Concerns for the Corinthians

Transcript

GR 2337
02/06/2022
Concerns for the Corinthians
Acts 18:1-21; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Gil Rugh

Many years ago, when I had a professor in bible college, he would encourage us, he said early in your ministry, do 1 Corinthians, because you’ll cover all the problems and troubles you’ll have in your church. And I thought, well, toward the end of my ministry, maybe it’s good to look at 1 Corinthians. And be reminded again of Paul’s dealing with the problems of the church at Corinth. So we’re going to look a little bit in this. I don’t expect to finish the book of 1 Corinthians. If we get through chapter 1, fine, if we get through chapter 2, that’s good. Wherever, as the Lord leads. I thought we would start the book anyway. We’re going to start in Acts 18, because that’s when the church at Corinth comes into existence on Paul’s second missionary journey as it’s known. This journey began in Acts 15:36, and it begins with a disagreement that Paul says to Barnabus, let’s go and visit the cities and proclaim the truth. As you’re aware, Barnabus wanted to take John, that we know of as Mark, who wrote the gospel of Mark, along. But Paul insisted no, because Mark had baled previously. And Paul was too focused. Later he will come to appreciate Mark and have good things to say about him. But on this second missionary journey, it’s going to be Paul and Silas. Barnabus was the one who was related to Mark, so he goes a different direction with Mark. And Paul and Silas take off. The book of Acts follows Paul. So, we’re on the second missionary journey. You find out that the ministry is hard work. We come though cycles in the ministry. It seems sometimes, boy, it’s just blessing and blessing, and other times it’s just grinding it out. But overall, I don’t know how many of us might have been like John-Mark and wanted to go home, when you travel with the apostle Paul, because the ministry is hard work. There will be times of disappointment, discouragement, fear, trepidation. Paul will write to the Corinthians, we’ll see that in a bit in 2 Corinthians, I was with you in fear, much trembling. We think of the apostle Paul storming in and presenting the truth and being bold and not afraid of anything. But he tells the church at Corinth, well I was afraid, I was trembling, and yet God used him mightily.

So, we’re going to pick up with chapter 18 of Acts. We’re going to look at the starting of the church at Corinth. Paul has been in Athens. As far as we know, no church came into existence under Paul’s ministry in Athens. There is nothing mentioned in later letters. He was there, he preached the word, some had believed, but there is no indication of a church, for example. Now he’ll leave and travel 50 miles further from Athens, then he’ll come to the city of Corinth. And we’re well familiar with the city of Corinth, because Paul will write two letters under the inspiration of the Spirit that are recorded in our New Testament. So, we know the church at Corinth well. Earlier in his ministry in Greece on this second journey, he had been to Philippi and Thessalonica. He will write letters at those churches as well. But he ministers the word at Athens and some people say, but there is no record of a church, so we just leave that as it is.

Paul comes to Corinth from Athens. He has sent two of his companions back to the former cities in Greece to check on them, he’s concerned. He sends them back, because when he came in, he came in to Philippi, Thessalonica down to Athens and over to Greece. So, there was a good response, a church is established in Philippi and Thessalonica. So, he sends these two men who were traveling with him, back. That leaves him as far as we know, on his own as he proceeds on to Corinth. And is going to preach the word there. And as we mentioned in 1 Corinthians, we won’t turn there now, but in chapter 2:3, Paul says, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” So, this is a little bit the condition of Paul, as he relates it, when we come into the opening verse of chapter 18 of the book of Acts.
“After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.” The city at Corinth, as I mentioned, is about 50 miles west of the city of Athens. Still a port city because of the way the water does. And you can check a map in the back of your bibles. It was a populous city. The low population estimate was 200,000, the high was a million. The high may be too high. If we say it was somewhere around 500,000, that would be a reasonable guess. A little bigger than the city of Lincoln, Nebraska where we are located. It was a new city. None of the buildings in this city were over 100 years old. Because the city had rebelled against Rome in 146 BC. The Romans came in and they leveled the whole city, destroyed all the buildings, all the male inhabitants of Corinth they executed and sold the women and the children into slavery. They just wiped the city out. But under Julius Ceasar, in 44 BC, he had the city rebuilt. So, when Paul is there, he’s there around 50-51 AD. So, it’s a new city, the buildings, none of the buildings are old, old buildings, as we think of old buildings in biblical times. It’s a relatively new city, it had been established as a Roman colony, so it really becomes the main city in Greece. The whole city is maybe 100 years old because we’re about 50 AD and it was around 44 BC that Julius Ceasar had the city rebuilt, so we’re just upper 90’s, around 100 years old. For every building in the city of significance is a new building, relatively speaking for the time.

