Plymothian

As a question of method and not of content, notice how chapter 2 does not hold together as a unit. Who knows what was in the mind of the person who was allowed to divide up 1 Corinthians!  My point is that the original author did not divide his work into sentences and paragraphs, let alone chapters.  Paul would have had no concept that he was writing a book with chapters and verses.  Although the chapters and verses are helpful to find a passage, when you are reading, you must imagine that there are no chapters and verses.  The chapters and verses are helps like the section titles in the NIV.  Also, translators decide where each paragraph and sentence should begin and end.  Mostly they agree, but sometimes they do not.  This means that each of us has a responsibility to look at the text individually and then try to make sense of it in community.  I think that is the beauty of God’s plan.

1 Corinthians 2

1 Corinthians 2

 ¹When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^{[a] 2}For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. ⁴My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Wisdom From the Spirit

 ⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as it is written:
   “No eye has seen,
      no ear has heard,
   no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him”^[b]— ¹⁰but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
      The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.^{[c] 14}The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
 ¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord
      that he may instruct him?”^[d] But we have the mind of Christ. 

1 Corinthians 2

 ¹When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^{[a] 2}For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. ⁴My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Wisdom From the Spirit

 ⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as it is written:
   “No eye has seen,
      no ear has heard,
   no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him”^[b]— ¹⁰but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
      The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.^{[c] 14}The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
 ¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord
      that he may instruct him?”^[d] But we have the mind of Christ.

Questions

1. With what did Paul not come?
2. What does Paul speak among the mature?
3. How does the opening of chapter 2 connect with chapter 1?
4. Do you start afresh at each chapter?  How can you make sure you are more aware of the flow of the original author?
5. Read chapter two again, but this time think of it as a personal letter to you.

Going Deeper

Observation

1. Apart from what did Paul profess to know nothing?
2. From what is Paul’s message distinct?
3.  What has God revealed to us by his Spirit?
4. Paul does not speak words of human wisdom/sophistry.  What does he speak?
5. What mind do Paul and the Corinthians have?

Interpretation       

1. When did Paul come to the Corinthians?
2. What acts of power spoke louder than Paul’s words?
3. Didn’t Paul’s secret wisdom sound like Gnosticism?  Why communicate like a Gnostic?
4. Are the rulers of this age demonic or human?
5. Isn’t it self-righteous for a spiritual man to be judged by no-one and to judge everything?

Application

Choose one of the above questions, or another of your own, and post your response on this site.  Joining  WordPress is free and doesn’t generate any spam as far as I can tell.

God is under no obligation to reveal himself.  He is a person and he is sovereign. As a person he thinks in ways that are not always clear to those who are not in the know.  For example, is it God’s judgment on an increasingly godless nation that causes England to play so badly in the World Cup Finals?  God in his infinite wisdom sees things differently than we do and sometimes his reasons are beyond us.  The spiritual man sees beyond these temporal tournaments because he has the mind of Christ and has better things to do with his time.  Such dismal performances by England remind us of our priorities.  (My friend and I just vented on the phone – so much of this is written tongue in cheek.  The point that it illustrates is somewhat valid, though:  The spiritual mind, informed by God, has a different perspective on life).

1 Corinthians 2:11-16

¹¹For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.^{[c] 14}The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
 ¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord
      that he may instruct him?”^[d] But we have the mind of Christ.

Questions

1. Noone knows the thoughts of God excpet whom?
2. With what spirit is the Spirit that is from God contrasted?
3. What doesn’t the man without the Spirit accept?
4. Do you sense the Spirit giving you insight?
5. What does the Spirit tell you about your life?

Going Deeper

Which people do you know who seem to know God?  How could you spend more time growing in their company.  Make a plan.

Christians will find themselves in opposition to authorities when they become active.  This is very obvious in Muslim countries where talking about Jesus can get you killed (apart from references to him as Isa the prophet).  However, in secularized democracies we are moving away from a freedom of religion to a freedom from religion.  Many people do not see that their foundational beliefs are not empirically discerned.  The value of reason is upheld by the religious and the irreligious in coming to vastly different worldviews.  However, the insight given to Christians by the Spirit gives Christians the ability to make valuable judgments about the a broader scope of real experience.  Because there is something spiritually amiss with godless perspectives, godless public life is a destructive political force.  The modern redefinition of tolerance is actually aggressively intolerant of the truth ‘God has revealed to us by his Spirit.’

