Notes on 1 Corinthians 1

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul associates his name first of all with his calling, which is to be an apostle, an ambassador or messenger of Christ. It is interesting that this idea of being an ambassador is restated with a different word in 2 Corinthians 5:20, the word there meaning representative or preacher. Traditionally, of course, the term "apostle" is applied only to those original leaders of the church who actually saw Christ in the flesh, and were sent to bring the Gospel to new areas. Apart from disputes over vocabulary, I think that anyone called to be a church planter in this day serves the office of an apostle; many if not most missionaries fill that role. It is important to emphasize, too, that this calling is by the will of God, not by some self choice. Anyone who goes into this, or any other ministry, outside the specific will of God is a pretender.

Those of us who are members of a local church are also called, Paul says, to be saints, to be pure and blameless, and to be set aside for God's use, or sanctified, and this only in Jesus Christ. There is no other way to be sanctified than in him. To "call upon the name of Jesus" means to acknowledge him, in sincerity, as Savior and Lord, and to recognize that our access to the Father comes only through him.

Grace, receiving God's favor and provision without cost to us and not based on any merit we possess, is itself a gift, and comes through Jesus Christ, who paid the price for it. Utterance can mean what is said, or the capacity to think and judge, or, in other contexts, the Word, or Christ. Knowledge means the knowledge that comes only from God. It is this capacity to understand and grasp that which is beyond our natural comprehension that is the special and peculiar gift of the Holy Spirit. That kind of riches is greater than anything money can buy, by far. The testimony of Christ is the witness of his life, death, and resurrection, which proclaim him to be who the claimed to be. His testimony is confirmed, or established, in us when we are saved through him.

Being confirmed to the end means that we are secure in Christ, in the salvation he affords us. We are blameless only because our faith in him is accounted for righteousness, as with Abraham; the only righteousness we really have is that imputed to us in Christ. That's why God will judge us blameless when Christ returns.

Our calling is not only to be a part of the local church, to the fellowship of other believers, but to fellowship with Christ. That abiding in him, as he abides in us, is central to our faith; Christianity, this passage affirms, is not a religion, but a relationship. The rest of this letter to the Corinthians hinges on this truth, and the failure of that local church to practice it.

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

Divisions break that bond of fellowship. Just as unity of spirit brings peace, division brings discord and confusion. Instead of focusing on the centrality of Christ, divisions focus on human personalities and ideas. Apart from following human leadership, such people also follow human interpretations of the Scripture. Paul admonishes the church to return to a spirit of unity, which comes only from following the direction of the Holy Spirit, and from his judgment and wisdom. The problem at Corinth was the same as for any church or individual Christians who have problems: they took their eyes off of Jesus, and turned to their own useless wisdom and understanding. The result is always disastrous.

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

We should never let the world, the unsaved, be the judge of whether our witness, by preaching or testimony, is wise or foolish. Brilliant oratory is not great preaching, in itself, and we can't "save" someone with what we say. Only the Holy Spirit can convict someone of sin, regardless of the words being used, and only our Lord Jesus Christ can save someone from their sins. Even if we stumble over our words, and we can't get our thoughts organized, the Holy Spirit is more than able to use what we say to touch someone's heart. Though it's hard for us to imagine from the elegance of his written letters, Paul said he wasn't a great preacher (for example, in 2 Corinthians 10:10), but that the power of his preaching came from the Holy Spirit.

Those who are brilliant in the world's eyes, and in their own, have a stake in justifying their own wisdom. For example, a scientist trained in the theory of evolution, and whose research and writings are predicated on that theory, will find it difficult to acknowledge that life arose, not from a fortuitous series of accidents, but by divine design. It is very common for learned men, so called, to ridicule the idea of creation, and to act based on the assumption that all religion, Christianity or otherwise, is based on illusion and wish fulfillment.

The TV is full these days of programs "about" the Bible or "about" Jesus, but these all amount to attempts to grasp the truth through human wisdom, the wisdom of the world. This, the Bible affirms in this passage, is impossible; as Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith it is impossible to please him [God], and the truths of the Word are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). Just as with the ancient Greeks, the preaching of the Word is foolishness to the scientists and intellectuals of our day. To those who are religions, like the Jews, and who rely on a salvation grounded in works, the idea of salvation through the crucified Lord is a stumbling block; such people insist there must be something else, such as the ritual of baptism, or obedience to some set of legalistic requirements. To those who accept Christ as Savior, and are thus counted among the called, the preaching of the Gospel represents Christ, the power and wisdom of God. Power is the ability, the strength, to carry out God's will; wisdom is the ability to recognize what that will encompasses.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

It is hard, though by no means impossible, for the wise and powerful, as the world judges them, to be humble. First of all, that requires an acknowledgment that all talent and ability come from God, and that by ourselves we can do and accomplish nothing. The idea of the self-made man, or woman, is as old as this country itself. Self-reliance is a part of our national creed, and self-reliance does not require reliance on God. If we're self-made, we're not God-made. God cannot use those caught up in their own conceit, convinced they can do anything and handle anything. To take a different slant on a very old folk saying, he can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The Lord does not require that we possess the abilities to undertake what he calls us to do; all we need to do is make ourselves available. The same God who made a powerful preacher out of a rough fisherman, and a mighty warrior out of a shepherd boy. can endow us with whatever abilities we need to fulfill our calling. We never have reason or cause to glory, or take pride, in our talents and gifts; all of them come from God, and the all the glory belongs to him, and to him alone. In him alone we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He paid the full purchase price to deliver us out of the death of sin; nothing we can ever do will ever earn our salvation.

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