Category: 1 Corinthians (Page 4 of 5)

Incest.  Not your typical church problem. So at first glance this text seems irrelevant to us.  Let’s see . . .

THE SIN  

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you? (1 Corinthians 5:1,2).

Paul has received a report of “sexual immorality” among the Corinthian Christians.  The Greek word, porneia, is used of all sexual practice outside of marriage.  But quickly we learn what porneia Paul is condemning: “a man is living with his father’s wife.” 

The woman isn’t the man’s mother.  We’re not told anything about the father/husband.  Did he die?  Was there divorce?  It matters not. Even pagans counted it immoral for a father and son to “have” the same woman.

The sin is compounded:  the church is “arrogant.”  How can they be arrogant with such perverse sin among them?  The Corinthians remember are triumphalists.  Having the Spirit, they ask, how can sin hold any consequence for such spiritual people?  They aren’t boastful of the sin; they’re boastful of their “triumphant” spirituality that renders such sin inconsequential.

Rhetorically, Paul asks:  “Shouldn’t you have grieved over sin and been moved to repentant action so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you”? 

The church is “called to be God’s holy people” (1 Corinthians 1:2).  But sin has corrupted the church’s corporate holiness. The incestuous man should be removed from among them.

The Judgment

 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians5:3-5).

It’s unclear what Paul means by “I am present in spirit”.  But what he wants done is crystal clear:  “As if present” he has “already pronounced judgment” by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His verdict: “When you are assembled (the whole church is to act) and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus (Paul seems to say that the Holy Spirit makes his spirit present among them) you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh . . .”  They are to expel him from the Christian community and, thereby, put him back into Satan’s realm.  The intent is for his sinful nature (“flesh”) to be  destroyed so that in the final judgment his spirit may be saved.  In other words, the purpose of discipline is redemptive.

The Cleansing

Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

The man’s sin has infected the whole church—and they’re boasting!  Paul uses what is probably Jewish folk-saying (“a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough”) to diagnose sin’s effect on the whole community and to repeat what they must do (“Clean out the old yeast”) so they can be “unleavened” as they really are in Christ.

How are they “unleavened” (cleansed from sin)?  Paul turns to Passover:  they are “unleavened” by the sacrifice of their paschal lamb, Christ.  Therefore, they should “celebrate” who they actually are in Christ—not a community infected with “malice and evil”, but cleansed with “sincerity and truth”. 

The Correction

 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons–not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge?  God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).

Paul had written previously—a letter not providentially preserved Scripture.  The Corinthians had misunderstood his instruction.  He didn’t mean, “Don’t associate with the world’s immoral (that would mean leaving the world).  He meant, “[Don’t] associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister” who is practicing sexual immorality, greed, idol worship and so on.  “Do not even eat with such a one.”

It’s God’s work to judge outsiders.  The church is to judge insiders.  As Deuteronomy 17:7 commands: “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

The Take-Away.

Should you not have mourned?

My first reaction is to sort of boast that my church isn’t guilty of so egregious a sin as incest.  My second is to examine how Paul wanted church discipline to be carried out so, if necessary, we might follow.  My third is to realize (again) how rarely do we discipline sin-practicing church members.

But only after much inspection of this passage do I confess how little, if any, do we mourn over our sin.  I’ve not talking about occasional transgressions.  Nor about anything as extreme as incest.  I’m talking about those addictive sins, such as pornography or drugs.  I’m talking about those isolation sins, such as the church doing little or nothing to reach our neighborhoods with the evangelistic/social gospel.  I realize the first may demand discipline but not the second.

However, the larger issue is, “Should we not mourn over sin?”  So the big take-away for me from this text is not how to do church discipline.  It’s a call to grieve over the sin in me and among us.

O Lord, you know we still carry a sinful nature, even though your Holy Spirit indwells us and we’re your people.  But keep us from treating sin lightly.  Give us a heart to mourn over sin that we might more successfully shun it and that we might more highly treasure your salvation.  For the glory of your holy name, Amen.

Pastors aren’t apostles.  They’re functionally different.  But both are leaders in Christ’s church.  And the relationship between leaders and church is crucial for proclaiming the message of the church.   What  the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian church, pastor and church must hear today.

