Episode Synopsis:

The church in Corinth was plagued by factions. One source of division was ethnicity–the church was made up of Jews, Greeks, Romans, and likely a number of other nationalities. Then there were the factions formed by church members who identified with Paul, Peter, or Apollos, as their favorite teachers. There were also deep cultural divisions between the wealthy and the poor who found it difficult to socialize with one another even within the body of Christ. But in this section of Paul’s Corinthian letter (chapter 8), we encounter yet another kind of division–that between the strong and the weak.

The strong were those who understood that if God created all things, then the idols invented by pagans were nothing but lifeless statues, with assorted trinkets and amulets, and pointless ceremonies and useless sacrifices. There is no occult reality behind these images and the temples which housed them. Therefore, why should Christians not be free to eat the leftover meat and food which the pagans sacrificed to their imaginary gods. The weak, on the other hand, were those who had trouble understanding how any Christian could eat food that had come remotely near a pagan feast or temple–seeing such food as possessing an occult reality.

Paul warns the strong (who are correct about the falsity of pagan religion) not to attempt to coerce the weak to violate their consciences, as that might destroy the faith of those (the weak) who have not yet advanced in their knowledge of the Christian faith sufficiently to leave such concerns behind. Until the weak Corinthian Christians gain sufficient knowledge to dismiss paganism as the mere superstition which it is, Paul challenges the strong to put the weak first and give up the freedom to eat all foods. In light of the harm the strong can bring upon those weak in faith, Paul tells the strong that just because they are free to eat all things, doesn’t mean that they should. This is not about food but about the circumstances in which it is eaten.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode Synopsis:

In 1 Corinthians 7:17-40, Paul teaches what I call the “you can’t unscramble eggs” doctrine. What should a new Christian do when they come to faith in Jesus Christ? Do they quit their current “secular” job to devote themselves full-time to Jesus Christ and to the work of ministry? Should they rush into marriage to avoid the lusts of the flesh? Or conversely, should they seek to end an engagement because the time of the end might be drawing near? What about those widowed, single, or divorced? Now that they are Christians, what are they to seek to do? Paul tells them all to “stay put.” What they’ve done, they’ve done. And as he cautions them, when a crisis is at hand, that is not the time to make big changes.

Paul is addressing a congregation in the midst of serious difficulties of some sort–a regional famine or the consequences of the divisions the church was then facing. Paul assumes his readers know to what he is referring, so he offers little clarification. But what he does offer is wise advice for those bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. Slaves ought not seek immediate freedom–in Christ they are free people. Gentiles ought not seek to be circumcised–now in Christ, the old covenant sign has been replaced by baptism. And for the time being, the unmarried ought not seek to get married–at least until the crisis has come to an end.

Paul tells the Corinthians to wait for the crisis in Corinth to be resolved before they make major life changing decisions. Christians would be wise to wait for things to sort themselves out, and then make an informed and not a rash decision about significant events in their lives. Paul’s instructions make plain that he’s not concerned with fixing all those things new converts may have done in the past, but rather with teaching them the traditions passed down so that they learn how to live the Christian life and become better able to move forward in their lives now set free from the guilt and power of sin.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode Synopsis:

Paul’s Gentile mission was a huge success. A number of new churches were established throughout the eastern Mediterranean world–including fast growing churches in important cities such as Corinth, Thessalonica, and Ephesus. But with the spread of the gospel into a previously unevangelized world dominated by Greco-Roman culture and religion, came a whole set of pastoral problems–problems which were not specifically addressed in the Old Testament or in the teaching of Jesus.

A number of such questions surface in Corinth–as we have seen. But one pressing matter facing the Corinthians is what should happen when one party to a marriage comes to faith in Jesus Christ, while the other spouse does not, creating a so-called “mixed-marriage.” Should the believer leave or divorce the unbeliever if they refuse to convert to Christianity? And what, exactly, is a Christian spouse’s status if their unbelieving spouse divorces them because of their new-found faith in Jesus Christ? Must they remain single and celibate until the deserting spouse dies?

And an even bigger question arises. What about the children of mixed marriages? What is their standing in the church and what is their status before God? Are they members of the covenant of grace, and therefore eligible for all of the benefits thereof, while assuming all the responsibilities of covenant membership? Are they eligible to receive the sign and seal of that gracious covenant, which is baptism?

