I'm going to be reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verses 9 through 17. Hear God's word. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. but let each one take heed how he builds on it, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this book. You have given it for the edification of the Church, and I pray that as I try to give a bird's-eye view of the themes in this book, that they would be practical, that they would enable this people to draw closer to You. Help me to be faithful as I preach, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let me give you a little bit of background, first of all, on 1 Corinthians. Paul planted the church of Corinth on his first missionary journey around 48 or 49 A.D., and he spent one and a half years there, or if you want to be precise, 18 months there. He had plenty of time to teach and ground them in the faith, and in Acts 18, verse 4, we find that it was composed of both Jews and Gentiles, but the same chapter indicates that by far the majority of the members were Gentile members. It appears to have been a problem church right from the start, with at least some people resisting Paul's leadership. But by the end of those 18 months, he felt that he had left it in good hands and good leadership. And he really did love that church. It's evident from the book of Acts, as well as from 1 and 2 Corinthians, that he had a soft part of his heart for them. However, on Paul's third missionary journey—so he planted it on the first missionary journey—on his third missionary journey toward the end of his three years at Ephesus, which are described in Acts 19, He received both an oral report from some messengers, and he also received a letter from the Corinthian leaders asking for help to resolve a number of urgent problems that had come up. So, let's take a look at just some of the clues on this. Take a look, first of all, at chapter 5, verse 9. It says, I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Huh, so 1 Corinthians is not the first letter that Paul wrote to Corinth. It is the first letter that the Spirit of God decided to incorporate into the canon. Prophets many times would give individual prophecies, and prophecies were not intended for the church as a whole. That first epistle would have been one of those. But apparently, in that previous letter, Paul had told them not to associate with immoral people, and they had misunderstood that they couldn't have any dealings with people outside the church. And Paul said, no, that's not what I meant at all. I'm just saying you need to honor the discipline of shunning, which was a stage of discipline before excommunication. We're talking about brothers. Otherwise, you'd have to leave the world. So he said, yeah, you misunderstood me on that. I'm encouraged by that. You and I can easily be misunderstood in the things in which we say, and if the apostle, even the inspired apostle, could be misunderstood, We shouldn't take it too hard when that happens to you and I. One of the problems is that with written communications, you don't get nuanced. When you're doing face-to-face, you can immediately realize, oh, I think they've misunderstood what I say. You can make clarifications and adjustments. You can't do that with written words. And so there is an advantage to face-to-face communication. Anyway, how did Paul hear about this miscommunication? Well, if you flip back to chapter 1 and verse 11, he tells us, he says, "...for it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you." And so, He got some information from Chloé and Chloé's family. He was a leader in the Corinthian church who had taken the trouble to travel to Ephesus to talk to Paul, and it appears that he also made Paul aware of the other issues, as commentaries agree, that are in chapters 1 through 6. Now, it's just a little bit of information, but even there, there is, I think, application that we can make. Notice that Paul didn't say, hey, somebody mentioned to me that you guys are really messing up. I'm not going to name any names because I don't want to get them into trouble." No, Chloé had the courage to say, guys, I can't deal with this. I'm going to involve Paul, and Paul definitely uses Chloé's name. And I think that's, even there, something that we need to always keep in mind. I think this church is pretty good about that, but Rather than, you know, if there is issues that you have with the elders, rather than talking with everybody else about it, talk to the elders. Or if you have issues with another family, don't talk to the elders, talk to that family. You know, it's just common sense that we would do that. Anyway, there is a second source of information, and if you turn to chapter 7, verse 1, You will see that. He said, now concerning the things of which you wrote to me, and then he goes on and he deals with some issues. And so there was a letter that the entire congregation had written via a delegation. And so this is all above board. Everyone knows what's going on. That delegation is mentioned by name in chapter 16, verse 17, where Paul says, I am glad about the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for what was lacking on your part, they supplied." In effect, he's saying, hey, I'm glad you guys wrote this letter and let me know about all of these issues. Most commentators believe that those leaders were the ones who brought this letter. And that letter, by the way, is not just mentioned there, it's mentioned in chapter 7, verse 1, 8-1, 12-1, 15-1, and 16-1. So, chapters 1 through 6 deal with the oral report that Chloe and his household brought to him. Chapters 7 through 16 deal with the written letter that was brought by the delegation, okay? oral report, and written report. Now, this means that 1 Corinthians is written in a totally different style than most of Paul's epistles. Most of Paul's epistles deal with a bunch of doctrine up front, and then he gives logical, practical applications later. But because Paul just deals with question after question and issue after issue. Many commentators view the book as a disorganized and ad hoc response with nothing to unify it, other than some people say, well, unity seems to be a unifying factor. But that's actually not true, because not every chapter deals with unity. And so, to this day, there is controversy about the structure of the book, or whether it even has a structure, or whether he just allowed their complaints and their letter to structure his book. But back in 2010, Ciampa and Rosner—or it's Ciampa, I don't know how you pronounce it—but Ciampa and Rosner wrote a commentary that many people since then have been referring to as having pretty well—quite well established—that unity is only one of the sub-themes, and absolutely every issue that Paul deals with, he weaves those arguments through the lens of the church being the new temple to show forth God's glory. Paul brilliantly uses Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Malachi as the main prophets that he appeals to. There's a number of others as well. But he uses those three to show that God's purpose of grace was to call out a people to himself, purify them, and prepare them to be ready to meet in the glorious presence of God's throne room. okay, as a unified people. The glory of God in His temple is the unifying central theme that ties every sub-theme together. So, the glory of God in His temple. And I'll just give you some examples of this theme, because some of the older writers didn't deal with that unifying theme very well. The whole book—the whole chapter of chapter 3 deals with God building a temple on the foundation of Christ, and it's very similar in its imagery to Ephesians 4, and its exhortation is, Do you not know that you all are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you all? It's plural, you. Okay? