| Teacher: Rusty Kennedy Series: 1 Corinthians (Acts) |
Rusty's Notes | |
- August 2 – Acts 18:1-11 – We talked about Paul’s ministry in Corinth on his 2nd missionary journey.
- Present in Corinth about 12 months in 51-52 AD
- Now Paul is in Ephesus on his 3rd Missionary Journey in 55 AD.
1 CORINTHIANS
GREETING
1 Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother:
- You didn’t have to wait until the end of the letter to see who this letter was from.
- God called Paul and it was God’s will
- The difference between call and will.
- One who was distinctly called out for a mission with a theological context.
- Apostles were typically directly connected to the life of Jesus on earth.
- Paul’s apostleship came as he was walking on the road to Damascus.
- Sosthenes was the synagogue leader in Corinth that believed in Jesus on Paul’s 1st trip to Corinth on his 2nd Missionary Journey.
- To the believers in Christ Jesus.
- Not a body or small group that gathered in one home… but to all those who believed in Jesus.
- Sanctified – Set apart – past tense – already occurred.
- “Sanctified” is not considered present tense and in the process of “being sanctified”.
- Although both terms are Biblical, how do we reconcile the difference?
- Paul is talking about what has already occurred and this is what matters.
- Because of your belief, you have not only been sanctified (set apart) you are now a saint (holy one).
- Grace first – Grace in salvation, but more importantly, moment by moment grace.
- The ability to live life with God doing it through you.
- Living by grace then brings you real peace even in the midst of the chaos.
- Let His peace be your peace.
THANKSGIVING
- A Thanksgiving section was a common part of Paul’s letters.
- Rarely did he just get down to business without talking about his thankfulness.
- It also serves as a reminder and encouragement to keep doing what he knows they have already been doing.
- Paul is thankful for their giftedness.
- He later has to instruct them on the misuse of these gifts in Chapters 12-14.
- Describe the difference between gifts and talents.
- What are some personal Leavener gifts?
- We walk this earth in a flesh suit.
- We have already been made blameless by Christ’s sacrifice and blood poured out in the cross.
- There is nothing more that has to happen for forgiveness of all sin.
- No forgiveness, no confession, no repentance.
- Now forgiveness is a done deal on the cross.
- Confession is a done deal in terms of God/Jesus
- Confession is still encouraged as we walk in our flesh suits as a form of transparency and encouragement to one another.
- Dak Prescott – Skip Bayless – Shared vulnerability and was told it was an error.
- Repentance is a change of mind that comes from God and is still part of our walk as we live in this flesh suit.
- Someday, when Christ returns, we are done with this flesh suit and even our actions are made blameless.
- Fellowship is a word that we relate to one another as in community.
- Churches fight for good fellowship.
- If they just understood how to have good fellowship with Jesus Christ, they would have good fellowship with one another. Stay focused.
- In Paul’s thanksgiving section we can conclude 4 things:
- 1. He is, unlike so many teachers in his world, not concerned, first of all, with his own welfare.
- 2. He is not giving a message of human manufacture but emphasizing God’s grace.
- 3. He has what we might call an “eschatological perspective” on each event that he introduces; that is to say, he is looking at this life from its end goal and from God’s promises about the end of the world and human destiny.
- 4. And he does so all with a pastoral concern, not simply reflecting the philosophical and oratorical interest of so many in the Corinthian community.[1]
DIVISIONS AT CORINTH
10 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.
- Again, unity comes from them being focused on what the content is rather than how the content is presented.
- Sometimes the interpretation is skewed.
- I’m going to teach it one way… others in our community will teach the same thing and use different terms/words.
- Go outside of our community and you hear a similar message but with slightly different understandings.
- Then sometimes you have to use the 66 book filter on other teachers of the Word.
- Jeff Pokone, is my counselor of choice.
- He is as close as it gets. But even then you have to filter.
- I will still use Jeff and trust the Spirit to work in the believers that attend Leavener.
- But the only way we stay unified is focus on the basics… Jesus Christ is the Son God, came to earth as a sacrifice for our sins and gives us the opportunity to be redeemed.
- The division comes when we try to learn how to live out of our new hearts.
- Because we have been taught differently.
- This week, I had a Zoom meeting with 5 other pastors in Fishers.
- Grace Church, Fishers (Kevin Roth)
- Northview, Fishers (John Smith)
- St. George Orthodox Church (Deacon Joseph)
- St. Louis De Montfort Catholic Church (Jeff Oelker)
- Cornerstone Lutheran Church (Scott Giger)
- These are my friends… we teach Jesus
- We teach Jesus with major different interpretations and practices…
- We have many different followers…
- but we believe he is the Son of God and our Savior.
- We are united in our faith in Jesus.
- Paul can’t even remember who all he baptized.
- I wouldn’t either if there weren’t pictures.
- Paul is not encouraging or referring to an unbaptized Christian, but if baptism will lead to the kind of divisions that the church in Corinth is experiencing, then he wants little to do with it.
- The key for Paul is preaching the gospel of Christ crucified. He says, literally, “Not in the wisdom of a word.” It’s not human love of word crafting.[2]
CHRIST THE POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD
- Verses 18–25 contrast what Paul calls the foolishness (by human standards) of the story of Jesus crucified with the so-called wisdom (the best that humans on their own can manufacture) of this world.[3]
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent., (Isaiah 29:14)
- This is in reference to worldly wisdom, knowledge and experience.
- The key word in this paragraph is wisdom; it is used eight times.
- The key idea that Paul expressed is that we dare not mix man’s wisdom with God’s revealed message.
- The entire section on wisdom (1 Cor. 1:17–2:16) presents a number of contrasts between the revealed Word of God and the wisdom of men.[4]
- This was the attitude of the Jews, because their emphasis is on miraculous signs and the cross appears to be weakness.
- Jewish history is filled with miraculous events, from the Exodus out of Egypt to the days of Elijah and Elisha.
- When Jesus was ministering on earth, the Jewish leaders repeatedly asked Him to perform a sign from heaven; but He refused.
- Because the Jews were looking for power and great glory, they stumbled at the weakness of the cross.
- How could anybody put faith in an unemployed carpenter from Nazareth who died the shameful death of a common criminal? But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).
- Rather than a testimony of weakness, the cross is a tremendous instrument of power![5]
- The Greeks emphasized wisdom; we still study the profound writings of the Greek philosophers.
- But they saw no wisdom in the cross, for they looked at the cross from a human point of view.
- Had they seen it from God’s viewpoint, they would have discerned the wisdom of God’s great plan of salvation.
- Paul called on three men to bear witness: the wise (the expert), the scribe (the interpreter and writer), and the disputer (the philosopher and debater).
- He asked them one question: Through your studies into man’s wisdom, have you come to know God in a personal way?
- They all must answer no! The fact that they laugh at the cross and consider it foolishness is evidence that they are perishing.[6]
- The things of God are not of this world.
- Whatever the world is doing… that is not of God.
[1] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Blomberg, C. L. (2017). NT334 Book Study: Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 570). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 570–571). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 571). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Co 1:1–25). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
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