Paul answers these questions by appealing to the “holy” status of a partner to a mixed marriage and applying that same status to the children of such a union. How can an unbeliever be said to be “holy.” How can Paul affirm that of children who are born in original sin? To make his case, Paul grounds this “holiness” in the Old Testament’s principle of covenant authority–the believing parent’s authority over those in the household and as seen in the five household baptisms found in the New Testament.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode Synopsis:

Sex and marriage were pressing issues in Corinth. Gentiles who came to faith in Jesus Christ during Paul’s Gentile mission were learning the biblical sexual ethic for the first time. Grounded in the creation order, the Ten Commandments, and the teaching of Jesus, it did not take long for the Corinthians to understand that sex was not merely a pleasurable bodily function, but biblical sexuality has a strong moral foundation. That meant that much of the common sexual attitudes and practices of the Greco-Roman world were in direct conflict with Paul’s teaching regarding sexual ethics.

As these new Christians learned the teaching of Jesus, it was clear that Jesus limited sexual relations to marriage and taught that divorce was an illustration of fallen human nature. The Corinthians also learned that Christians understand sex as a part of something much larger–the way in which God created things, and that God assigned sexual activity to marriage which was intended to be a lifelong commitment centered around the family. It was difficult for the Corinthians to embrace Christian sexual ethics because they went against the grain of so much Corinthian culture and religion. It is also hard to both unlearn something you’ve embraced all your life (pagan sexuality) and then learn a new way to think about sex and marriage–a view which at first glance seems quite restrictive.

In the first half of Paul’s Corinthian letter (chapters 1-6), the apostle is responding to distressing news from Corinth which came to his attention when members of Chloe’s family passed through Ephesus where Paul was then staying. Paul heard about all sorts of things going on back in Corinth, including news that his prior letter to the Corinthians was badly misunderstood and needed a reply. So too he learned of a number of things going on back in Corinth which required his immediate attention–the content we have covered so far in the first six chapters.

About the time Paul was chatting with members of Chloe’s family, a delegation from Corinth arrived in Ephesus bringing a letter to Paul from the Corinthians, asking him a number of questions about sex, marriage, divorce, idolatry, how men and women are to relate to each other in worship, how the worship service was to be conducted (specifically the Lord’s Supper), about spiritual gifts and how they ought to be used and understood, before coming to the matter of the resurrection. The struggle facing the Corinthians was how to stop being pagans and how to live and think as Christians.

Those matters troubling the Corinthians resurface through Christ’s church across time. Many of the questions asked of Paul by the Corinthians are issues with which Christ’s church struggles today, making Paul’s Corinthian letter vital to the health of Christ’s church then and now. So lets dig in.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode Synopsis:

It has been said that prostitution is the world’s old profession. In reality, tending a garden and naming animals is. But if you lived in first century Corinth you lived in a city well-known for its prostitutes and rampant sexual immorality. This creates a difficult situation for Christians who live there and who have been taught by Paul that sexual relations are limited to marriage.

Paul has learned that some in the Corinthian church justified using the services of prostitutes by contending that Christian liberty allows it–the same excuse some were giving for eating food sacrificed to idols. Yes, the temptations Christians faced were real and many engaged in such behavior before their conversion. But as Paul has taught them, Christians must break with their pagan past and resist the pressure to continue to give into all bodily desires and urges. Yes, Christians are free from law-keeping as a means of justification, but such freedom entails freedom to obey the commands of God, not freedom to indulge in seeking to satisfy every bodily urge.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that they have been bought by a price (the shed blood of Jesus Christ) and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. A Christian is no longer a slave to sin and now is a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Their bodies belong to their creator-redeemer. Paul asks, “how can someone in union with Jesus Christ unite themselves in a sexual union with someone who represents pagan religion and spirituality?” Such a thing is unthinkable for Paul.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode Synopsis:

Corinth was a booming city with lots of new money and great stress upon the power and prestige that goes with it. One way to enhance your public image was to take advantage of those who had something you wanted or needed, or to shame a rival or get a leg up on someone you didn’t like, was to sue them in civil court. Corinth was a very litigious place with one citizen complaining that there were far too many lawyers in the city. The legal system in Corinth was rigged to favor those of means who could bribe a judge or hire a lawyer to obtain a favorable verdict over someone who had no means of defending themselves. Court proceedings took place in the city’s marketplace, so such lawsuits became a public spectacle.