The Corinthians have turned anti-Paul.  He doesn’t measure up to their worldly-wise standards.  By opposing him, they’re rejecting his apostolic authority and the gospel he teaches.  In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul attempts to bridge the gulf between the church and himself.

First, he asserts that apostles are God’s servants whom the church shouldn’t judge (4:1-5).

Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.  I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

“Servant” is the Greek humayretays.  It refers to one who acts under the authority of another to carry out his will.  Paul urges the Corinthians to think of apostles as servants of Christ.

“Stewards” is the Greek oikonomos. It refers to one charged with running  someone else’s household.

“Mysteries” is the Greek mustayrion.  “God’s mysteries” refers to things that God has kept hidden, but now revealed (in Christ).

Trustworthiness is a necessary virtue for stewards. Paul urges the Corinthians to think of apostles as God’s stewards.

Paul emphasizes he is a servant of Christ and steward of God.  Therefore, the Corinthians shouldn’t sit in judgment (anakrino) of him.  When the Lord comes, he will carry out judgment.

Application cuts two ways. One, the church is not to judge the pastor.  That doesn’t mean don’t evaluate his ministry on biblical grounds.  Nor does it mean don’t try to build him up where he is lacking.  It means don’t stand against him, don’t reject or oppose him. Far too much harm has been inflicted on churches by members who just didn’t like the pastor.  Better to peacefully leave the church than stir up hostility.

The second “cut”:  the pastor must see himself as God’s servant and steward of God’s hidden things revealed in Christ.  He must cultivate humility and faithfully preach and teach the Word.  A proud pastor corrupts the message of the cross and, while “prosperity” sermons may attract listeners, they ignore gospel truth.

Next, Paul identifies the marks of authentic apostles (1 Corinthians 4:6-13).

I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, “Nothing beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another.  For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

The Corinthian church is anti-Paul and pro-Apollos, who apparently is a more captivating speaker.  Whatever the saying “Nothing beyond what is written” means, it’s clear its purpose is “that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another.”

“For who sees anything different in you?” is an interpretation challenge.  Dr. Gordon Fee says it probably means something like, “Who in the world do you think you are anyway?  What kind of self-delusion is it that allows you to put yourself in a position to judge another person’s servant?”

Paul goes rhetorical in his next two questions.  Everything they have is a gift from God, so why boast as if they’ve achieved “wisdom” and earned spiritual gifts? 

Paul’s irony cuts to the core.  “Already you have all you want . . . become rich . . . become kings!”  Possessing the Spirit, the Corinthians have become triumphalists. “Triumphalism is the belief that the overt and consummate victories that we will experience in the age to come are available to us now.” This boasts “visible and irreversible victories in the present that result in a life free from persecution, suffering, or demonic assault. It’s the notion that since I’m a ‘child of the King’ I have a right to live in financial prosperity and complete physical health . . . [It] belittles those whose ‘lack of faith’ has resulted in a lingering, daily struggle from which Jesus came to deliver them.” (http://www.samstorms.com/all-articles/post/the-dangers-of–triumphalism—2-cor–2:14-)

Finally, Paul draws a series of sharp contrasts between his view of apostleship and theirs.  Picturing apostles as “a spectacle to the world”, Paul may have in mind the triumphant Roman general who parades his ravished captives as he marches home. Apostles, Paul argues. are like that–a “spectacle . . . like the rubbish of the world.”  This, Paul asserts, is true apostleship and true Christianity in the evil world.  To the triumphalist Corinthians, Paul is faithless and weak, living below the standard of “King’s kids” who possess the Spirit’s power.

We, of course, reject triumphalism and what is called today “the prosperity gospel”.  But in practice we live much closer to it than to Paul’s “spectacle” gospel.  Belief in the message of the cross hasn’t left us hungry or thirsty or homeless or beaten or reviled or slandered.  Should we simply thank God for that or consider if our crucified-Christ following is too lukewarm to evoke hostility?

Third, Paul issues his apostolic admonishment (4:14-21).

I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.  I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me.  For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church.  But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant.  But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.  For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.  What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Though he’s written “hard” words, he grounds them in a father-children relationship.  Paul is their “father through the gospel”, because they came to believe through his preaching.  They are his “beloved children.”