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you all are. So, you divide and fight against the church, God's going to fight against you. You defile or you destroy the temple, God will destroy you. This is a verse that the church can use very effectively, I think, in claiming when persecution starts to heat up against the church. And we may very well begin to get persecution as a result of this new Supreme Court decision, Just read Alito's commentary on it, and he thinks that's exactly the direction that it's going to be going from the LGBTQ plus crowd. Now, though he didn't write a commentary on 1 Corinthians, Meredith Klein's book, Images of the Spirit, does show how this verse is an explicit reference to the glory cloud imagery of the Old Testament. And since the glory cloud was such a central aspect of the Old Testament temple, it's no surprise to see God's glory cloud mentioned and other aspects of God's glory being woven skillfully throughout 1 and 2 Corinthians. Christ is the Lord of glory, and the Spirit is the glory of Christ inhabiting the temple. So, for example, You cannot even understand Paul's discussion of long hair and head coverings in chapter 11 without looking to the laws of the temple of what must be in place before the presence of God's glory. Most interpretations of 1 Corinthians 11 don't show any connection whatsoever to the Old Testament. And that ought to seem strange on the surface, because Acts tells us that Paul never taught a single doctrine without basing it on the Old Testament. He for sure didn't base it on culture. He taught it based on the Old Testament doctrine. And so, The same is true of long hair and coverings. You see, temple law dictated that when you entered God's temple, all glory but the glory of God must be covered. So since man, excuse me, since the woman is the glory of the man, verse 7, she should be covered with long hair. Since her hair itself is the glory of the woman, her hair also should be covered, but—and that's verse 15—and since man is the glory of God, verse 7, he should not be covered. So those three glories and those three coverings are clearly laid out in the temple laws of the Old Testament as well as in the wonderful amazing prediction of a temple in Ezekiel, and the laws there, it's mentioned as well. I've written a book called Glory and Coverings that shows this connection, and there are many other references to God's glory and other temple imagery that are scattered throughout 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Now, obviously, there's different interpretations of that, but this is the way I understand how all of it weaves together. For example, why does he emphasize the fact that their children were no longer unclean, but they were both sanctified and cleansed? It's because nothing unclean can enter into God's temple, or even the eschatological temple, which is predicted in Isaiah 52, verse 1. Being sanctified, being cleansed are concepts borrowed from the Old Testament temple. Paul contrasts the temple prostitution that was rife in Corinth with the absolute purity demanded in his temple. Even the resurrection chapter, chapter 15, ties in with Christ's body being the temple of God. God tabernacling with men, right? And then it gets resurrected. So those who were united with Christ in His resurrection, they are part of His temple. In fact, He says our bodies themselves must reflect God's glory and be treated in a way that is consistent with them being part of the temple of the Holy Spirit. So He says this, do you not know that your body That's individual person's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. Now, in one sermon, it is impossible to highlight the many ways that Paul weaves his answers to the troubles of Corinth around the theme of the glory of God's temple. But I think Siampa and Rosner made some initial forays that were major contributions, and later commentaries have made those ideas a little bit more consistent. It wasn't perfect and needed to be perfected, but these commentaries show how every single theme of this temple is focused on and explained by Christ, who is the Lord who sits on the throne of the temple. Likewise, Paul rejects the wisdom and culture of the world and seeks to show how the Messiah of the prophesied temple will replace all pagan cultures with a culture built entirely upon God's Word and His grace and in subjection to His throne. So, there's competition between the cultures that flow from the pagan temples, and the culture that flows from God's temple. So, even the culture around the temple must be transformed. Paul even ties in the discussion of tongues, believe it or not, in chapter 14 with Isaiah 28, which is a passage that describes the destruction of the old temple and Israel, because they had defiled it, and his prophecy of a new temple." Well, that gives an ominous tone to that discussion in 1 Corinthians 14 of what could happen to Corinth if they do not repent. Okay, enough by way of introduction, but I wanted to give enough so that you could just see that this really is a pervasive theme that goes throughout the whole book. So, let's do a survey of the book as a whole. First nine verses of the book set up the letter's main themes. Verse 1 gives a heads-up that this temple is an inspired epistle, an apostolic epistle. Now, in Hebrew, the idea of an apostle was a spokesman who spoke for the person. What he said, that person said. So, what he is saying here is this is inspired. He is a mouthpiece for Christ every bit as much as the Old Testament prophets were mouthpieces for God. and spoke in the name of God." Verse 2 uses several expressions to indicate that the church was to be God's holy temple, separated from the world. For example, the word church means the called-out ones, they're called out of the world. And Paul will later point out, hey, if you're a church, if you're the called-out ones, how come you're living like the world? The word sanctified or holy was used to describe Israel as a holy people in the Old Testament, and I won't get into it, but the closer you got to the temple where God's glory cloud was, the more holy things were said