Through the Bible - 1 Corinthians

God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9)

A church that tried to please everyone became carnal—and Paul writes to call it back to Christ crucified, love, and the power of the resurrection.

A Church That Captured the Spirit of the Age

One great man of God once said the one thing the church must never do is capture the spirit of the age. The job of the church is to correct the spirit of the age. When we look at these two letters to Corinth, we find a church that was politically correct, non-offensive, and people-pleasing. Sound familiar?

In trying not to offend people, you always step on somebody's feet. There's no way to keep from being offensive, especially when Paul makes clear that our message is a stumbling block, a rock of offense. Jesus said our message brings division—dividing households and family members. You've experienced this with co-workers and even in your own home.

For the last fifty years the church has tried to be liked by everybody, and it's never going to be. Another man of God said the church is to be either a thermometer or a thermostat. A thermometer is affected by its environment; a thermostat affects its environment. We are to affect the environment in which we live.

Letters of Rebuke, Reproof, and Correction

The church at Corinth had many problems. Paul writes two letters—and there seems to have been a third, written before 1 Corinthians, that we don't have. These letters were written to correct. Just as Paul told Timothy that the Word of God is given for rebuke, reproof, and correction, this book demonstrates exactly that. The Corinthians had written Paul with questions, and this book answers them.

You could title this book Carnality and Spirituality. The first eleven chapters deal with carnality; chapters twelve through sixteen deal with spirituality. Though Paul had spent at least eighteen months, maybe two years, planting and teaching this church, when he left there was great disarray. So he wrote to set them straight, that they would walk in righteousness and holiness.

Ultimately this is a work God does. One theme verse, 1 Corinthians 1:9, says, "God is faithful." Underline that. None of us can make ourselves holy. We've all tried. Every Christian goes through a season of legalism, trying to perfect himself—but you cannot. As Paul told the Philippians, "He who began a good work in you" will be faithful to complete it. Yet God often sends His message through an older brother or sister, or through a passage that convicts and challenges us to walk a new direction. The gospel is all about change. Our God never changes—He is immutable—but His message is all about transforming you and me.

The First Letter to the Californians

This church lived in a society very much like our own. You could call this "the first letter of Paul to the Californians." Corinth was fixed upon two things: the pursuit of sensuality and the search for knowledge. They were a Greek culture—the people of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—who prized wisdom, knowledge, and philosophy.

Paul planted this church during his second missionary journey. After the Macedonian call, he was kicked out of Philippi and Thessalonica, then went to Athens, where he contended with the wise men on Mars Hill. He found little fruit there before moving on to Berea and Corinth. The Corinthians thought themselves wise—yet 60 to 80 percent of Greeks in that day were illiterate. Most were slaves who couldn't read or write or do arithmetic. They felt empowered and smart simply by hearing great orators speak.

As Paul says, the Jews require a sign, but the Greeks seek wisdom—they want to hear someone speak great things. That's why dissension arose in Corinth: some said, "I am of Paul," others "I am of Apollos," others "I am of Cephas," and still others "I am of Christ." They attached themselves to favorite speakers.

From Athens to Corinth: Only Christ Crucified

When Paul came to this church he did not come with great wisdom or eloquence. That doesn't mean Paul wasn't brilliant—many would call him an intellectual genius. Read Romans, and you see it. Watch him on Mars Hill, and you see it.

But I have a theory about Paul. In Athens he tried to win souls by meeting the philosophers on their intellectual level. At the end of his oration they said, "We'll hear you again on this matter," but few hearts were changed. All they could see was that this guy was smart enough to go toe-to-toe with them. So immediately he left Athens for Corinth and told that church, "When I came to you, I did not come with wisdom; I came as a fool, preaching only Christ crucified." His approach completely changed.

This matters for us, because we live in the same kind of Greek civilization. It's two thousand years later, we have cell phones and the internet, but the mindset hasn't changed. We love to debate. Turn on the news from five until ten at night and it's all talking heads yelling, trying to one-up each other. Our political season is all debate. This is rooted in Greek rhetoric.

