The plain fact is that Paul did not know when these events would take place, and nowhere does he claim to know. Our resurrection body will be a heavenly (celestial) body, suited for life in heaven, not only life on this earth. Death is defeated by resurrection. That is of little importance to me, because I am not an apostle because of a popular election. b. These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience. The point is plain: There is no wise man, no scribe, and no debater who can do what Jesus Christ has done. III. a. The disunion is unnatural and must be cured.. Does we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed mean that Paul predicted Jesus would come in his lifetime? 1 Corinthians 15 - Clarke's Commentary - StudyLight.org But God did not respond to the polling data. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. There was an old, contentious Quaker who went from one meeting to another, never finding the true church. The unspiritual, worldly conduct of the Corinthians . An example of this is in Acts 23:12-13, when more than forty men took a vow that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. He recognizes that the gifts were not the problem, but wrong attitudes and beliefs about the gifts. You must not only work, but you must labour put forth all your strength; and you must work and labour in the Lord under his direction, and by his influence; for without him you can do nothing. (Clarke). Paul says, In light of what God says in Isaiah 29:14, ? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I speak this to your shame. 2018 David Guzik No distribution beyond personal use without permission. In His work, He communicates three things to those who are, means that we are legally declared not only not guilty, but to have a, speaks of our behavior, and how the believers are to be separate, by focusing on ourselves, but on Jesus, because Jesus, is a word from the slave trade. We ought to honour those most whom God most honoureth, either by a more plentiful giving out of his Spirit, or by a more plentiful success upon their labours; but we ought not so far to appropriate any ministers to ourselves, as for them to despise others. a. d. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory: Some take this to mean there will be different degrees of glory for believers in heaven. Those who believe that Jesus gathers His people after He has poured out His wrath on a Jesus-rejecting world sometimes argue that it is the last trumpet of judgment, cited in Revelation 11:15-19. But how we receive grace will help to determine how effective the gift of grace is. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. c. The world through wisdom did not know God: There is a constant tendency to think that the smartest and wisest humans will know the most about God. We need 2 cookies to store this setting. Paul uses this exact phrase five other times in the New Testament. i. Lord: A title designating not only master and boss, but also the Lord revealed in the Old Testament (known as Yahweh or Jehovah). We may request cookies to be set on your device. Today, some are told to embrace death as a friend, but that is not Biblical thinking. However, we learn something just from the meaning of the ancient Greek word " apostolos ," which has the idea of "a special ambassador." Paul was a "special ambassador" of Jesus Christ to the world and to the church. The second perfect man, Jesus the last Adam, can give us another kind of body. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Nor does corruption inherit incorruption: The word corruption does not mean moral or ethical corruption, but physical, material corruption. I Corinthians 15:3-6 " For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. What about the widows son in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24) and Lazarus (John 11:38-44), among others? He specifies utterance and knowledge, v. 5. It is wisdom of a different order altogether. That Paul did not regard baptism as essential to salvation is also seen by the fact that he did not keep careful track of those he baptized: Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other, . a. See passages such as Numbers 16:3, Numbers 20:4, Deuteronomy 23:1, and 1 Chronicles 28:8. was a secular term (referring to the gatherings of the citizenry in a city-state to discuss and decide on matters of public interest [Mare]), Paul calls the gathering of Christians in Corinth, . (14-19) What if there is no resurrection? To remain willfully ignorant of the truth is. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. Significantly, Paul did not say, we baptize for the dead, but asked, . If someone were there, perhaps in a brilliant flash of light, they would have seen the dead body of Jesus transformed, and virtually vaporize out of the grave clothes. The Greek word has both a Gentile and a Jewish background. 1. Some mock the idea of resurrection. In light of I thank God that I baptized none of you, it is impossible to claim that Paul was a sacramentalist. c. I tell you a mystery: In the Biblical sense, a mystery is simply a thing to be understood by spiritual, rather than by merely human perception. The hearing and trusting of the true gospel will bring the power of God into your life. Trust God, rely on Him, v. If I neglect my end of the partnership, Gods grace doesnt accomplish all that it might, and is therefore given. We are following in the footsteps of no one less than Jesus Himself. Lady Huntington, the rich and influential friend of Whitfield and Wesley, said she was going to heaven by an m: it isnt any noble; instead it is not many noble. The Corinthians were a rich church, not only materially, but also in their speech and knowledge of Jesus (, all utterance and in all knowledge the testimony of Christ, ), and in that they lived in anticipation of Jesus coming (, i. