We considered the greatest problem at Corinth last week.
Problem 1 – The Position of Christ @ Corinth
Problem 2 – The Place of the Apostle @ Corinth
Problem 3 – The Purity of the Church @ Corinth
Problem 4 – The Possession of Gift @ Corinth
Problem 1 – The Position of Christ @ Corinth
If He is not Lord of all then He is not Lord at all!
Christ demands and deserves and desires to be not only resident but president.
Paul would draw them to the Lordship of Christ in every sphere of life (1Co1:30):
Wisdom (chps 1 to 4)
Righteousness (chps 5 to 6)
Sanctification (chps 7to 9)
Redemption (chps 10 to 15)
Problem 2 – The Place of the Apostle @ Corinth
Right at the beginning of the epistle Paul sees it as necessary to emphasis his apostolic authority (1:1).
Authority is not always respected, perhaps especially where people have a taste of freedom and have enjoyed personal prosperity and a sense of success.
For some humility and bowing to authority does not come easily.
Sometimes men puffed up with a bit of success don't take kindly to being told what to do.
This may on the surface simply seem to be a statement of the blindingly obvious and yet Paul does not always open his letters in this way:
To the Romans he is a 'doulos' – a bond slave, Paul takes the position of the slave, the lowly position, a position of humility he will encourage others too to take in the epistle later on, in order to resolve some of their problems;
“For he that in these things serveth (douleuo) Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men” (Rom 14:18).
His apostleship has with it a special burden and vision in the Gospel; “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God” - particularly appropriate for the Roman epistle; the epistle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
To the Philippians also he is a 'doulos' – a bond slave
These 2 epistles have a PERSONAL introduction.
To the Colossians where problems abound he is the 'apostle of Jesus Christ'
To the Galatians with their challenge to the Gospel and justification by faith he throws the book at them: “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead). And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,”
So the Colossian and Galatian epistle are marked more by PROBLEMS than by anything PERSONAL
What about this EPISTLE? Is this a PERSONAL epistle? Is this a PROBLEM epistle?
The introduction to 1 Corinthians suggests that this is a PROBLEM epistle with a PERSONAL touch!
So why stress his apostolic authority here?
It was not universally accepted!
Why not?
Was his doctrine unorthodox? NT biblical doctrine is orthodox doctrine!
Was his conversion and testimony questionable? He seems to have had a very clear conversion in Acts 9.
Was his teaching superficial? A read through Pauls dealings with justification by faith in Romans 4, as he draws it out of Genesis and the Psalms or his teaching on election in Romans chp 9, drawn from Gods dealings with Jacob and Esau and Pharaoh would leave us in no doubt that his teachings were deep, well thought out and meaty.
So what was wrong with Paul?
Put simply his face didn't fit (2Co10:1-3,10)
They faulted Paul on his:
Personality: 1:12ff; “For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible” (2Co10:10). Paul didn't depend on the power of personality to prove His message (2 Co 10:1-3,7,10). These Corinthians seemed to have prejudiced, preconceived ideas of what a preacher / religious figure / leader ought to be like. They were looking for a:
Charismatic Personality (2Co10:10)
Great Orator (1 Co2; 2Co10:10)
Persuasive arguments
Bold Self confidence – someone able to sell themselves (2 Co10:1)
Someone like the Charismatic politician or TV personality
Presentation: (1 Co2:1ff; 2Co10), he did not tell them how they wanted to hear it (1 Co2:1-5). His ministry wasn't clothed with that shroud of human wisdom with which the Greeks were accustomed.
Personal Preference – 1 Co 1:12
They judged the FORM rather than the CONTENT of his ministry
Some were unable to see beyond this.
They were unable and unwilling to acknowledge their own prejudices and thus, by some at least, his ministry was rejected.
Problem 3 – The Purity of the Church @ Corinth
verse 2 is little short of miraculous that God should 'sanctify' or 'set apart' something for Himself in a place like Corinth.
That God should rake through the rubbish bin of corrupting Corinth and pull out trophies for His Grace.
It was nothing short of miraculous that God had done / made something different at Corinth.
But they didn't always see themselves as being different; “sanctified” and “saints”
They didn't always get this that God had set them apart and made them different.
They didn't quite get it:
Intellectually (1:17;2:4) – they continued to rely on the wisdom of this world.
Morally (5:1ff) – values of society remained their standard
Spiritually (8:1,4-6; 10:6-10) – they were in a state of spiritual confusion
Ecclesiastically (10:21-22;11:2-3) – the Lordship of Christ was not always honoured
But they were different:
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” (2Co6:17)
God had set them apart from the corruption around them but perhaps they didn't quite see it like that.