to be, okay? So, He goes on to point out later on in the book, you could be outwardly holy, which we are, and still be inwardly unholy, right? to call on the name is an Old Testament expression connected with the temple, but when he says that they together with the broader church are gathered to do so, he implies Corinth by itself is not the temple. They constitute the temple when they are gathered with the universal church before the throne room of God, because it's God's throne room, where the Holy of Holies is, right? There's no Holy of Holies here. It's only as we're caught up there. And so, he's trying to get us to think beyond the local church and our connection more broadly. But the most pointed reference in verse 2 is the quote from Malachi 1, verse 11. Malachi dealt with the division, immorality, and dishonor that was happening at the post-exilic temple of his day, the same kind of issues that were going on in Corinth. And Malachi prophesied that the new covenant, this would eventually change. From the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and every place incense shall be offered up to my name in a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the nations. So the offering up of incense in every place is a reference to the universal prayers of the church, universal church, that was taking place in every location. So, Paul's already setting up a messianic temple context and hinting that Corinth is not living in light of this paradigm. Otherwise, why appeal to Malachi? Paul pronounces grace and peace upon them in verse 3 and shows those two can only come from heaven. Corinth desperately needed peace, but they could only have it as they had grace. You cannot reverse those two. It's grace and peace, not peace and grace, right? And Jesus, as both Lord and Messiah, also sets this in the context of Malachi's new covenant temple. I'll skip over some of these, but look at the praise in verses 4 through 9. This is something I have always found remarkable. Paul, in all of his epistles, never forgets to praise people for what is going right. And they were messed up, he had to correct a lot of things, but he managed to see the good and maintain a positive attitude. And I think we can learn from this as well, that we should not be blinded to the good when we're dealing with the bad in other people. I'm not going to even comment on them. Let me just read verses 4 through 9. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus. that you were enriched in everything by Him, in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." And there are other themes. Now, in chapter 1, verse 10, all the way through to chapter 4, verse 21, he drops the hammer over divisions in the church. Now, the American church is so used to divisions, we probably don't even realize the extent to which that is a violation of our calling. But Paul lays it on thick. In verses 11 through 17, we discover that the church people were focused on leaders rather than on Christ, on personalities rather than on doctrine, on gifts and abilities and oratory rather than on their relationship. Some people were groupies of Paul, and you can tell from his words, he did not appreciate it. He did not take kindly to that. Others were groupies of Peter, others were groupies of Apollos, while many just stood by and were frustrated. When you enter into the church, what should you see being exalted? Not rock star personalities. Those preachers were simply tools of Christ. When you enter the church, you should see Christ, just like when you entered the temple in the Old Testament. The only thing that probably caught your attention was this huge, pulsating pillar of fire that shot up from the Holy of Holies right up into the sky. In front of that, holy, fiery cloud, nothing else seemed to matter, okay? There are no rock stars or celebrity preachers or Calvin is my homeboy t-shirts, right? The church was not purchased by Paul or by Calvin. It was purchased by Christ's blood, and Christ alone is your Lord, Savior, and Messiah. So where in the world did they get this groupie mentality? On verses 17 through 25, he says they got it from the wisdom of the world. That's the way the world acts. These Corinthians were fairly new converts, and somehow they had allowed the wisdom of the Greek philosophies to follow them into the church, and it was negatively affecting them in many different ways throughout the book. In verse 23, Paul says that God's ways look foolish to the world. That's true. But he says the reverse is also true. The world's ways of leadership, growth, affirmation, advancement, they look foolish to God. And even if they didn't totally understand it or get it, he tells them, trust God's ways to work. In verse 25, he says, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. When we are governed by the world's wisdom, we tend to get excited about the wrong things, and I think verses 26 through 31 are so self-explanatory that I will just read them for you. So he says, You are calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, 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, 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, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord." When you walk into the glorious new covenant temple, God's glory should be the only thing that consumes your vision. Yes, leaders are important, but they can let you down. Yes, we need to submit to leaders, but only as they lead us to Christ. In chapter 2, Paul models for them that he didn't even use the speaking techniques that the world orators used. Didn't even use those. His goal was not to wow them anyway. That's the way many orators did. His goal was to be used by the Spirit to bring the Word to bear powerfully in their lives for transformation. So why would we look to heathen experts on counseling, leadership, administration, or anything else? Verse 14 says, But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And I would urge those who are tempted to use the classical education method to meditate deeply on this chapter. Don't take my word for it. Just meditate on the chapter and see what the Holy Spirit opens up for you. Paul, over and over, minimizes the wisdom of the world and glories in the incredible riches of the Bible. Some of the things which are so deep, it takes the power of God's Spirit illuminating us to pull them out, but then you see, wow, those are incredible riches. Now, in my spare time, I'm trying to put up—gather some stuff together. Actually, it's when Rhys and David come here that we're going to put it up on the web. but trying to get the axioms for all of the different disciplines up and then get some other experts in the Bible to dig deeper onto some of these things. The reason I'm doing this, other than a few axioms in mathematics and logic, I've never seen the axioms of all of these different disciplines ever put into publication, and yet they're there in the Bible, and we need to understand them and see them. My hope is to