Christians are tempted to persuade people with excellence of speech and wisdom, but that doesn't win people to Christ. You can offer the greatest apologetic argument—the ontological, teleological, and cosmological arguments—and still you come down to a step of faith. You can prove there is a God who came in the flesh, lived a perfect life, died, and rose again, but you must tell people they have to place their faith in Him. Many won't, because they want to keep living in their sensual exploration for a truth that only appears to be truth.

When the World Comes Into the Church

The emerging church today tries to capture the spirit of the age; the seeker-sensitive movement did the same. They ask, "How can we be more palatable, more accepted by the world?" Every time you do that, the church becomes carnal—and that's what happened in Corinth. Paul had to write, "I have heard of sexual immorality among you that doesn't even happen among the heathen, and you're accepting of it. You're patting people on the back, saying, 'Look how tolerant we are.'" They were people-pleasing, non-offensive, and politically correct. The church in America—especially in California—is no different.

You see their people-pleasing nature even in 2 Corinthians, where Paul has to say, "You did everything I told you, but now you've pushed it too far; back up a little." They wanted to follow Paul's words so perfectly because they were people-pleasers, as we often are.

So Paul says in 1:17, "Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel." The church can get bound up in formality, programs, miracles, the gifts of the Spirit, social causes—but we have been sent to preach the gospel. Remember Jesus in Mark: after healing many in Capernaum, the crowds came, and His disciples said, "This is the time to start a movement." He said, "Let's go to other cities, for I have come to preach."

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The world looks at our message as utter foolishness, exactly as Paul and Jesus said it would. Even political candidates who claim to be Christians want to distance themselves from biblical Christianity, because to those who are perishing it looks like nonsense.

The Fear of the Lord and a Nation's Wisdom

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. (1 Corinthians 1:19)

This world is full of knowledge and ideas posed as wisdom, but if it doesn't start with God, you'll never find wisdom. Go back to Proverbs: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When the great learning institutions of America—Harvard, Yale, Princeton—were founded by preachers during the great awakenings, their whole focus was the Word of God, prayer, and a righteous life in Christ. The founders of Princeton said that if any knowledge is taught contrary to the cross of Christ, it is not worth learning.

In 1962 and 1963 the Supreme Court removed prayer and the Bible from schools, and the statistics are striking. Before 1962, America led the world as number one for decades in the lowest illiteracy rate; afterward it dropped to 68th and has never recovered. Teenage pregnancy rose by 700 percent. Violent crime increased by 694 percent. SAT scores, first given in 1926, dramatically dropped in 1964. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and when you remove that from a society, the society loses understanding. As Abraham Lincoln said, what is taught in the schoolhouse in one generation will be the way the nation is governed in the next.

The Corinthian church had allowed the world in and accepted it, thinking, "We're tolerant; we love everybody." But, as Paul says, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Our desire to be accepted lets in things that ought never to be named among us. We must follow what the Scriptures say and pattern ourselves after those who follow the Scriptures—yet always remembering that ultimately it is God who is faithful, who perfects and transforms us.

You Are the Temple of the Holy Spirit

The first eleven chapters expose the carnality of these people. They had drifted, misunderstood the gospel, misunderstood the messenger and Paul's ministry, allowed fornicators into the church and accepted them, gotten confused about meat sacrificed to idols, and failed to recognize that they were the temple of the Holy Spirit.

They wanted Paul to send a list of do's and don'ts. The church always wants that, because it's easier—give me five or six things and I'll feel righteous, comparing myself with myself, which is not wise. But Paul clears that away and says, "You are the temple of the Holy Spirit." When you grasp that, your whole focus changes. If you are a holy thing in God's eyes, you won't want to drift toward what is not expedient.

We've been given great liberty in Christ, as Romans reveals. How do we keep from using that liberty as a license to sin? Only by recognizing that we are a holy thing in His eyes. Then we don't want to do anything that might trip us up. That's why Hebrews 12 says, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily ensnare us." Some things may be areas of liberty—the Bible doesn't specifically forbid them—but when I recognize I'm the temple of the Holy Spirit, I don't want to do what holds me back.