1 Corinthians 2:6-10

⁶We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹However, as it is written:
   “No eye has seen,
      no ear has heard,
   no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him”^[b]— ¹⁰but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
      The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Questions

1. What does Paul speak to the mature?
2. What has been true about God’s wisdom before the time of Christ?
3. Who searches all things?
4. What truths do you know that your neighbours do not?
5. How do you interact with people who do not know God’s wisdom?

Going Deeper

Observation

1. Initially what term qualifies both the wisdom and the rulers that Paul’s message is not of?
2. What is the future of current, accepted wisdom and the present rulers?
3. What would the authorities of Paul’s age have not done if they understood spiritual truth?
4. What has no eye seen or ear heard?
5. What does the Spirit search?

Interpretation

1. What do you think the difference is between the message Paul speaks to believers and the message he speaks to unbelievers?
2. Why did God keep the message of Jesus and the cross somewhat obscure in Old Testament times?
3. In what age is Paul living?
4. Why do most popular ideas fade away?
5. How does a love relationship generally give a deeper insight into that person’s view of reality?

Application

1. Where do you hear a deeper message than the self-help advice given in books or on TV?
2. Freud said that the root of most people’s problems is that they are sexually repressed.  How has an unbridled pursuit of sexual gratification without shame helped or hindered western culture since the sixties?  How are Freud’s views still being promoted?  What was Freud missing in this regard?
3. Feminist theorists often say that language itself is male dominated and must be deconstructed so that women and other groups are not oppressed.  How has this view led to an attack on spiritual truth?
4. Are you afraid to express frank biblical truth in your public (or even your private) life?  Why are many Christians in this position?
5. How does voting as a Christian differ from voting as a non-Christian?

In Greek rhetoric it was agreed that you could boast in your weaknesses if it proved your point.  In England, where I grew up, people tended to moan about their weakness.  English pessimism and negativity has really come home to me as I have read the English press on-line and seen the comments the public posts.  In contrast, Americans seem to have no problem boasting about their most insignificant achievements.  It seems that something is perceived as desperately wrong with a person’s self-esteem who cannot echo Mohammad Ali’s “I am the greatest”.  Of course, there is another path.  I can discern what God wants to do in my life, embrace it, and boast about God.  Paul is eloquent and he is wise, but that does not carry his message.  Paul relies on the power of the truth.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

¹When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^{[a] 2}For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. ⁴My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Questions

1. What did Paul proclaim without eloquence or superior wisdom?
2. What did Paul resolve to know?
3. How was Paul’s message demonstrated?
4. How does God’s work through Jesus dominate your thinking?
5. How do you inspire your family to know Jesus?

Going Deeper

Observation

1. What word is used for how Paul communicated the testimony about God?
2. What three words describe how Paul came to the Corinthians?
3. What did Paul’s preaching not include?
4. What must the Corinthian faith not rest upon?
5. What should the Corinthian faith rest upon?

Interpretation

1. What is the difference that distinguishes proclaiming from other forms of teaching?
2. Why doesn’t Paul own the testimony that he gives – he writes ‘the’ rather than ‘my’?
3. Why does Paul repeat ‘I came to you’?
4. Why does Paul use wise and persuasive words in his letters but very simple words in his preaching?
5. How might simple words and powerful actions communicate to people who don’t know God more powerfully than wise and persuasive words?

Application

1. Whose role is it to proclaim the gospel in today’s world?
2. What should be the content of the good news that we communicate?
3. How can you identify with Paul’s emotions when communicating God’s truth?
4. How does the knowledge that faith in the power of God is the bedrock of effective sharing of the gospel?
5. With whom could you share the power of God through words and actions this week?

Review: To remember things it is best to revew them.  It would be good for us to review now what we have studied.  It should not take you long to read the first chapter.  Look for the introduction, the thanksgiving and the addressing of division in the church.

1 Corinthians 1

1 Corinthians 1

 ¹Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

 ²To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

 ³Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 ⁴I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— ⁶because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

 ¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. ¹¹My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹²What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas^[a]“; still another, “I follow Christ.”

 ¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into^[b] the name of Paul? ¹⁴I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

 ¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written:
   “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
      the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”^[c]

 ²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²²Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power yof God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

 ²⁶Brothters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of nobile birth. ²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the thingrs that are, ²⁹so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—tuhat is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Questions

1. What subject is raised in verse 7 that we will revisit in chapters 11-14?
2. How is maturity emphasized as a goal?
3. Why might spiritual gifting be a source of contention?
4. How does Paul address division?
5. How do you mature into a less contentious, combative person?