From that image he makes a passionate appeal: “be imitators of me”.  For Paul this means two things.  One, imitate me by returning to the message of the cross.  In other words, look at life through the eyes of the crucified Christ, not through the eyes of human wisdom or misplaced triumphalism.

Two, imitate me by living like the crucified Christ.  That means don’t act as if the Spirit’s gifts make you superior to others and immune from suffering for Christ in this evil age.

* * * * *

As I review this long exposition, I see several “take-aways”, all having to do with the pastor and the church.  I’ll comment only on the most powerful for me–Paul’s risky exhortation to the church:  “Imitate me”.  Preaching is comparatively easy; living a life consistent with the message of the crucified Christ is hugely challenging.

Pastors, you must live such a life so that the people to whom you preach can follow Christ as they follow you.  This means living like a humble servant and trustworthy steward.  It means responding to offenses as Jesus did and embracing suffering for him as a normal part of living in an evil age.  And it means loving the people as a father his children.  Christ calls us to this for the sake of his church and his glory.

Church, we must pray for our pastor to be worthy of imitation and follow him as he follows Christ.  We must look to him as model of the message of the cross.

Only then will the church be the body of Christ that glorifies him and makes him known to a world that so desperately needs him.

“I’m a Calvinist.”  “I’m an Arminian.”  “I’m a Pentecostal.”  “I’m a Baptist.”  Sounds a bit like the Corinthians. “I follow Paul.”  “I follow Apollos.”  “I follow Cephas.”  “I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:12).

It’s not wrong to identify with a theological system or denomination–unless we say it boastfully and denigrate another.  (“I’m a Charismatic not a frozen Episcopalian!” or, “I’m a Calvinist not one of those falling-on-the-floor Charismatics!”)

In 1 Corinthians 1:18-3:17 the apostle Paul reproved the Corinthians for their fascination with human wisdom which elevated one preacher over another and led to division in the church. Now in 3:18-23 he starts to tie the threads together to conclude his correction.

You should not fool yourself. If any of you think that you are wise by this world’s standards, you should become a fool, in order to be really wise.  For what this world considers to be wisdom is nonsense in God’s sight. As the scripture says, “God traps the wise in their cleverness”; and another scripture says, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20, GNT).

Greek culture was famous for its philosophers.  It boasted men like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and more.  But, warns Paul, think you’re wise by this world’s standards is to deceive yourself.  Real wisdom demands become a “fool”.

How does one become a fool?  By believing the message of the cross which is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18).  Let’s admit it:  that the way to life is through a crucified Jewish Messiah does sound foolish.

Compare that to the wise-sounding 5^th century B.C. Greek philosopher Epicurus. “Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here.  And when it does come, we no longer exist.”  Wise-sounding perhaps, but worthless in the end, because it doesn’t lead to God.

Don’t read much Epicurus?  Here’s worldly wisdom that does affect us.  In 2005 sociologist Christian Smith and his team interviewed 3000 American teenagers.  What they discovered Smith dubbed Moral Therapeutic Deism.  He identified its five core values . . .

1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion-6266/#IBcL7XkDSS5zZkDz.99

This “wisdom” permeates our culture.  Let it seep into our thinking and it will morph our understanding of God and negate the gospel.

This is why Paul quotes from Job 5:13 (“He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away”) and Psalm 94:11 (“The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile”).  God catches the world wise in their wisdom; they end up trapped by their own futile thinking.

We mustn’t fool ourselves by feeding on the world’s wisdom, or by allowing it to seep into our thinking.  Fools we must be, trusting our lives to the message of the cross.

No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you:  Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future – all these are yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God (1 Corinthians 3:21-23, GNT).

The Corinthians are boasting about which “wise” preacher they belong to.  But Paul claims, “ . . . everything belongs to you.”  All preachers.  They’re not orators to be exalted; they’re servants, all of whom the church can learn from.

Then Paul goes “out there” on us.  “Everything belongs to you”—even this world, life, death, the present and the future.”

C.K. Barrett, in his First Corinthians commentary observes . . .

