Articles
Reading 1 Corinthians
Reading 1 Corinthians
First Corinthians
1Corinthians is a letter to a church with problems. The city had long been known for its immoral and loose sexual behavior by its citizens. Paul established a congregation there by preaching the gospel of Jesus. Many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized (Acts 18:8). After staying for a year and a half, Paul left.
It wasn't long before he had heard that there were problems and divisions in the church (1Cor. 1:11). He had also received a letter from them asking about different things (1Cor. 7:1). That prompted this rather 'hard' letter warning them that they needed to change their conduct. A simple outline can be made by enumerating the various problems that existed in this church.
· Division over Personalities 1-4
· Immorality - 5
· Greed producing lawsuits AND using prostitutes- 6
· Marriage - 7
· Separation from Idolatry 8-10
· Covering question and the Lord's Supper - 11
· Concerning Spiritual Gifts and their misuse of them - 12 - 14
· Resurrection - 15
· Collection - 16
The first problem had to do with the fact that there was division in the group about leaders. We would call it 'preacheritus' today. It was division over men and personalities and not doctrine. They elevated the man above the importance of the teaching. True wisdom of God is found in the truth of His revelation and NOT in the man. The true concept of a teacher is as a servant. Such division was desecrating and destroying God's family and would be met with the wrath of God. The teaching is the SAME in every church. The MESSAGE must be the object of concern and NOT the man who is teaching it. Many churches and preachers still have problems with this principle.
Hugh DeLong
