Introduction to the 1st Letter to the Church of God in Corinth, 1/11/26

Today, I would like to bring an introduction

to the first letter of the Church of God in Corinth.

The first letter to the Church of God in Corinth.

We're beginning our study of this book, the book

of 1 Corinthians. Our texts are, first of all,

from Acts chapter 18, verses 1 through 18. And

Acts 18:1–18

then 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 to 3. We

1 Corinthians 1:1–3

read in the book of Acts because this is the

founding of the church in Corinth. And so this

gives us some historical background before we

get to the beginning of the book. Hear the word

of the Lord from Acts chapter 18. After these

Acts 18 · chapter mention

things, Paul departed from Athens and went to

Corinth, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila,

born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy

with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had

commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and

he came to them. So because he was of the same

trade, he stayed with them and worked, for by

occupation they were tent makers. And he reasoned

in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded

both Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy

had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by

the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus

is the Christ. But when they opposed him and

blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to

them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am

clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.

And he departed from there and entered the house

of one of a certain man named Justice. one who

worshiped God, whose house was next door to the

synagogue. Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue,

believed of the Lord with all his household,

and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed

and were baptized. Now the Lord spoke to Paul

in the night by a vision, Do not be afraid, but

speak, and do not keep silent, for I am with

you, and no one will attack you to hurt you,

for I have many people in this city. And he continued

there a year and six months, teaching the word

of God among them. When Galileo was proconsul

of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against

Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying,

This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary

to the law. And when Paul was about to open his

mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, If it were a

matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews,

there would be reason why I should bear with

you. But if it is a question of words and names

and your own law, look to yourselves. For I do

not want to be a judge of such matters. And he

drove them from the judgment seat. Then all the

Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue,

and beat him before the judgment seat. But Galileo

took no notice of these things. So Paul still

remained a good while. And ending there, now

let's turn over to the book of 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:1–3

chapter 1, verse 1 through 3. Paul, commanded

to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the

will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, 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. Grace to you and peace from God our

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray

and ask God's blessing on this time together.

Our Father, we bow before you today, Lord, and

we are again gripped by the story, first of all,

of the coming of the gospel to this city. And

then also this greeting that opens up this letter,

which we intend to go through. We ask for your

blessing on it, Lord. We pray that you would

grant illumination by the power of your spirit,

both in the preaching and in the hearing of this

word. We pray, Lord, that you would change us

by your power and sanctify us through this word.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I begin this series

of going through the book of 1 Corinthians with

joy and with eager anticipation. There are several

reasons for this, but the foremost being the

remembrance of the time that we, my wife and

I, and our young family sat under the systematic

preaching through this book. That season proved

profoundly life -changing for us, and it left

impressions and lessons that remain with me to

this day. To refresh my memory, I recently listened

to the introductory sermon from that series preached

on March 3, 1999. So that was quite some time

ago by Reverend Iain Wechter at Emanuel Free

Reform Church in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. This

stirred again my gratitude for the blessing of

going through that book. It's what a privilege

now it is to return to this rich portion of God's

word once again, only this time, instead of me

sitting and listening to it, by the grace of

God, I intend to preach it and deliver it to

you and to this congregation. 1 Corinthians is

a wonderful book. It is a manual and a compendium

of apostolic wisdom and instruction from God

given to a church that had many difficulties

and... problems. Many things were awry in this

congregation, but things were not so bad that

they needed to be cut off. Despite the errors

and mistakes, there was still a congregation

that had the teaching of the gospel and the sacraments,

baptism and the Lord's Supper. Now while there

were a few who had started to question the bodily

resurrection from the dead, that error had not

yet permeated through the whole body. Calvin

points out in his commentary that neither the

name nor the reality of the church is wiped out

on that account. God has chosen to give us the

account of this letter to the Corinthians as

Paul wrote it. And in this letter, Paul answers

questions. and he deals with problems that were

reported to him. Now, much as we would like to

know what those questions were, we do not have

record of them other than in references and allusions

in the writings. So it's a bit like listening

to a one -way, to one side of a telephone conversation.

We don't know what all the others were saying.