It regained its popularity and prosperity rather quickly, because it became a commercial center. It has a major seaport, access to the sea. It becomes a power center for Greece. So, Paul is going to spend 18 months, a year and a half, he’ll tell us in verse 11 of chapter 18. He settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. Not only is it new, it’s a fresh city, but it’s a city that picked up what was going on during that 100 years of its new existence. It was known for having wealth, having power. It had the temple to Aphroditie, the Greek goddess. It had a thousand prostitutes that went throughout the city. It was a city of immoral prosperity. Immorality characterizes the city, but it was wealthy and powerful. Paul comes into this city and as we noted in his letter to the Corinthians, I was with you in fear and trembling, much trepidation. Paul was a human being, he’s like us, here we are in this city, you think of how bold you are to go out and share the gospel with unbelievers and talk to people about Christ. You think, well that’s got consequences, and Paul bore those consequences. At Philippi, he knew what it was to be beaten. He knew the consequence of sharing what people did not want to hear. So, when he comes to Corinth, he is prepared for the best and the worst. Prepared for God to work and God will work in special ways.

Look at verse 1, “After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.” So, he has traveled about 50 miles, but remember his two companions, key companions, have gone back to the previous cities in Greece, north further to Philippi and Thessalonica. He found a Jew there, and Paul is a Jew, and he was a Pharisee in his background, so he related to the Jews. “He found a Jew named Aquilla, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Pricilla.” We knew in 49 AD, Roman emperor Claudius expelled all of the Jews from Jerusalem. It’s a capitol city, I don’t want you, it was a dictatorship obviously, under the Romans. And the Jews are a problem and they’ve got to go. So, Claudius commanded all the Jews to leave Rome, so they packed up and left. They were tent makers, so they plied their trade of being leather, working in leather, making tents. And Paul, verse 3, “because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent makers.” So, we know, Paul got together and far as we can tell, they are believers at this point. There is no indication that they are saved under Paul’s ministry. They are mentioned in other places, as you’re aware in the New Testament, Paul doesn’t claim them as his converts. So, they may have been saved at Pentecost, we don’t know. Maybe they journeyed to Jerusalem. They are Jews, he identifies with them. And they are Jews, but evidently they were believers already. But he joins with them, because they are the same trade. If they are saved under Paul’s ministry, it’s just not something he ever mentions. But he does mention they were of the same trade. So, Paul, when he comes to Corinth, he’s got to support himself. And he was trained to make tents, and that was true for Pharisees of the day. They learned trades and could support themselves, because not everyone was in full time ministry. And Paul now is not connected to the Jews as far as belonging there in the sense of being an active Pharisee. But evidently as a Jewish boy, he had learned this trade. So, they are tent makers, that includes more than just tents. They are leather workers. But they would obviously focus on the tents.

He was reasoning in the Synagogue every Sabbath trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. So, he is in the Synagogue, and there he is, and he’s presenting the Old Testament truths like Isaiah 53, that Jesus is the Messiah, you must believe in Him. And presenting the evidence, because Paul was saved back in Acts 9. So, he’s had a number of years of his salvation and it’s natural. I’ll start with the Jews. He’d go in on the Sabbath day, that was the day when they would have the scriptures read, when they would interact about the scripture, our Saturday. Greeks would be those who had converted to Judaism. They are obviously attending the Jewish Sabbath, on the Saturday they are attending Jewish worship they’re part of, so they are converts to Judaism. Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia. So, remember he had sent them at the end of chapter 17, to check on things in Philippi and Thessalonica, because there was firm opposition to the message he was presenting. So, he wanted to get feedback, how are they doing? How are those new believers in those new churches that just started, that have such intense opposition? But now in verse 5, Silas came down from Macedonia, that’s in the northern part, where Paul is in the southern part of Greece.

And Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews, that Jesus was the Christ. It wasn’t that Paul was afraid and that’s why he was making tents, but we know from other passages of scripture, that Paul and Silas brought money, brought income. Because the churches in northern Greece at Philippi and Thessalonica, they were so taken and caught up with the message that Paul preached and the salvation that they had had, they wanted to support him. So, this freed him up when they came. They brought - Philippians 4:15, 2 Corinthians 11:9, refers to that, 1 Thessalonians 3, the opening verses - that Paul thanks them for the gifts that they had sent. So, we know why Paul could now concentrate more full time, so to speak, on his ministry at Corinth. The support he received when these men came from Philippi and Thessalonica. He “began devoting himself completely to the word,” verse 5, “solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ,” the Messiah, the anointed one of God. He’s the one you’re looking for. He’s come, He’s died, but He’s been raised from the dead. There is salvation through faith in him. Remember when God said He was going to take Paul and put him into the ministry, he was going to be a minister to the Gentiles. Well, Paul is being prepared for that. Wherever he goes, he starts out with the Jews, but the Jews are not open. So, the end of verse 5, “Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ,” the anointed one, the Messiah. But then verse 6, “But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean.’ ” By that he means, I have fulfilled my responsibility. I have brought the truth of God to you. You have rejected it. “From now on, I will go to the Gentiles.” He has fulfilled his responsibility.

Come back to Ezekiel 33. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, those three large prophetic books after Psalm. There is Proverbs in there, but Psalms and then the next big book, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The main books, and we’re going to chapter 33 of Ezekiel. Just to remind you of what Paul is saying here. And Ezekiel 33, “the word of the Lord came to me,” to Ezekiel in chapter 33:1, “saying, ‘Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, “If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.” So, the watchman, that is going to be the picture here. “He heard the sound of the trumpet,” verse 5, “but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself.” That’s what Paul is talking about when he said to the Jews at Corinth. Your blood is on your hands. You are responsible, you have chosen to reject the word of the Lord. Verse 5, in the middle of the verse, “But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity,” he still dies, because he wasn’t prepared, because the watchman hadn’t told him. So, he’ll die in his iniquity. But, God will hold the watchman, “his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.”

Verse 7, “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel.” So, Ezekiel, this is a message here, that account, you say yes, if the watchman didn’t warn the people, people die for their sin, but the watchman is accountable for not warning them. Now, Ezekiel you are the watchman. If you don’t tell them, they’ll die in their iniquity, but I will hold you accountable. But if you tell them and they don’t hear your word, then they’ll die in their iniquity, but you have freed yourself. The end of verse 9, “but you have delivered your life.” He will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life. “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken,’ ” and on you go. So, that’s the background that Paul tells these Jews. As a Pharisee, he’s well familiar with the Old Testament. The Pharisees were the believers in the Old Testament. And the Jews knew the Old Testament. So, Paul in effect telling them Ezekiel 33 applies to you.

So, come back to Acts 18, so when Paul says in verse 6, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” And you’ll note, if you have a New American Standard Bible with references in the margin, Ezekiel 33:4,6,8, which remind us of that truth. It’s not, well, I give up on you, I go elsewhere. No, there is a door shut here. Because the transfer… Peter is the first to take the gospel to the Gentiles, in Acts 10. But Paul is going to be the apostle sent by God specifically to the Gentiles. And Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, they are all Gentile cities, but he fulfills his responsibility to the Jews. But God is doing a new work, He’s building the church of Jesus Christ.

