This epistle was written during the apostle Paul’s long stay at Ephesus, of which we read in Acts 19; this was about twenty-five years after the crucifixion of the Lord. The Apostle had now been away from Corinth two or three years, and many things in the young assembly there, were not what they should be, the more important of these are discussed in the Epistle. This gives First Corinthians a character very distinct from that of the Epistle to the Romans.
It is well for us who are living in the last days of God’s present dealings with man, that all of the evils existing in the Church—and the world too—have been delineated in the Scriptures, together with clear directions for the guidance of His saints in regard to them. This was part of the divine design in giving us the Word of God, as we may gather from such widely separated passages as Josh. 1:8; Psa. 119:105; 2 Tim. 3:13-17. May it please Him to bless to us our study of this Epistle.
1 Cor. 1:1. Paul’s calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ was through (or by) the will of God. He had, and needed, no certificate from men, with such a calling as this. Writing to the Christians in Galatia (Gal. 1), the Apostle said, “But when it pleased God....to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me....”
And in the twelfth chapter of this Epistle we are taught that “God hath set some in the Church, first, apostles, secondarily prophets,” and so as to other gifts. Neither the Church nor any man or men has divinely conferred authority to appoint the Lord’s servants.
What was an apostle? We may turn to Luke 6:13, where out of His disciples the Lord chose twelve, “whom also He named apostles.” Again, in Acts 1:2, we read of His having, through the Holy Ghost, before His ascension, given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. Paul was not, however, one of the twelve; his appointment was made by the glorified Christ (Acts 26:16-18), and the field of his service was among the Gentiles, while the twelve, including Peter, were sent to the Jews. “Apostle” is from the Greek, and means one sent forth. From 1 Corinthians 9:1, it is evident that an apostle must have seen the Lord, and in 2 Corinthians 12:12, Paul writing of himself said, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” Timothy and Titus were given special appointments by Paul (1 Tim. 1:3-4; Titus 1:5), but in Acts 20:17-35 not the slightest ground is afforded those who would claim apostolic succession. The apostles had no successors; if our reliance is on the Word of God.
Sosthenes, the brother named in the first verse: who was he? It has been thought that he may have been the man spoken of in Acts 18:17, as the chief ruler of the Corinth synagogue, the successor of Crispus (Acts 18:8); in that case we must suppose that Sosthenes, like Crispus, became a believer and gave up his position in the synagogue, and also that he accompanied or followed Paul to Ephesus. It is at least plain that the Sosthenes of 1 Cor. 1:1 must have been known in Corinth. In all of Paul’s Epistles addressed to assemblies (churches), except that to the Ephesians, he links one or more with himself at the beginning, but this does not mean that these shared with him the authorship of the letter.
1 Cor. 1:2. As the contents of the Epistle are studied, the form of the address in this verse is better understood. It is not, as in the preceding letter, “To all that be in Rome” (or in Corinth) “called to be saints,” or saints by calling; but, first, “Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth,” that is, to God’s assembly there. In Ephesians 2:22 it is said of believers, “In Whom” (Jesus Christ) “ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit;” and in 1 Timothy 3:15, “....the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground” (base) “of the truth.”
When the unbelief of the Jews was fully displayed after that the Lord had given them full proof of His Messiahship in both works and word, He foretold the building of His Church, (Matt. 16:18); and in Acts 2, after His cross and His being received up into glory, the Holy Spirit came down and formed all believers into one body, the Church. “Church” is a word of several meanings in the world nowadays; it may be a building, or the congregation meeting in it; or again, it may be a “denomination.” In the Scriptures, with but one exception—Acts 19:37—where heathen temples are referred to, the word translated “church” is a Greek one which means, “that which is called out,” or simply an assembly, the assembly, formed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
“Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” or saints by calling, is the second part of the address or superscription of the Epistle. The word “sanctified” (set apart) here refers to the character before God of those addressed; they were separated to God in Christ Jesus.
And so are you, dear young Christian; set apart for God in Christ; detached from the world which once was your all. It stirs the heart; it speaks moreover to one’s conscience; this position, this character, which God has given to every believer in His Son. It is well for us when progressive sanctification is going on within the breast. Turn the leaves of your Bible to the Lord’s prayer in John 17, and reading John 17:15-17, let them sink down into your heart; engrave them upon the tablets of your mind. Young Christians and old ones are progressively sanctified—made holy in their daily living—through feeding upon the Word of God. Do not neglect the Scriptures.
The third part of the superscription of this Epistle is wide in its extent, taking in all everywhere, who profess to be Christ’s, whether true or false:
“With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.”
The Scriptures, it is well known, are for all believers (2 Tim. 3:16-17), but it is clear that the latter part of verse 2 in our chapter was designed by God, in view of the disregard by many Christians of no small part of the doctrine of this Epistle, expressly to show that the whole of it is binding upon all.
1 Cor. 1:3 brings in the message found in most of the Epistles, addressed in tender love to the children of God who are in the world, in all sorts of circumstances and trials: “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
What a word of comfort and cheer from our Father and our Lord! It is not a promise to take away our distresses and troubles, but the assurance of divine favor and peace to carry us through them all until we leave this world. And what manner of persons ought we to be who are so favored!
1 Cor. 1:4-8. With much to speak of in condemnation, the Holy Spirit, by the Apostle testifies first in these verses of what was good. Paul could thank God—“my God”, as he says, writing from much knowledge of Him—always on behalf of His saints at Corinth, for the grace of God bestowed on them by, or in, Christ.
What this grace of God was that had been given the Corinthian saints is unfolded in 1 Cor. 1:5-7. Many, we are told in Acts 18:8, of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized, but here we learn that the Holy Spirit had followed that initial work of faith in them with further evidence of His power. They had been given the truth of God, and ability to make it known. As another has said, they were rich in every sort of expression of the truth and all knowledge, in what was preached or taught, as well as in apprehension, so that they came behind in no gift. And, it is added, they were waiting for, not exactly the coming, but the revelation (see marginal note in your Bible) of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You will have noticed that the Apostle is silent as to some things which mark happy Christians, children of God going on in communion with the Lord. Not a word about love, or grace, or faithfulness, or the proper Christian hope—the coming of the Lord for His heavenly saints, found in 1 Cor. 15:51-52. True, they had not been told how He would come, but every Christian heart is taught of God to look and long for the Lord to come, to wait for His coming when we shall be with and like Him in His own heavenly home, the Father’s house above. The “revelation” the Corinthian believers waited for, took in no more, it would seem, than that the Lord is hidden now, but will be revealed to sight; which of course is true; every eye shall see Him (Rev. 1:7).
1 Cor. 1:8 adds that the Lord “shall confirm you unto the end, blameless (if not now, then) in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Precious, comforting word!