v. Those who thus veil an unwelcome truth imagine that they make disciples, whereas they are only paying homage to unbelief, and comforting men in their rejection of divine propitiation for sin. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing: To those who reject the salvation of the cross, the idea of being saved through the work of a crucified man is foolish. Either the present dead in Christ are with the Lord in a spiritual body, awaiting their final resurrection body; or because of the nature of timeless eternity, they have received their resurrection bodies already because they live in the eternal now.. Yet in the first chapter of Acts, Jesus brothers are among the followers of Jesus (Acts 1:14). By which you are also saved, if you hold fast that word I preached to you. They are shown to have, at times, morality problems, doctrine problems, church government problems, spiritual gift problems, church service problems, and authority problems. c. I tell you a mystery: In the Biblical sense, a mystery is simply a thing to be understood by spiritual, rather than by merely human perception. c. You do not sow that body that shall be God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body: When you plant a wheat seed, a big wheat seed does not come up. Those of Chloes household: Chloe was a woman (probably a Christian) whose business interests caused her representatives (those of her household) to travel between Ephesus and Corinth. Sin is the ultimate cause of death (Romans 6:23, Genesis 2:17), and the result cant be defeated unless the cause is defeated. b. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father. Lady Huntington, the rich and influential friend of Whitfield and Wesley, said she was going to heaven by an m: it isnt any noble; instead it is not many noble. You see that the mark of a child of God is that by the grace of God he is what he is; what do, His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, : Though grace made Paul what he was, Paul still, i. You can also change some of your preferences. Aramaic is the language that Jesus spoke. Paul praises God for their positives, and expresses confidence that God will take care of their weak points, and confirm them to the end, so that they would be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why then are they baptized for the dead? : Jesus perfectly shows us, in His teaching and life, Gods wisdom. All will be resurrected in the sense that they will receive a resurrection body and live forever. These bodies which are subject to disease, injury, and one day decay, are unsuited for heaven. ii. a. The Corinthian Christians are, , but this was not based on the outward performance of the Corinthians. c. Sosthenes our brother: This man Sosthenes is perhaps mentioned in Acts 18:17, as the head of a Corinthian synagogue who was beaten because he protected Paul. : Paul would argue hard for his apostolic credentials, because he knew he had to be respected as an apostle. So, preaching a high moral standard is not preaching the gospel, preaching the universal fatherhood of God is not preaching the gospel, and preaching the universal brotherhood of man is not preaching the gospel. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Paul knows that he is not one of the twelve apostles, but he is on par with them because, like them, he is chosen by God. (Robertson), An apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, : With this, Paul emphasizes his point and already begins contending with the Christians of Corinth. Copyright - Enduring Word       |      . Paul knew this by experience. Some people think that Paul was disappointed by the results in Athens, and resolved to preach differently in Corinth. Everything good the Corinthian Christians have from God has come to them by. a. Corruption cant inherit incorruption. As Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. d. That no flesh should glory in His presence: This is the end result. c. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law: The principle of resurrection also proves that we are not under the law any longer. The ivy kept growing, and one could soon only read, we preach. Yet, these positives were no great credit to the Corinthian Christians themselves. : This is not a quotation from the Old Testament, or even from the words of Jesus. As much as Paul was once offended by a crucified Messiah, so the Greeks thought a message of salvation through a humiliating instrument of death foolish. This is a question Paul doesnt really answer in the following verses, because the answer is obvious. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. Simply put, God the Father will always be God the. Paul knows that he is not one of the twelve apostles, but he is on par with them because, like them, he is chosen by God. (Robertson), ii. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 New International Version The Resurrection of Christ 15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. d. To the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness: The Jews regarded Christ crucified as a stumbling block; perhaps this is better understood as an offense or a scandal. As horrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was, this spiritual suffering the act of being judged for sin in our place was what Jesus really dreaded about the cross. Yet He was no phantom; He had a real flesh and bone body. iii. They got this bad thinking by associating either with Jews who did not believe in the resurrection (such as the Sadducees) or by associating with pagan, Greek philosophical types, who did not believe in the resurrection (Acts 17:31-32). The Listener's Bible: NIV Edition Copyright 2011 by Max McLean. a. AND YOUR POINT, PAUL? It might be easy for us to think they werent even saved! Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? This speaks to the vital need described in Romans 12:2: ii. Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. Where did the Corinthian Christians get their strange ideas about the resurrection, ideas Paul spent this chapter trying to correct? 2018 David Guzik No distribution beyond personal use without permission. iv. The name Joshua means, Yahweh is salvation.. When writing Scripture, Paul was infallible, but not omniscient. It wasnt so much that they thought Apollos was great, but that they were great for following him. i. is a softer way of describing the death of a believer, Paul tells us that not all Christians will die, but there will be a final generation who will be transformed into resurrection bodies at the return of Jesus before they ever face death. This aspect of the nature of God is something God wants us to walk in, having a concern for the glory of others, and not our own (Philippians 2:3-4). He has destroyed the wisdom of the wise, just as He said He would., i. (35) What is the nature of the resurrected body? iv. The lack of adequate respiration resulted in severe muscle cramps, which hindered breathing even further. But because of all the time Paul spent in Corinth, and all the letters he wrote them, we know more about the Christians at Corinth than we know about any other church in the New Testament. In putting the strong and wise and great to shame, God does not exalt the weak and uneducated and worthless, but brings all of them down to one common level. (Calvin). The words, are inserted by translators. Click to enable/disable _ga - Google Analytics Cookie. ii. You can check these in your browser security settings. 2. i. If you must execute this man, do it honorably. But the ancient Greek word for, i. a. This conflict had made them divide up into parties or cliques, each party having its own leader., : There was the Paul Party, who declared We are following in the footsteps of the man who founded our church, the apostle Paul. He, from this truth, sets himself to refute those who said, There is no resurrection of the dead, ver 12-19. Crispus believed on the Lord with all his household (Acts 18:8), and was saved. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and, But that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, . This term could be no more than a polite form of address like our Sir. But it could also be used of the deity one worships. It doesnt matter if you get the praise or the encouragement; sometimes you will and sometimes you wont. Understanding the tension between the church and the city is important to understanding the letter of 1 Corinthians. So also is the resurrection of the dead: Its hard to understand what our resurrection bodies will be like, so Paul will use contrast to help us, giving four contrasts between our present body and our future resurrection body. : The Corinthian Christians had their strong points, and they had their weak points. Verse 1 Corinthians 15:3. i. Finally, one could only read we, and the church also just became another social gathering place, all about we and not about God. Were the ones really right with God!, vi. Ironside says that the last trumpet was a figure of speech that came from the Roman military, when they broke camp. When writing Scripture, Paul was infallible, but not omniscient. a. Paul: The apostle Paul follows the normal pattern for writing a letter in ancient times. There is much in 1 Corinthians that is unflattering to the Christians of Corinth. Third, hold this world with a loose hand. If there were not men who differed a little in their creeds, we should never get as much gospel as we do God has sent different men to defend different kinds of truth; but Christ defended and preached all Christs testimony was perfect. (Spurgeon), ii. The. ) It is one thing to prefer one minister to another, but we cannot divide into cliques behind one minister or another. Death has no power over the person found in Jesus Christ. The words sanctified and saints communicate the same idea, of being set apart from the world and unto God. But dont expose Him to the horror and the humiliation of hanging on a cross. But God wanted, , and if we dont embrace the cross, even with all its strange contradictions and demands, then we are. This is not always the case; some of the most brilliant men of history have been Christians (such as Isaac Newton). No one will stand before God and declare, I figured You out or You did it just like I thought You should. Gods ways are greater and higher, and nothing of the flesh will glory in His presence. The hearing and trusting of the true gospel will bring the, . Those who feel called to rebuke sin and correct error in the church today should follow Pauls example. The destruction of death was shown at the resurrection of Jesus, when, But when He says all things are put under Him, it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted, : Paul reminds us that the Son will not someday be superior to the Father. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. After that time, there will be a final, Satan inspired rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10), which Jesus will crush and finally and forever, is an Old Testament figure for total conquest. (Mare), The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, : Death will be present during the millennial reign of Jesus (Revelation 20:9 and Isaiah 65:20), but afterward, death will be abolished. Then Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to respond to these reports. They did not value the wisdom expressed in the message of the cross. Einstein asked them, how much of all the knowledge in the world they had amongst themselves collectively, as a class. Death is defeated by resurrection. As Paul said to Agrippa in Acts 26:8, This may be a foolish question (Paul calls his imaginary questioner , Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. We sometimes sing: You ask me how I know He lives; He lives, He lives inside my heart. But that is not the best way to prove Jesus lives. We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. i. Barclay on joined together: A medical word used of knitting together bones that have been fractured, or joining together a joint that has been dislocated. Despite all their problems with carnality, lack of understanding, strife, divisions, immorality, and weird spirituality, they still stood for the gospel. On all counts, the resurrection body wins! It doesnt matter if you get the praise or the encouragement; sometimes you will and sometimes you wont. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. I am not an apostle through the appointment of the other apostles. a. I plead with you, brethren: Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory, : Some take this to mean there will be different degrees of glory for believers in heaven. Does we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed mean that Paul predicted Jesus would come in his lifetime? Grace is always first, peace always second. We have all borne the image of the first, will also bear His resurrection image. : As Paul describes the gospel in the following verses, it is important to notice that this gospel is not insightful teaching or good advice. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.". ii. This wisdom is often in contradiction to mans expectation. It is as if he says, You all may not recognize my apostolic credentials. It is certain that a blind man is no judge of colours, a deaf man is no judge of sound, and a man who has never been quickened into spiritual life can have no judgment as to spiritual things. (Spurgeon). It is the heart shown in God when it is said of the Lord, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance ( 2 Peter 3:9 ). A hard knot must have a hard wedge, a dead heart a rousing reproof. (Trapp). So he was fired from or quit his job as ruler of the synagogue! But though this text doth not prove the general resurrection, (being only intended of believers, that are members of Christ,) yet it doth not oppose it. i. Paul expressed the same idea again in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18. Jesus plainly spoke of both, i. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. a. No one will stand before God and declare, I figured You out or You did it just like I thought You should. Gods ways are greater and higher, and nothing of the. b. O Death, where is your sting? iv. They could not have known this unless God revealed it to them. I am not an apostle through the appointment of the other apostles. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. Which is at Corinth: Corinth was one of the great cities of the ancient world, and a community very much like Southern California. Christians must let the Word of God shape their thinking, not the evil company of this world. The relationship of, the Son Himself will also be subject to Him, i. 1. The sting of death lay in this, that we had sinned and were summoned to appear before the God whom we had offended. Finally, have all your affairs in order so that you are ready to die. Finally, one could only read, , and the church also just became another social gathering place, all about, To the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, ; perhaps this is better understood as an, . (3-4) The content of the gospel Paul preached. The ivy kept growing, and one could soon only read, . : The death of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, is the center of the gospel. The pursuit of human wisdom may bring an earthly contentment or happiness (though this is rare), but in itself, it can never bring the true knowledge of the true God. If the dead do not rise, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.. Each of us is definitely moving in one of those two directions. And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? , he uses the term as a figurative title. Many things made Corinth famous. The second perfect man, Jesus the, , can give us another kind of body. Christ has obtained a victory over the law; he has stopped its mouth, and answered all its demands; he has been made under, and subject to it; he has obeyed its precepts, and bore its penalty, and has delivered his from the curse and condemnation of it, so that they have nothing to fear from it; it is dead to them, and they to that: he has also Through much of this book, Paul deals with the moral problems of the Corinthians: envy, divisions, pride, immorality, greed, irreverence, and selfishness. Crucify him! if we had our wits about us, we would have shouted back, Dont crucify Him! There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. . isnt detailed in the gospels, but is suggested by Matthew 28:10 and 28:16-17. See passages such as Numbers 16:3, Numbers 20:4, Deuteronomy 23:1, and 1 Chronicles 28:8. iii. The Corinthian people were also world known: for partying, drunkenness, and loose sexual morals. