The Theology of First Corinthians

Milton Ferguson  |  Southwestern Journal of Theology Vol. 3 - Fall 1960

Christian living is theology in action.

The Christian life involves both belief and practice. The depth and sincerity of one’s doctrinal belief is revealed by the quality of his life. On the other hand, vital, dynamic Christian living will be rooted in adequate understanding and conviction concerning God and man.

There is no disparity between theology—what one believes about God, and ethics-what one does before God. For the Christian they are the two sides of one coin, redemption in Jesus Christ.

Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth is a case history of theology in action. To read it is like extracting a few pages from the great apostle’s workbook in Christian living. Here Paul demonstrates the convictions and the principles which motivated his life of sacrifice and service.

First Corinthians is a letter to friends, not a treatise in theology. It was written in response to a specific need: the problems which divided the Christian fellowship at Corinth. Obviously, Paul was not consciously striving to produce a systematic statement of Christian theology. Consequently, as William Barclay points out concerning Paul’s letters in general,

We must not think of Paul sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he wrote. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent of words, while his secretary raced to get them down.[1]The Letters to the Galatians and the Ephesians (“The Daily Study Bible” 2d ed. rev. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1958), p. xvii. There is a brief but excellent general introduction to the letters of Paul on pp. xiii-xviii of this volume.

Aflame with compassion and spiritual concern for “the church of God at Corinth” (1:1), he “had in his mind’s eye a vision of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.”[2]Ibid., pp. xvii-xviii.

First Corinthians is not unique simply because it is in the form of a letter. Many of the New Testament writings are letters.[3]Discussions of the historical background and circumstances surrounding the composition of the first Corinthian letter will be found in the commentaries. The following are helpful: Leon Morris, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians (“The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries” Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1958); William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (“The Daily Study Bible” Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954); and The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. X (New York: Abingdon Press, 1953). However, in contrast to his epistle to the Romans, for instance, Paul’s Corinthian letter is concerned almost wholly with immediate, specific, “down-to-earth” problems which plagued the everyday life of the church in Corinth. And yet, it is this very fact which gives us reason to pause. For surely one is justified in asking, “How can a personal letter dealing with such issues as eating meat offered in sacrifice to idols and with women’s fashions of 1900 years ago have any relevance for me?”

It is true that in this first Corinthian letter Paul addressed himself to problems peculiar to the encounter between Graeco-Roman customs and a Christian gospel which still wore the cultural wraps of its Jewish cradle. However, we must remember that “a thing need not be a transient thing because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but all the world loves them.”[4]Barclay, Galatians and Ephesians, p. xvii. The very fact that Paul’s letters were written to meet an urgent human crisis is one reason they still throb with life today. Basic human need and the human situation do not change radically. As the apostle, fired by the Spirit of God, brought his rich experience and wisdom to bear upon the issues at hand, he hammered out insights and conclusions through which God speaks to us today.

Paul’s Corinthian letter is not composed primarily of theological discussion, but it is theological. It is theology at work—theology in action. But, its basic theological principles are implicit rather than explicit. They are apparent only as they comprise the framework for Paul’s treatment of specific questions of Christian conduct.[5]In addition to the New Testament commentaries which give detailed attention and interpretation to the text, certain works on New Testament theology are helpful, particularly with reference to general Pauline theology. See W. T. Conner, The Faith of the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1940) and George Barker Stevens, The Theology of the New Testament (“International Theological Library” New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, c. 1899). More recent and reflecting the current insistence upon the unity in New Testament theological emphases are Alan Richardson, An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament (New York: Harper and Brothers, c. 1958); Archibald M. Hunter, Introducing New Testament Theology (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, c. 1957)P; and Ethelbert Stauffer, New Testament Theology, trans. John Marsh (New York: The Macmilla Company, 1955).

 

The Supremacy of God

“Paul…an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God” (1:1). The supremacy of the will of God is assumed in Paul’s greeting. This dominant note, introduced at the very beginning, is encountered throughout the entire letter. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is not examined systematically, but it does form the backdrop for each discussion of the particular problems confronting the Corinthians.

Paul declares that the Corinthian Christians are rich in the gifts of God’s grace, in Christian witnessing, in knowledge, and in unusual abilities (1:4-9). However, he is careful to point out that all this is a result of the grace of God. His thanksgiving, therefore, is ultimately because God is faithful (1:9), that is, God is able and certain to accomplish his purposes in the lives of the Corinthians.