Paul’s thought has moved on, by a natural transition, to the general sovereignty of the church as the people of God.  It is in Christ, and in the community that is in Christ, that humanity recovers its lost lordship, and because Christ is the Lord over the world, over life and death (through his crucifixion and resurrection) and over both this age and the age to come, that his people are no longer the servants of destiny and corruption, but free lords over all things.  Thus the Christian lives in the world, but the world does not dominate his attitude to life—in other words, he does not think in terms of the wisdom of the world.  He is subject to the vicissitudes of life, and ultimately death . . . but none of these experiences can separate him from the love of God . . . (p. 95,96).

“Everything belongs to you” because everything belongs to the crucified-resurrected Christ.  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me . . . “ (Matthew 28:18).  And “you belong to Christ”.

Paul is thinking eschatalogically.  “ . . . if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12).  This is the Christian’s inheritance, secured in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

And “Christ belongs to God”.  Dr. Gordon Fee comments . . .

[God is] “the ultimate reality, the one who possesses all things and outside of whose ultimate control lies nothing” (The First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 155).  Thus he can give all things to whomever he wishes, and he gives it to those who belong to the crucified Christ.

Question:  Why boast about our denomination or theological system?  Two reasons.  One, we think our choice reflects our wisdom.  But when we’re subtly boasting, “I’m a Calvinist not one of those Charismatics”, we’re repeating the sin of the Corinthians.

Two, boasting is a cry for significance.  It’s important to feel important, that we’re not a dust-mite in the span of the universe.  So we tie ourselves to a denomination or theological system that’s significant in our circles.

To us, as he did to the Corinthians, Paul warns, “Let no one deceive himself.”  Instead, let’s humble ourselves.  Let’s admit that our wisdom is human wisdom and it leads us away from God.  Let’s cling only to God’s wisdom—the message of the crucified Christ.  He “has become for us righteousness, sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In him, for us “fools”,  everything is ours.

One day that will cease to be a faith-statement.  Our own two eyes will see it.

Most Christians know the church isn’t the building.  But not as many know the church is a community indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, how we treat the church is of utmost importance.

The mid-1^st century A.D.  Corinthian church members to whom Paul is writing are divided over preachers.  They base their preference on “human wisdom (Sophia)”.  Which preacher stands above the others in philosophy and rhetoric?  By this time, Paul, having left Corinth for Ephesus, languishes at the bottom of the preference-list, because his speaking is unimpressive and in person he’s weak (2 Corinthians 10:10).

Paul answers his critics . . .

DIVIDING IS UNSPIRITUAL BEHAVIOR

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?

The problem, says Paul, doesn’t lie with him, but with them. They have the Spirit, but don’t behave as those who do.  They disagree and fault Paul, who preached only gospel-basics, because, like babies, they couldn’t “digest” more.  Their divisiveness proves him correct.

Our common sharing in the Holy Spirit (“ , , , all [were] baptized by one Spirit into one body . . . and all were given the one Spirit to drink”–1 Corinthians 12:13) should unite us.  Too often, however, we quarrel and divide.  Thus we act like children, especially when we dispute over leaders, because . . .

LEADERS ARE SERVANTS

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.  For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).

Corinthians are exalting one preacher over another.  But leaders are only servants.  Like farmers.  One plants, another waters.  But growth—that is, faith as the Lord assigns—comes from God.  Make much, then, about God, not his servants!

Leaders are also like builders.  Builders are servants who, like farmers, “get their hands dirty”.  And the building belongs to God, not the servant-builders.

Our culture makes it hard for a leader to think like a servant. People respect you.  Your word is usually final in decision-making.  Dozens of eyes look to you when you preach.  The really successful churches are “mega” and the pastor a celebrity.  Leaders easily clothe themselves with self-importance.  Here’s what the Spirit leads you to do:  take off the “royal robe” and put on the servant’s shirt!  The gospel of the crucified Christ is at stake in the leader’s demeanor.

LEADERS MUST BUILD CAREFULLY

 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

Paul claims to have founded the Corinthian church “like a skilled master builder.”  No boast, because he was enabled by the grace God gave him.  Now that he’s left, “someone else is building” on the foundation he laid.  Paul warns:  choose to build with care, because if your building doesn’t line up with Jesus Christ crucified, God’s Judgment Day fire will burn up what you’ve built.