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. We get our English word. ii. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. e. Was Paul crucified for you? Later in this letter, Paul writes that he transferred to himself and Apollos what applied to others (1 Corinthians 4:6). ii. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. At these meetings He ate with them, comforted them, commanded them to preach the gospel, and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after His ascension. i. Jesus does not belong to any one party. These cliques ignore the truth of unity over all diversity in the church, even if they were all in the name of spirituality. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. The idea is that we have been purchased to permanent freedom. a. I thank my God always: Paul will later spend most of this letter rebuking sin and correcting error, yet he is still sincerely thankful for Gods work in the Corinthian Christians. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. : Its hard to understand what our resurrection bodies will be like, so Paul will use, Raised in incorruption raised in glory raised in power. He will destroy the wisdom of the wise, not bow down before it. Love suffers long: Love will endure a long time. is the other head of the human race, and Jesus brings resurrection to all that are under His headship. a. We may pride ourselves on not having the problems of the Corinthian Christians, but do we have their positives? Spurgeon gives seven steps to dying daily in a sermon titled. (Read 1 Corinthians 14:15-25) There can be no assent to prayers that are not understood. I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily, : Paul will boast a little here. And with what body do they come?. Expiring saints have often said that their last beds have been the best they have ever slept upon. (Spurgeon), iii. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." a. b. Paul praises God for their positives, and expresses confidence that God will take care of their weak points, and, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, i. Encouraging and getting others to study, believe, and rely on God to be real. They were not looking for the message of the cross. It is true that knowing Jesus and loving Jesus can make this life better, but sometimes it will make this life worse. Paul, knowing death is a defeated enemy because of Jesus work, can almost taunt death, and mock it. Raised in incorruption raised in glory raised in power: Our resurrection body will be glorious! Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. v. It is possible there was not an actual Paul Party or Apollos Party or Peter Party or Jesus Party at Corinth. If it were if the teaching of baptismal regeneration were true then Paul could never thank God that he baptized so few in Corinth, and he, as an evangelist, could never say Christ did not send me to baptize. This wisdom is often in contradiction to mans expectation. 4. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Gods wisdom is not mans wisdom multiplied to the highest degree. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. e. Confirm you to the end: The Corinthian Christians had their strong points, and they had their weak points. There is another significant difference between Pauls ministry in Athens and his work in Corinth. The expression means that he was public in his trials, and that this was exhibited to the universe. e. If the dead do not rise, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Pauls third proof for the resurrection in this section is also compelling. a. Jesus, who became for us wisdom: Jesus perfectly shows us, in His teaching and life, Gods wisdom. There was an old, contentious Quaker who went from one meeting to another, never finding the true church. We dont need to waver, we dont need to change direction, we dont need to fall, and we dont need to quit. Grace, by definition, is given freely. i. Morgan says well in his introduction to 1 Corinthians: The measure of failure on the part of the Church is the measure in which she has allowed herself to be influenced by the spirit of the age We are sometimes told to-day that what the Church supremely needs is that she should catch the spirit of the age. From the first Adam, we all are made of dust, but from the last Adam we can be made heavenly. Without grace there is and can be no peace, but when grace is ours, peace must of necessity follow. (Lenski). So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory., O Death, where is your sting? Unfortunately, many of them never communicate any encouragement with their correction and advice. Instead of being torn apart, Paul pleads that they would be