So, verse 7, he left there, left the synagogue, no longer going to have his ministry based in the Synagogue to the Jews or believing Gentiles who have converted to Judaism. “He left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, when they heard were believing and being baptized.” So, you see how God has worked. He’s used the unbelief of the Jews to open the door of opportunity to the Gentiles. There are some Jews saved, like Crispus who was the leader of the synagogue, but now we’re not centering our meeting in the synagogue. So that we’re not reaching Gentiles who converted to Judaism, we’re reaching Gentiles who are Gentiles in their paganism. “Many of the Corinthians when they heard,” verse 8, “were believing and being baptized.” And then the Lord comes to Paul in a vision, because remember Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 2:3, I was with you in much fear and trembling. I was worried, and I had been to northern Greece. I’ve been to Philippi, I’d been to Thessalonica and I knew what it was to be beaten. I knew what it was to be rejected. But I came to Corinth, Lord, give me strength, but the Lord tells him, He appeared to Paul, verse 9, in a vision, “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you.” Doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be personal attacks. There are going to be resistance from the Jews. But he’s not going to suffer personal harm. God guarantees him, “I have many people in this city.” Paul has to focus on “I have many people in this city.” You speak the truth. I will protect you. Crispus in an encouragement to Paul as a Jewish believer, but he’s the leader of the synagogue. Paul is not in the synagogue any longer. So, now those Jews have to come out and they join in the house of Priscilla and Aquila. Paul’s ministry is going to primarily be to Gentiles and Corinth is a Gentile city.

So, you see the way God works. The opportunity is given to Israel, even at this stage. Some years after Paul has been saved and appointed to be the messenger to the Gentiles, there’s a transition in the book of Acts. So, verse 11, “he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” That’s what he did for a year and a half. He’s there and assume he’s still in the house of Priscilla and Aquila. They are meeting and Gentiles are being saved. God told him, “I have many people,” the end of verse 10, “in this city.” It will be God’s work. We present the truth of God, the results of that presenting the truth, whether positive faith or negative opposition, are not under our control. Many people say, you know, I shared the gospel, but I don’t think that’s my gift because people get upset. Well, if you’re going to say that, Paul wasn’t gifted to be a preacher of the gospel. He wasn’t gifted to share the truth with others because he’s going to get run out of cities. He does it with fear and trepidation. He knows what it is to be beaten. He’ll be imprisoned. Its not that, oh well, people respond, so I don’t share with unbelievers that I come in contact with because I don’t think it’s my gift. That’s just, maybe a cover for our cowardice. That’s where I keep reminding, Paul said I was with you in fear and trembling, much trepidation. I knew what it was to be opposed, to be physically attacked. To have those who were associated with me attacked. That had happened earlier at Philippi. So, he’s moved his ministry, it’s being blessed by God. We’re going to have the church at Corinth, verses 9-11, he’s there a year and a half. Why? God has many people in this city.

Come back to chapter 13 of Acts verse 48, “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading through the whole region.” That’s in his earlier ministry. Again, verse 47 if you’re still in Acts 13, “I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.” Paul and Barnabus boldly speaking the truth and many are saved. Paul says I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might come to the salvation that was in Christ. He wasn’t taken up by their so much negative response to what I present. But there is positive, and I endure all things for the sake of the elect. I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they might come. So, you might share the gospel with one hundred people and two people get saved, that’s fine. You say, well, if the Lord used it for two people. We get caught up on the 98 who don’t and say, I don’t think the Lord wants me to share, because I get so much negativity and it’s better if I just keep it quiet. Well, then we would have never heard. So, the majority are going to say ‘no’. The majority say ‘no’. Remember, Paul is going to die as a martyr. 2 Timothy will be his last letter, and he’s prepared to face death. It’s not like, oh boy, I wish I’d been in the days of Paul, think how exciting that would have been. Remember John Mark, he bailed and went home. I just can’t take this, but he came back around, and he is greatly used of the Lord, also.

