Page 48 - New Testament Survey Student Textbook

Themes

Paul’s main focus in 1 Corinthians is on how to live as a Christian community, whose values oppose the
secular culture. The Corinthians believed the Gospel with great zeal when they first heard it. Then they
distorted it with their culture’s stories and views about following Jesus.
Paul strongly criticizes the believers’ misguided attempts to live according to Christian values, pointing
them instead to life in the Spirit of God, based on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ (6:11). Paul rebukes
the Corinthians for thinking that they know what wisdom is, but their wisdom looks no different from
their culture’s. He rebukes them for thinking that they know what being spiritual means, but their
spirituality leads them to be divisive, immoral, and selfish. Instead, Paul teaches them that truly living in
the Spirit leads to unity, to putting others first, and to living a holy life. Paul tells the believers to see
themselves as a community, and as individuals, as God’s temple—as members of Christ’s body (3:16;
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6:15).

Just as the Corinthians were, we too live-in cultures full of ideas and traditions that fight against the
gospel. All the time, we hear ideas about what it means to be wise and spiritual based on our secular
culture, and these often cause us to misunderstand our place in the world or distort the gospel for our
own purposes (compare chs. 8; 10). Paul admonishes our desires to be sophisticated and powerful and
shows them to be empty counterfeits. We are challenged to walk away from immorality and live as
God’s people, empowered by the Holy Spirit (chs. 5; 12–14). We are to embrace the power of the
resurrection and work for the Lord (1:2, 9; 7:17; 15).
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Purpose(s)
This is a pastoral letter seeking to deal with concrete problems in the church at Corinth which have been
communicated to Paul via report and letter. Their letter may have been at least partially in response to
Paul’s “previous letter” about immorality and idolatry which the church misinterpreted (1 Cor 5:9).

Secondary purposes include the following: To move the church to fulfill its part, along with the other
Gentile churches, in contributing to the Jerusalem collection (16:1-4). To commend Timothy to them and
urge them to receive him when he arrives (16:10-11; Timothy had probably been sent before he
dispatched 1 Corinthians but perhaps went through Macedonia or was delayed [4:17; cf. Acts 19:22:
with Erastus]). To express thanks for the gift sent through Stephanus’ delegation (16:17).
To inform them of his coming travel plans: to visit them soon and perhaps winter there after he first
visits Macedonia (4:18-21; 16:5-9).

Structure

1 Corinthians has an opening, typical of a Graeco-Roman letter (1:1–9), a body (1:10–15:58), and a closing
(16:1–24). Paul begins the letter by greeting the Corinthians as saints—people made holy by Jesus—and
giving thanks for them. In the first part of the letter’s body (1:10–6:20), Paul responds to things that he
has heard in Ephesus about the Corinthians. They didn’t report these things themselves. They have acted
divisively, assessing their leaders based on their own definition of what it means to be wise and spiritual.
Paul responds that their views don’t fit with the gospel he preached to them (1:10–4:21). Then he
addresses other issues he has heard about: incest, lawsuits, and sexual immorality (5:1–6:20).
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77 Barry, J.D., et al.
78 Ibid
79 Ibid
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