Last time we examined Paul’s epistles of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, which he penned while teaching at the church of Corinth (see How Do You Know When Heaven Beckons?).
Paul then journeys back to the Gentile church in Antioch, accompanied by two disciples, Aquila, and his wife Priscilla. During that trip, they spent a few days in Ephesus (a Hellenist city located in modern-day Turkey, which was the second-largest Roman outpost).
The apostle left his disciples at Ephesus, and he finished his journey to Antioch – where he was re-commissioned again by the church, to revisit all the churches he had previously founded. This would constitute his third missionary journey.
When Paul completed this mission, he returned to Ephesus, whereupon God moved mightily through him:
God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled. Acts 19:11, 12. NLT
Witnessing these miracles Paul performed, seven faithless Jewish brothers tried to drive evil spirits out of a man, so that they could get the glory. You can just bet that they soiled themselves when one of the demons addressed them directly:
“I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul – but who are you?” Acts 19:15 CSB
Immediately, the demon-possessed man overpowered the seven brothers. The news of this event spread like wildfire – brining greater glory and validity to the authenticity of Jesus’ ministry through Paul.
Paul spent three fruitless months in Ephesus, trying to bring the Gospel to the Jews, but they would not accept / believe it. So, he turned his efforts solely to the Gentiles. He remained in that city for three additional years:
So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect. Acts 19:20 NLT
During this time, the apostle Mark writes the first Gospel of Jesus Christ, while Paul simultaneously writes a letter to the church in Corinth. (It’s amazing to see the revelatory breadth and depth Christ gave the apostle Paul before the written Gospels were made available).
God never teaches confusion, but His human creations are very adept at it. Self-aggrandizers within the church had thrown it into complete disarray. They consisted of subgroups within the laity – each of them claiming that the leader of their group was superior to the other group leaders.
Worse, the church was incorporating pagan practices within the worship services – including idol worship and temple prostitution.
When Paul received reports regarding all this degradation, he sent the church a letter to shepherd them back into godly ways. Unfortunately, this letter was lost to history. Paul sent Timothy to give him a clearer picture of this debacle.
Timothy sent Paul a letter saying that the church in Corinth had misconstrued his instructions. So, Paul sent a second letter, which we now know as the Bible book of 1 Corinthians. It was a strong letter of ‘loving corrections.’
Paul begins his letter by reminding the church that he had already fully equipped them with God’s instructions for living a godly life:
I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. Through him, God has enriched your church in every way – with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true.
Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Cor. 1:4 – 9. NLT
Well equipped, yes; but now he addressed the disunity within the church:
I appeal to you…by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 1 Cor. 1:10 NLT
Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.’ Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I only follow Christ.”
Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! 1 Cor. 1:12, 13. NLT
Apollos was a highly skilled Christian orator. What Paul is hammering home here, is that it is the message, the word of God that is important, not the messenger. Our focus should center itself on Jehovah and His redemptive work through Christ Jesus, and on doing our best witnessing of the Gospel with the same exactitude:
For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News – and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 1 Cor. 1:17, 18. NLT
When you have God in your heart through Christ Jesus, (not through something man has done of thought), the Holy Spirit will open your eyes and the Bible will come alive for you:
So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 1 Cor. 1:20 NLT
As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” 1 Cor. 1:29 – 31. NLT (see also Jer. 9:24)
The message is to remain humble; and Paul leads by example:
I came to you in weakness – timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would not trust in human wisdom but in the power of God. 1 Cor. 2:3 – 5. NLT
Paul then describes what a God-powered delivery of His word looks like and how to get it:
Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of the world, who are soon forgotten.
No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God – his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.
But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 1 Cor. 2:6 – 8. NLT
This is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 1 Cor. 2:9 – 12. NLT (see also Is. 64:4)
So, it is by embracing our spirit, which is connected to God’s Spirit, that the revelation of God’s word is given to us. Yet, why does most of the people in this world not see this?
Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?”
But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor. 2:15, 16. NLT
Unbelievers don’t get it because they deny their spiritual side. Thus, they cannot connect to Christ or to the Holy Spirit.
Paul then emphasizes the ultimate importance of recognizing that only Jehovah can give us spiritual understanding – regardless of the messenger He sends it through:
After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seeds in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 1 Cor. 3:5 – 7. NLT
Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. No others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have – Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3:10, 11. NLT
So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you – whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, of the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 1 Cor. 3:21 – 23. NLT
Thank God!