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Posted by 1 Corinthians on Sunday, 17 March 2013
I. Introduction (1:1-9).
The introductions to Paul’s letters are frequently seedbeds for issues expanded on later; his prefatory words in 1 Corinthians are no exception. He touched on his calling to be an apostle, the Corinthians’ calling to be saints, and the unity which is theirs in Christ.
A. Salutation and description of the writer and readers (1:1-3).
1:1. The legitimacy of Paul’s apostleship and its denial by some is hinted at in this letter (chap. 9), but receives explicit defense in 2 Corinthians. In the first words in 1 Corinthians Paul affirmed his appointment to this position by the will of God to represent not his own interests but those of Christ.
Sosthenes was probably Paul’s amenuensis and may have been the synagogue ruler publicly thrashed by the Jews (Acts 18:17). If so, he illustrates how God can turn the worst circumstances to a believer’s ultimate advantage.
1:2. The church belongs to God, not man. Had the Corinthians recognized this, their problem of division might not have existed. Those who compose the church have been sanctified, set apart by God as His possession. The burden of Paul’s letter was that the Corinthians’ practice might more nearly approximate their position. Christ Jesus as Lord was to be obeyed. Herein was unity for Christians not only in Corinth but everywhere.
1:3. Grace was what brought them together and what they needed to display mutually so that relational peace would be maintained. These qualities, especially needed in the Corinthian church, were produced by God in those dependent on Him.
B. Thanksgiving for the effects of God’s grace (1:4-9).
Thanksgiving for a church so rife with problems may seem a bit strange. If Paul’s only resources had been his own, the prospects of reforming a group like the Corinthians would have been dim indeed. But God was at work and that, for Paul, was a matter of thanksgiving.
1:4. However prone the Corinthians may have been to self-exaltation, it was because of God’s grace alone that they were members of the body which existed in Christ Jesus.
1:5. It was only because they were a part of His body that they had been so enriched with the speaking and knowledge gifts such as tongues, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and/or interpretation (12:4-11). These gifts were not given to be abused as the Corinthians had done, but to be used for the good of all the church.
1:6. The presence of these gifts also bore testimony to the effectiveness of Paul’s message about Christ. Though it might have been feebly delivered (2:1-5), God securely implanted His Word.
1:7-8. Because it was God’s work, Paul had no question about the outcome. Because the Corinthian believers were justified by God’s grace, they would stand before Him blameless (anenkletous, “free from accusation”; cf. Col. 1:22) when Christ returns. Thus they could eagerly wait (apekdechomenous; used seven times in the NT of the return of Christ: Rom. 8:19, 23, 25; 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 9:28) for Him.
1:9. This was so because God . . . is faithful and He had called the Corinthians into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ. But one cannot enjoy fellowship with Christ while being at odds with other members of His body (Matt. 5:23-24). So it is on this note that Paul made his transition from what God had done in the past and will do in the future to what the Corinthians needed to do in the present, namely, mend their divisions.
II. Divisions in the Church (1:10-4:21).
Dissension in their church was the first problem openly addressed by Paul.
A. The reality of division (1:10-17).
1:10. Paul appealed to brothers, not to adversaries, in the most authoritative fashion, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the 10th reference to Christ in the first 10 verses, leaving no doubt as to the One Paul believed should be the source and focus of Corinthian unity. His appeal was for harmony, not the elimination of diversity. He desired a unity of all the parts, like a quilt of various colors and patterns blended together in a harmonious whole.
1:11-12. Instead of this unity, however, the fabric was coming apart at the seams, or so Chloe’s servants said. While the divisions were certainly real, it is possible, on the basis of Paul’s remark in 4:6, that he made adaptations with regard to party heads so that the names cited—Paul, Apollos, Cephas—were illustrative, in order to avoid worsening an already deplorable situation.
1:13. The three questions in this verse were rhetorical and expected a definite no. The universal body of Christ is not divided, and neither should its local expression be. No man won salvation for the Corinthians, nor did any of them owe their allegiance to anybody except Christ.
