Week 6 day 3

Read 1 Corinthians 1
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+1&version=NIV

1:10–17
In this section, Paul was concerned with the growing disunity in the Corinthian church. The people were forming religious cliques and making them the objects of their faith rather than finding unity in the cross of Christ. The Cross was to be the focus of the Christian life and an illustration of what it meant to follow Christ. The Corinthians were enjoying spiritual exaltation to the point that they were ignoring the implications of sacrifice and service found in the cross of Jesus Christ.

The word “divisions” (1 Cor. 1:10) referred to internal dissensions over the leadership of the church. Paul appealed to the people to make adjustments that there might be unity in the church. The believers were giving spiritual allegiance to different leaders (1:12). Paul expected that each of the questions in 1:13 would be answered with a resounding no! Paul was careful not to distort the truth of the gospel by embellishing it with clever rhetoric because he desired to avoid diminishing the cross of Christ (1:17). Paul’s concern focused on “the cross.” This focus emphasized that God alone had worked man’s salvation, not the various leaders who preached the word of God. It also called the Corinthians to identify with the Cross, through service and self-sacrifice. The Corinthians’ problems needed the corrective emphasis of the Cross; the Cross needed to be the focus of their ways because it exemplified God’s way. The next section develops this principle. Voiding the Cross was the mistake that led the Corinthians to exalt themselves and various leaders. Paul returned their minds to the crucified Christ, through whose suffering they were saved, and in whose steps they needed to follow.
Although Paul dealt with many subjects in this long letter, the underlying concepts that guided him were few. In evaluating ideas that stretched from idol-sacrificed meat to the Lord’s Supper, from immorality to marital relationships, from spiritual gifts to travel plans, only one thought directed his conclusions—the Cross of Christ (1:17). Each solution Paul presented came from his discernment of a problem’s relationship to that great truth.

1:18–The central statement for this letter was given in 1:18. The two groups, those “on the road to destruction” and the “saved,” were mentioned in order to cause the readers to identify with one or the other group when it came to the strife between the religious parties (1:12). Paul used Isaiah 29:14 to support his claim (1:19) that preaching a crucified Christ was considered foolishness in the eyes of the lost world. The worldly views of the Corinthian church also fell under Paul’s condemnation. History supports this view (1:20–25). The wise of this world are made foolish by God bringing salvation to those who believe. This is paralleled in 1:22–24.
Paul used paradoxical language (1:25) because of the Corinthians’ involvement with wisdom that was really foolishness. True wisdom is found in the salvation power of the Cross. Any other means of salvation or supposed wisdom makes void the cross of Jesus Christ and in God’s eyes is actually “foolish.”


1:26–31 THEIR CALLING: FOOLISH AND WISE
This relates to 1:18–25 as another example of Isaiah 29:14 in action. Their calling was considered foolish according to the flesh (1:26–31). Note the broader context of Jeremiah 9:12–24. To boast in the Lord is to boast in the cross of Christ. Paul emphasized God’s choice three times (1:27–29, cf. 1:9, “invited”). Contrary to the world’s approach, God chose to use not the wise, but the foolish and the weak to convey the Good News (1:26–29). Paul emphasized this fact to deny the Corinthians any occasion of boasting about their salvation.

Boasting (1:30–31) was a problem among the Corinthian Christians. They boasted of their salvation and spiritual gifts. Paul wanted them to realize that because their salvation was a gift from God, all their boasting should center in him. Their pride in their spiritual gifts was being cloaked in a guise of wisdom. Christ and his work on the cross had lost its hold on their thoughts and actions. In 1:31 Paul quoted Jeremiah 9:24 in support of his point.


Discussion question

Based on verses 12-14, what do you think Paul would have to say about the denominationalism that exists today?

How do you think the Christians in Corinth Chloe's household felt after this letter was received? Why?

Personal reflection

What thoughts came to mind when reading this chapter? If you don’t know, read it again and see if God is trying to tell you something within this chapter?