Going Deeper

Observation

1. What is the theme of the first paragraphs?
2. What is Paul thankful for?
3. What question does Paul ask about baptism?
4. What will ‘I’ destroy?
5. What do Greeks and Jews demand?

Interpretation

1. Read Acts 18:24-28.  About whom does this give us insight?
2. Do you think that there were those supporting Christ who had become part of the problem through pride?
3. How are apologetics and the work of the Holy Spirit connected?
4. What kind of boasting is permitted?
5. How does 1 Corinthians 1:18 form a thesis statement for the rest of the paragraph?

Application

1. How do people in the church think in highly individualistic ways?  What does this chapter teach such people?
2. What does this passage have to say about denominationalism?
3. How do you think missionaries manage to overcome their differences and work together?
4. Isthe preaching that you hear cross-centered?  How much preaching should bring us back to the cross?
5. What is your view on signs and wonders?  How does the Holy Spirit work in your life?

I tend to get involved in apologetics.  I don’t mean to, but I sometimes doubt my faith.  I sometimes get afraid that I am an idiot for believing what I do.  I used to read Richard Dawkins and be in awe of his doctorate.  I thought that he was a really smart man.  When I read post-modern philosophers their scepticism seemed wise.  Sometimes a nihilistic approach has seemed attractive – but as Nietzsche’s life indicates it is too easy to step across a line from sanity to insanity.  Popular movies and television make fun of what is seen as a Luddite and repressive Christian faith.  Do we have to say that what we believe is irrational and that is why it is faith.  In the end though, everyone has properly foundational beliefs (emphasis on beliefs).  The idea that science will save us and all life’s solutions are scientific is not science – it is faith.  The idea that all truth is relative is contradictory (i.e. why isn’t the sentence itself open to the same criticism?).  Scepticism destroys everything except itself (why does it get to survive?).  In the end there are beliefs and we choose which beliefs to accept as true.  The next step is to see which beliefs actually are true.  Which beliefs actually correspond with reality.  Belief in the Christian God is not the same as belief in fairies or spaghetti monsters.  Fairies and spaghetti monsters have no explaining power.  Once we, like Kierkegaard, take a step into a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ reality comes into sharper focus.  It may seem like foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.  So my doubts and fears about the validity of my faith cause me to read a little deeper and find answers.  This enriches my faith because I can love God with all my mind, and with a clear conscience.  What do you do with arguments or experiences that shake your faith?

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

¹⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written:
   “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
      the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”^[c]

 ²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²²Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Questions

1. What message exactly is foolishness to those who are perishing?
2. What two groups does Paul address as dismissing the gospel?
3. Why do they dismiss it according to Paul?
4. What do wise people in the media call upon as their authority?
5. How do New Age spiritual people dismiss the gospel?  How do the ‘New Atheists’ dismiss the gospel?  How do you respond?

Going Deeper

Watch the youtube clip of J.P. Moreland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgSjqbD3RCE

Do Christians need to think on this level?  Do you?

http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer 

http://www.ligonier.org/

http://www.reasons.org/

Why do you think that there is a level of disconnect between the level of thinking that goes on in church settings and the level of thinking that goes on in universities?  If we are to love God with all our mind, how can we develop the mind in the Christian faith?

I have been a member of a number of churches that have had divisions.  One church had a split over how women participated in the services, that same church then struggled when virtually all of their younger members left.  I have been in a church where the concept of small groups was a divisive issue.  The question that people were discussing was, “Are they an evangelistic tool, or are they a way to feed people and help them grow deeper together?”  I have also seen many times a church find its identity in its senior pastors.  In Minnesota you will find John Piper’s church, in Chicago you will find Irwin Lutzer’s church.  People attend those churches to hear a talented preacher preach.  At my present church the preaching used to be shared between the senior pastors.  However, more recently the church has unified the teaching under one of the pastors.  At my present church there has been criticism from former members that the church was too casual and shallow.  I have heard that from a number of former attenders.  What potential reasons for division are there in your church?  Is there a cult of personality?  How should such situations be addressed?

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

 ¹⁰I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. ¹¹My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. ¹²What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas^[a]“; still another, “I follow Christ.”

 ¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into^[b] the name of Paul? ¹⁴I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Questions

1. What does Paul appeal with the church to do?
2. Who has reported the quarrels?
3. What rhetorical question does Paul ask about Christ?
4. In what ways do you see Christ’s church divided?
5. How can you promote unity among Christians?

