Book of 1 Corinthians - Bible Survey

The First Epistle to the Corinthians views the assembly of God in its privileges and responsibilities on earth, and presents God's appointed order for carrying out these responsibilities locally.

First Corinthians contains the most precise instructions for the inward order and corporative comportment of the church of God under the guidance and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Accordingly the responsibility of the believers is spoken to over and over again (for example by the words “know you not…?” chap. 3:16; 5:6; 6:2.3.9.15.16.19; 9:13.24; compare chap. 10:1; 12:1).

1 Corinthians (Corinth means "satiated") is an Epistle written to correct the disorders allowed at Corinth in the early Church. The Epistle lays down solid, practical principles of assembly government and order, most necessary for the Church of God worldwide.

The subjects of this first epistle are very easily divided into their natural order. In the first place, before he blames the Christians at Corinth to whom he writes, the apostle acknowledges all the grace which God had already bestowed on them, and would still impart. 1 Corinthians 1:1-9. From verse 10 to 1 Corinthians 4:21 the subject of divisions, schools of doctrine and human wisdom, is spoken of in contrast with revelation and divine wisdom. 1 Corinthians 5, the corruption of morals, and discipline, whether by power, or in the responsibility of the assembly. 1 Corinthians 6, temporal affairs, law-suits; and again the subject of fornication, which was of primary importance for the Christians of this city. 1 Corinthians 7, marriage is considered. Ought people to marry? The obligation of those who had already married; and the case of a converted husband or of a converted wife, whose wife or whose husband was not converted. 1 Corinthians 8, should they eat things offered to idols? 1 Corinthians 9, his apostleship. 1 Corinthians 10, their condition in general, their danger of being seduced, whether by fornication, or by idolatry, and idolatrous feasts, with the principles relating thereto, which introduces the Lord's supper. 1 Corinthians 11, questions connected with their behaviour in religious matters individually or (v. 17) in the assembly. Afterwards, 1 Corinthians 12, the exercise of gifts, and their true value, and the object of their use, magnifying (1 Corinthians 13) the comparative value of charity; to the end of 1 Corinthians 14, ordering the exercise of gifts also, with which it is compared. 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection, which some denied, and specially that of the saints; and 1 Corinthians 16, the collections for the poor in Judea, with some salutations, and the principles of subordination to those whom God has raised up for service, even where there were no elders. It is of great value to have these directions immediately from the Lord, independent of a formal organisation, so that individual conscience and that of the body as a whole should be engaged.

WE NOW ENTER upon the epistle which above all others deals with matters concerning the local assembly, and the order which by Divine appointment should be observed in it. The church, or assembly, of God in Corinth was a large one, as we gather from Acts 18:10. It had within it some very unsatisfactory elements, as is not unusual in such a case, and these elements were introducing ways and habits and even doctrines, of a sort which were common enough in the Corinthian world, but which were absolutely foreign to the nature and spirit of the assembly of God. Partly perhaps it was due to the ignorance of the Corinthian saints, for they had written a letter of enquiry to the Apostle Paul, who had brought the Gospel to them, as to certain matters, as is indicated in 1 Cor. 7:1. Still Paul not only answered their questions but also brings home to them in most vigorous language their grievous errors both in behaviour and doctrine. This he did not in annoyance or anger or sarcasm, but, "out of much affliction and anguish of heart … with many tears" (2 Cor. 2:4). Hence the powerful effect which his letter produced, as evidenced in 2 Corinthians 7:8-11.

First Corinthians follows in beautiful order. The individual place of the Christian having been settled, his corporate place in the church of God is then seen. We have there the internal condition of an assembly of God laid before us, and the true place the church holds in the midst of the world explained. It is addressed to the assembly of God at Corinth, which is looked at under two aspects, namely, the body of Christ and the temple of God. In 1 Corinthians 1 – 10, the church is looked at as the temple of God, and in 1 Corinthians 10 – 14 as the body of Christ. This double portion is seen in the first few verses, where the saints are first looked at as sanctified in Christ Jesus, and then as those who in every place called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See 1 Cor. 1:1–3.)

The first great point in the epistle is to bring out the three great foundations on which Christianity as a corporate thing is founded; to correct that human wisdom which was acting amongst the saints, and creating Paul, Apollos, and Cephas into heads of schools of opinion, and thus forming sects. These three great foundations of corporate Christianity are, first, the cross of Christ as the judgment of everything of man as looked at in the flesh. (See 1 Cor. 1:18-29.) Second, Christ in glory made unto us wisdom, righteousness, justification, and redemption. (1 Cor. 1:30-31.) Third, the Holy Ghost come down here as the Revealer and Communicator of that wisdom of God, which was written in Spirit-taught words, namely, the scriptures. (1 Cor. 2:6-16.) This is Christianity in its foundation-principles as contrasted with the world's wisdom and power.

