Recap

So far in 1 Corinthians we've started the section where Paul addresses the reports he's heard about the Corinthians. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians likely as his second letter to the church in Corinth. It was written in response to reports of bad behaviour in the church, and addressing issues that came up in the previous letter.

One key issue in Corinth was the influence of Greek thinking, which led them to believe the spirit was more important than the body. As a result, they either neglected their physical actions or justified sinful behaviours, thinking the body didn’t matter. This affected their views on sexuality, food, and resurrection.

Paul greeted the Corinthians, reminding them they had been made holy by Jesus. He pointed out that their spiritual gifts were from God, not their own achievements. Then, he addressed their divisions. They were chasing after wisdom and eloquence from different teachers. But Paul countered this, stressing that Jesus, not the teachers, was the source of their freedom and unity.

He emphasised that God's wisdom differs from the world’s. The idea of a crucified Messiah subverts any human wisdom. He reminded them their influence and gifts came from Jesus, not worldly wisdom. He used the metaphor of a building, explaining that he laid the foundation (Jesus) and others built on it. Their different teachers served different roles. But God would ultimately test the work of the builders, so the Corinthians shouldn’t boast in their leaders but focus on God.

Paul also mocked their arrogance, contrasting their self-sufficiency with the sacrifices made by him and their other leaders. True leadership, he explained, involved humility and service. He then reassured them that he wasn't saying all this to shame them, but to correct them like a father. He cared about what happens to them. 

1 Corinthians 5-6

Paul now moves on to the reports of their immorality. It appears there’s a man among them who is living with his father’s wife. While there’s lots of debate around what exactly is going on here there are a couple of things agreed on here.

The first is that this would have been the man’s step-mother, not his own mother, and the second is that this is clearly a sexual relationship. Paul’s language has echoes of Leviticus 18:8 which was all about the forbidding of sexual relationships between a man and his father’s wife.

Outside of this it’s unclear whether the father is still alive or not. Either way, it’s clear that this sex outside of marriage and an idea that is forbidden by both Jewish law and Roman civil law. What makes it worse is that the Corinthian church were proud about accepting this man in.

It may be that he was a wealthy patron that supported the church financially, and having him as a member raised the social status of the church.

Paul declares that he has pronounced judgement on this man and that the church should do the same. They should “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 5:5). There are a couple things of note here.

To hand someone over to Satan meant to remove them from the church. In doing so you are pushing them out of the kingdom of God and out of God’s protection. The idea was that you were therefore pushing them into the territory of Satan.

Now, outside of the protection of God the hope is that that person would experience life away from God and realise their mistake and come back. Paul uses the term flesh (sarx in the Greek) to refer to our sinful selves. The power of sin in our lives.

Left to the whim of that power, the hope is that they would realise that becoming a slave to sin again is no fun and thus address the sin in their lives and then return to the church.

Paul then uses the metaphor of yeast that we saw in the gospels. A small amount of yeast spreads through a whole batch of dough causing it to rise. In the same way, the sin of other believers can have a polluting effect on the whole church and so needs to be removed and addressed.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is that call to address sin, not tolerate it, so that we can enjoy ‘unleavened’, sin free church. The term 'unleavened' symbolises purity and the removal of sin, just as yeast is removed from bread during Passover.

But that then raises a question? If we are to remove sin from the church, then we shouldn’t have anything to do with unbelievers as they are full of sin. We wouldn’t want them pollute us with their sin.

Paul addresses this, noting that he’d made a similar point in his previous letter without properly clarifying it. We are called to go out into the world to share Jesus with people. In this we have to interact with unbelievers and not judge them for their sin.

But sinful believers are like a trojan horse. They claim to be brothers and sisters but then through their actions make sin acceptable when they should be encouraging and helping other in not indulging their sin. Leave God to judge unbelievers, but as a community of believers we should hold one another accountable.

This then leads to the next report that Paul had heard of the Corinthians. They were suing one another in court. In doing so, they were putting themselves under the judgement of unbelievers in a spectacle, as Greco-Roman courts were public affairs people came out to watch.

It’s worth noting these would have been civil, not legal matters. This passage should not be used to justify not reporting Christians who have broken the law.

