Letters-04-ICorinthians

LETTERS OF APOSTLES
to First-Century Churches

Lesson Four: 1st Corinthians ~ Part I
Theme: Childishness
AD 57

Background of People He Wrote

�� Corinth was the major seaport city of southern Greece with three harbors.� A little later a ship canal was built here to allow ships a shortcut from the Aegean Sea to the other side of Greece on the Adriatic Sea.� It was second in importance only to Athens.� Historically, during the day this Navy town swarmed with peddlers, foreign traders, sailors, soldiers, athletes in training, boxers, wrestlers, idlers and parasites of every kind (according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.� It was known as a wild city at night, full of brawls, lewd songs and drunken revelry.

�� It was the center of worship of both Poseidon and Aphrodite.� Poseidon was god of the sea who also created storms and earthquakes, and his sons were savage giants.� Olympic type games were held in his honour every other year and were very popular; however, married women were not allowed to watch them as contestants were naked.� Aphrodite was born out of the sea.� Her statue in Corinth was bisexual with a beard.� She was associated with the darker side of sex including rape, adultery, and incest.� She was worshiped by religious prostitutes in Corinth; either all women gave themselves once to a stranger before marriage, or certain women devoted themselves continually to her service.

�� Paul originally went to Corinth with intentions of returning shortly to Thessalonica (Acts 18:1, 16; 9:10; 1 Thess. 2:17-18) where he had barely escaped with his life (Acts 17:5-10).� But God appeared to him and told him to stay (Acts 18:9-10), so he wrote them a couple letters of encouragement (1 Thess. 2-3).� A month or so after his arrival, Silas and Timothy arrived.� He seems to have planted the church here (1 Cor. 1:16; 3:6, 10); however, Priscilla and Aquila may have already been Christians when they arrived from Rome (Acts 18:1-2; Rom. 16:3; 2 Tim. 4:19).� He stayed l8 months (Acts 19:11).� He tried with little success to convert the Jews(1 Cor. 12:2), and finally gave up and concentrated on the Gentiles (Acts 18:6).� The church here was composed of few who were "wise...influential...[or] of noble birth" (1 Cor. 1:26; 7:21).

�� When Paul left for Ephesus, he took Priscilla and Aquila with him.� While he was gone, a fairly new but intelligent Christian preacher, Apollos, preached there (Acts 19:1).� At some time, the Apostle Peter (Cephas) also preached there (1 Cor. 1:12).� In the mean time, Paul went to Ephesus where he stayed three years.� But he kept getting disturbing visits and letters from Christians in Corinth.� The church was in absolute turmoil.

Paul received word from Chloe's household about the spatting and divisions in the church there (1 Cor. 1:11), as well as their open immorality (1 Cor. 5:1, and their taking each other to court (1 Cor. 6:1).� Also some of them had written Paul a letter asking for advice (1 Cor. 7:1) which may have been delivered by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (1 Cor. 16:17).� Paul did reply to their letter (1st Corinthians), and promised to go see them when he returned to Macedonia (1 Cor. 16:1).� However, before he had a chance, he received a report that they were doing better (2 Cor. 2:13; 7:6), so wrote them a second letter of comfort (2nd Corinthians).� A little while later he did revisit them (Acts 20:1-3) and the Christians in Philippi both for about three months.� A final visit with them was ten years later after his release from prison in Rome (1 Timothy 4:20).�

Verses Depicting Theme

1:10�� ...divisions among you

1:11�� ...quarrels among you

3:1�� ...worldly - mere infants....milk, not solid food...still not ready for it.

3:3�� ...still worldly...jealousy and quarreling

4:6�� ...pride in one man over against another

4:14�� ...shame you, but to warn you

4:18�� ...have become arrogant

5:6�� Your boasting is not good

5:8�� ...malice and wickedness

6:12�� ...mastered by anything

7:26�� ...the present crisis

11:17�� ...I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.

Divisions of Letter

�� ORAL REPORTS ABOUT THEM FROM SEVERAL MEMBERS:

1:10�� ...be perfectly united

7:1�� Now for the matters you wrote about....

