Holman New Testament Commentary - 1 & 2 Corinthians

Richard L., Jr. Pratt, Max Anders

• Publisher: Holman Reference
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780805402070
• eBook ISBN: 9781433674136
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

One in a series of twelve New Testament verse-by-verse commentary books edited by Max Anders. Includes discussion starters, teaching plan, and more. Great for lay teachers and pastors alike.

Introduction to

1 Corinthians

LETTER PROFILE

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• The letter was probably written about A.D. 54–56 from Ephesus during Paul's third missionary journey.
• Paul wrote to the church in the city of Corinth, the capital city of the Roman province of Achaia. Paul had planted this church during his second missionary journey only a few years earlier.
• The original audience in Corinth contained members from all levels of society, but consisted mostly of people who were neither rich, wise, nor of noble birth.
• The original audience had sat under the ministry of Paul, Apollos, and Peter.
• Subsequent to the ministries of Paul, Apollos, and Peter, the Corinthian church had begun to place improper value on worldly wisdom, including probably Greek philosophy.
• The letter is occasional, written both in response to reports Paul received about conditions in the Corinthian church, and in response to a letter Paul received from the Corinthian church.
• Paul wrote the letter to correct the problems he saw in the Corinthian church, although he also included praise for certain things the church was doing well.
• Literary form: epistle
• Doctrinal themes:
  • the nature of the church, and its implications,
  • the nature of believers’ union with Christ, and its implications,
  • God's wisdom,
  • proper worship,
  • the Lord's Supper,
  • spiritual gifts, and
  • resurrection of the dead.
• Practical themes:
  • the importance of unity in the church,
  • proper valuations and roles of church leaders,
  • the importance of church discipline,
  • lawsuits,
  • prostitution,
  • marriage and divorce in light of famines,
  • Christian freedom and responsibility,
  • interaction with the secular world,
  • proper roles and honor in worship,
  • love, and
  • ministering to the physical needs of others.

AUTHOR PROFILE

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• The apostle Paul wrote this letter.
• He was not one of the original twelve apostles.
• He had formerly been named Saul (Acts 13:9).
• He had formerly been a zealous Pharisee (Phil. 3:5).
• He had formerly persecuted the church (Acts 8:3; Gal. 1:14,23).
• He had been converted and appointed to his apostleship by direct encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3–19).
• He was one of the church's earliest missionaries, and was especially commissioned to evangelize the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Gal. 2:9).
• He planted churches all over the Mediterranean world.
• He authored more New Testament books than any other writer: Romans; 1 and 2 Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1 and 2 Thessalonians; 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon.

1 Corinthians 1:1–17

Greetings and an Earnest Appeal

I. INTRODUCTION

“Hello Dear, We've Got a Big Problem”

II. COMMENTARY

A verse-by-verse explanation of this section.

III. CONCLUSION

In the Name of the Gospel

An overview of the principles and applications from this section.

IV. LIFE APPLICATION

Home Run

Melding the section to life.

V. PRAYER

Tying the section to life with God.

VI. DEEPER DISCOVERIES

Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.

VII. TEACHING OUTLINE

Suggested step-by-step group study of this section.

VIII. ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION

Zeroing the section in on daily life.

“The church of the apostolic days embraced all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues. There is no evidence in the New Testament for the diversification of distinct denominations, and anything tending to such diversification was condemned. The emphasis falls upon the oneness of faith and the oneness of the fellowship of the saints.”

John Murray

In these verses the apostle Paul gave sincere greetings to the believers in Corinth whom he loved dearly. But his heart was so heavily burdened by reports of troubles in the church that he appealed to them to change their ways.

Greetings and an Earnest Appeal

I. INTRODUCTION

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“Hello Dear, We've Got a Big Problem”

It had been another one of those days at the office. Ron hadn't stopped for a moment, not even for lunch. He'd been running all over town, trying to deal with this project and that project. At last, it was four o'clock—time to start thinking of home. What's going on there? How are the kids? What's for supper? Maybe I should pick up something on the way home, he thought to himself as he reached for the phone.

“Hello?” Mary answered.

“Hi! It's me. How have you been today?”

“Uh…” Mary hesitated.

At that moment Ron could hear a lot of noise in the background: hammers pounding, shouts of workers, radios… and was that a fire truck?… the police?

“Hello Dear,” Mary began again. “Um… We've got a big problem.” When we have not talked with someone we love for a while, we just hate to bring up problems right away. It is much nicer to enjoy one another first, and then bring up difficulties later. But sometimes troubles tower so tall that we have to bring them up in the very first moments.

Today the church has many problems. Some of them are small, and we can afford to take them in stride as we focus on other things. But the church also has some very large problems which it needs to address directly and immediately. One of these is disunity. We have thousands of denominations, and great disunity exists even within many of those denominations. In individual churches, we see strife over building programs and mission statements. People divide over minor theological issues, and even over personal incompatibility. Sometimes church politics cause factions within our ranks.

These are exactly the kinds of problems Paul encountered in Corinth. But unlike us, Paul saw the disunity caused by these problems as a terrible disaster. He was so worried about the divisions in Corinth that he barely got through saying “hello” before he launched into a rebuke against this gospel-opposing behavior.

Paul opened his letter to the Corinthians by declaring, “Hello, we've got a big problem.”

II. COMMENTARY

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Greetings and an Earnest Appeal

MAIN IDEA: Christians have been so blessed by god that divisions over trivial matters have no place among us.

Introduction (1:1–9)

SUPPORTING IDEA: God's gift of slavation had brought the Corinthians into a relationship with other believers; they were members of one body.

1:1. Paul wrote with the authority of an apostle (one commissioned and sent) of Christ Jesus. He had been called by the will of God, so his words were to be received as God's own commands (Matt. 10:40; 1 Cor. 14:37). Sosthenes, a Jewish believer and resident of Corinth (Acts 18:17), may have served as Paul's secretary for this letter (1 Cor. 16:21).

1:2. Paul sent this letter to believers in Corinth, a Greek seaport and center of international commerce. The apostle's description of these Christians revealed his deep concern for them. First, he called them the church of God. The readers were not merely individuals. They constituted a church community that belonged to God. Only God's desires held sway over the life of this church. Second, the believers in this church had been sanctified, or set apart from...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Editor Preface
• Contributor
• Commentary
• Introduction 1
• 1corinthians 1:1–17
• 1corinthians 1:18–2:5
• 1corinthians 2:6–16
• 1corinthians 3:1–23
• 1corinthians 4:1–21
• 1corinthians 5:1–13
• 1corinthians 6:1–11
• 1corinthians 6:12–20
• 1corinthians 7:1–40
• 1corinthians 8:1–13
• 1corinthians 9:1–27
• 1corinthians 10:1–11:1
• 1corinthians 11:2–16
• 1corinthians 11:17–34
• 1corinthians 12:1–30
• 1corinthians 12:31–13:13
• 1corinthians 14:1–40
• 1corinthians 15:1–58
• 1corinthians 16:1–24
• Introduction 2
• 2corinthians 1:1–2:11
• 2corinthians 2:12–3:18
• 2corinthians 4:1–18
• 2corinthians 5:1–6:2
• 2corinthians 6:3–7:1
• 2corinthians 7:2–8:9
• 2corinthians 8:10–9:15
• 2corinthians 10:1–12:13
• 2corinthians 12:14–13:14
• Glossary
• Bibliography