An emphasis upon the supremacy of God is apparent in that section of the letter evoked by the existence of divisions or schisms in the church at Corinth (1:10-4:21). There were those who aligned themselves under Paul’s banner and those who boasted of following Apollos or Peter (1:12-13). But Paul was not concerned with defending one dissenting group against another. The question as to which group was relatively most right seemed secondary to him. His basic concern was that the testimony of Christ was being made into a cause, a party, a program. This was not proper. Such movements among men inevitably become occasions for intellectual pride and spiritual exhibitionism. This is a dangerous tendency inherent in all religious organizations no matter how lofty their intentions and well-founded their structure.

The main defect in the Corinthian fellowship-from Paul’s point of view-consisted in the fact that their boldness, assurance, and enthusiasm rested not in God but “in their own belief in God and in particular leaders and heroes.”[6]Karl Barth, The Resurrection of the Dead, trans. H. J. Stenning (London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1933), p. 17. These were men dazzled by “wisdom,” the intellectual acumen and eloquence of certain leaders in the church. But this kind of wisdom, so called had not been wise enough to recognize the genuine work of God. In demanding spectacular signs to appease the curiosity of the senses and irrefutable logic to answer the speculations of the mind, it had blinded itself to the activity of God.

God’s strength, Paul argues, is found in what man’s wisdom considers weak. God’s wisdom involves what to man seems illogical. Jesus Christ, humble peasant, suffering, despised, and rejected by men, is the power of God and the wisdom of God. The words “of God” are the key to Paul’s emphasis. The ways of God are beyond men, and in his wisdom God has chosen to save those who believe through the “‘simplemindedness’ of the Gospel message” (1:21, Phillips). The message of the cross required no high intellectual gift for its reception. But it did demand a simple faith, a childlike trust or commitment, in a crucified and risen Lord. This gospel, this good news about what God has done in Jesus Christ, is God’s answer to man’s power and wisdom. God’s power is exercised in grace and mercy, and God’s wisdom is found in humility and teachableness. Therefore, Paul demands, “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1:20).[7]See Frank Stagg, “The Motif of First Corinthians, pp. 15-24, this issue. Professor Stagg contends that the motif or underlying theme of First Corinthians is the conflict between the “wisdom of the world,” which is Christocentric and exalts man, and the “wisdom of God,” which is Christocentric and exalts God. At any rate, it is clear that Paul seeks the solution to an anthropocentric problem – strife between men, from a theocentric viewpoint – God-centered living.

Incredible vanity!

The Corinthian Christians had forgotten that all they were and all they had had been received from God. Against such Paul cried out, “Let no man glory in men” (3:21). The child of God need not stoop so low. Paul, Apollos, Peter, any human leader, and all created things as well are from the hand of God. No believer should allow his greatest allegiance or point of highest glory to be found on the horizontal level of the created. For by God’s design the created is to be subject to man, and man to Christ, and Christ to God (3:22-23). Therefore, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1:31).

God alone is supreme!

In chapters 5 and 6 Paul deals with specific issues of Christian conduct. On the basis of a surface examination one might be prone to label this section of the letter “ethical” and pass on to more “theological” fields. This type of arbitrary distinction is certainly foreign to Paul’s outlook. It is precisely at the point of application to immediate, particular issues that we can see the apostle’s theology in action.

Paul is shocked to learn that the Corinthians have allowed a marriage relationship which involves sexual irregularity inadmissible even according to pagan sentiment and Roman law (5:1). He is concerned because the church shows no alarm at its members’ appealing to pagan judges in cases of legal dispute (6:1). In each instance Paul’s specific advice (offered first in the passage) is given from the standpoint of the Christian’s basic relationship to God (outlined at the conclusion of the passage).

The Corinthians are to avoid sexual looseness like a plague. The physical body was not made for sexual promiscuity but for God (6:13). It is the dwelling place of the Spirit of God (6:19). The Christians in Corinth are to suffer personal loss rather than damage the influence of the church by displaying strife in the pagan courts (6:1-8). In each case the basic principle justifying the specific advice is found in the injunction at the conclusion of chapter 6: “You are not your own; you’ve been bought with a price!” Therefore, in the actions of the body, as in every attitude or action, glorify God!

The ultimate authority for ethical self-discipline is the supremacy of the will of God.

Chapter 7 stands almost to itself. Its discussion of marriage must be studied in the light of the historical and cultural situation which involved a widespread admiration of ascetic practices.[8]Morris, p. 105. One must also take into account the note of intense urgency with which Paul anticipated the second coming of Christ (7:29-35). Finally, this passage must be correlated with chapter 11, in which Paul makes it plain that he regards marriage as normal for Christians (e.g. 11:11).