We can only gather it as it's referred to or

alluded to. in this book. Nevertheless, as Ciampa

and Rosner write, 1 Corinthians models how to

approach the complexity of Christian living.

with the resources of the Old Testament and the

example and teachings of Jesus. The problems

Paul addresses reflect the infiltration of Corinthian

values into the church, and his motivation in

writing this letter is that the Lord's name would

be glorified and that God would receive glory

from the earth. But now before I get into the

full introduction to this wonderful book, I'd

like to consider just for a brief moment Why

it is that I don't only preach topical sermons

on various portions of scripture. God has given

us and to his church his precious and holy word,

which speaks to everything. And this word has

been confirmed. We do well to heed it as a light

that shines in a dark place. We know that from

Peter's writing in 2 Peter 1, verse 20, that

2 Peter 1:20

no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.

For prophecy never came by the will of man, but

holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the

Holy Spirit. Too often, if we simply just choose

the topics that come to us, we as preachers can

so easily skip over parts of the Bible that might

be uncomfortable or maybe difficult or simply

just want to be ignored. So while there's much

preaching that happens in the world, there are

many places where there is a famine of the word.

Instead of hearing the thunder of the word and

the understanding and illumination of the text,

And the red hot application to our lives, too

many are entertained or given moralistic sermons

as in just do more, do more better. Or perhaps

fed stories and illustrations without the application

of the word. Sometimes a passage is read, but

no exposition is given. And the rest of the sermon

might have nothing to do with the passage. Now

this famine has been the case. In many different

time periods of history. We have an example of

this in God's word. In the book of Nehemiah.

The Jews had been in exile for 70 years. In captivity.

Many had lost the teaching and the reading of

the law of God. And thus they were ignorant of

God's teachings. Some of them came back to Jerusalem

to rebuild the temple with Zerubbabel. And the

wall around Jerusalem with Nehemiah. And the

Lord stirred within their hearts a revival of

the teaching and the preaching of the word of

God. And of the book of God's law. We see this

in Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 3. And we get a glimpse

Nehemiah 8:3

of the revival. And I want you to notice what

happened at this time of revival. Verse 4, Ezra

the scribe stood on a platform of wood which

they had made for the purpose. Beside him at

his right hand stood a whole number of men, and

they're listed there in the passage. Ezra opened

up the book, that is the book of God's law, in

the sight of all the people, for he was standing

above all the people. And when he opened it,

all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the

Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered,

Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And

they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord

with their faces to the ground. Then these men

and the Levites helped the people to understand

the law. And the people stood in their place.

So they read distinctly from the book in the

law of God and they gave the sense and they helped

them to understand the reading. There are three

foundational components of the preaching of the

word of God. And this is what we desire to do

as we go through this book. First of all, they

read distinctly from the book. from the law of

God. They read distinctly. This was in a language

that they could understand and with clear words

that they could understand what the law said,

what God's word said. Then secondly, they gave

the sense of it. That is, they explained what

the word of God means. This is what it means.

Sometimes there are... Words that are hard for

us to understand. Or we might understand them

in a different way now than what they did back

then. So we need to understand how they understood

the words that are used. So they gave the sense

of it. And then third, they helped them to understand

the reading. And that means that after the explanation,

there was application to current circumstances,

to the lives of the hearers. Here's the word

of God. Hear it. And then next, here's what it

means. And then here, here's how we apply it.

Here's how we work it out in our day with God's

help. So I want to attempt to follow this simple

method as we go through the books of the Bible

and now here with the book of 1 Corinthians.

This letter was written to a particular church

in a particular location. to the church of God

in Corinth. The word will be read distinctly.

I will seek to explain it as to what it meant

in context to them as much it lies within me.

And then I hope to apply it to us, to our people

in our day, and so to understand the reading

and the meaning. This is the goal of Through

the Book expository preaching, verse by verse

or section by section. are the words of God revealed

to the prophets and to the apostles. So what

is God saying to us as we read this? Let's now

begin with looking at the first three verses,

which are in themselves an introduction to this

book. First of all, we have the word Paul. Now

I'm going to take this a lot more slowly than

what I will in going through most of this book.

But we're going to look at this very carefully.

First of all, we have the word Paul. Paul clearly

identifies himself as the author. He is the one

that is written by him, formerly known as Saul.