So, just a note here that Paul is transitioning to the Gentile focus of his ministry. He spent eighteen months. But Gallio was the proconsul of Achaia, that’s the province where Corinth and Athens is, in southern Greece. So, he is sort of the Gentile boss, leader, ruler. He was proconsul of Asia. “The Jews with one accord rose up against Paul.” You’ll note, the Jews that Paul has to bear with, because he was a Jew, he was a Pharisee, he was one of them. And God, by His mercy and grace, saved Paul and appointed him. But his primary impact is going to be with Gentiles. But the Jews, they are still seething, they are… It’s not, well, Paul is now ministering primarily to Gentiles, we don’t care. They care greatly, because he’s got a Jewish message, there’s a Jewish Messiah who’s now the savior of the world. And I’m preaching him, so the Jews, they are in agreement. Verse 12, they are one accord, “rose up against Paul, and brought him before the judgement seat, saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” Now, we have some dates here, we know that the Jews were removed from Jerusalem in 49 AD. So, when we’re told that Priscilla and Aquila had come to Corinth, we know it’s around 49 AD. We know that Gallio is the ruler of this region, representing the Roman emperor 50 and 51 AD. So, we’ve got somewhat the time period here. We’ve got it down to July 51 to June 52. Gallio, July of 51 AD to June of 52 AD, he’s going to come to a disastrous end because he is a brother to Seneca. Seneca, stoic philosopher, more well-known probably than Gallio outside of the bible. But what happens is they get on the wrong side of Nero. So, Nero has Seneca the brother of Gallio commit suicide and then he executes Gallio and another brother. So, all three brothers are going to die at the hands of Nero in 65 AD. Thirteen years after he’s proconsul here. And this area, he’s going to suffer at the hands of Nero. And then a few years later, Paul will die at the hands of Nero as well. Not a very good future.

“This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law,” verse 13. The Jews had been given a dispensation of a legal right to worship God. Now, they’re saying this man is a Jew, and he’s going contrary to what the Jews have been permitted to do. So, you ought to punish him, Gallio. Paul is about to open his mouth, he's ready to give a defense, but Gallio said to the Jews, verse 14, if it were a matter of wrong or a vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I’m unwilling to be a judge of these matters.” He just puts a stop to the Jews’ accusations. This has nothing to do with me as a Roman. This is something between you Jews, you don’t like what this man is teaching. Has nothing to do with violation of Roman law, because Roman law allowed the Jews, now you’ve got to work out your own details among yourselves. I’m not getting into it, period. So, verse 16, “he drove them away from the judgement seat.” Get them out of here, I don’t want to hear it. “They all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue.” Now, earlier, it was said that it was Crispus who was the leader of the synagogue. We don’t know quite how it works out, there could be more than one leader of a synagogue, or it could be that in this year and a half, Sosthenes has replaced Crispus, but he has become a believer also, so, the leader of the synagogue. “Began beating him in front of the judgement seat. But Gallio was not concerned,” you do what you want, you resolve it. So, you want to beat this guy who, he’s a Jew, he’s a leader of your synagogue, you want to beat him, he needs a beating, give him a beating. It doesn’t have anything to do with us Romans, that’s a religious matter. You Jews, we recognize your right to govern yourselves under Rome, but they acknowledge that as a legitimate religion. So, if you want to beat him, beat him, that’s up to you. Now, Paul could claim Rome as his citizenship, but that doesn’t come into the picture here. Sosthenes and Crispus, they don’t have that. “Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila.” So, now he stayed at their house, now they are going on with him. And they came to Ephesus, he left them there and verse 19, he reasons with the Jews, but he’s not going to stay because he has a vow. He’s still a practicing Jew even though he’s a believing practicing Jew. So, he’s on his way back home. So, that’s a little bit of the background. If you want more details, you can get the tape from 17 years ago when we did Corinthians. That’s a little bit of background for Corinthians.