help people realize that the wisdom of the Spirit in Scripture is infinitely better than the wisdom of the world. Verses 12 through 13 say, Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now, I do not have the time to deal adequately with that chapter, but it makes me, anyway, long to know more about the glories of the Scripture and pray to the Holy Spirit, show me some of the riches that are in Your Word. When you have been marinating in the juices of this passage, you begin to lose your appetite for the things—the books of the heathen and the wisdom of the world. But in chapter 3, And verses 1 through 4, he has to sadly say that the Corinthians are acting like the world. That's what carnal means. Worldly. Unbelieving. You're acting like you're unbelievers, is basically what he's saying. He isn't setting up a theory of carnal Christianity being one optional category of Christianity. No, he is saying when you start thinking and acting and feeling and relating to other people like the world does, that ought to be considered an oxymoron. It's just like inconceivable. It's completely inconsistent with a calling that we have as Christians. And he goes on to use Christ's planting of a farm and building of a temple as two metaphors to communicate this idea. In verse 9, he says, for we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, you are God's building. In verse 10, he says, he helped to lay the revelational foundation of the Scriptures through the inspired writings that he's already written, and he has already written six books of the Bible prior to this. And Even there, he makes it very clear, Paul is not the foundation. Yes, Paul gave inspired Scripture, but it's the Word of Christ. He's a mouthpiece for Christ. So he goes on to say, in verse 11, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But then comes the same kind of frightening warnings that Malachi brought when people were failing to avail themselves of his grace and his Word, beginning at verse 12. Now, if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." And then the remainder of the chapter, he returns to telling them to avoid worldly wisdom. So, the worldly wisdom really is the hay, wood, and stubble that will be burned up as being absolutely useless for God's glorious temple. Now, part of the divisiveness came from those who were critical of Paul, And chapter 4 deals with these critical people who thought that Paul was a dumbbell. They thought he was dumb because he didn't value the Greek philosophers that these guys had been steeped in. And he tells them why. He tells them why. Verse 1 says, let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Paul is saying, I'm not a steward of Plato or Aristotle or Plotinus. I'm a steward of the mysteries of God, and I have to be faithful to that." Verse 2, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. So Paul is, in effect, saying, if Christians immerse themselves in the wisdom of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans were not being faithful stewards of Christ's wisdom. Certainly pastors should be reading more commentaries than they do secular stuff. And people might respond, well, that's fine and dandy for Paul, but I've got to educate my kids. Paul applies the same standard to the Corinthians in verse 6. He says, Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you be puffed up on behalf of one against another. See, going beyond the wisdom of God's Word tends to lead to pride and self-sufficiency. Filling your mind and heart with the wisdom of the world tends to lead to pride and self-trust. I want you to underline that phrase in verse 6 that really ought to be the theme of your life, where it says that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written. He's talking about the written Word, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written. That is what sola scriptura means. This is why Gordon Clark's philosophy of all of life is called scripturalism. Because it's Scripture that's the foundation for everything. Jesus worded it this way, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So you can tell that the church of Jesus Christ is in its infancy because we have not remotely been living by every single word of the Bible. We've had a start. There's a bunch of words we're living by, but there's so much more. Now, does that make us seem naive and foolish to the world? Absolutely yes. They think we're nuts. Verses 6 through 13, though, Paul says, hey, I'm willing to be a fool for Christ. And the question is, are we? Are we willing to be considered a fool? Verse 10 summarizes what they thought of Paul's naive biblicism. Putting their thoughts on paper, he says, we are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are distinguished, but we are dishonored. You see, that's what they thought of themselves and what they thought of Paul. But if getting their approval meant using the tactics, methods, goals, strategies, and the wisdom of the world, he said, look, I'm just willing to be a fool. I don't care if you think poorly of me. I'm sticking to the Word. In verses 14 through 21, he affirms his paternal love for them, but he warns them that if they don't repent, the fur will fly when he arrives. He asks in verse 21, what do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?" And so that ends the first major section. I've spent more time on it because it really is a foundational section. Next, in chapters 5 through 6, Paul deals with a report of sexual immorality and people taking fellow Christians to secular court. Paul is outraged and flabbergasted and heartbroken all at the same time. He reminds me of Nehemiah when Nehemiah discovered that Tobiah, the pagan leader, had his residence right in the temple and that there were Jews who had married unbelievers. He was outraged. He was a man on fire. You know, Jesus was a man on fire when Caiaphas defiled the temple. And Paul is on fire when he sees the temple of God, which ought to be pure and holy and consumed with God's glory, doing the exact opposite. And so chapter 5, He deals with how to discipline a person who does not repent of immorality. And in chapter 6, he deals with a person who took somebody to a secular court on a financial dealing. And he attributes that to following the wisdom of the world and having a gross misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of God's grace. In chapter 5, we are faced with a man committing adultery with his father's wife, probably his stepmom. Paul commands them in verse 5 in no uncertain terms, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. That's what excommunication means. It means being kicked out, kicking a person out of the protection of the church and placing them into the world. That when you are in the church, you have the protection of the covenant. Demons have a much harder time getting at you because God has put a hedge of protection around you. But once you are excommunicated, you lose that protection. You are totally