He was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. He was

born a Roman citizen in Tarsus of Cilicia. Now

this was a prominent city called by Paul himself

in Acts 21 verse 39 as no mean city. This was

Acts 21:39

not just a little backwater. Tarsus was a major

city, and it was a prosperous, cosmopolitan center

of learning, of trade, of philosophy, and of

culture. He then had the depth of learning as

a studious and a devout Jew educated at the feet

of the learned rabbi Gamaliel. He seems to be

well connected with both of the Jews in Jerusalem

as well as in the diaspora, that is, the Jews

scattered throughout the nations. He was what

we might call a cultured Jew, for he was well

acquainted with the Greek learning of the day.

He wrote mostly Greek. as he wrote the scriptures

using the Greek Bible called the Septuagint,

but he also knew the language of the Aramaic

language. He was prominent in his knowledge of

Greek and Roman culture, even quoting the Greek

poet Menander in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

verse 33. Upon his conversion and becoming a

follower of Jesus and then his subsequent appointment

as an apostle, In the building of Christ's church,

Paul became an able minister of the gospel to

both Jews and to Gentiles as a herald, announcing

Christ's authority over all, announcing his reign,

and announcing Christ's salvation to all who

would believe. In his journeys, he enjoyed the

privileges and rights of Roman citizenship, and

he employed them to his advantage, such as the

time in Philippi when he was apprehended and

held without just cause, and then also in Jerusalem

when he was captured but was spared from a beating

by the Roman commander after he told him he was

a Roman citizen. This enabled him to appeal to

Caesar for a trial. And we read of that in the

latter part of the book of Acts. And thus he

was able to bring the glorious gospel to Caesar's

household and to press the claims of Christ to

kings and to rulers. Now Paul then associates

himself. He said, Paul called to be an apostle

of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes,

our brother. He associates himself with Sosthenes.

Now, the book of 1 Corinthians is clearly the

very personal work of the apostle, so Sosthenes

might have been a scribe in the writing of it,

or maybe he was a help in writing it in some

other way, perhaps contributing to the development

of the themes. We know very little about Sosthenes

other than the account in Acts 18, which I have

just read. Now, at the time when Luke wrote of

him in the book of Acts, He was the chief ruler

of the Jewish synagogue and he was in vocal opposition

to the church. He joined with the Jews in opposing

Paul and caused a disturbance in the city and

therefore he was beaten by the Roman authorities.

But evidently, this man was converted, changed

by the power of God and joined himself to the

church. Of Corinth. He was a well known person.

In the city. And Paul uses his name. To add this

testimony to the letter. And calls him in an

affectionate term. Our brother. Sosthenes. This

points. Brothers and sisters. To the power of

the gospel. It is a life changing power. That

changes enemies of God. To lovers of God. It

changes those who are opposed to Jesus Christ.

Into followers of Christ. This is the power of

the gospel of Jesus Christ. It changes people.

Paul says in Romans 1 verse 16 and 17. He writes

Romans 1:16

about this. He says, I am not ashamed of the

gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God.

to salvation for everyone who believes, for the

Jew first and also for the Greek. Sosthenes has

experienced the gospel. He has believed and has

been sanctified and is now affectionately called

our brother. Number two, Paul is called to be

an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of

God. So clearly identified as to who the author

is, and now he has this description of himself.

He is called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ

through the will of God. Now what is an apostle?

We first hear the term in Matthew chapter 10,

Matthew 10:2

verse 2 in the New Testament. Now the names of

the 12 apostles are these. And then Matthew goes

through and lists them all. Simon, which is called

Peter, and Andrew, James, John, and so on. He

continues with the list of the names of the 12.

The apostles were men chosen by Christ Jesus

to serve as his delegates, his messengers to

the world. They were foundational, very foundational.

to Christ's church. They carried a specific and

unique authority that is unequaled. God's word

tells us that the household of God, that is the

living temple, the church of Jesus Christ, is

built on the foundation of what? The apostles

and the prophets. The apostles and the prophets,

Jesus being the chief cornerstone. That's in

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19. God appointed

Ephesians 2:19

these first in the church. We see that in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12:28

12, verse 28. The great city described in Revelation

21, that is the holy Jerusalem that descends

out of the heaven from God, having the glory

of God, also echoes this with 12 gates on whose

names are written the name of the 12 tribes of

the children of Israel and having 12 foundations.

on which were the names of the twelve apostles

of the Lamb. Apostles were a unique and limited

office. They were held by those directly commissioned

by Jesus. They were required to be an eyewitness

of the resurrected Christ. We see that after

Judas failed, and he did, and he fell from the

apostleship by his... Giving up Jesus to the

authority. And so then they wanted to replace

him. And the first thing that they looked for

is who has seen Jesus? Who has been with him

from the beginning? And there were two. And then

they chose Matthias to replace Judas. They revealed

God's word. They delivered special and infallible

revelation. They spoke the very words of Christ.