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking. : The Corinthian Christians had their strong points, and they had their weak points. was the ultimate oxymoron, and this was what Paul preached! : The book of Acts does not record an occasion when Paul faced wild animals in an arena. By keeping evil company, the Corinthian Christians were being conformed to this world, and they needed to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Many things made Corinth famous. . I am, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, ? Those who believe that Jesus gathers His people, may not refer to the last trumpet of the seven trumpets of Revelation at all, but simply refer to the, was a figure of speech that came from the Roman military, when they broke camp. Each of us is definitely moving in one of those two directions. The problem is addressed. c. Not with wisdom of words: How did Paul preach in Corinth? : We dont often think of the burial of Jesus as part of the gospel, but it is. (20-23) The resurrection of Jesus was the firstfruit of our resurrection. ii. He is, b. They did not value the wisdom expressed in the message of the cross. ii. Truly it is never a pleasant sound, that rattle of the clay upon the coffin-lid, Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes, nor to the farmer, for its own sake, would it be a very pleasant thing to put his grain into the dull cold earth; yet I trow no farmer ever weeps when he sows his seed. (Spurgeon), ii. Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. It is a mysterious passage, and there have been more than thirty different attempts to interpret it. The relationship of, the Son Himself will also be subject to Him, i. In fact, he makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 15:11 that they, i. i. : In the wording of the ancient Greek, it is even stronger: : Paul says our bodies are like seeds which grow into resurrection bodies. ii. If there is no resurrection, then there is no future judgment to consider. (39-41) The analogy of living and heavenly bodies. It wasnt because the Corinthian Christians did not believe Jesus rose from the dead. Thou lookest like a dragon, but thy sting is gone. This is not Pauls gospel in the sense that he created it or fashioned it; it is Pauls gospel in the sense that he personally believes it and spreads it. (Messiah) meant power, splendor, and triumph. Someone once said to him, Well, what church are you in now? He said, I am in the true church at last. How many belong to it? Just my wife and myself, and I am not sure about her sometimes.. Paul says, In light of what God says in Isaiah 29:14, now where is your wise man? Paul knows that he is not one of the twelve apostles, but he is on par with them because, like them, he is chosen by God. (Robertson), An apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, : With this, Paul emphasizes his point and already begins contending with the Christians of Corinth. Paul came speaking plainly, without any attempt to dazzle with eloquence or intellect. i. Christ (Messiah) meant power, splendor, and triumph. Verse 1 Corinthians 15:3. What of the dead in Christ before that day? Since every cell of my body contains the DNA blueprint to make a whole new body, God can no doubt take one cell of my dead body and make a glorious resurrection body out of that old blueprint. The term church of God has Old Testament associations, especially in the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament). ; it is a word that properly embraces all believers, over all time. The church also had even lost Jesus in the message, preaching religious platitudes and social graces. At its narrowest part the isthmus was crossed by a level track called the diolcus, over which vessels were dragged on rollers from one port to the other. The good news or euangelion, rests on just such a confession which Paul first proclaimed at Corinth and by which they were in the process of being . ii. See passages such as Numbers 16:3, Numbers 20:4, Deuteronomy 23:1, and 1 Chronicles 28:8. iii. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching, If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is in vain, : If there is no resurrection, then Jesus is not risen, and Paul and the other apostles have preached. They did not value the wisdom expressed in, i. The hearing and trusting of the true gospel will bring the, . In light of all this, how could the Corinthian Christians let go of such an important truth? For those who are not in Jesus Christ, death still has its sting. When Paul explained it like this, it shows how foolish it is to focus on anyone but Jesus. i. Morgan says well in his introduction to 1 Corinthians: The measure of failure on the part of the Church is the measure in which she has allowed herself to be influenced by the spirit of the age We are sometimes told to-day that what the Church supremely needs is that she should catch the spirit of the age. ( John 15:1-3) Jesus as the true vine . : When you plant a wheat seed, a big wheat seed does not come up. Grace is always first, peace always second. What the Church supremely needs is to correct the spirit of the age.. The apostle was addressing Christians, and warning them to beware of the temporal judgements with which God chastised his offending servants. Though the idea of glorying in the death of a Savior seems foolishness to the world, it is salvation to those who will believe. ii. Session 6: Paul and Titus. But in the first century, saying message of the cross was about the same as saying message of the electric chair except worse! b. One day, students in one of Albert Einsteins classes were saying they had decided that there was no God. All rights reserved worldwide. Sixth, live in such a manner that you would not be ashamed to die at any moment. We dont become righteous by focusing on ourselves, because Jesus became for us righteousness. 