Corinthians were caught up with “wisdom”–human philosophy about where we’ve come from, how we can know truth, what we should value and how we should think—delivered by polished orators.  Now, with the Holy Spirit, Corinthians presumed to possess superior human wisdom and preferred preachers with superior oratorical skill.  Relying on those traits was like building with wood, hay and straw.

Preachers today are pressured to build big churches and speak with spellbinding skill.  The message “how to be happy” builds bigger churches than “Christ crucified”.  The pastor who dresses in the current style and speaks like a talk-show host attracts more listeners than a suit-wearing, arm-waving preacher-man.  And if the pastor can find a “great” contemporary worship “band”, he’s got it made.  But the church is “the community of the Spirit”.  And the Spirit always leads us to the crucified Christ.  Leaders who rely on the Spirit build with “gold, silver and precious stones.”  What they build will stand in the Judgment.  But those who rely on what’s popular are building what will burn.

Divisiveness among members and reliance on inferior “building material” are especially egregious because . . .

THE CHURCH IS GOD’S HOLY TEMPLE

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16,17).

Paul defines “God’s temple” as the people among whom “God’s Spirit” dwells.  The church is a community of the Spirit.  “God’s temple” means not only that the church belongs to God, but that the church (the gathered people) is indwelt by God (be means of the Holy Spirit).  Significantly, for “temple”,  he uses not hieron (the temple as a whole), but naos (the inner sanctuary where God dwells).

Destroy God’s temple by divisiveness or by building with teaching contrary to that of the crucified Christ and, Paul warns, “God will destroy [you]”.

The church isn’t only “a community of the Word” where people gather to hear the Bible preached.  The church is “a community of the Spirit” where people gather to enter the presence of God the Holy Spirit.

When we enter the sanctuary (“meeting room” demeans what God intends), we should be careful to foster a sense of unity, never divisiveness.  And we should actively seek the presence of the Spirit as we worship.  For he always leads us to the crucified Christ by whom we are saved from boastful pride and sanctified in humility like our Lord.

So, are we fools?  Is the cross-message nonsense?  Are its preachers idiots?  No.  No.  And no.  We who believe in Jesus Christ have received God’s wisdom.

Of course, our popular culture doesn’t prize wisdom.  That’s obvious from bestseller lists, college classroom lectures, and the following from “Psychology Today” magazine . . .

“ Psychologists tend to agree that [wisdom] involves an integration of knowledge, experience, and deep understanding that incorporates tolerance for the uncertainties of life as well as its ups and downs . . .Today, we turn to the internet for everything, with Wikipedia being our web-based wisdom, and Google providing the search capabilities that often surpass our failing memories . . . This raises many important questions, one of which is to what degree can we rely on web-based wisdom, perhaps at the expense of our own ‘human’ knowledge and memory?” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/metacognition-and-the-mind/201404/wisdom-ask-siri-or-ask-grandma).

Psychologists’ wisdom-definition is, well, foolish.  As is the notion of seeking wisdom on the web.  And the above-paragraph implies our only alternative to the web is wisdom found in “our own human knowledge and memory”.

Anyway, what’s the big deal?  The name of the game now is information.  That’s power.  That’s success.  Guess it depends on how you spell “success”.  The world through its wisdom does not know God (1 Corinthians 1:21).  Doesn’t sound like success to me.

Having rightly bashed human wisdom in 1:18-2:5, Paul now turns to commend God’s wisdom.

THE NATURE OF GOD’S WISDOM

 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”–  but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-10a).

Most will admit God is wise.  He must be—he’s God!  But most will understand God’s wisdom to be just superior human wisdom available to whomever searches for it.

Paul points out that God’s wisdom lies in a whole other category from “the wisdom of this age” or those whose influence shapes this age. Want proof?  The “wise” movers and shakers of this age “crucified the Lord of glory”.  Christ, who is wisdom incarnate, they executed like a common criminal—and would do the same today.