Come over to 1 Corinthians 1. The apostle Paul, now a few years later, it’s about 55 AD, so he was there 50, 51, 52, in there. So, it’s about four years after Paul was there, he writes the letter back to the Corinthians. This is a major city, there were many people saved at Corinth. There were some saved at Athens, but evidently not enough to establish a church that Paul recognizes and has interaction with, like he does with Philippi, Thessalonica and the northern part of Greece and at Corinth. So, he ministered, we’re told there were some people saved, but evidently not really anything that becomes a future in New Testament writings. But Corinth, we’re well familiar. About four years after he leaves Corinth, Paul writes back. Now, he’s written back before. So, this is the second letter, our first letter to the Corinthians is Paul’s second letter. Come over to 1 Corinthians 5:9, “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people.” So, he’s explaining, so he had written a previous letter, they had misunderstood that letter. So, he’s further explaining himself. He’s had contact with the Corinthians, so the church there is a major church. There are a number of people saved, and the church is formed. Even though Paul had to leave, as we saw in Acts 18, he has written back with instructions for them, but we don’t have that first letter. He refers to it, “I wrote you in my letter,” but evidently it was a previous letter.

“Not to associate,” but I didn’t mean not with immoral people generally, but people who claim to be believers and are indulging in immorality, you don’t associate with them. So, Paul expects the unbeliever will live like the unbeliever. So, in other words a Corinthian didn’t have to quit his job because his boss was an immoral man. Well, that’s what you expect. But when you have a person who claims to have trusted Christ and is in immorality, then you disassociate yourselves. And that’s elaborated in 1 Corinthians 5:11, “actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man.”

So, there is a responsibility we have toward those who profess to be believers. If you profess to be a believer and you are living in sin, and he gave a whole list of sins there in that summary of 1 Corinthians 5:11, you don’t’ have anything to do with them, you don’t even fellowship with them, you don’t eat with them. But for the world, we expect that. I find believers get more upset, and it’s true in our day, about what they see on TV. I just can’t understand why would they do that? That’s just terrible. That’s what it is to be an unbeliever, they are living a life of rebellion against God. That doesn’t mean we cut off association with them. Well, I don’t have anything to do with you because you do dirty things, you do sinful things, oh, I just don’t like being with unbelievers. Get over it, that’s the world around us. That’s the world in which we live. That’s the people who need to hear the truth and come to salvation which is in Jesus Christ and Him alone. So, when you profess to have believed in Christ, your life is now new. I may have been immoral, but I’m not immoral anymore. I may have been a reviler, but I’m not a reviler. All those things are yesterday. So, there is a standard to which we’re held. 1 Corinthians 5, if we get there, probably won’t, but it deals with you put the man out, people who profess to be believers, We welcome unbelievers to come and visit our service, they are welcome. But they are not part of our fellowship, it is a closed fellowship in that sense.

Two reasons Paul gives for writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians, first, you hate to have it but he heard there were quarrels in the church. This church has only been in existence about four years. Paul writes 1 Corinthians about 55 AD. There’s divisions in the church. So, 1 Corinthians 1:11, “For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren,” you my brethren, I’m talking about believers, “by Chloe’s people.” How would you like to be Chole? What do you mean sending a letter telling Paul what’s going on here? Well, Chloe’s people. There are quarrels among you. By this I mean, some of you say I’m of Paul, I am of Cephas, I am of Apollos, I am of Christ. The church quickly… the Devil moves in. You know it’s not like, well, we’ve become believers, now everything is cleaned up. We don’t do immorality, we don’t revile, we don’t persecute, we’re just good. No, the church at Corinth is only four years old, and I am of Apollos, I am of Paul, I am of Christ. Wait a minute, understand, there’s only one head of the church, he’ll get to that. So, two reasons, that’s the first one, there are quarrels in the church, divisions that have to be dealt with.