1:14-17. Paul’s imitation of Christ apparently touched every aspect of his ministry. According to John 4:2, Jesus did not baptize, but left it to His disciples. This was usually Paul’s practice too. Could Paul then have believed baptism was necessary for salvation? Such is impossible (cf. 1 Cor. 4:15; 9:1, 22; 15:1-2). Not that baptism is pointless. It was commanded by Christ (Matt. 28:19) and practiced by the early church (Acts 2:41), which makes it, with the Lord’s Supper, an ordinance of the church. But it is what an ordinance gives testimony to, not what it effects, that is more important.
Paul’s primary charge was to preach the gospel (9:16) not with words of human wisdom. Brilliantly persuasive eloquence may win a person’s mind but not his heart, whereas the unadorned words of the gospel, though seemingly foolish by human standards, are made effective by the Spirit of God (2:4-5).
B. The causes of division (1:18-4:5).
From a human point of view, the message of the gospel, at the heart of which was the suffering and dying Savior, seemed foolishly contradictory. No less so was the principle that he who would be greatest must be the servant of all (Matt. 23:11-12). But this was precisely what Paul meant to affirm in his analysis of the causes of division in Corinth.
1. A misunderstanding of the message (1:18-3:4).
Fundamentally the Corinthians needed a renewal of their minds (Rom. 12:2). They were trying to live their Christian lives on the basis of unsanctified common sense which has self-preservation as its ultimate goal. This kind of life is self-seeking, self-serving, and ultimately self-destructive (Luke 9:24-25).
1:18. It was that very point which Paul wanted to drive home to the Corinthians. The message of the Cross cuts to the heart of self-centeredness. Paul saw it as central to salvation which he understood to be a process begun by justification, advanced by sanctification, and climaxed in glorification. Paul spoke most pointedly in this verse and in the letter as a whole to the second of these phases, progressive sanctification. “The message of the Cross” is the message of self-renunciation, of obedience to God which may lead as it did in Jesus’ case to humiliation and death, but which ultimately leads not to self-destruction but to preservation (Mark 8:34-35) and exaltation (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 22:5). That was the recurring theme in these verses (1 Cor. 1:17-18, 23-24; 2:2, 8), an idea those who are perishing consider foolishness (cf. Luke 9:23-25).
1:19. As he often did, Paul illustrated his point by an example of Israel who, following humanly wise counsel, formed an alliance with Egypt as a defense against Assyria, when in fact only the miraculous intervention of God was able to save them (cf. Isa. 29:14; 2 Kings 18:17-19:37).
1:20-21. It was the same with all human wisdom, whether of the esteemed Jewish scholar or Greek philosopher. The brilliance of man cannot appreciate the plan of God (Isa. 55:8-9). It is not self-confident erudition but self-effacing faith that allows one to enter the narrow way.
1:22-25. It was not on man’s terms and initiative but on God’s that man found what he needed, the power of God and the wisdom of God. In the preaching of Christ crucified God called people by opening their eyes of faith to believe the gospel.
1:26-31. Were not the situation so grievous, one could almost imagine a smile of incredulity on Paul’s face as he wrote these words and urged the Corinthians to survey their own congregation. From a human viewpoint wisdom, influence, and high breeding were apparently in short supply. If God had chosen on the basis of such criteria, He would have passed them by. But when God called, he turned the world’s standards upside down and usually chose the ordinary rather than the outstanding in order that no one may boast before Him (v. 29) but only in the Lord. For Christ alone personified the wisdom from God (v. 30) and in Him the Corinthians experienced righteousness, that is, justification (Rom. 4:24-25), holiness, that is, sanctification (2 Thes. 2:13-15), and redemption, that is, glorification (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 4:30). In the wisdom of God the plan of salvation was accomplished by a crucified Christ hidden from the wise and learned but revealed to simple believers (cf. Matt. 11:25-26).
Excerpt from:
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985).
The Bible knowledge commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures.
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
