We shall continue the study of First
Corinthians of the New Testament.
Theme: Stewards Only
The letter opens with addressing the strife within the church over their division, making use of Paul and Apollo in the process. Here Paul appears to wrap up his rebuke to the church with a repetition of the matter.
(1) Vv. 18-23—All things are ours
a. According to Paul, how did the church of Corinth demonstrate their pride and worldly wisdom? How has it hurt the church?
b. How does the fact that “all things are ours” relate to no more boasting about men?
c. How does Paul explain the meaning of “all things are ours” in vv. 22-23?
(2) Vv. 1-5—We are stewards only
a. Since all things are ours, do we then own all things?
b. What should our relation to all things be?
c. Who are we according to v.1?
- What have we been entrusted with? What does it mean? (Refer to Colossians 1:23 -27)
- What then is required of us? Try to define faithfulness within the context of this passage.
d. It is obvious that Paul has faced criticism from the Corinthians.
- What kind of criticism might be easier to judge?
- What kind of criticism might be less easy to judge?
- What if we honestly feel that we are being wrongly criticized?
- Since motives are the hardest to judge, what advice does Paul give?
(3) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“So then, no more boasting about men. All things are yours” (1 Co. 3:21)
It is interesting to note that the Corinthian Christians took pride in whom they followed saying, “I am Paul’s and another, I am Apollos'…” (1 Co. 3:4, translated literally). In their boasting, without them knowing, Paul said they had subjected themselves to mere men and lost their freedom in Christ.
But Paul now points out that “All things are yours” and that includes even Paul, Apollos and Peter. More than that, all things include the world, life, death or the present or the future (3:22). What Paul is pointing out here is the tremendous freedom we have gained in Christ.
Before we are in Christ, we were enslaved by the world, by life, by death, by the present and by the future. But in Christ, things have completely been turned around— we do not belong to the world, rather we have mastered the world in Christ (1 Jn. 5:4). Life is no longer a drag: We live an abundant life (John 10:10); death is no more to be dreaded, we have gained victory over death in Christ (1 Co. 15:57); and we fear not the future, because we have the most glorious future in store for us in Christ (Rom. 8:18). By saying that we belong to Paul or to Apollos or any mere man, we have unknowingly denied our freedom in Christ.
However, it does not mean that we are totally free. As much as we no longer belong to any mere men, nor the world nor other things that used to enslave us, we now belong to Christ and Christ to God (1 Co. 3:23). Therefore, apart from “no more boasting about men”, we have nothing to boast of ourselves either, as Paul reminds us later, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (4:7).
Theme: We are nothing
(1) Paul tells the Corinthians that what he said previously he has purposely applied to Apollo and himself; the main attitude was one of not “going beyond what is written.” It is helpful to reflect on the references he has made so far concerning Apollos and himself and see how this attitude is reflected (1:12, 3:4-6, 22).
(2) I think we all know that we receive everything from God—our salvation, our knowledge of Him, our ability and opportunity of serving Him and the results—yet we still tend to boast as if either we had something to do with them or deserved them. What might the reasons be and how may we overcome them?
(3) In v.8 Paul makes three sarcastic remarks against the Corinthians. They boasted in already having the following things (all without the need of Paul and Apollos as teachers).
a. All they wanted (i.e. being satiated)—they had no need of being fed
b. Being rich—they had no need to hunger and thirst for the truth
c. Being kings (i.e. are reigning)—they were in complete control spiritually
Based on these remarks by Paul, what kind of Christians were these Corinthians or what kind of a church was it?
(4) In shaming the Corinthians, Paul speaks frankly of his own condition which was characterized in these ways:
a. Being a fool to the world
b. Being weak
c. Being dishonored
d. Being hungry and thirsty, physically
e. Being in rags
f. Being brutally treated
g. Being homeless
h. Working hard (engaged in labor work) with own hands (as ministers)
i. Being cursed
j. Enduring persecution
k. Answering kindly to slander
l. Becoming scum and refuse to the world
m. In summary, being like the condemned prisoners in a public procession
- Check the list above and see with which you can identify yourself.
