Luke Timothy Johnson begins his chapter on The Corinthian Correspondence by saying, “We find [in 1 & 2 Corinthians] a portrait of a community whose life together was a mixture of confusion, pettiness, and ambition, combined with enthusiasm and fervor. The community struggled to define its identity as the church of God in a complex and sophisticated urban setting…The Corinthians were the first to face the problems that have proved to be perennial for all Christian communities: how to live in holiness and freedom within the very real structures of a given social world.”

Paul established the Christian community in Corinth as part of his missionary work. He came to Corinth from Athens and worked with Aquila and Priscilla. He spent his first months in Corinth preaching at the synagogue and converted Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue.  When Paul leaves, Apollos follows, and does good work in the Corinthian churches. The Christians in Corinth come from both Jewish and gentile backgrounds. They were also diverse in their socio-economic status.

The Corinthians were over-enthusiastic and were fascinated with the power from the Spirit. Johnson writes that, “a form of spiritual elitism infected the community…They collapsed the delicate tension between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’ by regarding themselves as already rich and ruling in God’s kingdom.”

The spiritual elitism led to the fracturing of community and created splinter groups. Johnson writes, “The Corinthians tended to define themselves by their differences rather than by their common life.”

First and Second Corinthians are not the only letters Paul writes to the Corinthians. Paul alludes to other letters he writes to them and they write to him. In 1 Corinthians 7:1, for example, Paul mentions a letter they wrote him with a list of their questions.

The Christians in Corinth are not of one mind, as is evident in Paul’s letter, but even in the choice to write to Paul to get his advice.  Paul founded the church,  but some Corinthians would rather rely on Peter’s advice, as he was a disciple of Jesus, or Apollos, who apparently was a powerful preacher. But some people in Corinth did write to Paul.  He spends time in 1 Corinthians “reestablishing his credibility as father of this community” and then moving on to address the divisions in the community.

We have here the common structure of Paul’s letters: salutation, thanksgiving, and then the body of the letter. He usually ends his letters with an appeal, in 1 Corinthians it’s to give money to the collection Paul is taking up for Christians in Jerusalem. Then he ends with greetings and a grace.

The first appeal comes in Chapter 1, verses 10-17, to have no division among them. Paul calls the Corinthians siblings, or adelphoi, in Greek. He uses this word thirty-eight times in this letter, twice as many as any other letter in the Bible. J. Paul Sampley writes, “its frequency is a subtle testimony to Paul’s eagerness to affirm the common, shared ground and the equal standing of all God’s children, not only in their relation to Paul but especially to one another.”

We don’t know much about Chloe except that she had enough standing in the community to have ‘people.’ This group, Chole’s people, are how Paul comes to know about the ways the Corinthians have become divisive.

Paul understands his calling as evangelizing, not baptizing.

In this section Paul sets up an either/or situation.  Sampley writes, “Paul sets up rival symbols of the way persons understand and live their lives: ‘Eloquent wisdom,’ pleasant and persuasive as it may be, comes to epitomize culturally accepted connections, associations with important persons or groups as a way of establishing one’s own significance, importance, and worth; ‘cross,’ Paul’s opposing symbol, demolishes all pretensions to status and standing in the world. He writes the Corinthians about his own choice not ‘to empty the cross of Christ,’ and for the first in a long series of instances in this letter, sets himself up as a model to be emulated.” The divisions in this church risk emptying the cross, making its power null and void.

The chapter ends with the words that God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.  This can be misunderstood and might inspire us to reject or not seek wisdom. Rather, as Sampley writes, “At stake is the temptation for us to confuse redemption as coming from possessing the right wisdom, of mistaking salvation for thinking the proper way or having the right ideas. That is the wisdom of the world…what counts is not what one knows but by whom one is known.”

Verses 1-5 look back on Paul’s first encounters with the Corinthians. He highlights his lack of eloquence, his fear, and weakness. Because of this, the source of the Corinthians’ faith is the Spirit, not Paul’s status or ability.  Sampley writes, “Paul’s humility is exemplary. He who could have lorded it over the Corinthians, he who could have emphasized his role in bringing the gospel as a legitimization for his own status and authority over them, instead denigrates his own importance. He is what he is describing. In this passage he portrays himself as having embodied the Christ-centered life in his inauguration of the gospel in Corinth.”