And then the second reason Paul gives, is over in 1 Corinthians 7:1, “Now concerning the things about which you wrote.” So, they had written, asking him a variety of questions. And he’s going to answer those questions they had raised. So, this is just not a series of independent essays or thoughts that Paul had about Corinth that he writes a letter so they’re not connected, they are. It’s about the situation in the church in Corinth, the quarrels and divisions that had arisen and he wants to settle that. And then he wants to answer the questions they have. So, these are a unity, there is to be unity in it. The questions they have, I want to answer them, so you see God has put you together as one. You know we had one in the nation Israel, but the nation Israel rebelled against God and came under His judgement. And the church starts out and here we have Paul, Apollos, Peter, Christ, where all… Wait a minute. Now we understand that church at Corinth is only four years old and they have these divisions. But we understand, we have divisions today in the church. And we’ve got… Well that’s why we have the letter to the Corinthians written, so we can understand what God intends. There is one head of the church, Jesus Christ. There is one authority for the church, the word of God. What’s all this bickering and fighting over? Well, we just go to another church. Well, the Corinthians, that wasn’t an option at that point, because there wasn’t a church at Corinth, Paul had just established one church. So, what about when I taught more of Apollos? Well, you’re of Apollos, but I’m of Christ. Well, wait a minute, let’s get this resolved. Well, we do have questions about conduct, about behavior, about a variety of situations. Well, let’s resolve it. Apostolic authority, we’ve come to that in verse 1 of chapter one, where Paul will proclaim himself an apostle of Jesus Christ. We’re going to have apostolic authority. He writes this letter with apostolic authority. He wrote truth, but it was not recorded in the first letter he wrote. But what is recorded in the second letter is inspired and preserved by the Holy Spirit as well as what we have as the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians.

We ought to resolve our conflicts, our differences. Well, let’s come to the word of God. Let’s find out what God says. Well, I’m the paster of this church, I decide. Or we have the board that decides, or we have like Roman Catholicism, a hierarchy that decides. But we don’t. We don’t have Paul telling, well, check with the Philippians about this, and check with the Thessalonians. No, you guys get it right. So, each church is independent even though each church… So when you start in 1 Corinthians 1, “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.”

So, he establishes his authority. He has apostolic authority. Now that’s not passed on down to this generation. I don’t have apostolic authority, I have authority as a teacher of the word of God, as you open your bibles and say, yes, your teaching is biblical. So, we support that, that’s each individual church. So he writes to the church of God, and he puts that it’s not a church of Paul which is at Corinth, it’s the church of God. Now, if a message is communicated through an apostle of Jesus Christ, who is entrusted with biblical truths… and we’ll get into some of those requirements of an apostle in our next study. But important that we see the church, it’s established by God from the very beginning. It’s a local church at Corinth. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he doesn’t tell them there is a hierarchy. There is apostolic authority and that is communicated in the letters he writes to them. That’s why in chapter 5:9 of the first letter, he says I wrote to you about this. But you misunderstood, I didn’t write meaning you cut off from everyone who is immoral, because then you’d have to leave the world. But I do mean if a person professes faith in Christ and he’s immoral, you cut off, but there it is the purpose to restore him. And if he’s not restored, he probably is not a genuine believer, so you treat him as an unbeliever. So, the ministry goes on.

So, a little bit of foundation and the background. Now we come to the extensive letters, two letters that the Spirit of God directs Paul to write to the church at Corinth, so that they can function as they should. And the church gets off-track when it begins to drift away from the authority of God, whose church it is, it’s the church of God, which is at Corinth, so His word is authoritative. It’s not His word through me, so I have the final say. I am a teacher of the word, but you open your word (bible) to find out what the word of God says. And this is consistent with the word. The New Testament, written by apostles and prophets, were those specially entrusted with new revelation. It carries us beyond the Old Testament and the Mosaic Law. But the authority has to reside in the word of God, not in me as a teacher of the word. Now, in Paul’s day, it resided in him as an apostle, because he was given new revelation as the prophets were. New revelation, that does not continue down. That does not continue in interpreting what God has said. And we’ll talk a little bit about that as we look into the opening parts of 1 Corinthians.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your word. Thank you, that You have established Your church. It’s comprised not of everybody who decides to attend the church, but those who have been born again. Who have new life in Christ. Who now live their lives submissive to You, submissive to Your word. We desire to be the church of God in this place, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Lord, we want to be faithful to Your word, to the truth that You have given. I pray as we look into the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians that they will remind us that it’s not about man, it’s not about personalities, it’s about truth, which the church is to be the pillar and support of the truth, Your truth. So, we commit ourselves to that end, even as we begin this study. We are fully confident that it’s Your church. You provide the leaders, You provide the teachers, You provide the workers in each and every area. And we rejoice as we serve You together. We come in Christ’s name. Amen