Furthermore, God’s wisdom leads to glory to which the human eye is blind, the human ear deaf, and to which the human mind cannot conceive.  Enroll at Harvard, climb the highest mountain to the wisest sage, gather as much information as technologically possible and you’ll not discover God’s wisdom.

God’s wisdom is secret, hidden.  And God reveals it only to those he gives the Spirit.  You might disagree.  Want God’s wisdom?  Just read the Bible.  It’s all there.  True.  But the human eye sees it there, hears it there and conceives it there only when the Spirit reveals it there.  This is why some of our greatest intellectuals trash the Bible as foolishness.

KNOWING GOD’S SECRET WISDOM

 The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words (1 Corinthians 2:10b-13).

 Unless I tell you, you don’t know what I’m thinking.  In the same way, only God knows God’s thoughts.  In fact, we don’t even understand what God has freely given us.  Oh, we can read about the gift of his Son and hear it heralded again this Christmas.  But Jesus’ birth is just a sweet, sentimental story and his crucifixion a political miscalculation on his part (or some vague means for our forgiveness, whatever that means) unless we receive “the Spirit who is from God.”  Only he reveals to our sin-darkened mind the significance of Jesus’ birth and death.  Only he enables us to appreciate the value of “what God has freely given us.”

Even “charismatic” orators can’t break through our mental sin-haze.  Only words “taught by the Spirit” (the Scriptures themselves and the words of an ordinary preacher deliberately dependent on the Spirit) can “express (God’s) spiritual truths”.

And we receive the Spirit when we trust our lives to the crucified Christ and depend on the Spirit to transform us.

PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).

 In some Christian circles, the Spirit is the forgotten member of the Trinity.  But not to Paul.  Elaborating on the contrast between the apostle’s message of wisdom and the wisdom of the age (1:6), Paul argues that the absence of the Spirit (“the man without the Spirit”) prohibits a person from accepting and understanding the things that come from the Spirit.  Such a person cannot discern what God is doing in the world.  Not because his IQ is embarrassingly low.  Nor because he’s half-hearted about God.  Because he is “without the Spirit.”

“The spiritual man” isn’t a superior category of Christian.  “The spiritual man” is simply a Christian, a believer in the crucified Christ, a man with the Spirit, a sinner empowered by the Spirit to accept and understand what God is doing in the world.

To say it as Paul does, “the spiritual man” is enabled to “make judgments” about (ascertain) what God is doing to save his people.  At the same time, he’s not subject to the judgments of persons without the Spirit (“the message of the cross is foolishness”) because those persons are “without the Spirit”.

Or as Paul asks rhetorically, “ . . . who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?”  The un-Spirit man cannot know the mind of the Lord.  “But we have the mind of Christ”.  In other words, we who have the Spirit can know the mind of the Lord (the mind of the crucified Christ).

Why, we might ask, does Paul emphasize the Spirit when it comes to the message of the crucified Christ?  Because for him, salvation is not only (or even primarily) “legal.”  In Romans 3:through 5 he declares that sinners are “justified by faith” (declared right with God).  That’s “legal” standing before God and his Law.  But for Paul, salvation is experiential as well.  And this transformation is affected by the Spirit.

THE CROSS AND THE SPIRIT

 No, we’re not fools.  We have God’s wisdom because we have God’s Spirit.  And we have God’s Spirit because he has been freely given us by grace through faith in Christ.  That calls us to live cross-centered.  Which is to say, humbly.  Willing to sacrifice.  Embracing suffering remembering Christ suffered for us.  And boasting only in Christ.

Does that mean we go around bragging that Christ is our Savior and Lord?  No, I think it means we praise and worship him.  Remembering we’re wise with Another’s wisdom.  Remembering we’re being transformed by the Spirit.  Remembering on that Day we won’t pride ourselves on how smart we were to get there.  But worship him who graciously saved us by the Spirit.

By its completion in 1980, the Crystal Cathedral cost $18 million. Ten thousand glass panels “opened to the sky and the world” as televangelist Robert Schuller wanted.  Opulent  Lavish.

The Corinthians couldn’t have imagined such a building, Yet, they “have been enriched in every way” (1 Corinthians 1:5).  For this, Paul tells them how he thanks God.

I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:4, NIV).

