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First Corinthians 1

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • December 12, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2018

  1. Acts 18.1–18 shows some of Paul’s ministry there.
  2. First Corinthians 1.1–3 | Preachers and a Church

    1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    1. What is an apostle?
      1. Who made Paul an apostle?
      2. What does this mean concerning what he wrote?
        1. Does First Corinthians only contain Paul’s opinions or the church’s opinions?
        2. How are we to regard the words of First Corinthians?
    2. Who else participated in this letter?
      1. The only other mention of a Sosthenes is Acts 18.17.
      2. However, it was probably not the same man.
    3. How did Paul address the church in Corinth?
    4. What did Paul want them to experience?
  3. First Corinthians 1.4–9 | What the Grace of God Does

    4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

    1. Why was Paul thankful for the grace of God in Corinth?
      1. It enriched them in everything in all utterance and knowledge.
      2. They came short in no gift.
      3. They would be blameless in the day our Lord Jesus Christ.
    2. Was was confirmed in them?
    3. For what were they eagerly waiting?
    4. Who would confirm them to the end?
    5. Into what were they called?
  4. First Corinthians 1.10–12 | Stop the Divisions

    10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”

    1. Instead of division, what were they to have or to do?
    2. How do we speak the same thing and have the same mind and judgment?
    3. According to verse 12, were they speaking the same things, and did they have the same mind and same judgment?
  5. First Corinthians 1.13–17 | Do Not Follow Men

    13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

    1. How did Paul refute what they were doing?
    2. Why was Paul glad that he baptized few of them?
    3. Why had Christ sent Paul?
      1. Did Paul downplay baptism?
      2. Does he mean to say that it really is not necessary?
    4. How was Paul to preach?
    5. What is wrong with “wisdom of words”?
    6. Notice how this moves Paul to comment on the cross.
  6. First Corinthians 1.18–19 | What the Cross Means to People

    18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

    “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

    1. How do the perishing see the cross?
    2. How do the saved see the cross?
    3. How does the cross show the power of God?
      1. What did Paul quote to support his point?
      2. How does the cross destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent?
  7. VII.First Corinthians 1.20–21 | What God Does to the Wisdom of the World

    20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

    1. What answer do you give to Paul’s questions?
    2. Can the world through its wisdom know God?
    3. How then can we know God?
    4. Notice that it is not just the message but the preaching that saves?
  8. VIII.First Corinthians 1.22–25 | What Christ Is to People

    22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

    1. Why do Jews and Greeks consider the cross foolishness?
      1. Jews want to see a sign.
      2. Greeks want to hear wisdom.
    2. How is the preaching of Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks?
    3. To those who are called from among Jews and Greeks, what is Christ?
      1. Christ is the power of God or a sign from God.
      2. How does Christ crucified show the wisdom of God?
    4. Is God foolish or weak?
      1. If not, explain Paul’s statement in verse 25.
  9. First Corinthians 1.26–29 | How God Shames the Foolish of the World

    26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

    1. What kind of people had been called at Corinth?
      1. How did this prove Paul’s point?
      2. What did Paul say God had called?
    2. Why did God chose the foolish things and the weak things?
      1. To shame the wise.
      2. To shame the mighty.
      3. To bring to nothing the things that are.
      4. That no flesh should glory in His presence.
  10. First Corinthians 1.30–31 | Glory in the Lord, Not in Man

    30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

    1. Because of God we are in Christ, who is the power and wisdom of God.
    2. What has Christ then become to us?
    3. What Old Testament passage supports this truth?