1 Corinthians 1 Division

1 Corinthians 1
1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.



Many of the letters that Paul wrote were directed at very specific problems, and specific Churches. However when we look at these letters we can easily see where the same message still applies today. I want to start off looking at the letters to the Corinthians.

First let’s look at the Town itself. Corinth was a town in what is now Greece. It was a major trade route between East and West, and it had two major ports. This made it a very prosperous town. The atmosphere might not have been as high society as Athens, but it was a major city nonetheless.

As one can imagine a port town, and a town along the trade artery there were many different people and many different customs. The largest amounts of the population were made up of Jews, Romans, and Asians. So, many different people, many different religious backgrounds.

One thing that many people here in the States take for granted is the concept that Christianity “has always been”. Not many people give much thought to the struggle and rejection that the early Apostles were met with. While Christ was a very well known figure, and many people far and wide knew of him, and knew of his works, many more had not. This was the great commission that Christ gave us when he said in John chapter 15: 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Christ was very well aware of the hardships his followers would face. I bring this up because it is important to understand that being a Christian and preaching the teachings of Christ back in the time of Paul was no small feat. Often when people did start to follow, and a Church would be founded, the Apostle would leave, and the Church would be spiritually attacked by people wanting to distort the truth. Worse yet, sometimes the Church would lose the focus of Christ and start to splinter among themselves.

This is the situation that we find the Church of Corinth in. Paul started a church within a pagan community, only to find that after he left it was starting to fracture. We know that there was not only the Jewish faith, and the Pagans to contend with, but within the Christian faith there were people who wanted to distort the teachings of Christ. There were groups that wanted to adhere to very strict regulations, there were groups that wanted to only take the easy part of being a Christian, and this led to them trying to teach acts that led to disorder within the faith.

Paul opens up his letter establishing his authority, or more to the point establishing that he is speaking on behalf of the Lord. Paul also makes reference to Sosthenes, who was at one time the leader of the synagogue at Corinth, and became a Christian convert, and a minister under Paul. Paul goes on to give thanks and praise for the followers of Christ in Corinth, and makes it clear that they all know the teachings of Christ, and have in the past held true to those teachings.

Paul then moves on to the first problem within the church, division.

I will pick up with this tomorrow,

Peace,
Rev. Thetford