We then get a powerful statement, when Paul encourages the Corinthians that they are to judge the angels. This is a topic we’ve not covered enough in our reading of the New Testament so far.

In the Old Testament we saw examples of God’s divine council. These were his court of spiritual beings that helped him rule over the earth (see Job 1-2, and 1 Kings 22). The idea in the New Testament, is that in Jesus the believers begin to take on the role of the divine council.

Here in 1 Corinthians 6:3 is the closest we get to anyone saying it explicitly, but the thread is sewn throughout the New Testament. Here are a couple of examples. In the Old Testament we saw God’s dwelling place, and therefore the place he holds his council meetings, was on top of mountains. In Mark 3:13-19 Jesus specifically goes up a mountain to appoints his disciples. He was appointing his new council.

The in the Old Testament ones of the common terms for divine council members is holy ones (see Job 15:15, Psalm 89:5-7, Zechariah 14:5). We’ve already mentioned the the Greek for holy ones (hagioi) is translated as saints in the New Testament. Paul gives believers the title that previously was used for divine council members.

Either way, the point is that the believers are considered capable of judging amongst themselves and so they should. They should not be bringing shame to the church by accusing one another and airing their dirty laundry for spectacle in the public. Particularly as one of the main reasons for doing it would be to protect one’s ego and climb the social ladder.

Paul then addresses a claim that the Corinthians made, presumably in their previous letter. “All things are lawful for me” (1 Corinthians 6:12). In other words, if Jesus has freed me from the law as we read about in Romans, I can do what I want. But Paul points out, while all things might be lawful not all things are beneficial, and we are not to be dominated by anything.

This is where Paul really begins to address the Corinthians' broken understanding of the body. He again quotes another of their phrases, “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” (1 Corinthians 6:13). The idea is that our bodies are just physical and so we can give them over to physical things because it doesn’t matter. But Paul points out that God is God over the physical.

Paul then parrots their phrase, saying that the body is for the Lord (not fornication) and the Lord for the body. Our bodies belong to Jesus, and Jesus now lives in our body through the Spirit. Your body isn’t just some physical thing, it is now part of Jesus himself. If Jesus lives in me through the Spirit, then whatever I partake in, I’m also making Jesus partake in.

Some of the Corinthians were regularly sleeping with prostitutes to satisfy their bodies' desires. In doing so, they were taking their body that belongs to Jesus and offering it to a prostitute instead. Sexual immorality is a sin that directly pollutes the body, when our bodies are called to be temples of the Spirit.

In this, Paul is trying to raise the Corinthians’ appreciation and care for their bodies. They are important and to be respected and valued.

Psalm 141

This psalm is attributed to king David and falls into the category of lament psalm.

Psalm 141:1-2 - Hear me and come quickly, O Lord

Psalm 141:3-5 - Keep me from evil

Psalm 141:6-7 - May I be disciplined and the wicked punished

Psalm 141:8-10 - The Lord is my refuge

The psalmist starts with a call to the Lord to hear and to come quickly. They ask that the Lord accept their offering of prayer. They then turn to their request. Unlike other lament psalms that often ask the Lord to deal with the psalmist’s enemies, this psalmist turns inwards to their own sinfulness. They ask the Lord the keep watch over their mouth to stop them from saying anything evil. May he also protect their heart from turning to evil and becoming like others who do wicked. They ask the Lord to let other righteous people discipline them and correct them so that they might avoid turning to evil.

The psalmist then turns to the wicked themselves, but rather than asking the Lord to deal with them, he simply stands in confidence that their own wickedness will be their own downfall. They will realise that the psalmist was trying to be kind to them, and will eventually be crushed and destroyed.

Finally, the psalmist asks that the Lord protect them from those who would do them harm. The wicked try to trap them, but the psalmist asks that the Lord causes them to fall into their own traps.

This psalm draws on much of the wisdom writings that recognise that, first and foremost, we must deal with ourselves. We need the help from the Lord to make sure that we are living right and not allowing evil to live in our hearts. Only once that has been done can we turn outwards and ask the Lord to deal with the problems we face.