The Principle Behind the Head Coverings

Paul spends eleven chapters on the things that had tripped them up—marriage, divorce, singleness, meat sacrificed to idols, head coverings. Many of these address the specific culture of the day. Corinth's main deity was Aphrodite, worshiped through sensuality. Each night at sundown two thousand temple prostitutes came down from the mountain to sell themselves, and they were known by their hair let down and their uncovered heads. So Paul told the women to wear a head covering—not because he wanted head coverings for their own sake, but so they would be set apart, not seen like the rest of Corinth.

We don't keep the practice today, but we keep the principle. What does the world do that we should be separate from because it would trip us up? Like a head covering two thousand years ago, we say, "I won't watch this, I won't go there"—not because I can't, but because if I do it'll trip me up and be a bad witness. People are watching every day to see how a Christian really lives. For a long time those who don't know God have said the church is full of hypocrites, and they've often been right, because we haven't lived in a way that exalts the Lord Jesus and His Word.

The More Excellent Way: Love

The second half of the book turns to spirituality. Paul begins with the gifts of the Spirit. The Corinthians had fixated on one gift—tongues—as much of the American church still does. Paul points out in chapter 12 that the gift of tongues is for personal edification; it's not to be paraded so others say, "Look how spiritual you are." In one sense it's like circumcision—something that set the Jews apart unto God, but not worn on the outside.

In chapter 14 Paul exalts not tongues but prophecy. Prophecy here is mainly forth-telling the Word of God—using Scripture rightly to bring exhortation, encouragement, rebuke, reproof, and correction. Many in the church may say, "I speak in tongues, so I'm spiritual," yet don't know how to use the Word of God in their own life or others'. In that, Paul would say, they are carnal—an external show of religion without internal righteousness.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal... and have not charity, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1–2)

In chapter 12 Paul lists many spiritual gifts; at the beginning of chapter 13 he says you can have all of them, but without love you are nothing. So what if you speak in tongues, prophesy, or cast out demons? Jesus will say to many who claim such works, "Depart from me; I never knew you." The identifying mark of a son or daughter of God is love—the fruit of the Spirit.

Then Paul describes this agape love: it suffers long, envies not, is not puffed up. Notice that "puffed up" appears nine times in this letter—this proud church needed to hear that love is not puffed up. Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices in the truth, bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." The mark of maturity in a Christian is faith, hope, and love—something we'll examine further in Hebrews.

The Resurrection: The Cornerstone of Our Faith

From love Paul moves in chapter 15 to the resurrection. The church has done well exalting the death and burial of Christ, but if Christ be not raised from the dead, we are of all men most miserable. The resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith, for New Testament and Old Testament saints alike. Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead. David believed in the resurrection when he said of his dead child, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection, and the life."

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you... how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve... of above five hundred brethren at once. (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3–6)

You are saved by the gospel—if you keep in memory what was preached, unless you have believed in vain. Notice that Paul "delivered first of all" the death, burial, and resurrection. He didn't waste time on fluff; that gospel needs to be our focus in evangelism too. We can debate evolution or whether Jesus is God, but we must come down to this: did Jesus rise from the dead? If He did, He is the very Son of God, and you'd better listen to what He said about Himself—not what the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, or Muslims say. People call Him a nice guy, a good teacher, a healer, "my homeboy." But His resurrection proves everything He said is true.

Paul adds that he himself saw the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, calling himself the least of the apostles because he persecuted the church. By the grace of God he labored more abundantly than all. That is how we should respond to grace—when we see what God has done through the cross and resurrection, even though our past was contrary to the gospel, it should make us labor more abundantly.

If Christ Be Not Raised

Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? (1 Corinthians 15:12)

The Greeks didn't believe in resurrection. But if there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen; and if Christ is not risen, our preaching is vain and your faith is vain also. Everything we do on a Wednesday or Sunday is for nothing if Christ be not raised. Rob Bell, a key figure in the emergent church, has written that if Jesus didn't really rise, it's not that big a deal, because His teaching still has impact. No—it has no impact whatsoever, because he's viewing it only from a social-justice standpoint, as if Jesus merely came to bring goodwill among men.

Without the resurrection we are false witnesses of God, still in our sins, and those who died in Christ have simply perished. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable"—because our focus is on eternal, heavenly things.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:20)

In the feasts of Leviticus 23, Jesus died on Passover, lay in the tomb during Unleavened Bread, and rose on Firstfruits. As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Notice "in Christ." Some, including the emergent church, teach universal salvation—that everyone goes to heaven because Christ died. His blood is sufficient for all mankind's sins (against the Calvinist idea of limited atonement), but it is applied only to those who are in Christ by faith.