God had separated them from:
Family
Friends
Familiar places
all @ Corinth
Corinth had a problem
Corinth was:
multicultural
inclusive
religiously tolerant
So much so that in Acts when the Jews had a problem with Paul and his preaching and his conversion of Crispus, they tried to deal with him by taking him to the CIVIL authorities (Acts 18:12), to Gallio, the “deputy of Achaia” - the proconsul.
Corinth did:
multiculturalism
inclusivism
religious tolerance
so well that even the Jews felt that they could turn to the civil authorities over what was in essence a religious matter!
They all felt very much part of Corinth!
Part of the success at Corinth may well have been down to Gallio:
Proconsul in Corinth from 51 to 52 AD
Gallio was the son of Seneca a famous rhetorician
Gallios brother was also called Seneca – a famous philosopher
Gallios original name – Marcus Annaeus Novatus
Gallios brother Seneca said of Gallio - “no mortal is so pleasant to any person as Gallio is to everybody”
One day Corinth and the world would turn against them!
The tide was turning and within 12 years – AD 64, with a change of Caesar and the fire of Rome, Nero would declare war on Christianity.
There was one man amongst them who could warn them of the danger they were in, the impending disaster that lay ahead from feeling at home in a world that was foreign to them:
“Sosthenes our brother” (v1)
Sosthenes is the man who can teach them that they have no real place in this world.
Sosthenes was the man who had felt so at home in Corinth as to bring his problems with Paul to the Roman Proconsul, and then Corinth turned on him (Acts18:17)!
That experience seems to have been a wake up call for Sosthenes.
If you are going to die for your religion you had better be really sure its the right religion!
Its one thing to go to a nice place, with nice people and sing nice hymns and listen to nice music!
If you are going to die for it, it needs to be more than nice!
It needs to be real!
Was this Sosthenes reality check?
Perhaps it was even an opportunity for Sosthenes to see Christians in their true colours?
Was it the seen of an act of kindness?
Did Paul follow the example of Christ with Malchus the servant of the High Priest?
The tone of SANCTIFICATION truth is set for the epistle in verse 1 of chapter 1 by:
Paul – the man called to Christ
Sosthenes – the man rejected by the world
Combine those 2 men and you have a grasp of the biblical truth of sanctification:
Paul – made an apostle by the CALL of God to Himself
Sosthenes – made a brother by the CRUELTY of the World
Where the CALL of God fails to consecrate, the CRUELTY of men so often succeeds.
These Corinthian believers had to grasp the truth that they were different!
But do we not all worship the same God after all?
Christ is surely the best but are all of these great Corinthian religions not merely expressions of a wealth of religious experience celebrated in the rich tapestry of worship at Corinthian?
After all surely there is only 1 God (1 Co8:4)
That some thought like this at Corinth seems beyond doubt, with their moral compromise, their continued dabbling with the practices of the temple (1 Co8:1ff) and their ongoing compromise at Corinth:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2Co6:14)
That their view on this was utterly wrong is beyond doubt
One God there may well be, but that everyone was worshipping Him was simply not true.
Amongst the clearest teaching in this comes from the lips of Christ Himself. The Lord id very very clear on this and in an interesting setting; that of the Samaritan and the Jew; 2 very closely related systems of worship:
“Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:20-23)
Christ is very clear that this woman does not know what she worships and that there is now a condition attached to the worship of the Living and True God:
“in Spirit”
“in Truth”
We must have His Spirit to Worship Him
We must possess His Spirit to Worship Him
If we Worship the God of heaven, believing that He is some Greek idol, then this is not true and we are not worshipping the God of heaven at all.
The Church of God, at Corinth, worship the God of Heaven.
They approach God by the only means a man can worship God:
“call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:2)
With this NAME there stands a:
Promise: “where 2 or 3 are gathered together in My Name there am I in the midst of them.” (Matt 18:20) - Promise of the Presence of God
Promise: “whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do.” (John 14:12) – Promise of Prayer
Promise: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom 10:13) – Promise of Gods Provision in Salvation
Promise of Belonging to God – of Gods Possession (Acts 9:15; Acts 2:38; 1 Co1:13)
They called upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord:
Jesus – Saviour
Christ – Anointed one
Prophet – Secrets of God
Priest – Salvation of God
King – Sovereign
Lord – Supreme over all
Problem 4 – The Possession of Gift @ Corin