at the mercy of demons. Now, of course, if you're elect, They can only do as much as God allows them to do with you, but God will allow even there to take people even to the point of death, if it means that they will be saved. And I'll illustrate that. In our former denomination, there was a pastor who, unknown to us, had talked a woman into divorcing her husband and getting married to him, and he was in the process of getting divorced to his wife. It was just scandalous. And as soon as the presbytery found out about it, they yanked his credentials, took him out of the ministry. They didn't excommunicate him right away, but they did call him to repentance. but he refused. I remember arguing with him for two hours from the Scriptures, and he admitted he did not have a leg to stand on in the Scriptures, but he said, even though it's not God's perfect will, even though it's not in here, God led me to do this, so it's okay. And I pointed out to him that God's will never contradicts itself, and he's already revealed his infallible will in the Bible and yet he just refused any advice. And so eventually the upshot was that he got excommunicated and immediately demons started beating up on him, and everything was going wrong. He still did not repent. And why could demons beat up on him? Because he's outside the covenant. He didn't have any protection in his life. So anyway, eventually, he got a rare infection on his brain, and he was quickly dying. that brought him to repentance. He called the elders, and they gathered at the hospital, and he thanked them for excommunicating him, and was so thankful for God's disciplines. And he repented, got right with the Lord, but because of the stain to God's name, God took him out. God did not heal him. God took him out. And that's what it means to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved, and in the Day of Judgment. It's a serious deal, and Paul took it seriously because the temple indwelt with God's glory must not be defiled. He is jealous of his temple. We are called to be a holy people. Now, chapter 7 deals with taking a Christian to court. Paul was outraged with that. Now, if you absolutely must take a pagan to court, okay, fine, do so. But an unexcommunicated Christian, never, never. Use binding arbitration. Use church court. or even be willing to be defrauded rather than to go to the wisdom of the world. That's what Paul says. Verse 5 says, I say this to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? Christians must learn how to study the Bible and figure out the principles for arbitration, you know, and conflict resolution and church courts. Even if you're not a church court officer, it doesn't matter. It's probably good for all of us to be somewhat familiar with what church court principles are. Many churches don't even know them themselves, many church leaders, but they should know them. Okay, we need to value the wisdom of Scripture. Well, then in verses 12 through 20, he returns to dealing with more immorality. By the way, don't think you guys are the only ones that are faced with constant sexual temptation that is out there. So I've talked to people, say, it's just almost impossible to get away from this. You know, it's on the computer, it's on the phones, on billboards. You walk into a department store and you're seeing these scantily clad people. They're everywhere. I don't think anybody's been as tempted as we are in the 21st century. But actually, it's not true, because in Corinth, everywhere they looked, they saw similar temptations as well. Let me just give you a little bit of background. on the Acrocorinthus, which was the massive hill that was at Corinth, it was 1,800 feet high above everything else, and you could see the top of that hill from anywhere in the city. Why is that significant? Well, that is where the sexual temple was, the temple to Aphrodite, and there was a thousand consecrated prostitutes in that temple who were parading themselves in ways to try to draw in customers. And it didn't matter You know, if you're living in that city, unless you turn your head completely away from that thing, you're going to catch something out of the side of your eye. It would drive you crazy. And there were many other places in the city where every imaginable kind of sexual temptation was available. And so, so famous was the immorality of Corinth that throughout the empire among the pagans, the word to Corinthianize meant to engage in sexual immorality. And in chapter 6, verses 12 through 20, Paul lays out principles to help these Christians overcome these temptations and to devote all their body parts to righteousness. He scares them with the cost of fornication. He woos them and motivates them with the glories of serving God. He calls upon them to let the Lord Jesus Christ be the Lord of their sexuality. But once again, he ties it in with the temple in verses 19 through 20. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who was in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now in the rest of the book, we have the issues raised in the letter. First, chapter 7, we have Paul answering some questions related to marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and I simply don't have the time to give that chapter justice, but let me make a few pointers anyway. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 1 says, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Now, if you've got an NIV, they have grossly mistranslated this. Roman Catholics would love it. But they have translated it, it's good for a man not to marry a woman. That is an absolutely wrong translation. Many reasons why it's wrong. Let me give you two of the most obvious reasons. The very next verse, it contradicts. It contradicts the very next words that come out of Paul's mouth, where he gives a command to the Corinthians, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. That's the norm, and the gift of celibacy is a rare exception. Right? So, here's the question. Why would Paul command—and it is a command, it's in the imperative tense—why would Paul command something he's just finished saying is not good to do? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's a very poor way of arguing, anyway. Second, such an interpretation also contradicts Paul's teaching in 1 Timothy 4, 1 through 3, where he said that anybody who permanently prohibits marriage is automatically engaged in a doctrine of demons. The Roman Catholic interpretation of the whole chapter is a doctrine of demons. The mandated celibacy of the priesthood is a doctrine straight from hell, and it has had hellish results, as anybody who's read the newspaper knows. And in my book on biblical romance, I give many other reasons why that's a lousy translation. Nor is the ESV's translation legitimate. It has—it's good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. That is not what the text says. Twenty of my translations render it just the way the New King James does. It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Now, the word for touch is a very unusual word that indicates the kind of touch that begins, or literally ignites, sexual desire. Okay, so he's not talking about engaging in sexual intercourse. He's already ruled that out earlier. Okay, fornication's already been ruled out. He is saying, when you guys hang out together, don't even engage in the kind of touch that's going to arouse any of those sexual desires. He's saying, don't engage in foreplay until you're married. But once you're married, you ought to be engaging in it regularly, is what he says in the next verses, verses two through nine. God intended it for pleasure, but it's a pleasure reserved for marriage. Well, what about if you get an ungodly divorce and you don't want to go back? Paul says, tough. You only got two choices. He says, even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. Then he gives a ditto for the husband. Okay, so interestingly, he doesn't force them to get back together, but he only gives them two options, remain single or get remarried to your former spouse. So the upshot is, if it's an illegitimate divorce, then marriage to anyone else is unlawful. Now, you can tell this whole sermon I'm giving is dealing with almost every controversy in the modern church. Divorce and remarriage, they're not doing things biblically nowadays. It's horrible. Then he deals with divorce and remarriage of unbelievers. And I don't have the time to overturn all the ungodly interpretations of that or give you the true interpretation either. But let me give you a hint. If you've interpreted this passage right, it will perfectly dovetail with the Old Testament, including Ezra and Nehemiah. Paul always taught everything he taught based on the Old Testament. He did not overturn it or replace it. He also deals with slavery in that chapter. Oh boy. Yes, there was slavery in New Testament times, but verse 23 gives the trajectory for Christians. Do not become slaves of men. It should be our desire to avoid slavery, if at all possible. By the way, when the Old Testament authorized slavery for a period of time, In order to pay for restitution for a crime, right? It was payment. He couldn't pay it. Okay, well, you're going to have to work it off. You're not just going to get a free pass because you're poor. You're going to have to work as a slave. They did the slavery in a way, and indentured servitude might be a better term, but they did it in a way that moved these people to responsibility, maturity, future-orientedness, a love for liberty. And eventually, when they got out of their slavery, they were handed by the slave owner a sum of money to be able to start their own business. In other words, this was restorative. It was designed to make them productive citizens once again. The modern slavery, and yes, America has slavery and has never stopped having slavery, The modern slavery in the penitentiary does the exact opposite. What does it do? It makes people dependent, fearful of the risks of liberty, discipled by other Christians, and when they get out, they have no money in their pocket, nobody wants to hire them, and so their only resort is to go back to crime, which reintroduces them into the slave system of the penitentiary. It's horrible, absolutely horrible. God's goal for His criminal penalties of the Old Testament were always restorative, with the exception of penalty for murder. always led people to eventual liberty. That was the trajectory of the Old Testament. That is the trajectory of these verses. Then he gives guidelines for postponing marriage during persecution as a wisdom issue, not a mandate. But it was only a temporary postponement because of the present distress, which was the Great Tribulation that was almost upon them. Chapter 8 then moves on to some fabulous principles to govern our use of liberties and make sure we exercise them consistently with the gospel and consistently with God's glorious temple. Now, I don't have the time to get into those principles, but the key thing to keep in mind is Christ purchased you with a great price, and He owns you, and He owns your liberties, and so even though you can exercise those liberties, you cannot do so independently of Him. We need to live out the gospel, and so how we exercise our liberties—well, we do have freedoms, you know, to drink and dance and do all kinds of things—how we exercise our liberties must be consistent with the gospel and God's purposes of His temple. It's a great chapter. It keeps your focus on the glory of God and not on our own glory. And in chapter 9, Paul just uses himself to say, okay, I've given you principles on how to exercise liberty. Let me show you how I did it. And he says, even though I'm an apostle with certain rights, verses 1 through 14, he restricted those rights for the sake of others, that's verses 15 through 27, and he did so because he had a burning love for these other people. And the irony of it all is that giving his liberties to God meant he had more liberties because he could now become all things to all people, verses 21 through 22. And I don't have the time to show how all of that works or how it weaves with the central theme, but it really is marvelous. The next section of corporate worship should be fairly obvious in how it relates to the temple. That's chapters 10 through 14. These are the chapters most people look to when you say 1 Corinthians. They either think about the love chapter, chapter 13, or they think about the controversial gifts chapters, chapters 12 and 14. But what unifies these chapters is corporate worship before the glory of God's throne room. All of chapters 10 through 14 is correcting weird, weird problems that had arisen within the corporate worship service. Now, it begins with the Lord's table. Most of the judgments mentioned in chapter 10 issued from the glory cloud of God's Old Testament tabernacle. I mean, even fire coming from that glory cloud, right? And Paul gives illustration after illustration of how eating the sacrament brought judgment upon those who partook unworthily. Now, it's an interesting thing that the younger generation ended up being a generation of faith that was really blessed by God, but Verses 1–13 shows how almost all of the older generation—the all-our-fathers mentioned in verse 1—ate to judgment. Why? Well, the verses show that they faked their relationship with God even though they were baptized. They lacked faith. They lusted. They committed idolatry. They tempted Christ. They grumbled. They were carnal. In other words, they acted like unbelievers, and eventually it proved that they really were unbelievers. They were rebellious, divisive, adent to judgment. So our focus when we come to the Lord's table must always be to God's glory. Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And by the way, chapter 11 continues the discussion of communion. He's not changed the topic. He points out that even how we dress and conduct ourselves and relate to authorities within the family—you know, he gives that authority chain of command—how we do that affects whether we are blessed or whether we are judged when we partake of the Lord's Supper. That's verses 1 through 16. Now, I've already dealt with The head coverings, the long hair issue in that section. And I know there's legitimate debate on that, and not even all the officers agree on this, right? And we give liberty for you guys to be Bereans on this subject, but there is only one right interpretation, and it's worthwhile knowing what that one right interpretation is. We don't give liberty because it's an unimportant doctrine. We give liberty because it's not a settled doctrine in the worldwide church. Eventually it will be. I'm a post-millennialist. I think it will be eventually. And as I mentioned, I believe only one view can root this teaching in Paul's theme of the glory of God in his temple and in Old Testament law. And I think you really need to do that to be able to adequately answer this passage. In verses 17–34, he continues to give exhortations on how to eat for the better and not for the worse. When we lack those qualifications, we end up like the unbelieving fathers of the wilderness. And that brings us to the discussion of gifts in the worship service in chapters 12–14. And wow, I figure, how on earth do I deal with chapters 12 through 14? Such controversial. Now, I'll say again, just like I did with Hebert covering, you don't have to believe what I'm going to preach to you because Phil Kaiser said it, right? That would be a violation of the first verses that we look through of being groupies. We do not want you to be groupies of Phil Kaiser or groupies of Gary Duff or of Rodney or any other deacon. But I don't have a choice. I have to preach this the way that I see it in the Scripture, and I've already preached on tongues and prophecy during the Acts series, showing numerous principles that show tongues was a true language that the speaker understood, so I don't feel the urgency to rehash those things today. What I'm going to do is I'm going to give you four principles, and I think if you use these four principles instead of the 24 I first came up with, if you just use these four principles, You'll have it. The whole of these chapters will open up. The first principle is that the Spirit of God moves us to understanding. Any view of the gifts that diminishes our understanding should be suspect. Chapter 12, verse 1, I do not want you to be ignorant. And he gives over and over again admonishments to the people that if they don't understand what they are saying, then don't say it. That includes the gift of tongues. Chapter 14, verse 14 is not an exception when it says, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. Charismatics, much as I love them, I think they're wrong on this. They claim that this means that I don't understand what I am saying when I speak in tongues. The passage actually says the exact opposite—the exact opposite. If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays." Notice he doesn't say that the Holy Spirit bypasses my mind and he prays. No, I pray. My spirit prays. And the next phrase says, my understanding. Now, the Greek is a genitive. It's a possessive. So it says, the understanding I possess. It's mine. I have it. I don't lack it. Continuing, the understanding I possess does not bear fruit. It's unfruitful. It's not bearing fruit. So, in other words, I may understand what I'm praying in a different language, but without a translator, I won't bear a lick of fruit in other people. Without understanding, there is no fruit. There is no edification. Paul's constant refrain in these three chapters is that the Spirit increases our understanding. He doesn't bypass it or short-circuit it. So, the first principle is that the Holy Spirit always moves people to more understanding through His gifts. He never shuts the mind off. That principle alone, I think, can help you to sort through a lot of error. Second principle, every gift was designed to build up and edify others when it is used in the church. In other words, the church is not the place for personal devotions. This is the place for corporate worship of the body, and all the exercises of all the gifts has the purpose of building up or edifying others. And there are several verses that say this. Verse 7 says, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. Now, Charismatics will try to prove exceptions to this rule where we can edify ourselves with tongues, but even those passages, when rightly understood, are seen as reasons not to exercise the gift. If they don't edify others, they belong in private, not in the assembly. Chapter 14, verse 12, even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. Verse 26, let all things be done for edification. So the second principle is that every gift without exception was designed to build up and edify others when it's used in the church. Now, it's okay not to edify others in personal devotions, private devotions, but not in the church, which is the temple of God. The third principle is seen in chapter 13, which says that every gift should be exercised out of love. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. what does love do? Well, it's the opposite of what you see in some churches. Quoting verses 4 through 7 from the ESV, love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast, It is not ignorant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Now again, that love principle, I think, solves a lot of problems. The fourth principle, and this, as if I wasn't controversial enough, this is the most controversial of the principles. Fourth principle is that prophecy and prophets were intended to be temporary and to pass away. Let me read verses eight through 10 in Mounce's translation. And there are many other translations translate this way, but I've picked Mounce because he's an expert in Greek. He's written Greek grammars for the beginner and for the advanced. And his translation says this. Love never comes to an end, but if there are prophecies, they will be set aside. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be set aside. For we know in part, we prophesy in part, but when that—when what is complete comes, the partial will be set aside." Now, if that translation is correct, then what is complete is the canon. There are partial prophecies and partial revealed knowledge, and then there's the completed prophecies and the full body of revealed knowledge. Now, that makes sense of the discussion of revelation of prophecy no longer being needed once the complete revelation has come. Gordon Fee, his only objection is that he doesn't think that Paul would have thought of a completed canon, actually, in light of A number of Old Testament passages, that's not true. Some insist that the perfect is referring to Christ, His second coming. When He comes, then all of these things will happen. Well, the problem with that interpretation is that the Greek for perfect is a neuter adjective that can only modify a neuter noun. Well, Jesus is not neuter. His name is not neuter. The titles Christ, Savior, and Lord, or all masculine. So, it really, in terms of Greek grammar, it is absolutely, 100% impossible for the perfect to refer to Jesus. So, others say it's not Christ, but the coming of Christ that is the perfect. Now, beyond not being what this says, the text says that the perfect is something that comes, not the coming itself. But beyond that, this still doesn't work, since none of the three words for coming is neutered. They're all feminine words, not neuter. So some say that the perfect is heaven, when we get to heaven. And actually, there's a couple of preterists think that this refers to when the demons were cast out of heaven just prior to AD 70. It was the first perfect place in the universe, really. Prior to that, Job says that Satan was able to go to heaven. Well, you've got an evil creature in heaven. It's not perfect yet, but it was cleansed of all demons just prior to 80. Theoretically, I would see how that could be a possibility, but heaven is a masculine noun. It's not a neuter. So I just don't think that that really fits. Some say that it's the resurrection, and since Paul would die before the first resurrection happened, he would see God face-to-face at the same time that Revelation ended. But the word resurrection is a feminine noun. That doesn't fit. Again, I think the best interpretation is to say that it is the biblos, the canon. It fits the context of revelation. It fits the context of partial revelation, which is prophecy, and the complete revelation. It fits the timing of 80-70. It fits the usage of a neuter adjective, perfect. It fits the prophecies of the ending of prophecy in Isaiah 8, Daniel 9, and other passages, all of which pointed to 8070. It fits verse 13, which has faith, hope, and love be more enduring than prophecy. Now, if prophecy ended in 8070, then those three are indeed more enduring. But if prophecy lasts till the end of history, faith, hope, and love are not more enduring. Love is, but Paul says faith will give way to sight, hope will give way to fulfillment. And again, in one sermon it would be hopeless to settle such a hugely debated passage. I know I've not done justice to these passages. But I have read Wayne Grudem and about 40 other charismatic scholars, and I believe my interpretation is the most natural one. And so far as I've been able to discover, it is the only one that fits the neuter gender of the word perfect. And so it's what I default to. Chapter 15. deals with the beautiful doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of believers. It also gives us a plan for what happens between now and the end of history. And I'm just going to read verses 20 through 28 without comment. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, and when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death, for he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted. Now, when all things are made subject to him, then the Son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Now, in verses 50 through 56, he tells us when that last enemy is destroyed, and it's while Christ is coming back, before He actually reaches the earth, He's still in the sky, we're caught up to meet Him, and then we come to judge the earth. And so, if that's the last enemy that happens while He's coming back, logic tells us every other enemy has to happen before the second coming. Well, that's post-millennialism, right there. It is showing the Christianization of the entire earth prior to the second coming. Thrones, dominions, every other aspect of the world will be Christianized and put under the feet of Jesus. But it also shows the importance of the physical creation. It too was redeemed. Apparently there were some in the church who doubted the need of the resurrection. The reference to evil company corrupting their conduct in verse 33 is taken by some as the influence of the Greek philosophies upon them. Well, the Greek philosophers taught that if the flesh is inherently evil, why bother resurrecting it? We want to get rid of everything physical. And so, Paul responds that grace was intended to go as far as the fall, the curse of the fall had gone. It reaches even the physical universe. So, let me read how central the resurrection is to the faith in verses 12 through 19. If Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty. Yes, we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable." And again, I cannot even remotely do justice to this glorious chapter, which is the basis for the glorious and logical conclusion in verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Then in chapter 16, he deals with the Christian Sabbath and that offerings ought to be collected on the first day Sabbath. And that's the literal Greek, first day Sabbath. Let me read verses 1 through 2. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also. On the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come." Now, on the first day of the week is literally on the first day Sabbath. Okay, so there is your New Testament mandate for Sabbath keeping. And consistent with the New Covenant temple that was prophesied in the Old Testament, it had to be on the first day of the week. It could not be on Saturday. First day Sabbath keeping is not an option. He says he had given orders. That's not an option. I've given orders. Second, he says you must do it. The word must indicates there's no option. And thirdly, he puts it all into the imperative mood. in the Greek. If you need a theological basis for New Covenant Sabbath-keeping, this is it. Then in chapter 16, he goes on to give final greetings, which also displayed the centrality of the gospel and the way it brings unity to the body. Now, here's the bottom line for this whole book. Paul said, if you guys can begin to see yourselves as being called out of the world to be a holy temple meeting in the presence of God's glorious Spirit. It would help you to adjust your attitudes. your priorities, your actions. The church is not as much about us as it is about God, gathering before His throne and then following His orders. Now, of course, He will continue these themes into 2 Corinthians, giving us a much fuller picture of God's glory and the leadership that God has placed in His temple. But let's take heed to the Lord's corrections in this epistle, and seek to be a congregation consumed by God's glory and committed to leaving His temple throne room to work for Him as faithful servants. Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word. And difficult as it is, and as many disagreements as there probably still are over the meaning of certain passages, may Your Spirit guide us into all truth. And as we are Bereans thinking through these scriptures, may you preserve us from error. Bless us as a people as we seek to be as holy as it is possible for a sinful people to be. Bless us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.