Wednesday Bible Study: People of the Epistles part two

 

Today we journey with Paul's first letter to Corinth, and we learn one overriding thing about the Corinthian people in this letter:

1Co 4:18  As to my not coming to you now, some are puffed up.

And this shouldn't be all that surprising.  Corinth was the rival in Greece of Athens, in all areas.  Athens was arrogant, self-important, and thought itself wise- and Corinth tried to be better in all these things.  But in a Church, the Corinthian attitude lead to a plethora of problems.

First layer: Contentions

1Co 1:10  I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
1Co 1:11  For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.
1Co 1:12  What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ."

In Rome, Paul had to preach unity between Jew and Gentile.  Here, the divisions were intellectual.  Satan always starts with a first layer of pride, and nobody knows better than a Martin the pride involved in arguing as a sport.  That's where these people were.  Arguing, especially philosophy, was their entertainment back then, and they hadn't managed to shake it off in the year-and-a-half Paul lived among them.

Second layer: Knowledge

1Co 3:1  But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
1Co 3:3  for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
1Co 3:4  For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human?

The next thing their pride did to them was a, "yeah we get it" attitude when Paul was there, when in fact they weren't learning what they NEEDED to.  And now Paul was having to backtrack and re-lay the foundations he already laid when no one was really listening.

Third layer: Judging

1Co 4:3  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.
1Co 4:4  For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

This was the core of the "I follow X" thing.  Followers of Peter bashed Paul for not being married, followers of Paul bashed Apollos for not working outside of ministry, everyone bashed Paul for speaking " in weakness and in fear and much trembling".  Instead of practicing faith, they were playing 'popularity contest', paying attention to petty mannerisms of the man instead of the God they preached.  This is the kind of thing that brings people to statements like, "I no longer identify as a Christian", because it's a faith with no Christ in it.

Fourth Layer:  No humility

1Co 4:10  We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
1Co 4:11  To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless,
1Co 4:12  and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
1Co 4:13  when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
1Co 4:14  I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
1Co 4:15  For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
1Co 4:16  I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Of course, this goes hand in hand with pride.  "I'm more humble than you are" is a dog that don't hunt.  But just in case you're thinking, "Yeah, but this is all harmless stuff", see where it leads...

Fifth Layer:  Accepting sin

1Co 5:1  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
1Co 5:2  And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Paul wasn't as mad at the sin (and he was livid at the sin), but that they were ACCEPTING of it, approving of it!  It was becoming a club, not a faith, and membership let you get away with whatever you wanted.  They were supposed to be brothers, united in holy love, but they couldn't even manage that...

Sixth Layer: Bring in the lawyers

1Co 6:1  When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
1Co 6:2  Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
1Co 6:3  Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
1Co 6:4  So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
1Co 6:5  I say this to your shame.

 

 They had failed to grasp one of the most bedrock tenets of the faith:  Be in this world, not OF it.  They were living their lives as if nothing had changed for them.  And maybe for many, it hadn't.  But even the ones who had faith hadn't listened.  Paul had to step by step through so many things in this letter, things they should have grasped in his 18 months there, with one thing in particular standing out...

Seventh Layer: no love

1Co 13:1  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
1Co 13:2  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

John would teach, "God IS love", and the very fact that Paul HAD to write that brilliant chapter 13 tells you that they had missed the point completely.  And to miss a point that three of the greatest preachers of all time had hammered them with takes a special kind of stubborn.  That was the Corinthian Church of the First Letter.

Eighth Layer: My gift is better than yours

1Co 14:1  Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
1Co 14:2  For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
1Co 14:3  On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
1Co 14:4  The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

Even in gifts of the Spirit, everyone sought pre-eminence. Pride had certainly done its work well:

1Co 5:6  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 

And there was a LOT of leaven in Corinth.

Ninth Layer: So what's the point?

1Co 15:12  Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
1Co 15:14  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 

Four the sake of their arguing entertainment, some in the Church tried to strip away the one defining thing of the faith:  Christ's resurrection, without which there was no point.  It made Jesus NOT God, and thus made the arguer his own god- the ultimate destination of all pride.

And now, Paul gets to the point...

1Co 15:34  Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

Pride is stupidity of God.  A "drunken" delusion of Satan.  And at this point, all one can say is, I hope these people have gotten better at this by the second letter....