- Imagine yourself as one of the Corinthian believers:
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Up to this moment we have become scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.” (1 Co. 4:13)
I like reading the stories of missionaries and I always have the highest regards for them. Most of them have made tremendous sacrifice for the Lord. For many, the abandoning of their prospective future in the world, like a career in medicine or law, is the least of their sacrifices. For many, they risk the lives of their whole families, even their young children, for the sake the sharing the gospel with people of a foreign tongue, of a different culture and in a remote place. Worse, many are sharing the gospel with people who often harbor a suspicion and hatred toward them. I use the present tense to talk about them, because it is not confined to missionaries sent to tropical jungles of years past, but present-day missionaries all over the world, especially those in Islamic countries. Reading their stories puts the difficulties of my ministry in perspective, because whatever problems I face in ministry pale in comparison to the hardship they face and the sacrifice they make in obedience to their calling.
Such is the comparison Paul forces the Corinthian Christians to face. It is helpful for us to use the conditions faced by the Apostle Paul as a checklist to see how our lives and ministries compared to his. He was seen as a fool by the world, he felt weak, dishonored, hungry, thirsty; he was in rags, brutally treated, homeless; he toiled in manual labor, blessed when cursed, was persecuted, answered kindly to slander and was treated as scum and refuse to the world.
I wonder what your checklist looks like!
Theme: Be like me (the Apostle Paul)
(1) As much as the mistakes of the Corinthians were serious and Paul used harsh language towards them, why does Paul appear to hold out hope that these prideful Corinthians might listen to him?
(2) Read Acts 18:1-18 and see if you understand why Paul says, “Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (v.15).
(3) What qualifies Paul as their spiritual father?
(4) Is Paul wrong in urging them to “imitate him”? Why or why not?
(5) How would the sending of Timothy serve to justify this admonition by Paul?
(6) In what way then, can you or should you imitate Paul?
(7) From the previous chapters, we understand at least two things about the Corinthian believers: (i) They take pride in human wisdom, and (ii) based on that they set Paul against Apollos.
a. Why should they be leery of Paul’s coming in person?
b. How would Paul demonstrate with his presence that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power”?
(8) What can you learn about church discipline with Paul’s words in v. 21?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip or in love and with a gentle spirit?” (1 Co. 4:21)
I do not believe church discipline is a thing of the past, but I do believe the willingness to accept discipline is a thing of the past.
Of course, church discipline is serious business and it applies only in very serious cases such as adultery or heresy. However, with the elevation of human rights and increasing legal implications, many churches have tended to shy away from applying church discipline. Even if they do, according to my personal experiences, it seldom, if ever, leads to the intended result and that is repentance and restoration. The party or person being disciplined simply walks away from the church and joins another unsuspecting congregation.
Frankly, I wonder whether those to whom the Apostle Paul addressed really cared if Paul would come with a whip or with a gentle spirit. However, to face Paul’s whip is far better than to face the Judgment Seat of Christ which many of today’s Christians who ignore or even laugh at church discipline will have to (2 Co. 5:10).
Theme: Church needs discipline
(1) As shocking as the sin described in v.1 is, from a secular perspective, how would people justify such a behavior?
(2) Why does Paul, from a biblical perspective obviously, call it “sexual immorality—a kind that does not occur even among pagans”?
(3) How has the church dealt with the incident and on what basis? Why does Paul accuse their action of being “proud”?
(4) What should they have done according to Paul? Why?
(5) In v.2, Paul opines that they should “have put out of your fellowship the man who did this”. By so doing, it appears that they would “hand this man over to Satan.”
a. What is meant by putting someone out of the fellowship?
b. Why would such an action amount to handing the person over to Satan?
c. What is the purpose of so doing?
(6) On what basis might the Corinthians be boasting about their not kicking the adulterous person out of the church? How does such action please the world around them?