Does chapter 7 reflect any theological foundation? Yes, for after his specific advice is given the apostle declares that each must live his life with the gifts that God has given him and in the conditions in which God has called him (7:17). After all, “the great thing is to obey the orders of Almighty God” (7:19, Phillips). Even above his own well-founded opinion and against any who would make celibacy-which he favored as expedient—a basic principle, Paul declares that the last answer for each man must be from God. The will of God is supreme.

Chapters 8 through 10 are admirably summed up by Paul himself when he writes, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (10:31). This is the ultimate motivation for the proper exercise of the freedom which the grace of God provides the Christian.

The Christian is free, but his freedom is the freedom of love which has its own kind of discipline. He will not, therefore, seek his own selfish welfare but the welfare of others (10:24) to the end that they might be saved (10:33). Paul boldly presents himself as an example of one who gladly passed over his “rights” in order to wield even more influence over men (9:1-27). For the Corinthians who were in danger of selfishly converting their spiritual freedom into moral license he points out the judgments of God upon Israel’s spiritual adultery (10:1-22).

Self-discipline for the good of others—to the glory of God! This is the Christian’s calling.

Chapters 11 through 14 include a discussion of those issues which arose out of the public worship of the church at Corinth. The difficult passage concerning women’s headdress (11:1-16) involves local customs which are hard to determine and the apostle’s personal opinions as well. Nevertheless, underlying the particulars is Paul’s evident concern that the actions of women in relation to men and men in relation to Christ should always be such as to honor God (11:7, 12). The disgraceful conduct of the Corinthians in observing the Lord’s Supper is to be made right by men who must remember that they are subject to the chastening of God (11:31-32).

Paul’s analysis of the distribution and of the proper utilization of spiritual gifts (12:1-14:40) is set against the backdrop of the sovereign action of God. Men have different abilities because “God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God Who achieves His purposes through them all” (12:6, Phillips). Even more basic than the highest spiritual gifts is the capacity for a God-kind of love. This love is to be most desired and sought (chap. 13). The Corinthians are to strictly control the gift of speaking in tongues (an intense personal religious experience) and are to seek the gift of proclaiming the message of God. This will enable them more effectively to achieve God’s redemptive purpose (14:22-25).

The purpose of God is the redemption of men! In this he makes his glory known.

In the great resurrection chapter Paul’s implicit assurance of the supremacy of God suddenly bursts into full vocal confidence. At the heart of the Christian gospel stands the resurrection of Christ. And the resurrection of Christ is for Paul God’s decisive word in answer to man’s enemy, death.

In prior discussions Paul has dealt with many of the specific problems plaguing the Corinthians. Now, in chapter 15, he reminds them of the basic ingredients in the gospel (15:1-6). Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, was buried, and was raised to life on the third day. Here is God’s final “yes” in reply to the “no” of sin and death.

Although Paul lists the evidences for the resurrection of Jesus, he seems primarily concerned with making plain its significance. Evidently there were those in Corinth who questioned the resurrection of those believers who died prior to Christ’s promised return (15:12 ff.). Paul is bluntly specific in his answer. If there is no life beyond the grave for the individual believer, then there was no actual resurrection of Christ from the dead. If there was no resurrection of Christ, there is no gospel—no good news (15:12-19).

After his negative reasoning, Paul’s positive declaration of the fact of the resurrection takes on the tenor of a doxology (15:20-28). In the resurrection God has made Christ to be King. And Christ, the King over “all rule and authority and power,” finds his fulfillment in being subject to God to the end that “God may be all in all.”

Those who are still troubled by the details of just how God is able to provide individual bodily existence after the death and dissolution of the earthly body underestimate the power of God (15:35-56). By the use of several analogies Paul argues that God will “provide a body.” In his own way God will establish the believer in that personal existence which is the consummation of Christ’s resurrection victory over death. Therefore, as J. B. Phillips paraphrases it, “All thanks to God, then, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ; for He has delivered us from the fear of death, the power of sin and the condemnation of the Law” (15:57).

For Paul, the warp and woof of his every decision, his every action, was his fierce determination to do the will of the Lord God Almighty. In this Corinthian letter, one of his most practical in terms of the ethical application of the gospel of Christ, his awareness of the supremacy of God colors every word of counsel offered.

 

The Lordship of Christ

The supreme will of God is exercised through the lordship of Christ. Paul makes this quite clear.

Saul of Tarsus, the Jewish rabbi, believed in one God, the sovereign ruler and judge of all the earth. In the name of his God he zealously persecuted the followers of the crucified Jesus—despised fanatics whom he considered weak and ignorant men. But, in the very midst of his zealous activity Saul met Jesus, the risen Lord of glory. On the Damascan road the Judge of all the earth spoke to him. His God confronted him in person—a Person, Jesus Christ.

