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
then 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 to 3. We
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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,
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
these first in the church. We see that in 1 Corinthians
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
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
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,
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
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
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
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.