Chapter 2 concludes with more wisdom talk.  Whereas in Chapter 1 it was human wisdom vs. God’s wisdom, in Chapter 2 we have God’s secret and hidden wisdom verses wisdom of this age, of this age’s rulers, and of unspiritual persons.

Paul idealizes the “spiritual person.” The other option is the worldly “wise person” or “unspiritual person” who does not receive or accept the things of the Spirit. Sampley writes, “Verse 6 opens with an invitation for Paul’s hearers to include themselves among the mature, the spiritual people, who can receive Paul’s not-of-this-age wisdom, and closes by giving them the opportunity to identify themselves with the spiritual person who understands. It even adds the extraordinary claim, ‘we have the mind of Christ.’”  This is an idealized version of where the Corinthians ought to be in their faith/relationship with God as we’ll see in chapter 3.

What’s the deal with those who are perishing vs. those who are being saved? Sampley writes that Paul invites the hearers of the letter to identify with the ‘spiritual people.” “On one side is the wisdom of this present age and its rulers, who are said, literally, to be passing away. Like the ‘unspiritual people’ mentioned in 2:14, who ‘do not receive the gifts of God’s spirit.’ Those rulers, surely the temporal ones (as possibly also the cosmic powers whose ultimate destiny is expressed in 15:24), did not perceive the secret hidden wisdom of God, so they ‘crucified the Lord of glory.”

When there is an either/or situation presented to us in scripture it can cause a lot of anxiety, wondering which side we are on and how to be part of the “good side.” But Paul has already invited us to see ourselves on the “good side.” And set over and against us the rulers of the world. Sampley writes, “Paul’s letters never use the term ‘Christian.’ What moderns would call a ‘Christian’ Paul calls a ‘spiritual person,’ that is, one who has received the Holy Spirit.  So Paul’s primary definition of the believer is by means of the Spirit; likewise, the reception of the Spirit is for Paul the hallmark of entry into the community.”

In Chapter 2 Paul painted a picture of mature, spiritual people and here in Chapter 3 Paul says, “you are not that!”  You are babies who are not ready for solid food. The thing that makes them not ready is their factionalism. They divide themselves with quarreling and jealousy. They take sides and say, “I am Paul’s” or “I am Apollo’s.”  Paul says, “no! You’re Christ’s!”

Paul moves away from the baby metaphor to a gardening metaphor- Paul and Apollo were like gardeners, but they didn’t make the Corinthians grow.  They cannot make the Corinthians grow.  It is God who gives the growth.

Paul then moves to a building metaphor.  He says, “For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.”  He explains how when Paul started the church in Corinth, he laid the foundation and others came along and built on that foundation. He lists building supplies, from most valuable to least (gold to straw).  Sampley writes, “Paul’s concern is not so much with which material from among this inclusive list is used but with the structure one builds. Presumably, one uses whatever materials are at hand; the list seems to suggest that any material will do. Everyone has building materials available to them. The focus is on the structure that one builds with whatever is available. ‘The work of each person,’ what one builds, not one’s chosen material, is what will be tested by judgment’s fire.”

The fire metaphor Paul uses is not a fire that destroys, but a fire that refines.  This is a metaphor used throughout scripture—see Psalm 66, Isaiah 43, Zechariah 13.  We see this in the hymn How Firm a Foundation which says, “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design, thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.” A refiner’s fire removes impurities from metals. Have you experienced a refining fire in your life?  If so, what was that like?  Sampley writes, “Paul’s abiding conviction that God is known for grace, for giving new chances for redemption, leads Paul to hold out the hope that salvation may ultimately come even to the one whose work is burned up.”

Paul has specified that the Corinthians are God’s building and he intensifies that by saying they are God’s Temple. The Temple is where the spirit of God was said to dwell on earth. Paul is saying that the Spirit dwells in the Corinthians. Notice that it’s not every person is God’s Temple, but the people together. Paul warns against “destroying God’s temple.”  This is another admonition about not dividing the community with quarrelling, jealousy, and partisanism. Paul reminds the Corinthians, using this Temple metaphor, that they are set-apart, sacred, and holy.