Saul’s incredible religious energy met its supreme challenge. His great zeal found its adequate master. The exclusive Pharisee who had sought to please God by making others suffer thereafter suffered joyfully in order that he might “by all means save some” (9:22).

What made the difference? The lordship of Christ!

Years of personal fellowship with the risen Lord are behind Paul’s letter to Corinth. The apostolic greeting (1:1-3) is a greeting in the name of (on behalf of) the Lord, Jesus Christ. The adjectival title “Lord” had by the time of Paul’s writing to Corinth become an integral part of the name. No longer is it Jesus of Nazareth only, nor even Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ (1:2, 7, 8, 10, etc.). For Paul, to be “called by the will of God” (1:1) was the same as being an apostle of Jesus Christ-“one sent” by Christ (1:1, 17).

The lordship of Christ is a kingly position earned through the blood, sweat, and tears of sacrifice. The Lord of glory is first the “Christ crucified.” He is the “power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1:24). In his name (person) men are cleansed, committed, and made right in the sight of God (1:30; 6:11). He is the only foundation for a God-related life (3:11).

Paul, in his discussion of eating meat offered to idols, assumes the exclusive position of Jesus Christ in relation to God. “There is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (8:6). God the Father is the ultimate source of all things. Jesus Christ is the Lord, the agent through whom and by whom the Father works. In Paul’s practical exhortations at this point he sets Christ in the same category as that of God the Father, to whom all honor and glory is due (8:11-12; 10:31).

There are, it is true, several references in First Corinthians which seem to indicate that for Paul Jesus Christ (the Son) is subordinate to God (the Father) (3:23; 11:3; 15:23-28). Two things must be remembered in the discussion of these passages. In the first place, the early believers knew Jesus the man first. Even after they were convinced that the power of God was upon his life they did not attribute to him full equality with God. This tremendous understanding came slowly as the Spirit of God patiently led them into a recognition of the true nature of Jesus the Messiah. Second, we do not understand with detail the mystery of the triune nature of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Any attempt to get the total biblical perspective and to work out a systematic statement of this central Christian belief must take into account the total context of Paul’s writing, to say nothing of the entire New Testament as well.

There is no question about the fact that in certain passages (3:23 and others) Paul emphasizes the fact that “God is all in all” (15:28). He alone is supreme. However, this does not necessarily mean that Paul is exalting God the Father to the disparagement of God the Son, incarnate in Jesus the Christ. To the contrary, what Paul is actually doing is exalting Christ. In 3:23, for instance, in the pyramid of importance which he outlines, Paul ascribes all reality to the agency of Christ, and “Christ is God’s.” In 15:22-28 the picture is similar. Christ is God’s agent through whom God’s ultimate purpose will be realized. This placing of Christ in such an exclusive position—next to God the Father himself—is no accident. Paul’s emphasis is positive.

The resurrection chapter (15) is climactic in more ways than one. It declares the supreme power of God. It places that power in the Person of Christ. He is at its very center. It is Christ dying, Christ rising to life, and Christ coming again. His cross, his resurrection, his coming—these comprise the good news. He is the gospel.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (15:57).

 

The Stewardship of Redemption

God is supreme! Christ is Lord!

There is only one adequate human response. Joyful dedication to the will of God by surrender to the lordship of Christ.

Spiritual redemption involved a great price. That price was worked out in the cross of Christ. Therefore, Paul reminds the Corinthians, “You are not your own; you were bought with a price” (6:19-20).

To be a Christian is to do the will of God. The magnitude of the divine demand may cause one to hesitate momentarily. But, the believer in Christ does not cringe nor quibble when, like Paul, he is “called by the will of God” (1:1). In fact, by the very nature of his relationship to God, he is not a redeemed man at all unless he has answered the divine supremacy by the submission of life itself in stewardship to God.

An emphasis upon man’s stewardship of his redemption is apparent throughout Paul’s treatment of the ethical problems which confronted the church at Corinth. He reminds them that they “are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1:2). His appeal to unity is in “the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:10). There is only one adequate foundation on which to seek harmony within this divided church: the lordship of Jesus Christ. Allegiance to men had divided the fellowship. Only a higher allegiance to Christ could unite it.

The long and fruitful discussion in 1:13-4:21 presents the reasons why the strife and division at Corinth constituted a breakdown of the stewardship of redemption. It pleads for harmony on the basis of God’s redeeming grace in Christ Jesus. In summary Paul reminds the Corinthians, “Ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s (3:23).