�� THEIR LETTER:� PERSONAL LIFE:

�� 7:2�� ...to marry

�� 8:1�� Now about food sacrificed to idols

�� 11:3�� ...the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

�� THEIR LETTER:� PUBLIC WORSHIP:

�� 11:17�� In the following directives...your meetings...in the first place...when you come together as a church

�� 12:1,13� Now about spiritual gifts....we are baptized...into one body

�� 12:28�� ...in the church, God has appointed

�� 14:6�� If I come to you and speak

�� 14:23�� So if the whole church comes together

�� 14:26�� When you come together

�� 14:33�� As in all the congregations

�� 15:12,29 ...but if it is preached....Now if there is no resurrection....

16:1�� Now about the collection

ORAL REPORTS: PROBLEMS OF DIVISION

1:1�� Paul wrote this letter along with Sosthenes.� Acts 18:17 says Sosthenes was a converted Jewish Synagogue ruler which the Jews in Corinth had done what to?� ______________________________________

1:7�� While staying there, Paul had imparted spiritual ___________________________ to them.

1:12�� Their divisions ("denominations") were caused by following leading Christians of the day:� __________________________, _______________________________, and _______________________________.� Can you think of denominations today that are named after Christian leaders?� ________________________________________________________________________

1:13�� His challenge:� "Is Christ __________________________?� Was Paul __________________________ for you?� Were you ____________________________________ into the name of Paul?"

1:20�� Apparently some of their members/leaders had tried to appear worldwise and act like a s_____________________________ or a _________________________________________.� In chapters 1 - 3, the word wise/wisdom appears 23 times.

1:26�� Paul reminded them that not many of them were _________________ by human standards, not many __________________, not many of _______________________ birth.

2:1�� When Paul himself preached to them, he did not speak with _______________________________ or superior (holier-than-thou) wisdom.� In fact, 2 Corinthians 10:1 said Paul was t_______________, his appearance un_______________________, his speaking amounted to _________________________ (10:10), and he was not a ________________________ speaker (11:6).

3:21�� He warned them that those who were boasting about being wise would be caught by God in their c_____________________ (v. 19), for it is f_____________________ (v. 20)

4:6�� "Do not go ____________________________ what is ________________________."

4:8�� Paul infers that God made them ________________________ from anyone else (remember, they were poor and insignificant), but in God's eyes they had become ______________________, and had become _____________________.

4:9�� It was the important ones in the church - the apostles - who had been put on _____________________ at the _____________ of the procession to __________________ in the arena.

4:10-11� It is not so bad to be poor and unimportant.� List below the things the apostles had voluntarily become in one column and �the things the Corinthians were by comparison in the other column:

�� *�� *

4:13�� The leaders of the church - the apostles - had voluntarily become the _______________ of the ______________________, the ________________________________ of the world.

4:18�� But some of the Corinthian Christians had become _____________________________________.

4:21�� Paul gave them a choice of him coming to them with a� ______________ or gentleness?

5:1-2�� One man in their congregation had evidently married his step mother.� The congregation there was ________________ of their liberal attitude toward it.� They had even ________________________ about it (5:6).

5:4f, 6�� When they were assembled, this man needed to be handed over to __________________________, because a little _________________________ works through the whole batch (congregation).

5:9-11�� Although they sometimes had no choice who they associated with in the world, they were not to associate with any brother who is sexually _______________________ or ___________________________, an ________________________, a __________________________, a ___________________________________, or a _____________________________.

6:2-7a�� Since saints will judge the __________________________ and also ______________________, Paul said their own congregation should judge each other and not take each other to law (court).

6:7b�� "Why not rather be _______________________________?� Why not rather be ___________________________?"� Instead, they turned right around and cheated and wronged each other.

6:15�� When we sexually unite with those we're not married to, it is as though members of ______________________'s own body unites with them sexually.

6:19�� Our bodies are the ____________________________ of God.

THEIR LETTER: PROBLEMS OF PRIVATE LIFE

���� Marriage

7:3-5�� Husbands and wives should fulfill their __________________________ duty to their spouses, for their bodies belong to their spouses.

