Introduction to 1 Corinthians

Wherever you have people you will have problems.  This was especially true of the church in Corinth.  We can be very thankful for this problematic church because Paul’s letters to them tell us how God wants us to deal with many of the problems that we face in churches and the lives of believers today.  Corinth was the main Roman city in Greece and was strategically located next to a narrow strip of land between two seas that provided a land bridge so ships would come through Corinth with their goods in order to save having to sail treacherous waters for weeks.  This made Corinth a thriving metropolis filled with a wide variety of people from many cultures and walks of life.  It was a shipping city so prostitution was a thriving business.  It was an idolatrous city with many different gods, the most prominent being Aphrodite, the goddess of Love.  It was a wealth city with many business men and aristocrats.  It was a working city with many slaves to carry out the manual labor necessary for the commerce.  It was an immoral city so poverty was prominent as a result of the drunkenness and prostitution that was so common.  Paul comes to this melting pot of humanity and cesspool of immorality on his second missionary journey and spends about a year and a half establishing a church in this difficult place.  By God’s grace many were saved from this sinful lifestyle but they still struggled with their sinful habits of the past.  Paul’s instructions to this group are especially helpful to problematic people and churches of which there is no lack.

A DISORDERLY CHURCH:  This was a disorderly church mostly because it was a divided church.  The church had been exposed to Peter’s teaching, the teachings of Apollos as well as Paul’s ministry.  Instead of being blessed by having such distinguished teachers, they ended up picking favorites and fighting over who was the best group.  Paul makes it very clear that the church is about Jesus Christ and not about any of the men who minister in the church.  Divisions in churches are usually about power struggles between people big egos.  Unfortunately, many of these power struggles center on leaders who are also hungry for power and recognition.  Paul would have nothing of this.  He makes it clear that each of the leaders had a role to play in the birth of the church but that the church belonged to the Lord.  Anyone who thinks like an owner of the church is being disorderly and promoting division in the body of Christ.  Paul calls all of the members to recognize that they were all simply builders that were adding onto the foundation they had laid in the church which was Christ.  He warns them that they will be judged according to how they build onto that foundation as their works will be tested by fire.  He simply calls on all believers to be faithful to serve one another humbly for the glory of God so that they might be richly rewarded in eternity.  Much of the disorder we see in churches today is due to divisiveness and pride.  Paul calls us to humbly serve the Lord in unity that the body of Christ might be edified and the name of God be glorified.

A DISOBEDIENT CHURCH: When is church is full of prideful people that are more concerned about power and popularity than they are about their own purity and piety it will inevitably be a disobedient church.  Corinth was certainly proof of this.  Due to the immoral nature of the city itself and the hearts of men in general; sexual immorality became a problem in the church.  A man was having sexual relationships with his step-mother and the church was doing nothing about it.  Some of the people were even boasting about their “Christian liberty”.  Paul calls on the church to take action and discipline them until they repent.  Not only were there sexual problems but there were also money problems with members of the same church taking one another to court.  This is a terrible testimony and demonstrates greed in the heart of the people.  Paul calls on them to be willing the lose money as opposed to leaving a scar on the name of Christ.  These matters ought to be handled in the context of the church and not in the pagan courts.  The Lord has called His church to be holy and walk in the light of His Word and Spirit.  However, the heart of man is naturally wicked and runs after pleasure.  Paul makes it clear that the bodies of those who have trusted Christ are now the temple of the Holy Spirit.  All sexual immorality is like taking using the Lord’s Temple as a brothel.  The love of money and desire for sex are two of the greatest temptations we face and we must give these lusts over to the power of the Holy Spirit and seek to walk in obedience before the Lord.

A DISORIENTED CHURCH: Sinfulness in the heart of man creates all kinds of problems between us and between the Lord.  There are ideal standards by which God would have us to live.  Unfortunately, sin puts us in situations where we don’t always know what to do.  The church in Corinth often found itself disoriented because sinfulness was so prevalent.  Marriage, divorce and remarriage is a prime example of this reality.  God’s ideal is for one believing man to be married to one believing woman in a faithful commitment until God separates them through death.  However, that ideal is not always attained.  Sometimes only one of the spouses becomes a believer and the unbelieving spouse abandons the believer.  It seems that Scripture allows for divorce and remarriage in this case and in the case of adultery; but Paul makes it very clear that it is far preferable that the marriage continue or that the believing spouse remains single.  Due to the influence of Judaism and paganism in Corinth religious holidays and meat that had been offered to idols were issues of contention.  Paul makes it clear that in either case we must be willing to limit our own liberty in favor of those who do not have our same liberties.  Our first goal must be to avoid idolatry, immorality and complaining in our lives and to seek to escape from temptations that are so common in our lives.  When there is sin in our personal lives, it will inevitably spill over into our worship services as a corporate body.  Paul ends up having to address the issues of women who were disrupting services and questioning authority.  Even the Lord’s Supper was impacted by the church’s selfishness and desire of individuals to be prominent.  Spiritual gifts were abundant in Corinth but they were being abused to promote an individual instead of glorify God and the gift of tongues was being abused and creating confusion and disorder instead of edifying the church.  False doctrines about the resurrection were coupled with worship services that were man-centered instead of Christ centered.  Paul demonstrates that the very hope of the Gospel is based on the resurrection.  Paul closes his letter with instructions about the offering he was gathering for the church in Jerusalem and personal greetings.  We can be assured that we will all face these issues in our churches and personal lives.  Paul’s instructions are vital to us, but we must strive to comply with God’s ideal standards so we are not constantly having to deal with the consequences of sin, temptation and false doctrines in our lives.