And this makes their writings authoritative.

All of the New Testament is either written directly

by the apostles or under their supervision and

testimony, such as Mark, the book of Mark and

Luke and Acts. There are no apostles today in

this sense. Now, some try to make the word apostles

fit as ones who are church planters or who have

ongoing revelation. The foundation does not need

to be laid again. That has already been given

to us, and the establishment of the canon of

Scripture, of Holy Scripture, was the recognition

of which letters were truly letters from the

apostles. So they were sorting through, determining

which of these letters is authentic, which ones

were written by. The apostles of Jesus Christ.

Because there was also a lot of false ones. People

who wrote in the name of an apostle. But it truly

was not written by them. And so that had to be

sorted through. Therefore, we do not have apostles

today like this. We have evangelists. There are

church planters. Yes. There are pastors. And

there are teachers. Yes. These are God's gifts

to all churches throughout all time. But God's

gift of apostles were those who had witnessed.

the resurrected Jesus, they spoke the words of

Jesus, and they revealed them to the nation with

apostolic authority. Now, we immediately ask

then, since Paul was saved much later, or out

of due time, as he says himself, when did this

happen to Paul? Now, we know that on the Damascus

Road, when Paul was headed to Damascus as an

unbelieving Jew, as one who was persecuting Christians,

down by a light from heaven. This light was brighter

than the sun and he had a heavenly vision and

he encountered the risen Christ there on the

Damascus road. Paul recounts this to King Agrippa

in Acts chapter 26. Paul was immediately convinced

Acts 26 · chapter mention

that Jesus was alive and that he was the Messiah

of whom the Jews longed for, the one who was

prophesied by the prophets of God. Paul tells

the Galatians in chapter 1 verse 15 that it pleased

God who separated me from my mother's womb and

called me through his grace to reveal his son

in or to me that I might preach him among the

Gentiles. Christ was revealed as a living Christ,

the resurrected Christ to the apostle Paul. Now

we also know that Paul went into Arabia for a

time. We know that he was taught of Christ in

the revelation of the mystery of the gospel of

Christ. We see that in Ephesians chapter 3 verse

Ephesians 3:3

3. How that by revelation he made known to me,

Paul says, the mystery. As I have already briefly

written. by which, when you read, you may understand

my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. There

were mysteries that were revealed to Paul. He

unfolded things. He opened things up in some

ways different than what all the rest of the

apostles. He was one who came later, but nonetheless,

his writing is authoritative. The other apostles

recognized his apostleship. Peter also acknowledged

that his epistles were associated with the rest

of Holy Scripture in 2 Peter 3, verse 15. Therefore,

2 Peter 3:15

this apostle was commissioned and appointed directly

from God, and so Paul says that he was called

to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the

will of God. God sovereignly moved in this man's

life. He changed him from being an enemy of Christ's

church to being one of its foremost proponents

and teachers. In fact, he wrote a good portion

of the New Testament under the power of the Holy

Spirit. This man was changed by God, and he was

an apostle. This was not something that Paul

desired or took upon himself. He did not plan

it or scheme for it, but it was so ordained by

God, being first made evident on that road to

Damascus. Number three, this letter is written

to the church of God in Corinth or at Corinth.

That is, it is written to the ecclesia of God,

which is the Greek term meaning the assembly

of Christians gathered for the worship of God

through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Let

me say that again. It is written to the ecclesia

of God, which means it is the assembly of Christians

gathered for the worship of God through Jesus

Christ by the Holy Spirit. This is not written

to an individual like Timothy or Titus or Philemon,

but it is to the church of God, the gathered

ones. And by this he shows the corporate nature

of Christ's body on earth. The church does not

consist of disparate individuals scattered through

the countryside, each worshiping God in his or

her own way in their house or in the great outdoors.

No, our faith and doctrine is not an individualistic

one, although each of us must repent and believe.

