Read part 1 here – 1 Corinthians – Christianity Gone Mad (part 1). Jan 2024
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church has had an enduring impact on our world. It contains within it (at least) two passages that have now passed into modern society:
“My body is a temple” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” (1 Corinthians 13:4)
It also has a few challenging passages that create a lot of debate and division within the church today (eg. chapter 11 about women and head-covering or chapter 14 on speaking in tongues).
It is rather amazing to think that a letter that was written 2000 years ago still makes such an impact on us today.
Are the Corinthians even Christians?
The overarching impression one gets is that the Corinthian church has gone completely off the rails – Christianity has gone mad – so much so that one wonders whether we might be tempted to disqualify them as a Christian Church. Paul however, despite all their failures and wildness, addresses them at the start by saying:
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people (1 Corinthians 1:2)
Unlike other letters of Paul, 1 Corinthians doesn’t have one main argument. That is because the letter is broken down into lots of different issues that Paul is wanting to deal with from reports that he has heard (chapter 1-6) and matters the church wrote to him about (chapters 7-16). These issues are far ranging:
- Division based on different styles of leaders (chapters 1-4)
- Flagrant sexual immorality & embittered internal lawsuits (chapters 5-6)
- Confusion over marriage, singleness, divorce and remarriage (chapter 7)
- Division over how to engage with pagan culture and the food sacrificed to idols (chapters 8-10)
- Unwieldy, divisive and out of control church meetings (chapters 11-14)
- Doubt about the doctrine of the resurrection (chapter 15)
- Uncertainty on how to donate and handle money (chapter 16)
These are not small and insignificant things. The church was very divided, mainly because it was very proud. Paul carefully, patiently – yet clearly – starts to untie the knots in the church as he renews their minds and nurtures their hearts with the gospel of grace and truth. Gordon Fee puts it well:
As former pagans they brought to the Christian faith a Hellenist worldview and attitude toward ethical behaviours. Although they were the Christian church in Corinth, an inordinate amount of Corinth was yet in them, emerging in a number of attitudes and behaviours that required radical surgery without killing the patient. That is what 1 Corinthians attempts to do.
1 Corinthians for today?
In two terms, spread over two years, we are going to go verse by verse through the whole book and consider how to apply God’s word to our context. The issues that Paul was dealing with seem as relevant as ever:
- How to handle power, authority and big personalities
- How to articulate and practise the unique Christian sexual ethic that is so at odds with our culture
- How to live faithfully and contentedly for God regardless of our relationship status – single, married or divorced
- How to engage with a culture that is increasingly post/anti-Christian, and how to love one another when we come to different conclusions about that
- How to structure church meetings so as neither to stifle nor become disorderly
- How to keep the gospel as of ‘first importance’ and be willing to remain united when we disagree on secondary issues
- How to handle Spiritual gifts and serve in love
- How to hold firm to the gospel
- How to donate and handle money so the gospel can continue to grow and churches continue to be planted
January – May 2025 Preaching Series
We looked at chapters 1-11 in 2024 (see below) – so we’ll finish off the remaining chapters whilst also joining the national campaign – The Patrick Story – and celebrating Easter together.
Here is how we’ll break up the coming term, with a summary sentence from the passage for that week. The theme of ‘unity in diversity’ runs through much of this section.
- 9th Feb – Men and women in the church (1 Cor 11: 1-16)
- 16th Feb – Rich and poor at the Lord’s table (1 Cor 11: 27-34)
- 23rd Feb – Unity in diversity in the body of Christ – part 1 (1 Cor 12: 1-14)
- 2nd Mar – The Patrick story, part 1 – What was I made for?
- 9th Mar – The Patrick story, part 2 – Who is God, really?
- 16th Mar – The Patrick story, part 3 – Where do I belong?
- 23rd Mar – Unity in diversity in the body of Christ – part 2 (1 Cor 12: 12-31)
- 30th Mar – Love, the most excellent way (1 Cor 13: 1-13)
- 6th Apr – Spiritual gifts in the church – part 1 (1 Cor 14: 1-25)
- 13th Apr – Spiritual gifts in the church – part 2 (1 Cor 14: 26-40)
- 18th Apr – Good Friday Service (7.30pm – Synge Street)
- 20th Apr – He was raised on the third day (1 Cor 15: 1-11) (Easter Day)
- 27th Apr – If Christ has not been raised… (1 Cor 15: 12-34)
- 4th May – Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15: 35-38)
- 11th May – Financial giving in the church (1 Cor 16: 1-4)
- 18th May – Be on your guard, be courageous, be strong (1 Cor 16: 5-24)
If you’d like to join us as we explore ‘Christianity Gone Mad’ in the book of 1 Corinthians, here are the options:
- CCC South: 10.30am at Oatlands Primary School (Stillorgan)
- CCC Central: 4.30pm at Synge Street Secondary School (Portobello)
- City Groups: various times and locations throughout the week – do contact us if you want to join one.
January-Easter 2024 Preaching Series
Here is what we looked at a year ago (read the blog here)
- 7th Jan – To the church of God in Corinth. (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)
- 14th Jan – The message of the cross is foolishness. (1 Corinthians 1:10-25)
- 21st Jan – Not many of you were wise by human standards. (1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5)
- 28th Jan – But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)
- 04th Feb – Don’t you know you’re God’s temple? (1 Corinthians 3:1-23)
- 11th Feb – For who makes you different from anyone else? (1 Corinthians 4:1-21)
- 18th Feb – Your boasting is not good. (1 Corinthians 5:1-13)
- 25th Feb – You were bought at a price. (1 Corinthians 6:1-20)
- 03rd Mar – I would like you to be free from concern. (1 Corinthians 7:1-40)
- 10th Mar – Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)
- 17th Mar – Though I am free, I make myself a slave. (1 Corinthians 9:1-27)
- 24th Mar – Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:1-33)