Paul ends the chapter expecting the Corinthians to be self-reflective, not self-deceptive. It may feel like what they are doing is foolish, but remember what Paul said two chapters before, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Sampley writes, “Believers can keep proper perspective only when they distinguish between what matters and what does not. Paul once again warns against boasting of status gained by association with particular persons.”

Sampley writes that “Chapters 1-4 are an exercise in proportionality, in keeping or regaining proper perspective, and specifically in not overestimating one’s importance or standing. Paul shows the way by illustrating that apostles also must keep perspective: They are really only administrators or assistants at best.” Only God’s judgment counts!

Paul doesn’t want the Corinthians to get “puffed up.” This term will appear again in this letter.  It describes their misplaced zeal.  The basic lesson Paul wants them to learn, the “nothing beyond what is written,” is that no matter who different followers of Christ may be, they are all one in Christ. There is no room for division!

And yet, the Corinthians, the babies, lord over others their perceived honor/favor. Paul takes a creative side-road in his argument and imagines that the Corinthians were kings. He’s sort of saying, “let’s play this out, and see what happens.” Sampley writes, “Over against the Corinthian fiction of ruling and being filled, Paul pictures apostles as condemned to death, as what seems to be a theater of the absurd played out before the world, before angels, and before people…even in these dire circumstances apostles exemplify the gospel by not returning evil for evil; they bless, endure, and conciliate when people treat them in the opposite fashion. In a shift of image, it is as if apostles have become like the discardable, dirty dishwater by which the world is cleansed.”

Paul is pointing out AGAIN that there are some in the Corinthian church who believe that they already share God’s full blessings.  Sampley writes, “The mention of apostles suggests a contrast in that these Corinthian overestimators mistakenly think that they have achieved levels for which apostles have not even dared to reach.”

Paul reminds them of who founded their church—Paul did! Therefore, his is their father in Christ. They have many people who are praying for them, guiding, and teaching them, but Paul claims familial relationship with them. He warns them not to be arrogant.

When have you been arrogant? Or encountered an arrogant person?  How did your arrogance or their arrogance block their understanding, their forgiveness, their love?

Luke Timothy Johnson titles these two chapters “The Holiness of the Church.”

Chloe’s people have written Paul about some issues arising in the church.  Paul responds to them here. Johnson writes, “Since the people have been ‘washed…sanctified…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God,’ they can no longer live by their former standards. But unless they are to go out of the world altogether—an option Paul does not recommend—they must continue to associate with those who do not share their perceptions. The community must therefore exercise discernment in its internal life…they must judge themselves and the quality of their life together. While they have been evaluating everyone else, they have let slide their own critical awareness of themselves as a community.”

Paul tells the Corinthians that their community is failing because the boundaries between the world and the church collapsed.  The members of the church are suing each other in pagan courts.  There is an incident of incest that no one in the church is dealing with – behavior that “is not found even among gentiles!”

Paul argues that life within the church community should be different from life without. Life within the church community is freedom!  It is the freedom to be united to God through Christ. Paul narrows in on a situation where one practices “sexual immorality” by having sex with a prostitute. Johnson writes, “Sex is not like food (6:13), for it demands a deeper level of human intentionality. Sexual intercourse with a prostitute, therefore, is wrong not because it is physically contaminating but because by it one becomes ‘one flesh’ without the commitment of the spirit, counterfeiting the physical and spiritual exchange that is at the heart of the sexual relationship.”

The Corinthians have a view that they are mature and spiritual grown-ups, when really they are babies. Paul lists the ways they’ve deceived themselves in these chapters. How the barriers between the church and the world have come down.  When the Corinthians do not practice the freedom in Christ they block themselves from the Kingdom of God. If they are focused on what makes them better than others, puffing themselves up, how can they create a community of love and forgiveness for one another?

We are called to deeper, more meaningful relationships that involve our body and spirit. The body is essential to our experience. Johnson writes, “far from regarding physical existence as irrelevant for the spiritual life, Paul gives it a positive function: ‘Glorify God in your body’ (6:20). This can be understood in two ways, which are mutually reinforcing: ‘Glorify God in your individual bodily lives,’ and ‘Glorify God with this body that is your community.’”

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