinely glad for the real work that God has done in the lives of the genuine believers in Corinth. He lived and taught among them for eighteen months. Many of the people there genuinely responded in faith. And for those who responded in faith, they have been made rich in their speech and understanding. They have been given gifts of the Spirit. They used to be foolish, they used to be rebels, but now they have some understanding, and God has given them what they need. They need to know how to speak well and understand the truth. And because they have understood the gospel, they have now set their hope on the day when Christ returns because that day will bring the fulfillment of all the promises of God. Yes, the church has problems, but it also has a foundation of genuine believers who heard Paul teach the gospel and responded to it with genuine faith. And God did this work among them, and for that Paul is grateful. Let me read seven to nine again, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Notice God is not done with them. He is faithful and he will finish the work he began. Blameless in one eight does not mean that they have never sinned. It means that their sins will not be held against them because of the blood of Jesus Christ. They will not be blamed, they will not be found guilty on that day when Jesus returns because they share in the blood of Christ. If they end up turning away from Jesus and leaving the faith, then they would be blameworthy in the end. But what's going to keep them blameless to the end? The faithfulness of God. God called them to this group of people who trust in Jesus and share in the promise of life in Christ, and God is faithful to keep them until the very end. All of that is true about the church in Corinth, but as we'll see, the church also has some deep problems. Well, let me make a few closing comments. There are two important themes that come up in this greeting. First, Paul's emphasis in this letter on his role as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul claims to be an emissary from God. Either he is or he isn't. And if he isn't, then we are foolish to study this letter. But if Paul is telling the truth, then we would do well to pay attention to him. Because Paul is claiming to be one of a handful of people to whom God has opened his mind and explained the meaning of life and the purpose of creation. And if that's true, we would do well to pay attention. Paul is not claiming to be the next big philosopher or guru or self-help aficionado. Paul repeatedly claims God chose me. God appointed me. God picked me out of the crowd and gave me this message. I didn't make it up on my own. I didn't seek it. This is the word of the author and the creator of the universe. He told me, Paul, and I, Paul, can tell you what life is all about. And each of us has to confront that choice. Some in the church today say, Oh, I really like Jesus, but Paul, you know, Paul's a little bit weird. I just ignore what he says. That's not an option that is open to us. Paul claims what I am saying is what Jesus would say. Jesus taught me, Paul, this message. The Holy Spirit gave me Paul this clarity and understanding. Jesus authorized me, Paul, to speak for him, and you can't accept Jesus and ignore Paul because Paul claims what I am saying is what Jesus would say. Second, notice the centrality of Christ in everything he says. In these opening nine verses, Paul refers to Jesus nine times. Paul is an emissary for Christ. Christ is the means God uses to give us his grace. Christ is the means by which God makes us holy. It is knowing and understanding the message about Christ and the forgiveness he brought that makes us rich. It's Christ's return that is our great hope. It is in persevering and holding fast to Christ that we will find eternal life on judgment day. All of that is implied or stated in these opening verses. So the flip side is true. I just said that you can't follow Jesus and ignore Paul, but you can't listen to Paul and ignore Jesus either. Paul is a representative of Christ and Christ is everything. Every significant question finds its resolution in Christ. If we have Christ, then we have everything worth having. And if we don't have Christ, if we don't know and trust Him and follow Him, no matter how rich and prosperous we are in this world, we're bankrupt. And we'll see as we go through the letter that this is a critical choice we all must make. Will we embrace the message of Jesus Christ or not? You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to apply serious Bible study to real life and to help you learn how to study the Bible. If this podcast has been helpful to you or you've enjoyed listening, please leave a comment on Apple Podcasts because it really does help others find the podcast. And please tell your friends about the podcast. It's really easy to subscribe. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com and click on subscribe to this podcast. It will show you how. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can find more of his music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you so much for listening today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I hope you'll join me next week for Wednesday in the Word.