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. For I delivered unto you first of all . On the positive side, Paul says love is: patient, kind, and selfless. . "THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS" Chapter Fifteen OBJECTIVES IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER 1) To see how the resurrection of Jesus is the basis of our faith 2) To determine why we believe that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead 3) To notice the sequence of events which will occur at the end of time as presented in this chapter 4) To understand . This is the sting of death to you, unconverted ones, not that you are dying, but that after death is the judgment, and that you must stand before the Judge of the quick and dead to receive a sentence for the sins which you have committed in your body against him. (Spurgeon). Where is your scribe? The Corinthians boasting about their party leaders was really boasting about themselves. i. A thousand times no. But the ancient Greek word for church (ekklesiai) was a non-religious word for an assembly of people, typically gathered together for a specific purpose. Grace isnt given because of any works, past, present or promised; yet it is given to, iii. a. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. i. : This refers to a few different meetings, such as in John 20:26-31, John 21:1-25, Matthew 28:16-20, and Luke 24:44-49. If the cross and its message seem weak, they are not; they are powerful and wise. Before that he served as director and teacher at Calvary Chapel Bible College, Germany, following more than 20 years of pastoral ministry. Crucify him! if we had our wits about us, we would have shouted back, Dont crucify Him! ii. How sobering this is! It isnt. In its Gentile sense it denotes chiefly the citizen-assembly of a Greek city but it is its Jewish usage that underlies its use to denote the community of believers in Jesus. Their problem with the resurrection also indicated the source of many of their moral problems. Were the ones really right with God!, ii. Here, he simply states the fact: And has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, of our resurrection in both senses. Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. Where did the Corinthian Christians get their strange ideas about the resurrection, ideas Paul spent this chapter trying to correct? The Corinthian Christians are, , but this was not based on the outward performance of the Corinthians. Specifically, they wanted the sign of a miraculous Messianic deliverance. Enduring Word Bible Commentary 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 Paul thought carefully about this letter. Yet, we can see by this that, that he baptized so few in Corinth, and he, as an evangelist, could. If you do not believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead in a resurrection body the way the Bible says He did, then, g. When you know what rests on the resurrection, you know why, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. When we understand what Paul meant when he wrote, , If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable, , then we understand what a difficult life Paul lived. From the first Adam, we all are made of dust, but from the last Adam we can be made heavenly. d. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed: Since sleep is a softer way of describing the death of a believer, Paul tells us that not all Christians will die, but there will be a final generation who will be transformed into resurrection bodies at the return of Jesus before they ever face death. c. Sosthenes our brother: This man Sosthenes is perhaps mentioned in Acts 18:17, as the head of a Corinthian synagogue who was beaten because he protected Paul. We have all borne the image of the first, will also bear His resurrection image. The answer is, Yes! God does it and we do it. The expression means that he was public in his trials, and that this was exhibited to the universe. Whether there are degrees of glory, as it seems probable, so we shall certainly know, when we come to heaven. (Trapp). The Gospel of Matthew; The Gospel of Mark; The Gospel of Luke; The Gospel of John; The Book of Acts; The Book of Romans; The Book of 1 Corinthians . God raises the dead. If you must execute this man, do it honorably. c. There are contentions among you: Though division is ungodly, it is not wrong to make distinctions between churches and ministers. This speaks to the vital need described in Romans 12:2: ii. a. I thank my God always: Paul will later spend most of this letter rebuking sin and correcting error, yet he is still sincerely thankful for Gods work in the Corinthian Christians. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. This isnt the gathering of the world, but of God. Conceivably, if Paul had not worked as hard as he did, the grace of God would still have been given to him, but in some measure it would be given. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is not some add on to a more important work on the cross. Gods wisdom is not mans wisdom multiplied to the highest degree. As horrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was, this spiritual suffering the act of being judged for sin in our place was what Jesus really dreaded about the cross. d. Those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints: Paul continued his description of the Corinthian Christians. Second, by faith put your soul through the whole process of death. And in the midst of judgement, God remembers mercy: he many times punishes those whom he loves. But someone will say, How are the dead raised up? b. This conflict had made them divide up into parties or cliques, each party having its own leader., i. Study Guide for 1 Corinthians 15 by David Guzik - Blue Letter Bible If you are an unbeliever, death is not your friend; it is your enemy. Though he was a pagan, Menander told the truth at this point, and Paul (more properly, the Holy Spirit) had no problem quoting a pagan who did tell the truth at a particular point. In terms of what love "is not," Paul says it is not self-seeking, short-tempered, and offensive. He does not speak of the spiritual putting to death of the flesh. d. You come short in no gift: Paul thanks God for the gifts among the Corinthians, even though they were causing some trouble. God's Word for Today: 2 Corinthians (Downloadable) I am of Paul: There was the Paul Party, who declared We are following in the footsteps of the man who founded our church, the apostle Paul. (24-28) The resurrection of Jesus leads to the resolution of all things. As is evident from 1 and 2 Corinthians, Pauls standing and authority as an apostle were not appreciated among the Christians of Corinth. Death is defeated by resurrection. Chuck Smith points to a grammatical construction that would be different if this trumpet were the trumpet of Revelation 11. iii. But the ancient Greek word for, i. c. Since we will bear the image of the heavenly Man, the best example we have of what a resurrection body will be like is to see what Jesus resurrection body was like. God loves to rebuke the idolatry of human wisdom, and He often does it by choosing and using the foolish things of the world. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where, : In this quotation from Isaiah 29:14, Paul shows that in spiritual matters, God opposes the wisdom of man. Jesus made a special appearance to James (1 Corinthians 15:7). Copyright - Enduring Word       |      . We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. Christ: This is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah, or Anointed One. This is the One prophesied by the Old Testament Scriptures, sent by the Father to save and deliver us. 1. The destruction of death was shown at the resurrection of Jesus, when, But when He says all things are put under Him, it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted, : Paul reminds us that the Son will not someday be superior to the Father. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. iv. O Death, where is your sting? The Corinthian Christians did not deny Jesus resurrection; they denied. We shall rise in a full and perfect age, (as is generally thought) and without those defects and deformities which may here make our bodies appear unlovely. (Poole), ii. So, preaching a high moral standard is not preaching the gospel, preaching the universal fatherhood of God is not preaching the gospel, and preaching the universal brotherhood of man is not preaching the gospel. But they were. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-2. is typical of Pauls letters, and draws from both Greek and Jewish customs. a. e. Confirm you to the end: The Corinthian Christians had their strong points, and they had their weak points. The doctrine of Christ's death and resurrection, is the foundation of Christianity. a. we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, mean that Paul predicted Jesus would come in his lifetime? Sharing the Word of God with passion for Christ. Paul will not allow this. He gives thanks for their conversion to the faith of Christ; that grace was given them by Jesus Christ. i. i. The Corinthians were a rich church, not only materially, but also in their speech and knowledge of Jesus (all utterance and in all knowledge the testimony of Christ), in their abounding in the gifts (come short in no gift), and in that they lived in anticipation of Jesus coming (eagerly waiting). However, we learn something just from the meaning of the ancient Greek word . : Whether Paul or one of the other apostles brought the message, the result was the same. i. In this emphasis on Jesus, Paul promotes the sure cure for the problems of the Corinthians: getting your eyes off self and on Jesus. But they were. is simply a thing to be understood by spiritual, rather than by merely human perception. Paul knows that he is not one of the twelve apostles, but he is on par with them because, like them, he is chosen by God. (Robertson), ii. Over time, two things happened: the church lost its passion for Jesus and His gospel, and ivy began to grow on the archway. i. Paul had an extensive history of contact with the city of Corinth, beginning with when he established the church in Corinth, coming there after Athens and staying a year and a half (Acts 18). You do not sow that body that shall be God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. Aramaic is the language that Jesus spoke.
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