Upon learning that Christians were participating in this kind of civil litigation, Paul addresses the matter of how such practices harmed the church and its witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter who won such a lawsuit. Paul reminds the Corinthians that the church is the spiritual temple of God, composed of those redeemed by Jesus Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Paul rebukes them for using the courts to exploit each other, an affront to the body of Christ. He reminds them that since one day they will judge the world, what business do they have to engage in such practices before the watching pagans. Such personal disputes are to settled within the church.

Paul reminds the Corinthians of what they once had been–sexually immoral, liars, drunkards, swindlers, and the like. But now, they are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Jesus Christ. Given what they were in light of what they now are, how can the Corinthians continue to drag each other into court to gain advantage over a fellow believer? This is a defeat for the Corinthians, no matter who wins or loses in court. Better to lose than to participate in such an unjust system.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode Synopsis:

When passing through Ephesus, where Paul was living at the time, members of Chloe’s family informed Paul of a situation in the Corinthian church of such a serious nature that Paul is taken aback. A man in the Corinthian church (presumably known to the church but unnamed by Paul) is cohabiting with his father’s wife. Such conduct was scandalous to the point that even the sexually libertine Greco-Roman pagans were offended by it. While the man’s conduct was shameful, what troubles Paul more is that the leaders of the Corinthian church had done nothing about it.

In chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Paul exhorts them to excommunicate the man so as to turn him over to Satan so that he might be saved on the day of judgment. What Paul means by this is a matter of some controversy and we will address it in detail in this episode. Paul tells the Corinthians that he has already pronounced judgment about the matter, and even though he cannot come to them in person, he is with them in spirit. They must act and remove the man from the church.

Paul’s exhortation to act must be seen in light of the removal of leaven in an act of “cleansing the temple,” along with the practice of the removal of all leaven from Jewish homes on the eve of the annual Passover celebration. Leaven symbolizes uncleanness, and the danger it poses is that even a small amount quickly spreads throughout the loaf rendering the whole unclean. Since the Corinthian church is the spiritual temple of Christ they cannot allow such scandalous immorality in their midst.

Paul also learns that the Corinthians had badly misunderstood his prior letter to them. They took his exhortation not to be “mixed up” with sexually immoral people as though Paul meant that they should avoid contact with all non-Christians. Paul takes this opportunity to correct them. The Corinthians have it backwards. They are not to judge non-Christians. God will do that. But they are to judge those in their midst who claim to be followers of Christ but who still live like pagans.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/

Episode Synopsis:

Paul expressed a fair bit of righteous anger in his letter to the Galatians–calling those taken in by false teachers foolish people who have been all-too easily bewitched by false teachers. In 1 Corinthians 4, the apostle again expresses his frustration, speaking sarcastically of those who think of themselves as rich (when they are poor), and as kings who act as though they rule the church (when they are not). But Paul will have none of it. It matters not to him what the immature in Corinth think of him. What matters is that God is judge of such things, not the Corinthians.

Paul reminds them that ministers are God’s servants who proclaim the gospel of Christ crucified, not faction leaders who seek draw followers unto themselves. God has entrusted the mysteries of the gospel to his ministers and he will judge their motives. Neither Paul nor Apollos have sought to please them–both men sought to be faithful to the charge given them by Christ to preach the gospel. Addicted to pagan ways of thinking and doing, the Corinthians still think and act like citizens of this present evil age, not as citizens of the age to come. Since the Corinthians are puffed-up by their misguided pride, Paul reminds them of all that he has suffered for the sake of Christ so as to preach the gospel and conduct his missionary journeys. When reviled he blesses. When persecuted he presses on. When slandered he is gracious. Yet, he is still treated as scum and filth. These immature Corinthians are unwitting slaves to their own pride and have earned the sarcastic rebuke from Paul we find in 1 Corinthians 4.

As their father in the faith, Paul is not writing to shame them, but to urge them to imitate him. So far, he has been prevented from returning to Corinth, so he sent Timothy in his absence. Lord willing the apostle will make his way back to Corinth, but until be does, he reminds them that through this letter and in the power of the Holy Spirit he is present with them. The question with which Paul leaves the Corinthians is, “when I come, shall I bring the rod, or shall I come in a spirit of love and gentleness?” The choice is up to them. Mend their ways and embrace humility, or face the discipline of the apostle.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/