October 2014

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 5: Delivering Sinners to Satan

Discussing 1 Corinthians chapter 4 in the last segment of our presentation of this epistle, we saw that Paul made an analogy of himself to a skilled architect, laying the foundation of Christ wherever he went with the expectation that others would come and build upon that foundation after him, thereby further edifying the Christian assembly. As we also pointed out, Peter made a similar analogy by comparing the members of the body of Christ to living stones, Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone of His ekklesia.

At the same time Paul also made an analogy of himself to a planter, and of Apollos to one who waters, indicating that the various servants of Christ had differing abilities and differing roles in tending to the assembly of Christ. However in our discussion we did not elaborate on how Paul had concluded this analogy, so we will do so here. Paul said that “6 I have planted, Apollos has watered, but Yahweh has given increase. 7 So that neither he who is planting is anybody, nor he who is watering, but Yahweh who is making to grow.”

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The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 4: The Eternal Spirit of Man

In our presentation of 1 Corinthians chapter 2 we saw that in Paul's writings the phrase mystery of God does not mean to identify a mystery about God but rather it pertains to what God had announced in the prophets concerning that which He would do with His people Israel. This idea is encapsulated by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 in his expression in verses 7 and 9, omitting the parenthetical remarks of verse 8, that “... we speak wisdom of Yahweh, that had been hidden in a mystery, which Yahweh had predetermined before the ages for our honor … just as it is written, 'Things which eye did not see, and ear did not hear, and came not into the heart of man, those things Yahweh has prepared for them that love Him'”. With this we may indeed perceive that this mystery which Paul refers to relates not to God, but to His plan for His people. Accompanied with that concept, we also saw that the spiritual things of Yahweh are revealed to us by His Word. Further supporting this assertion is the very next verse of that chapter, verse 10, where Paul explained that the things God has in store for His people are revealed to them through His Spirit, in concert with the Word of God found in Zechariah chapter 7, where it quite notably refers to “the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets”.

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 3: The Mystery of Yahweh God.

1 Corinthians chapter 1 ends as Paul compares worldly wisdom, which is doomed to fail, with the wisdom of God which is far better than that of man. Paul explains that although the Gospel of God is folly to man, the wisdom of man shall be destroyed, and has already been made to look foolish in the account of the Christ. In many respects the humanist philosophies OF were comparable to those of modern times, and the religious authorities were just as humanistic as those of today. So while the world thinks that Christians are fools, in reality Christians should see that those who are worldly are the true fools. As David wrote in two of his Psalms, numbered 14 and 53, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”

The first ministry of Paul of Tarsus in Corinth lasted over 18 months (Acts 18:11) until the Judaeans attempted to persecute him by charging him before the Roman proconsul Gallio. After the persecution had failed, Paul continued in Corinth for an additional but indeterminate period, which Luke describes only as “many days” (Acts 18:18). The end of Paul's ministry in Corinth having coincided with the term of the proconsul Gallio can therefore be dated to 51-52 AD from an inscription discovered at Delphi in Greece and first published in 1905 which is called the Gallio Inscription. The inscription represents part of a letter from the emperor Claudius concerning Gallio himself, which was written in 52 AD. After departing Corinth Paul spent three years in Ephesus (Acts 19, cf. vv. 10, 22, Acts 20:31) and after that passing through Macedonia he once again returned to Greece, where he spent another three months. By Greece, as the text records in Acts 20:2, it can be told from Paul's epistles that Corinth was where he spent at least a part of those three months. This first epistle to the Corinthians was written from Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8, 19), and the second was written as Paul was en route from Macedonia to Corinth for his final visit there (2 Corinthians 1:8, 15-16, 23, 9:4, 11:9).

The Epistles of Paul - 1 Corinthians Part 2, The Folly of the Wisdom of Men

Here we shall briefly review the last few verses which we discussed at the end of our first presentation, beginning with 1 Corinthians chapter 1 at verse 4 where Paul wrote: “4 I thank my God at all times concerning you, in reference to the favor of Yahweh that is being given to you among the number of Christ Yahshua, 5 seeing that in all you have been enriched in Him, in all thought and all knowledge, 6 just as the proof of the Anointed has been confirmed in you, 7 consequently you are not to be wanting in even one favor, anxiously expecting the revelation of our Prince, Yahshua Christ, 8 who will also secure you until fulfillment, void of offense in the day of our Prince, Yahshua Christ.”

In this offering of gratitude to Yahweh Paul briefly mentions three things which reflect ideas that all Israelite Christians should consider to be among the most concrete Christian doctrines: the favor granted to the Christians at Corinth, the “proof of the Anointed”, and the security of that favor until the fulfillment, when the Corinthian Christians would be found “void of offense”.

Discussing the favor which was being bestowed by Yahweh God upon these Corinthians Christians, we cited passages from Jeremiah chapters 30 and 31 which demonstrate that such favor was a matter of prophecy and was promised by Yahweh to the children of Israel. This is explicit in Jeremiah 30:2 where it says: “Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”

The Epistles of Paul – 1 Corinthians Part 1

The ancient city of Corinth sat in the Peloponnesus a few miles southwest of the nearly four-mile wide Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow neck of land that connects the Peloponnesus to mainland Greece. The Greek word ἰσθμός means neck, as describing a narrow passage. In the mid-19th century, the Greeks built modern Corinth much closer to the coast of the Adriatic Sea than the ancient city had once stood. The archaeology of the original site of Corinth indicates that there were people settled in the area in very ancient times. However the archaeology also indicates that the site of the city was only sparsely inhabited when the Dorian Greeks first settled there around 900 BC, if indeed it was inhabited at all. Like all Greek cities, myths were developed surrounding its founding, part of which are fascinating and surreal and part of which seem to represent historical facts. Most such myths put the founding of cites in the hands of the gods, the idols of a pagan people, and very often they were also developed for purposes which were political as well as cultural. In any event, the city of Corinth became a notable city among the Greeks by the end of the 8th century BC.