The ancient church of Corinth was weak. Surrounded by idolatry and immorality, they struggled with their Christian faith and lifestyle. The apostle Paul sent the letters of 1st and 2nd Corinthians to instruct and encourage them. Running through these letters are themes of holiness, unity, and love. Paul gives stern warnings, theological doctrine, and personal messages. These 2 books of the bible are as relevant today as they were in the early church. May God speak to you through these reflections.
1. Moral instructions are given in a larger context, understand then heart behind them.
The instructions and commands in Corinthians can seem quite harsh at first glance. Yet they all stem from love. Paul loved this struggling church (2corith 2:4) Love, however, means that sometimes we must confront those we care about. Blatant sin left uncorrected confuses and divides a congregation. Both authority and personal concern are needed when dealing with people who are ruining their lives with sin. But there are several wrong approaches in confronting others, and these can further break relationships rather than heal them. We can be legalistic and blast people away with laws they should be obeying. We can turn away from them because we don’t want to face the situation. We can isolate them by gossiping about their problem and turning others against them as well. Or, like Paul we can seek to build relationships by taking a better approach- sharing, communicating, and caring. This is a difficult approach that can drain us emotionally, but it is the best way for other people, and it is the only Christ-like way to deal with other’s sin.
The Corinthian church was struggling with their environment. They were engulfed by every conceivable sin, so they adapted to the corruption. Paul calls out their chameleon ways. In 1 Corinth 6:9-11 he lists out the sinners who will not inherit the kingdom of God: the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who have sex with other men, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanders and swindlers. Sadly all of them fell into one of these categories. Yet at the end he adds, “and that is what some of you were, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of God.” In Christ, they were made new, they had the power to say no to sin. Paul urges them not to go back to their actions prior to salvation. He challenges them to look at every area of their life through the lens of the gospel. No longer were they sinners but children of God. Not that they were sin free, rather they were free from sin. What once felt compulsive and natural no longer mastered them. When Christ saves you, you are not what you once were. Christ’s power gives us the freedom to say no to our desires. It’s not conversion therapy, its rebirth. Why fade into the darkness when you have seen the light?
In some of his more controversial instructions such as on the role of women in churches, Paul is aiming at unity not belittlement. Whether these instructions are relevant to today’s churches is still a matter under theological discussion. The heart of the matter is not about superiority but unity and order. Women were not taught by Rabbis in Jewish culture and as such were not as knowledgeable as their Jewish brothers. Thus they were not permitted to teach and hold some authority in church. However, they were welcome to learn alongside the men unlike before. Contemporary culture past and present has always emphasized that power gives you value. The man sitting at the top is the most important. Such ethics are overthrown in the kingdom of God. God calls for submission among equals. Matthew 20:25-27 “Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Paul lived this, often enduring torture and reducing himself to nothing to witness to all people. It’s easy to read sexism into the instructions in Corinthians but in a kingdom where the leader is called to be the servant of all, such accusations hold no water.
2. The apostle Paul lived an exceptional life
Paul's teachings don't come from musings in his study or from hours in solitary meditation, they come from a life lived. They come from the weariness of a missionary’s life, the confusion in resolving church politics and the pain of constant persecution. Paul risked his life for people who didn’t believe in the gospel message he was preaching. He expended his life in the service of people who often scorned him. From the moment he saw the blinding light of the resurrected Christ, his life was one of radical devotion. He endured more than we ever will. 2 Corinth 11: 23-29 details his hardships in the service of Christ. He was shipwrecked, flogged, stoned, lashed and rejected by Jews and Gentiles. He knew hunger, thirst, and sleepless nights. He also felt the intense heat of temptation. His teachings come from his lived experiences. When he says that he counts all things as loss, he knows it. When he says he is made strong in weakness, he has lived it. When he says that what we face in this world is light and momentary compared to the glory of knowing Christ, we better believe it too. Paul said he once despaired of life itself, feeling the sentence of death in his soul, yet even then he put his hope on God who raises the dead.
How could Paul continue to witness the gospel in spite of suffering? The same way David in the book of psalms could. In psalms David says that God kept him perfect peace while being an exile hunted by King Saul. He rested under the wings of the almighty while hiding in caves. He meditates on God's word even as he flees. He cries out to God when deserted by friends. He finds safety in God though the world around him wages war. Paul endured his hardships by finding stength and safety for his soul in God. In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of his exceeding pain and his immeasurable joy in the same breath. He looks to the glory of heaven to endure the pain on earth. Living by faith and not by sight. Life may never get easier, but our joy, peace, and hope can multiply in Christ. So often we are urged to create safe spaces for ourselves, but that isn't always possible. God may also send you to work for his kingdom in uncomfortable even dangerous places. Oh, that we too may find rest in God in these stormy seas of life.
3. The light of the gospel brings salvation
The Corinthian church was facing a significant problem of false teachers (2 Corinth 11). Many teachers claimed they had the answers to life but were merely leading the people astray. Although the Corinthians heard the gospel, they couldn’t see the glory of Christ that changes hearts. Many in the church were getting deceived because they couldn’t distinguish the true from the false much like our world today. With many religions claiming to be the right way, with scientists claiming to have the wisdom behind creation and with our own minds claiming to have the truth; we get lost. Without divine help we cannot guide ourselves. Blind people cannot help themselves see. God alone can take away the blindness and cause us to see Christ for who he is. The ultimate good of the good news is the glory of God in the face of Christ. Salvation is when God sovereignly speaks light into your heart, and you are enabled to taste for the first-time spiritual beauty. How then do we see, through faith. Faith is believing and receiving God’s saving work through Christ. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1-3)
Paul was once a persecutor of Christians until he literally saw the light of the glory of the risen Christ (Acts 9). If you do not see the light, pray that God will illuminate you as he did Paul. Pray that God will remove anything that hinders the miracle of sight. Only when the blindness is taken away can we count everything as loss, for the surpassing value of seeing the glory of Christ. We must receive Christ as supremely valuable and supremely glorious. When this happens the right way, the wisdom in the fear of God and the truth will become clear.
4. Important verses
The books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians really challenged, humbled an encouraged me. These are some verses that stood out as I studied the book of 1 and 2nd Corinthians in my personal devotions.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
2 Corinth 4: 4-10, 16-17
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body… 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinth 5:17-21
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.
The book of 1st Corinthians reminds us that we ought to be diffrent from the world around us. If you are in Christ you don't think, talk or live like you used to. You have been changed. 2nd Corinthians shows us that troubles can make our faith stronger. It helps us see what is really important and teaches us to lean on Jesus for strength. God is always at work to strengthen your faith in him. He can use anything- even difficulties to your advantage. I encourage you to study these books of the bible. More insights can be gleaned in their pages. As you study, may God’s words make you more like Christ.