7:12,15� If a Christian has a spouse who is willing to live with them, even though an unbeliever, they are not to divorce.� But if the unbeliever leaves, the Christian spouse is not bound.� However, try to stay together so you can ______________________ your husband or wife.

7:17,21� Slaves should not insist on their freedom if they become Christians.

7:25,34� Paul recommended that the unmarried remain unmarried because the unmarried are concerned about the ________________ affairs and the married about the affairs of this _____________________.

7:39�� If a Christian's spouse dies, they are to remarry only one who belongs to the __________________________.

���� Food Sacrificed to Idols

8:7-9�� Some had not been away from worshipping idols long enough to be desensitized to eating animals offered in sacrifice to them as a part of worship.� The Christians were warned not to allow the exercise of their ________________________________ to become a ________________________________ block to the weak.

8:11�� When we go ahead and force someone to do or not do something they recently thought was sinful, though we know it isn't, that weak brother, for whom Christ _____________________, is destroyed by our knowledge.� 8:1 says, Knowledge ______________________ _______________, but love ______________________ ______________.

I Corinthians ~ Part II

9:3�� In the midst of this hard advice, Paul stops to remind them that he is an apostle, and yet he doesn't use all the freedoms allowed to him.� "This is my ______________________________ to those who sit in _______________________ on me."

9:12� �� Others had the right of ______________________________ from the church, so shouldn't the apostles have it all the more?� But they did __________________ use this right (freedom), even though (see v. 14) those who ______________________ the gospel have the right to receive their ____________________________ from the gospel.� Instead, (see v. 18) Paul offered it ___________________________ of charge, not making use of his rights.

9:20-22� "To the Jews I become like a _________________________....to those not having the law, I became like one not having the _________________....To the weak I became ________________....I have become __________ _____________________ to all men so that by all _______________________________ means I might ___________________ some."

9:24-27� Notice Paul refers to running for a prize, competing in games after strict training.� Corinth was a center for olympic-type games.

10:11�� "If you _____________________________ you are _____________________________ firm, be careful that you don't __________________________."� (Does this mean it is possible to fall?)

10:13�� "God...will not let you be tempted __________________________ what you can _________________.� but...will also provide a _________________________ _________________________."

10:23�� "Everything is _____________________________________, but not everything is _________________________________."

10:25,28 Eat anything sold in the meat market ________________________________ raising questions of conscience.� But if you eat a meal with someone and they make a point to say the meat was offered to idols, then do _________________ eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for _______________________________ sake.

11:1�� We're to follow Paul's example, as he follows Christ's _________________________, Christ being both his head and example. For the woman, the man imitating Christ is her head and example, as well as the example of who (see v. 10).

�� NOTE:� A study of angels shows that anytime angels came to earth, they spoke only to individuals or very small groups.� And why is she doing this?� To not cause men to stumble (10:32, etc., etc.) and so that (9:22) by all possible means she might save some (of these men).�

THEIR LETTER: PUBLIC WORSHIP

11:20f�� They were supposed to come together to eat the Lord's ________________________, but instead they were having a "potluck" dinner.

11:27�� After describing the way they were to keep the Lord's Supper, Paul said, "whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy ____________________________ will be guilty."� Is the worshipper supposed to be worthy or is the manner of keeping the Lord's Supper supposed to be worthy?� _____________________________________________

11:28�� Before eating the bread and drinking the cup, we are to ___________________________ ourselves.� Why?� If we judge ourselves in our weekly exam before the Lord's Supper, we will not come under ____________________________________ by the Lord.

11:33�� If someone cannot meet with us for the Lord's Supper, we are to ___________________________ for each other, or even return later in the day to allow that person to take it.