 In this thanksgiving paragraph, Paul accomplishes two goals.  One, he tells the church how he gives thanks to God for them.  He wants them to know, despite their problems, that he’s genuinely thankful for God’s grace among them.  And, two, he redirects the Corinthians’ focus from their giftedness to the Giver, and from the present to the future.

He gives thanks to God, he explains, because God has lavished his grace on them in Christ Jesus.  He has acted in great mercy to redeem these undeserving, guilty sinners.

By “grace” (Greek charis) Paul often means God’s free justification through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24)—what we often call “saving grace.”  But here he means more–spiritual gifts (charisma) God has given.  This is obvious from his following comments:  “For in him you have been enriched in every way . . . Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift (charisma) . . . “ (1:5,7).  The reason Paul thanks God for them, then, is the charis he has given them in Christ Jesus, specifically in the charisma. 

For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge (1:5, NIV).

God’s grace in Christ, says Paul, has made the Corinthians rich “in all your speaking and in all your knowledge.”  “Speaking” is the Greek logos ,“knowledge” the Greek gnosis.  Why does Paul thank God for these graces in particular?  Probably because these “graces” are the most evident among them.  (Their abuse of these graces he will later reprove them for.)

What does Paul mean by “speaking and knowledge”?  Later, in chapters 12-14 he uses both words of spiritual gifts (charisma).  For example, in 12:8 he identifies “the message (logos) of knowledge” (gnosis).  Other gifts (such as wisdom, prophecy, the ability to distinguish between spirits, tongues and the interpretation of tongues) also involve speaking knowledge one has been given.  Such spiritual gifts are the specific “graces” God has given the Corinthians.

 . . . because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you (1 Corinthians 1:6, NIV).

Paul is especially thankful because these charismata are evidence that “our testimony about Christ was confirmed”. They are signs of the Corinthians’ genuine faith in the gospel.

Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed (1 Corinthians 1:7, NIV).

With “you do not lack any spiritual gift”, Paul negatively repeats what he affirmed positively in 1:5, “For in him you have been enriched in every way . . . “

Here, though, he adds “as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed”.  Why add this?  Two reasons.  One, for Paul salvation began with Christ’s incarnation and will be consummated at his return.  Salvation, then, is eschatological.  Two, the Corinthians are behaving as if everything promised in Christ is theirs now.  Theologians call that “overrealized eschatology”.  This has led to “triumphalism” (the idea that they will be “winners” in every life-situation) and, unsurprisingly, to spiritual pride.  So Paul refocuses them on the coming revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ when salvation will be consummated and every promise fulfilled.

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8, NIV).

To continue refocusing them on the Lord, Paul assures them the Lord, not their “spirituality”, will cause them to be firm in the faith, so that on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ they will not fall under condemnation but be guiltless before God’s Law.

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9, NIV).

With this statement, Paul summarizes everything expressed in this thanksgiving.  The Corinthians will be found blameless on the day of Christ because God is faithful.   God is faithful to save them by grace.  God is faithful to give them grace-gifts for serving him and each other.  God is faithful to keep them blameless in the judgment.  For all this grace, God has faithfully put them “in Christ”.

Including into “fellowship with his Son”. They are not only positionally “in Christ”, they are relationally “with” Christ.   Old believers spoke of this as “communion”—intimate sharing—with Jesus.

Give Thanks for “Grace-Rich”!

That’s my take-away from Paul’s thanksgiving prayer.  His prayer should move me to pray . . .

O God, I thank You because of the grace You’ve given in Christ Jesus to my family, to so many I was privileged to pastor over four decades, and to my blog-readers (over 3,000 subscribers, most of whom I don’t even know!).  I include myself with them when I thank You for enriching us in every way, so that we don’t lack any spiritual gift of Your grace as we wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.  I also thank You that we have his revelation to look forward to.  And I thank You that is not a day to dread—because You will keep us stumbling believers firm to the end, so that we’ll be without blame on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God, I am often ambivalent; but You are always faithful.  You must be true to Yourself and Your promises.  And I thank You, too, that by Your grace You have not only put us positionally in Christ, but You have called us relationally into fellowship with Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

In His name I pray.  And in His name I give You thanks.  Amen.