We are beginning a several week series on Paul's letters to the Corinthians. Any number of times we may ask ourselves if they’re really as stupid as they seem. They have problems that have solutions so obvious that they must be stupid not to see them. But we are wise not to think that way. Ben Franklin is often quoted as saying, “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” The Corinthians were indeed ignorant. They were not stupid. If you can, imagine yourself in the situation of their faith.
For some reason which is highly remarkable, Paul was able to found a church of mostly non-Jewish people in the city of Corinth. These people would be mostly coming from other religious belief systems. Jews who believed in Jesus generally just took their existing synagogue system and tweaked it into a Christian form. This is not the case for non-Jews, often called Gentiles.
Paul founds the church in Corinth in the early 50’s, less than 20 years since the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. There are no formulas for what a church should look like. There are no Christian scriptures, or authoritative holy writings. They haven’t been written yet! There are no Christian scholars, no organized belief system, no way of knowing what is orthodox and what is heresy. There are no other model churches to look to for an example. All you have is a number of missionaries like Paul who are proclaiming salvation through Jesus of Nazareth. You also have a bunch of people out there preaching complete nonsense about Jesus.
Again, for reasons completely unknown, St. Paul and others succeed in founding a church in Corinth that is mainly made up of Gentiles. They are coming from other religions, most of them with the general belief system of the Greek gods. That means that sacrifices had to be made to the gods so that the gods would look upon you with favor and protect you from bad things. Each god or religion had its own temple and rituals. Or, there was a widespread collection of beliefs active then that today we call Gnosticism. (We’ll return to that in a couple weeks.)
With nothing to go on for beliefs of what is right and wrong, the Corinthians were ignorant and needed help. Paul’s several letters to them are trying to help that ignorance.
That is not to say that the Corinthians were ignorant in all aspects of life. Actually they may have been far more educated and experienced than many other places in the Roman Empire.
Corinth was a bustling cosmopolitan city in the 1st Century. Founded around 3000 B.C. Corinth was like many ancient cities in that it was built and destroyed many times over. In 400 B.C. it’s population was an estimated 90,000 – 100,000; a huge city for the time. Present day Corinth has a population under 40,000. The Corinth of Paul’s day began in 44 B.C. when Julius Caesar refounded it and settled it with freed slaves. In 27 B.C. it became the capital of the province.
Corinth was a center of trade. Located on the isthmus between mainland Greece and the Peloponnesian Peninsula all the overland shipping to and from the peninsula went through Corinth. Also all the shipping east and west went through the city as well. Boats were hauled ashore and rolled on logs overland four miles until they reached water again. Corinth was a crossroads of money and ideas. In the 1st Century it was a lively and bustling place.
Many commentators on the New Testament describe Corinth as if it were an ancient version of Las Vegas; especially a city of unbridled sexual orgies. This, however, needs to be questioned. The sources for these ideas appear to be remarks from ancient writers from Athens commenting on the city’s temple to Aphrodite two hundred years earlier. That temple apparently had a thousand sacred prostitutes. Broader scholarship of the city during Paul’s day is that it was no more nor no less virtuous than any other port city.
What is pretty clear, however, is that these Corinthian Christians were bringing their pagan assumptions into Christian faith. Much of the letters Paul writes to them addresses that.
As I said before chief among their beliefs is the idea that they have to earn the favor of God. Performing the correct rituals and making the right sacrifices were important. Keep that in your mind and let’s read again the first verses of 1 Corinthians.
“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,” Here we have the introduction of the letter’s authors. Paul and Sosthenes. We know almost nothing else about Sosthenes.
“To the church of God that is in Corinth…” Church is the Greek word ecclesia – or assembly. In other words, not a formal organization but simply the believers in Jesus assembled in Corinth. “… to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus” Maybe that is more clearly translated as, “those who have been made and kept holy…” For those who are grammar experts it’s a perfect passive. That means that it is not the work and will of the Corinthians who have made and kept them holy. It is the work of God.
Over and over again in this introduction we’ll see Paul pulling the Corinthians away from the idea that they have to earn the favor of the gods. No. It is God’s call. God’s work. God’s faith.
“Christ” you’ll remember is the Greek word for “anointed one”. It is not a surname. To make the point I know a Catholic scholar who likes to say, “Joseph Christ and Mary Christ did not have a child and name him Jesus Christ.” Jesus of Nazareth is his name. Or perhaps Jesus Barjoseph. Christ is his designation. Verse 2 concludes, “…called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” That is a big designation of Jesus. We should not let it just slip through our minds because we are familiar with it. It wouldn’t have been familiar to the Corinthians. Jesus is his name. As Christ he is God’s anointed one. As Lord he is the ruler and master. He is also the protector.
We can’t let the next verse slip through our minds because of familiarity either. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Greek religions were all about merit – the merit of your life before the gods. Christianity was about grace – unmerited, or undeserved, favor. The concept of grace shows up over and over again as Paul is writing to these former pagans; like the next verse:
“I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace [undeserved favor] of God that has been given you…” Did they earn it. Nope. It was given to them. “…for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind…” Is God’s grace stingy? Nope. Is it lacking? Nope. It is complete.
“… just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift…” Who is doing this work? The Corinthians? Has Paul started off saying, “You know, you guys are really great! You are really holy. You live the right way. God is really happy with you because of that. That’s why God is giving you all this.” Nope. It is all God’s work with no deserving on their part.
Knowledge is also an important point here, but we’re going to look at that another week.
“…so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Over and over again Paul says “Lord Jesus Christ.” And here also, he is saying it is the Lord Jesus Christ who will strengthen them to the end. In other words, God’s grace for them will be constant. It will not die out. It will not abate.
We’re going to wrap up with this final line of the introduction because it sets up the central piece of the whole letter and all of Paul’s proclamation.
“God is faithful.” Who is faithful? Are the Corinthians faithful? Nope. Is Paul faithful? Is Sosthenes faithful? Are people faithful? It is God who is faithful. All too often when people hear the phrase, “saved by grace through faith,” they think the faith talked about there is their own faith – human faith. No. You are saved by grace – the favor God has for us that we do not deserve – through the faith of Jesus. Paul goes on, “…by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son…” And one more time, “…fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
These words run through our minds and we easily overlook how packed they are with meaning that is the foundation of faith. Paul is beginning this letter laying out the groundwork of all of faith. Everything that follows in this letter – everything we will look at through the months of October and November are built on this foundation. Everything Paul says needs to be interpreted through them.
Advice to Christians from thousands of years ago, but advice for us too. When we can see all of life within God’s care we can turn where we need to for true fullness, knowledge and hope. May that be where God always turns us.
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