(7) Paul uses the eating of the Passover Feast to remind the Corinthians of who they are.
a. What is the original purpose of observing the Passover Feast?
b. Why is yeast specifically prohibited from being used to bake the bread for the festival?
c. Do you know why yeast is being used in normal baking?
d. What is the yeast that Paul is accusing the Corinthians of having?
e. What is the consequence of not getting rid of yeast in the fellowship of believers?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.” (1 Co. 5:1)
The Apostle Paul expressed alarm over not only the presence of sexual immorality in the church in Corinth but also their blatant tolerance of it. Their specific sin was that a man had “his father’s wife”. Such a sin is indeed something that even the secular world did not and would not condone. The question is, "How then could the church in Corinth tolerate such a horrible sin in the church?". One can speculate and come up with quite a few possibilities. An obvious reason might be that the person must have either been an influential figure in the society or a major donor in the church. Another reason might be because he belonged to a very influential family of the church and disciplinary action against him might cause a major upheaval. However, the Apostle Paul associated their action with “boasting”, which means that the very fact that they would tolerate such a horrific sin had become a source for their boasting. So, the question we may want to ask is, "How would such an act of tolerance become something that they could boast about?".
To answer such a question, we do not, perhaps, need to go back 2,000 years to the time of the Apostle Paul. We need only look at the contemporary church and ask, “Is there any moral sin that the church tolerates today to the point that it becomes a reason for their boasting?”. The answer is very obvious. More and more churches are condoning same sex marriage and are proud of it — in the name of progression and in the name of tolerance. In other words, they are proud of being like the world!
The recent election of Pope Francis has been greeted by many liberal Catholics as a sign of progress in that, in their opinion, there might be opportunities for the Catholic Church to be reformed. However, the reformation they have in mind is just the opposite of the reformers’ in the sixteenth century, in which one of the mottos was sola scriptura. Their idea of reform is that the church might be more and more away from the Scripture and be more and more like the world, as if the church is not “Corinthian” enough.
Theme: Be ye different
(1) Can you define sexual immorality biblically?
(2) In order to keep ourselves morally pure, is it not wise simply not to associate with non-Christians? Why or why not?
(3) Paul admonishes the church to “expel” the wicked man from among them.
a. Within the context of this passage, who is the wicked person that should be expelled?
b. How should it be done in the church?
c. What if we do not expel such a person?
d. Why does Paul prohibit us from maintaining social contact, like eating, with such a person so expelled? How then can such a person repent? (Read 2 Co. 2:5-11 for a possible answer.)
(4) Apart from sexual immorality, what other kinds of sin does Paul mention as causes for expulsion?
(5) What might be the reasons that today’s churches hesitate to exercise church discipline against the “wicked man” within the church?
(6) What has been the result of the church’s weakness in this respect?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“(Y)ou must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slander, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” (1 Co. 5:11)
The people of God have been called to be a “holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9). As such, sin cannot be tolerated among us, or else, as Paul warns us, a little yeast will work through the whole batch of dough (1 Co. 5:6). As a result, we need to take sin seriously within the faith community.
However, in an effort to get rid of sin within the body of Christ, Paul specifically mentions several kinds of sin that are not to be tolerated, and they include sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, slander, being drunk and swindling. Those who claim to be Christians and yet continue to live in one of these kinds of sin are to be expelled from the church, and cut off from even social contact (5:11-13). Such a disciplinary action appears to be harsh, but it is a reflection of the seriousness of such sins, and ultimately it is for the good of the offender that “his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.” (5:5) In other words, the goal of such harsh discipline is that it may lead to the repentance and restoration of the offender (Gal. 6:1).
Our inaction, on the other hand, will do more harm than good to the offenders. The lack of serious discipline may cause the offenders (and others in the faith community) to think lightly of such sins. Indeed, it will be like yeast that works through the whole dough—the church. Not only will others follow their precedent and commit the same kind of sin and consider it as normal, but soon the tolerance and commitment of sins of other kinds will follow.
James Dobson has called Christian parents to dare to discipline their children. The same call should be extended to the church as well.
Theme: Willing to be wronged
(1) What are the implications of two Christians suing one another before the court of the land?
(2) Why is Paul so against it?
(3) Normally, the fact is that leaders of the church are not legally trained to resolve disputes, so on what basis can they make a fair judgment between two parties who have grievances against one another? What does Paul mean by “trivial cases”?
(4) Here, Paul affirms that we will judge the world and the fallen angels together with Christ (e.g. Rev. 20:6). How should such knowledge affect you, especially when you yourself are involved in a dispute with another Christian?
(5) In what way are we “completely defeated already” if we bring a lawsuit against another believer?