This letter is addressed to the church, the gathered

saints, those who come together regularly for

the worship of God and the fellowship of the

saints, which is rich and encouraging and joyful.

And we are told to not forsake this. Elsewhere

in the book of Hebrews. This passage also shows

that there is one church, that is one body of

Christ worldwide, but it gathers in congregational

meetings or ecclesias in many places all over

the world. This letter is written to the church

of God in Corinth. It's very important to remember

this, that as a local body, we are also part

of the worldwide church. This is why we regularly

confess in the Apostles' Creed, I believe in

the Holy Catholic Church. Catholic not meaning

Roman Catholic, no. It means the whole church,

the universal church, the church from all over

the world. J .I. Packer describes it this way

in this little booklet that we're going to be

going through as we study through the Apostles'

Creed and the doctrines of the Bible. He describes

it this way. The church is one worldwide fellowship

of believing people whose head is Christ. It

is holy because it is consecrated to God, though

it is capable nonetheless of grievous sin. It

is Catholic because it embraces all Christians

everywhere. And it is apostolic because it seeks

to maintain the apostles' doctrine unmixed with

the traditions of man. We call on the name of

Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we adorn his gospel

as we meet together in the assembly. We beautify

and adorn him. Now this is to the church at Corinth.

So let's look a little bit at the city because

we want to understand this in a bit. The city

of Corinth was a very prosperous city. On the

outline that I put out there, there's a bit of

a map on the back of it showing where Corinth

is. It's in the very bottom end of Greece. It

was a very prosperous cosmopolitan city located

on a very important commercial trade route. It

was one of the largest and most important cities

of Greece. It had an abundant source of fresh

water, and it had an isthmus, that is, a narrow

strip of land. which saved many, many miles and

bad seas around the peninsula of the Peloponnese.

Ships on the east -west trade routes would come

to this isthmus, kind of like Panama. We can

think about Panama and the Panama Canal. This

was much narrower. It was just a couple miles

across this way. this narrow strip of land ships

would come on the east and west routes they would

either be pulled even brought up out of the water

and pulled across this few the few miles to get

to the other side or they would be offloaded

and then reloaded again on the other side and

on another ship a canal was desired for thousands

of years that would cut through so ships would

actually be able to go through there however

This did happen, but not until 1893, so many

thousands of years after they had desired it.

Now, as most commercial cities are, it was a

place of great wealth with a mixed population.

Corinth had Romans, Greeks, and Jews, and probably

many others. Twice a year. There were games that

were held there. They were renowned in the Roman

Empire, the Isthmian Games. There was both male

and female athletes which attracted great crowds

of people and thus again brought a lot of wealth

because of people traveling. They would spend

their money there when they came for the games

or when sailors came because of the ships being

transported across and the trade that happened.

The temple of Apollo was there with its 38 huge

Doric columns, seven of which are still in place.

In classical times and in earlier, there was

a temple to Aphrodite employing over 1 ,000 temple

prostitutes who were used as part of the idolatrous

worship of the day. And this is why Paul deals

so much with sins. and with practices such as

the eating of food being offered to idols in

this book. Wealth and commerce, cultural and

architectural pride, a reputation for luxury

and immorality, licentiousness and indulgence,

false worship and idolatry. Sound familiar? Not

much different than many commercial cities today,

is it? And right there, right there, Christ puts

churches. God raises up churches. Churches with

people who know him. Churches who worship him

faithfully in truth and in righteousness and

who love the Lord Jesus. Thanks be to God. For

these cities are also places spoken of in prophecies

that they, along with their rulers, will submit.

To Christ. Now sometimes. We in small towns and

rural areas. We might look with disdain. Dismissing

cities as dens of iniquity. As places to avoid

or to shun. But brothers and sisters. Do not

despise the work of God that happens in cities.

And the need for churches there. Yes. We are

happy. In our rural areas. And our small towns.

But Jesus is Lord of the cities as well. The

trading centers. The places with much population.

Remember what the Lord spoke to Paul when he

was in Corinth. That we read in Acts chapter

Acts 18 · chapter mention

18. The Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a

vision. Do not be afraid. But speak. Do not keep

silent. For I am with you. and no one will attack

you to hurt you, for I have many people in this

city. Number four. He writes to those who are

sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints

everywhere. This letter, while written to the

church at Corinth, was meant to be read by other

churches. The sentiments expressed here are for

all Christians and all churches in every place.