Let us so live, Paul urges, that when men evaluate the Christian they will be quick to see “ministers (servants) of Christ and stewards of the mysteries (the salvation) of God” (4:1). The basic requisite in a steward—a trustee or manager—is that he “be found faithful” (4:2). On the basis of his own faithful service through great difficulty (4:4-16) Paul dares to insist that the Corinthians become imitators of him in the stewardship of redemption (4:16).

The most forceful statement of the believer’s stewardship of life is found at the conclusion of the discussion of sexual immorality and legal strife in chapters 5 and 6. What? Have you forgotten that you are the dwelling place (sanctuary) of the Spirit of God? And this is because God has chosen you. Don’t you remember? You are not your own, but you’ve been bought with a price. When one remembers this-his redeemed status in the grace of God-there is but one adequate response: “therefore glorify God!” Paul commends this same principle as the basis for Christian conduct in connection with the problem of eating meat offered to idols (8:1-10:33). A knowledge of the facts is essential and a consideration of the welfare of others is paramount, but the ultimate criterion for Christian decision and action is “the glory of God.” “Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (10:31).

The Christian’s responsibility to glorify God is not limited to the individual response of praise and worship. No redeemed man is to be content with the satisfaction of personal religious experience. Paul makes this clear in his discussion of God’s spiritual gifts (chaps. 12-14). The Corinthians are to conduct their public worship so as to share the gospel with the unbeliever (chap. 14). This is the stewardship of redemption.

What greater encouragement to faithful service can there be than the resurrection of Christ? After Paul’s thrilling declaration of the significance of the resurrection, he concludes with an appeal for Christian stewardship. At no point, not even in such a “theological” fact as the resurrection, is the Christian’s theology to be isolated from his conduct. Not as an afterthought but as a direct consequence of his resurrection discussion Paul urges, “And so, brothers of mine, stand firm! Let nothing move you as you busy yourselves in the Lord’s work. Be sure that nothing you do for Him is ever lost or ever wasted” (15:58, Phillips).

This is theology in action: the stewardship of redemption!

 

Summary

First Corinthians is composed of excerpts from the “case history file” of Paul the apostle. The problems of Christian conduct with which he deals there are but representative of the hundreds of such instances in which he firmly but lovingly guided early Christian churches on their way. The letter is essentially ethical in its concerns. It includes discussions of the everyday problems of ordinary first century Christians. However, it is nourished by some very basic theological convictions: God is supreme; Christ is Lord; man is steward of the grace of God.[9]A discussion of Paul’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit would have been admissible in this article. It is through spiritual activity that the living God “brings home to man” the lordship of the reigning Christ. This emphasis in Paul’s thought also is implicit in First Corinthians (e.g. 2:10-16; chaps. 12 and 14.

In Paul’s ministry there was no separation of theology, ethics, and evangelism. First Corinthians is a splendid example of this fact. Here is theology demanding right Christian conduct, breathing warmhearted zeal for the salvation of all men. Here is theology in action.

What message does the theology of First Corinthians have for us today?

The temptation to develop supreme allegiance to human leadership is constant within Christendom. Party strife and division still haunt the churches of Christ. Loyalty to church leaders, to institutions, to denominational organizations is a wholesome and necessary factor in modern Christian service. However, the subtle temptation to “glory” in leadership or in organizational achievement instead of in the lordship of Christ to the glory of God is today’s problem also. To us, therefore, as to the Corinthians, Paul declares, “Let no man glory in men” (or their achievements) (3:21). But, “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1:31).

Conscious, deliberate lifting up (“glorying”) of the Lord Jesus’ Christ above all human activity in his name will not depreciate or hinder that human endeavor. The preacher, the church, the institution, the denomination who “glories” first, last, and always in Jesus Christ will never be a less effective preacher or organization because of less pride in self and more in the cross of Christ!

Organized endeavor within American Christianity, particularly that of Southern Baptists, is in need of the theology of First Corinthians. We need to be reminded of “the low estate” in which we were called. We should ponder long chapter 4, verse 7, “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou, glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” Let us read again chapter 3, verse 11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

What of our stewardship of redemption?

Are we arbitrarily—perhaps conveniently—isolating our theology from its proper application in every area of Christian living? Are we ready to suffer all things with all men that we might win some?

Yes, through Paul’s ancient letter to the Corinthian Christians God speaks to us today.

God is still supreme! His will shall be done. Jesus Christ is Lord! In him the will of God is worked out. We are redeemed men—bought with a price. Therefore, whatever we do, we must do all to the glory of God.

We need a theology in action!

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