Death Swallowed Up in Victory

Paul speaks of the future resurrection, when in the twinkling of an eye this corruption puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality. (Pastor Chuck once sent out a grieving booklet that misquoted this verse as "immortality will put on immorality"—a typo Matt Dotson caught here at the church. It makes a good point: in Christ we should never put on immorality, but put on Christ and the whole armor of God.)

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?... But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57)

His victory has been given to you and me by faith. So Paul concludes: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Along with 1:9, this is the key verse of the book. We can only be steadfast and unmovable if we're built on the foundation that is Jesus Christ, for Paul says there is no other foundation. We abound in the Lord's work by being filled with the Spirit, exercising His gifts, and overflowing with His fruit. Because Christ is risen indeed, our labor is never in vain—there is a purpose, a reason, and a reward.

Giving, Plans, and the Will of God

Chapter 16 turns to Paul's desire to visit Corinth again, likely written during his third missionary journey as he prepared to take a collection to the suffering, persecuted church in Jerusalem. In verse 2 he gives insight into how we give: "Upon the first day of the week"—our Sunday—"let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." Giving was to be regular and purposeful.

In verse 7 Paul says, "For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit." Paul always had plans and desires, but he submitted them to the Lord. Modern Christians make two mistakes. Some say, "I just want to do whatever the Lord wants," but never make a plan or move. Sometimes God does come and tell us directly, but often He begins with a desire on our heart, wanting us to make a plan and move—pick a target, aim, and shoot. "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps." Others have a plan and stick to it no matter what, come hell or high water, and end up in trouble. Paul's balance: have a plan, but submit it to the Lord.

A Great and Effectual Door

Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus, another church he gave much time to and which had many problems. Interestingly, the two places where Paul spent the most time—Corinth and Ephesus—had the most trouble, while the two where he spent the least—Philippi and Thessalonica—were the most fruitful.

For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9)

A door becomes effective only when you go through it. We often see open doors and just marvel at them while never walking through. Second, when you begin to walk through that door, don't expect it always to be easy—there will be many adversaries, obstacles, and roadblocks. I've met many believers who saw a great door into children's ministry, started through it, met problems at home and work, and decided, "Maybe I shouldn't go." But the enemy is trying to stop you. Adversaries in front of a door are often an indication that the Lord wants you to move that direction. Other times He simply closes the door; we must stay sensitive to the Spirit.

God usually moves us first with a desire, then an open door. At Bible College I told my class that God's will is not hard, and three students disagreed, saying they didn't know His will. I asked one young woman what she wanted to do, and she said, "I'd really like to be a physical therapist." I told her she was in the wrong place—you don't learn physical therapy at Bible College, and God needs Christian physical therapists. She looked at me as though I were the Antichrist, because going to Bible College seemed the most spiritual thing she could do. But God moved me first with a desire—to go to Germany, to take this church—and then with an open door. You don't push and force your desire; you submit it to the Lord. "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

So have a plan, submit it to the Lord, and begin to move. He may stop it, redirect it, or permit it. But if you're sitting stagnant here at the church, you'll stagnate. Be abounding in the work of the Lord, not just the Word. There are many open doors at Calvary Chapel—children's ministry, youth ministry, men's and women's ministry, parking lot, ushers, greeters. The pastors are praying about starting a third Sunday service next spring, which will need many more workers. A great and effectual door has been opened—yes, with adversaries. Pick a target, shoot, and see what the Lord does.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we thank You for Your Word. We live in a culture just like the Corinthian culture—indeed, "to be Corinthian" means to be carnal, that Epicurean person who lives it up, chasing knowledge, understanding, and sensuality. But apart from You there is no knowledge and no wisdom, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So help us set our hearts to fear You and follow You, to go where You call us and let You direct our paths. Show us the open doors before us, and give us the faith to step through them, even when adversaries, obstacles, and difficulties come. Help us never to back down or stop. We ask it in Your mighty and precious name. Amen.