And so as we go throughout this year and we go

through this book, this is also written to us.

It is for our instruction, for our example. God

speaks to us and he will speak to us as we go

through and look at this word. So while it was

written to them, it is also written to us. And

this is shown here. It is written to the church

of God, which is the Corinth. And 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. Isn't that what

we are doing here? Yes, it is. And so it is also

for us. All Christians are called to be saints.

Saints is not just some special person that is...

elevated often after their death no saints are

holy ones it is the people of god this is the

same word that is used even about children in

chapter 7 verse 14 and as we look forward to

a baptism after this sermon remember that this

is a saint of god now throughout this book The

apostle warns against adopting the ways of the

world. How? In sexual immorality and false worship

and in other things. He applies the word of God

to various situations. He speaks to ministers

of the word. He speaks to people who are guilty

of factiousness. That is, they have factions

and they can't get along with each other. He

speaks to those tempted with idolatry. or to

those who have trouble loving, or who are enamored

with the gifts that God gives instead of with

God himself. These are problems that we all face

in one way or another. Which one of us loves

perfectly, as Paul outlines in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13? Which one of us are tempted to be

enamored with the gifts and the blessing that

God gives rather than the giver, than loving

God with all our heart and soul and mind and

strength? Paul speaks against the false doctrine.

Of those who deny the bodily resurrection of

Jesus. He shows that if Jesus was not raised

from the dead. Then there is no resurrection.

And we are yet in our sins. In chapter 15. He

gives the most eloquent writing on the resurrection.

In all of scripture. In chapter 15. In this letter

to the Corinthians. There are many other things

that he deals with in this book. But then he

ends the introduction with a blessing. He says,

may you be partakers of divine favor. That is

grace to you. May you receive grace from the

Lord. This is, in one sense, it's both a Jewish

and a Greek saying. The Greeks had the term of

using grace. Only Paul reinterprets it here as

grace from the Lord. And then shalom, that is

a peace, an objective state of well -being and

of harmony with God. This grace and this peace

comes not from within ourselves, but it comes

directly from God. our Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ. And so he says to them as he begins this

letter, grace to you and peace to you from God

the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll briefly

outline the book for you. After the introduction

and thanksgiving, Paul answers the report of

one named Chloe or the household of Chloe. about

contentions and factions that were in the church.

This is in chapters 1 through 4. In chapter 5

and 6, he deals with the report from the church

about fornication and about Christians going

to law against each other. In chapter 7, He then

switches and he gives an authoritative answer

to thorny questions that were raised by the Corinthians

and sent to him in a letter. He speaks of this

letter in chapter 16, but he begins answering

it in chapter 7. He gives counsel on the issues

of marriage, celibacy, divorce, and remarriage.

In chapter 7, on eating of food offered to idols

in and in matters of public worship, including

the improper observance of the Lord's Supper

and the selfish use of spiritual gifts in chapter

7 through 14. He then corrects the understanding

of some regarding a wrong view of the resurrection

in chapter 15 and gives final various direction

and greetings as he closes in chapter 16. As

we go through this, I hope that we look forward

to it. And so I would say to us, as we look at

it all, let us pray for ourselves. Pray for illumination

and clarity from the study of this book. I hope

you can look forward to it and pray that God

would show you and reveal to you his will in

a greater way as we go through this book. I would

say, secondly, be diligent in the study of this

book. As Paul exhorts Timothy in 2 Timothy 2

2 Timothy 2:15

verse 15, be diligent to present yourselves approved

to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth. There are

things that can be misunderstood in the book

of 1 Corinthians. We need to pray that we would

rightly divide it, that God would illuminate

us, that he would grant us the wisdom in the

writing of this. There has been much written

already on this book, but we need to understand

it ourselves. Right now on my bookshelf, it's

about that wide, just with various books on 1

Corinthians that I'll use as some resources.

Thirdly, though, be willing to be changed. Ask

God to change you and sanctify you in the working

through this book. Be willing to be changed as

how God wants you to be. And then number four,

Pray for me. Pray that I might rightly divide

this work and be approved of God and a workman

that is not ashamed as we go through this longest

letter, not the longest book of the New Testament,

but the longest letter to the church of the Corinthians.

Let's pray.