joined together in the, : A medical word used of knitting together bones that have been fractured, or joining together a joint that has been dislocated. Understanding the tension between the, Those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called, : Paul continued his description of the Corinthian Christians. enduring word 1 corinthians 15 Best Selling Author and International Speaker. For the unbeliever, this life alone gives them any chance at pleasure, and whatever happiness they can find now is all the happiness they will ever know. So, even though our resurrection bodies come from our present bodies, we should not expect that they will be the same bodies or just improved bodies. If the cross and its message seem weak, they are not; they are powerful and wise. He was also humble enough to know that even his hard work was the work of Gods grace in him. But every man Shall be reanimated, raised, and glorified; in his own order Or in his own band, as more properly signifies, denoting a band of soldiers, a cohort, or legion; the word for order being rather . e. Both theirs and ours: In his first few words, Paul lays the foundation for a fundamental issue he will address in this letter: Christian unity, based on the common Lordship of Jesus Christ. i. Philippians 3:21 repeats Pauls theme: , the best example we have of what a resurrection body will be like is to see what Jesus resurrection body was like. b. A, iv. a. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ii. But as the ivy grew, one could only read we preach Christ, and the church also started preaching Jesus the Great Man and Jesus the Moral Example instead of Christ crucified. Or were you baptized in the name of Paul. the gospel Paul preached to them. ii. When you bury the body of a believer, you are sowing a seed that will come out of the earth as a resurrection body. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, : Paul is not saying, material things cannot inherit the kingdom of God, because Jesus resurrection body was a, , in this context, means our present bodies. Jesus resurrection body was not a pure spirit body, but a material body described as. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. If you must execute this man, do it honorably. ii. 1. You have lost a dear friend: yes, but only lost that friend that you may find him again, and find more than you lost. . Can even this much be said about many churches today? . : In the previous part of the chapter, Paul demonstrated beyond all doubt that Jesus rose from the dead, and the importance of that fact. They got this bad thinking by associating either with Jews who did not believe in the resurrection (such as the Sadducees) or by associating with pagan, Greek philosophical types, who did not believe in the resurrection (Acts 17:31-32). i. Clarke on Chloe: This was doubtless some very religious matron at Corinth, whose family were converted to the Lord; some of whom were probably sent to the apostle to inform him of the dissensions which then prevailed in the Church at that place., b. Contentions among you: The Corinthian church suffered under quarreling and conflict. 6. Sharing the Word of God with passion for Christ. However, we learn something just from the meaning of the ancient Greek word apostolos, which has the idea of a special ambassador. Paul was a special ambassador of Jesus Christ to the world and to the church. i. And in the midst of judgement, God remembers mercy: he many times punishes those whom he loves. The good news or euangelion, rests on just such a confession which Paul first proclaimed at Corinth and by which they were in the process of being . Later, James became a leader in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13-21; 21:18). But our expectations of what God should do keep us from receiving that power and wisdom. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. In 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul declared the idea that the cross could, The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, : To those who reject the salvation of the cross, the idea of being saved through the work of a, sound kind of noble and religious to our twentieth-century ears. This is the sting of death to you, unconverted ones, not that you are dying, but that after death is the judgment, and that you must stand before the Judge of the quick and dead to receive a sentence for the sins which you have committed in your body against him. (Spurgeon), The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, : The principle of resurrection also proves that we are not under the law any longer. Jesus paid our admission to the resurrection! Some of them denied the reality of resurrection, while believing in a resurrected Jesus. Then life is lived only under the sun, as is considered in Ecclesiastes. 1 Corinthians 15 In this chapter the apostle treats of that great article of Christianitythe resurrection of the dead. Session 6: Paul and Titus. But in the first century, saying message of the cross was about the same as saying message of the electric chair except worse! d. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory: Some take this to mean there will be different degrees of glory for believers in heaven. i. Lord: A title designating not only master and boss, but also the Lord revealed in the Old Testament (known as Yahweh or Jehovah).