(6) In v.7 Paul points out the most crucial attitude concerning disputes among believers.
a. What is this attitude?
b. Why is it the key to resolving disputes among believers?
c. Without such an attitude, should we even entertain resolving disputes among two believers? (Look also at Lk. 12:13-15)
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated.” (1 Co. 6:7)
In addressing the fact that the Christians in Corinth had brought lawsuit against one another before a secular court, Paul brings out the seriousness of such a matter for these reasons:
(1) The church has failed: The “you” in 6:7 refers not to the two parties involved in the disputes, but to the entire church. That the church failed is true in two aspects: Firstly, the two parties involved in the dispute are part of the body of Christ at Corinth and as such the entire church has taken part in such a dispute and suffered the shame; and secondly, it is a failure of the church to teach her members properly to live as an eschatological community.
(2) The parties involved have failed to live out their eternal perspective: As Paul reminds them that they will be judges of the world and of angels, he is reminding them that they are an eschatological community that lives for the eternal. As a result, all things that do not have eternal value and all matters that do not have eternal consequences are, therefore, trivial cases.
(3) Both parties are wrong. On the surface, there probably will be one party who has wronged the other party, but Paul says both are wrong. The one who has cheated is obviously wrong; but the one who has been cheated is wrong in that he or she would not “rather be wronged” (6:7). In fact, even if they bring their disputes before the church, without an attitude of willing to be wronged, there will not be any real solution ultimately between them, because the church is not a place for vindication or even fairness, but a place of forgiveness and reconciliation. This is why Jesus refuses to get involved in the financial dispute of the two brothers (Lk.12:13-15).
(4) Finally, it is wrong for the people of God to bring their disputes before the world. Paul purposely calls those who judge in secular courts the “ungodly” (it does not necessarily mean that Christian judges are ungodly, but that they are operating under the court of the ungodly), while we know that he calls those in the church of God, saints (1:2). It is totally inappropriate that the saints of God be judged by the ungodly. The defeat is, therefore, not only ours, but ultimately God’s.
Indeed, whenever two Christians or Christian parties bring a lawsuit against one another, it is a complete defeat for both parties, for the church and for the name of God. The real victor is Satan!
Theme: Flee immorality
Vv. 9-11
(1) Since all who do not believe in Christ cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, why does Paul choose to give a rather grotesque list of sins of those who cannot inherit the kingdom of God?
(2) In the original Greek, v. 11 reads
a. But you were washed
b. But you were sanctified
c. But you were justified…
What is Paul trying to emphasize?
Vv. 12-20
Most commentators think that “everything is permissible (or more literally translated as lawful)” had become a slogan among the Corinthian Christians in justifying their licentious lifestyle since, as Paul taught them, they were no longer under the law.
(3) It is true that the Pharisees in particular, had turned the Law of Moses into an extended list of “it is not legal to...”. Now that we are not under the law, according to Paul, what then should our guiding principle be? Paul actually lists two guiding principles in v.12—what are they and why? (In particular—to whom is it beneficial? What is meant by not being mastered?)
(4) The Corinthians were influenced by Greek philosophy and appeared to buy into the dualism that what you do to your body does not affect the spirit. What should the relationship between our body and food be?
(5) Is an obsession with food (or too much emphasis on food) purely a matter of the body with no spiritual implications?
(6) What is the body meant for and why?
(7) Where is the body of Christ at His resurrection? Did God only raise Christ’s Spirit? What then is the implication to our body?
(8) Read v.15 carefully. How does this verse correct the Corinthian’s view of the body?
(9) What then distinguishes the particular severity of the sin of sexual immorality from all other sins?
(10) Reflect on these words: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” How then should you live?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” (1 Co. 6:18)
Paul points out that not all sins are equal, at least not in the case of sexual immorality. It is a direct offence to our body which is the temple of God, while “all other sins a man commits are outside of his body” (6:18). As a result, what he says about the collective body of Christ is also true of the individual body in that, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him, for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” (1 Co. 3:17)
Whatever Paul means by “God will destroy him”, we know that sexual immorality often brings diseases that destroy the body, and worse, can be transmitted to others, including one’s spouse. Beyond physical destruction, sexual immorality destroys the sacred union with one’s spouse and shatters the lives of the entire family and often the extended family as well. And as a member of the body of Christ, one’s sexual sin destroys the church family. Indeed, not all sins are equal!