Going Deeper

Observation

1. In what way should Corinthians be united?
2. Who are the personalities that Corinth is divided over?
3. What three rhetorical questions does Paul use?
4. Paul baptized whom?
5. Why doesn’t  Paul baptize?

Interpretation

1. Why does united action depend on united thinking?
2. Why isn’t all thinking the same and being in agreement a bad thing?
3. Who was Apollos?
4. What is the implied answer to the rhetorical questions?
5. Why does Paul take time to explained that he has baptised some people?

Application

1. How does a church that is divided get to a point of agreement?
2. Frank Schaeffer accuses evangelical Christianity of being a cult of personalities.  He cites the Graham family, Dr. Dobson and others.  Do you think he has a point?  Why?  Why not?
3. How could a more active church forget the cult of personality divisions?
4. How does ‘church as entertainment’ lead to more division?  How can we grow past that?
5. Is your life centered on Jesus or on problems?

Bonus:

1. Will the USA be able to upset England in the World Cup?  How will the World Cup affect church unity 🙂 ?

There is a difference between knowing that an idea is true in your head and seeing that idea worked out in reality.  Paul owned the gospel of Christ when he came to Corinth.  He knew that it was the powerful basis for a transformed life.  However, even more powerful has the message become now that the truth of it is confirmed in the lives of the Corinthians.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating.  If you thought of how the gospel is meant to change people, would your life be proof?  How?

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

 ⁴I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— ⁶because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. ⁷Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Questions

1. Why does Paul thank God exactly?
2. How does this connect with his greeting?
3. How is a path to holiness through sanctification supported in this paragraph?
4. What are you thankful for in other Christians?
5. What are others thankful for in you?

Going Deeper

Observation

1. When is Paul thankful?
2. What is the cause of Corinthian enrichment?
3. What don’t the Corinthians lack?
4. What are they waiting for?
5. What aspect of God’s nature means that he will complete his work in them?

Interpretation

1. How are the introduction and the thanks Paul gives connected?
2. Why do you think he puts this list of encouragement at the start of a letter addressing problems?
3. What do you think Paul’s testimony to the Corinthians had been?
4. Why does spiritual growth rely on God’s strength so much?
5. Why are spiritual gifts highlighted in this introduction?

Application

1. How often do you make  a point of letting those around you know you are grateful for them?
2. How will you let at least three people know that you are grateful for them today?
3. How can you be transformed from a person who is frustrated with a person to a person who is thankful for them?
4. Do you look forward to Christ coming, or do you prefer the idea of seeing this life on earth through to old age?
5. Would you describe your life as ‘in fellowship’ with Jesus?  Why?  Why not?

Remembering the parts of an epistle from yesterday, you can deduce that today we are looking at the opening of the epistle.  Paul introduces himself to us and uses a key term:  apostle.  Apostle is one who is sent.  Jesus is the Apostle (capital A) who was sent by God;  There were twelve apostles (or so); We are all apostles in the sense that God sends us into the world to do good as his ambassadors.  Obviously Paul is not putting himself in the same category as Christ.  He is calling on the authority that is his because he fulfills the qualifications of being the 14th apostle sent directly by Christ.  That is if you include Judas Iscariot (dubious) and Matthias.  Some say that Paul should have been chosen to replace Judas Iscariot and not Matthias.  Have you thought of yourself as an apostle sent by God with a message to communicate?  What does your life communicate?

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

¹Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

 ²To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

 ³Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Questions:

1. How did Paul become an apostle according to verse one?
2. To which two groups is the letter addressed?
3. What does Paul wish for his congregants?
4. Was this section of the letter just a formality?
5. What do you wish for those in your small group or church?  How are you active in bringing that about?

Going Deeper

Observation

1. How many times is Jesus mentioned in this short introduction?
2. How many times is God (the Father) mentioned in this opening?
3. How many times is Paul mentioned?
4. What words describe the expectation of continual growth Paul has for followers of Christ?
5. What relationship to Jesus connects Paul with his readers?

Interpretation

1. Who could Sosthenes be?
2. Are sanctification and ‘called to be holy’ the same thing?
3. Why does Paul desire grace and peace for the church at Corinth in particular?
4. What does Paul mean by ‘called’ here?
5. Who, apart from the Corinthians, did Paul expect to read this letter?

Application

1. Do you have a sense of God’s calling?  What does that mean for you?
2. If you are a member of a church, do you think that you and those around you are daily becoming more holy?
3. What binds you together with other believers, even with Paul?
4. How might Jesus be seen as your Lord?
5. What are grace and peace?  Do you give them?  Do you receive them?  How or when?