Comments on First Corinthians - Part 1

I have been spending a lot of time reading and thinking about Paul's first existing letter to the Corinthian church lately. I don't presume to uncover anything new, but in the next few posts, I will briefly put some of my thoughts out here.

After reading the letter, there are many similarities to the modern (especially American) church. Lest we shrug that off, it was so serious at Corinth that some people were sickly and others had died as a result of their wrong-headed and careless approach to body life. In fact, the warnings of chapter ten about Israel's self-willed practices -- tying together with the warning about the temple of God and about the Lord's supper -- were obviously meant to be taken seriously by them, and by us.

This church is all about distinguishing oneself from others: "I'm better than the others because..." Their meetings were about "what's in it for me" and "I'd better get mine before others do." It was a sick body, the parts not working together in healthy way and the immune system down (chapter 5 -- allowing sin to openly go on which even pagans considered out-of-bounds). It was a far cry from the holy body God called it to be -- see Titus 2:14.

Next: Comments about chapters 1-2.