The Corinthians

Even in these troubling times within the  Church it is still the place where  God works out salvation with fear and trembling. Individually and collectively we are the tangible way the world sees christianity.

Through His Body, the Church, Jesus touches the world.

God uses what is considered foolish and despised in this world to reveal His truth, so that He alone will receive the glory. Otherwise, the powerful would boast that they had found the truth. Instead, God sent His Son to become a humble carpenter and to die in the most despicable way, on a cross. Jesus’ life and death reveals God and His wisdom. Since Christ not only imparts wisdom but also righteousness, the Christian cannot boast, except in the Lord. NKJ Bible.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NKJV)

³⁰ But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)

⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Philippians 3:9 (NKJV)

⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Corinthians

The church at Corinth was a seriously troubled church. Infected with sexual immorality, split by factions that dragged each other into court, and crippled by abuse of the spiritual gifts, this church was in need of radical spiritual surgery. Though true believers, the Corinthians had a lot of growing up to do. They had to stop following the immoral, selfish, and contentious ways of their pagan neighbors in Corinth, the notoriously immoral city of that day. One can sense the disappointment of a hurt father in Paul’s stern words for the Corinthians. Yet Paul, like a surgeon, diagnosed the problem and aimed his efforts straight at the source: pride and a lack of true love in the church.

Corinth’s commercial success was rivaled only by its decadence. The immorality of Corinth was so well known that Aristophanes coined the Greek verb korinthiazomai (meaning “to act like a Corinthian”) as a synonym for sexual immorality. Greek plays of the day often depicted Corinthians as drunkards and reprobates. The Corinthians drew attention to their lewdness through their worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Yet Corinth was also a strategic location for the propagation of the gospel. The city’s corrupt nature made for a unique opportunity to display to the Roman world the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Though the Corinthians were very gifted, in their immaturity and pride they had abused their gifts. Paul reminded the Corinthians that gifts come from God and are to unify and edify the church. In conclusion, Paul corrected a doctrinal matter by writing the New Testament’s most detailed explanation of the resurrection of Christ and Christians. Even though the church was riddled with problems, Paul ended his confrontational letter with a note of hope. The Corinthians could have victory over sin and death because Jesus in His death and resurrection had already decisively obtained it.

In this letter Paul proclaims the relevance of Christ Jesus to every area of the believer’s life. In the writer’s words, Jesus “became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”. Paul goes on to assert (much as Luke did in the Book of Acts) that Jesus is living out His life in the world through the church. According to Paul, we are the body of Christ with individual gifts. As we discover our gifts and invest them in mutual ministry, Jesus continues to touch the world for which He died. NKJ Bible.