���� Spiritual Gifts

12:8-10 List below the spiritual gifts:

�� * Message [Greek is "logos" as Word of God - John 1:1] of ______________________________________ (Greek is "sophia," referring to understanding the spiritual nature of things - Romans 11:33)

�� * Message of ______________________________________ [Greek is "gnosis" also in Romans 11:33)

�� * Faith [Greek is "pistis" meaning faithfulness]

�� *Healing [healing and miracules were used to prove the messages or prophecy were from God - John 20:30f]

�� *Miraculous _______________________________________ [same as above]

�� *Prophecy [Greek is "propheteia" meaning ability to teach publicly]

�� *Distinguishing between ___________________________

�� *Speaking different _______________________________ of tongues [Greek is "glossa" languages]

�� *Interpretation [Greek is expounding - Luke 24:27] of ________________________________

�� Compare this with the gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8:

�� *Prophesying [ability to teach publicly]

�� *Serving

�� *Teaching

�� *Encouraging

�� *Contributing to the needy

�� *Leading

�� *Mercy

�� Paul had not been to Rome yet.� He said, "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift." These gifts listed in Romans are gifts all Christians everywhere and in all times may have.� Regarding the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians, Paul said "Our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.� Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift" (1 Corinthians 1:6-7).� 2 Corinthians 12:12 says what things mark an apostles?� ________________________________, ________________________, and _____________________________________.

12:13�� The church in Corinth (1:2) had been _________________________________ into the one body of Christ (12:27).

13:3�� Already some of the Christians had surrendered their bodies to the ________________________ for their beliefs.

14:5�� Who was greater in the church:� One who could prophesy or speak in tongues?� _____________________________

14:13�� If a person speaks in languages/tongues in the church, someone must ____________________________.

14:22�� Were languages/tongues to be used among Christians or among unbelievers?� ____________________________ (Remember, Corinth was an international naval town.)

14:27-27� What is the most number of people allowed to speak in foreign languages/tongues in a church assemble?� __________________________� All at once or one at a time?� ______________________________� And someone must _______________________________________.

14:34,36� Women should remain ___________________________________ in the churches because sometimes they act as though the word of God ______________________________ with them.

���� Resurrection from Death

15:12�� The last issue was that some of the "worldwise" Corinthian Christians were saying there is no ________________ from the dead.

15:23�� On the last day, who will be raised back to life?� _________________________________

15:24-25 Jesus will hand the kingdom over to God on the last day, which means he is will ___________________ all other dominion, etc., which will be completed when he destroys _____________________________ (that is, when we come back to life).� Notice, he will have accomplished all this before we come back to life, not after for 1000 years).

15:29�� Romans 6:3-4 says we are baptized into death so we can do what?� ______________________________________

15:32�� Getting ready to leave Ephesus, (see 16:19), Paul says he fought _____________________________________.� But he was willing to because he knew the ___________________________ are raised back to life.

15:44�� At resurrection, we will be given a ___________________________________ body (whatever that is!).

15:51-54� On the last day, we will be changed how fast?� _____________________________________________________� On the last day, Death will be swallowed up in __________________________.

16:2-3�� While Paul was still with them, they decided to send funds to the poor Christians in Judea (2 Cor. 8:10).� Paul instructs them to set aside a sum of money how often?� ______________________________________� Was it to be by tithing?� __________

16:5-8�� Paul planed to leave Ephesus after Pentecost, and then head up to Macedonia in Northern Greece.� Then he'll stay awhile.� He did not want to go now and make it only a _____________________________ visit.

16:15-17 Stephanas was the first _________________________________ in Achaia (Corinth's province), and he was now with Paul in Ephesus, probably telling him of their problems.

16:21�� Once again, Paul authenticated his letter with his own handwriting and signature.

Events After Writing the Letter

AD 57�� 2 Cor. 2:12�� Passed north through Troas [Troy], on to Macedonia.

���� 2 Cor..2:6,12,14

���� 13:1; 17:6f�� WROTE 2 CORINTHIANS

�� THEME:� COMFORT

�� 2 Cor. 8:11-13�� Reminded them of their decision a year ago to send money to poor Christians in Judea which they still hadn't done (see 1 Corinthians 16:1-4) - more childishness.

���� 2 Cor. 8:17-20�� Sent it by Titus whom he said could take their donation

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