Day #333

Sermon - Audio
1 Cor 1-4 - Reading
1 Cor 1-4 - Audio

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1 Corinthians 1-4

Chapter 1

v. 1 – Sosthenes is unknown to us, unless he is the synagogue ruler mentioned in Acts 18.

v. 2 – As Paul was called to be an apostle, so the people in the church of Corinth are called to be saints. To be saints means to be set apart for service to God.

v. 5 – The enriching refers to the gifts that the people have been given when they came to believe.

v. 10 – The call to agree is no small thing. The same judgment means to have an agreement based on knowledge.

v. 12 – Factions are not for ministry purposes, but for ladder climbing purposes. These people are not following Paul or Apollos because it will benefit Christ and his kingdom, but because they think it will make them look better.

v. 13 – To be baptized in the name means to become a follower of, to become part of the movement of someone.

v. 19 – The wise here are those who think they understand how things work. They thought they knew the way the world and gods worked, but the cross messes with all of that. The problem is a loss of wisdom when it comes to understanding what God is doing in the cross.

v. 20 – The three group that Paul speaks of are: 1 – wise: one who has the capacity to understand and act wisely, 2 – scribe – expert in mosaic law, 3 – debater: a person who reasons with unsound arguments. All of these fail because they are not looking to the wisdom of God.

v. 22 – The problem with their wisdom is the same thing that afflicts the searcher in Ecclesiastes – they are seeking God from a human perspective rather than listening to God’s revelation of himself.

v. 23 – Paul preaches Christ crucified. This is a stumbling block to the Jews and it is nonsense to the Gentiles – unless God’s mystery is revealed and impressed on their hearts.

v. 29-31 – Paul’s final word is that all people need to boast in God, not their wisdom. Also, that boasting should be in what God has done and how he has done it through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 2

v. 3 – Paul speaks of coming in weakness, fear and trembling. Weakness is a contrast to the strength of the wisdom and speech of the philosophers. Fear and trembling are something that Paul did face in Corinth.

v. 4 – The greatest demonstration in the Bible is the resurrection. In this context people coming to faith demonstrate the power of God.

v. 6 – The mature are those who receive the message. What becomes clear is that many in the church of Corinth are not able to receive the wisdom of God. They get their need for salvation, but they don’t understand the rest of the story that calls them to a life of humble service and acceptance of God’s servants.

v. 10 – The “us” in this passage refers to Paul and others who are spiritually mature.

v. 16 – To have the mind of Christ means that we are shaped by his thinking and his life.

Chapter 3

v. 1 – People of the flesh are those who have not allowed the Spirit to shape and mold them, so they continue to live in unchristian ways. Infants are those who are unskilled, untaught and childish. Not being schooled by the Spirit, results in the people of Corinth remaining as infants.

v. 2 – There are deeper truths that Paul wants to teach the Corinthians. But the teaching of these truths is blocked because they are still babies.

v. 3-4 – With the Spirit working in them, they are capable of a new life, but they are still living as if they don’t have the Spirit.

v. 6 – Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, only God causes the growth.

v. 21-23 – “let no one boast in men” – Arrogance is at the root of the divisivement in Corinth. The Corinthians need to learn that they ultimately belong to God, not to the leader who baptized them, as he was only fulfilling God’s purposes. They should, therefore, boast only in God.

Chapter 4

v. 1 – Paul tells the Corinthians that he is a steward of the mysteries of God. A steward is one who is responsible to oversee the estate of another. In this picture Paul is responsible to oversee the message of God’s kingdom. It is a kingdom that while it is not of this world in the sense of being an earthly, human government, it does claim the entire world as God’s estate.

v. 2-5 – The truth of the situation seems to be best understood as this: some people have no right to judge their leaders because they are acting like babies. Anyone who decides that they are not a baby and are going to judge a leader needs to do so with great care because that leaders is not their servant, but Christ’s. Leaders need to do the hard work of finding God’s call on their lives and pursuing it diligently as Christ’s servant and God’s steward.