Some three years after Paul's first visit to Corinth he heard that there were divisions among them, 1 Cor. 1:11-12; that there was allowed evil in their midst, 1 Cor. 1:1; and that there were some among them who said that there was no resurrection. 1 Cor. 15:12. These things, and the fact that he had received a letter of inquiry from them (1 Cor. 7:1) called forth the First Epistle. Its contents may in short be said to be the internal ordering of the church, with collateral subjects.

In the first epistle to the Corinthians a state very different from those we have considered meets us. We here see the assembly in the greatest disorder, with rich gifts, flagrant sins, and erroneous doctrine. A brief look into the inspired letter is enough to show how simply and - as we learn from the second epistle - how effectually it was met by the suited ministry of Christ. But first let us observe that the three things which marked the Lord's epistles to the seven churches in the Revelation were also carried out by the apostle here: 1st., He approves in them everything he can; 2nd., He brings before them their evil ways and doctrines; and 3rd., He presents the remedy, which is always found in having to do with Christ Himself, as set forth in Scripture. And will not these points always characterize a divinely-given ministry to saints? The apostle knew well that "Christ is all," and that all our blessings are in Him, and through Him, and not at all after the flesh. He therefore addresses the Corinthians as "sanctified in Christ Jesus," where divine grace has set the feeblest believer. After having acknowledged with thankfulness to God the grace given them by Christ Jesus, their utterance, knowledge, and gifts, and their waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, he reminds them of God's faithfulness, and of His having called them unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which is also true of every believer.

It is not true that, "because they find at the beginning of this the expression, 'the church of God which is at Corinth,' they conclude that that, as set in order by the apostle, must have been intended to be a pattern church." We see and say that there is admirable harmony between the address and the contents of the epistle; but we conclude that it is the most largely ecclesiastical, and therefore the most instructive on such matters, from the plain fact (deny it who can?), that it enters into questions of the sort, not only more than any other epistle, but more than all other epistles put together. At Corinth the spirit of schism and party displayed itself early. (1 Cor. 1.) Here the wisdom of the world soon claimed to adorn the doctrine of the cross. (1 Cor. 2.) Here schools of doctrine quickly found mutually opposed votaries. (1 Cor. 3.) Here apostolic authority was widely despised for teachers who allowed the world and flattered the flesh. (1 Cor. 4.) Here gross practical evil was winked at, as if the christian assembly were not competent and responsible to put away known evildoers. (1 Cor. 5.) Here was seen readiness to neglect brotherly arbitration for the world's decisions, forgetting the grace of rather suffering wrong than compromising the love and glory of Christ; here too moral laxity was an especial snare. (1 Cor. 6.) Here difficulties as to marriage, as to the unmarried, as to widows, and as to slaves, required solution. (1 Cor. 7.) Here questions of communion and conscience as to idols, temples, and things sacrificed, demanded an answer, and his own ministry to be vindicated, however he might have waived its rights; for such was his joy and glory. (1 Cor. 8, 1 Cor. 9, 1 Cor. 10.) Here the order as to women, even in points of external decorum, had to be laid down; and also the right mode of celebrating the Eucharist is given. (1 Cor. 11) Here the operation of the Holy Ghost with a view to the common profit of the assembly had to be explained; and this, not in view of any local need only but of the Church as such everywhere on earth; for it was not in any one church but in the christian assembly as a whole that God set, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that, miracles; then gifts of healing, etc. (1 Cor. 12.) There too after the sweet episode on love in 1 Cor. 13. (how needful in such things!), the apostle had to regulate the exercise of the manifestations of the Spirit, especially for the assembly when they came together. (1 Cor. 14.) Again, after the assertion of resurrection against gainsayers as a foundation truth — not merely the soul's immortality but the rising of the dead (1 Cor. 15.), he lays down the general principle and method of collections for the poor saints, and treats of the various ways of divine grace in the service of Christ here below. (1 Cor. 16.) I have but sketched the salient features, as the chapters pass before the mind's eye: but where can one match these inimitable church canons? Still none that knows the value of what is "written again" thinks of making any spot the stronghold, or any church exclusively a pattern church. There is not even the shadow of an excuse for either misrepresentation. What can one think of a man who, when his mistake is corrected and contradicted, simply repeats it without a word or fact adduced as an excuse for his obstinacy?

First, in 1 Corinthians 1 to 10 the Apostle deals with the moral laxity by bringing in the Cross of Christ and the Holy Spirit to exclude the wisdom of this world and the licence of the flesh, and gives us directions for the maintenance of discipline amongst the people of God.