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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. We are in First Corinthians, so we're crossing over into a brand new book of the Bible. I'm going to break down 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4. That is our reading for the day. If you haven't done the reading, this a great time to pause this episode and go do the reading. All right. My commentary on these passage scriptures is only going to make the most sense if you have done the reading. This podcast material is not to substitute the reading is to supplement the reading. So go do do the reading. For those of us who have already read First Corinthians 1, 2, 3, and 4, let's dive in. I've got a lot of context for us today because it's the brand. It's a brand new book, right? I've got more context than normal. And so let's kind of not just dive into the actual meat of the chapters, but just Corinth and Corinthians as a whole. The background for the letter of Corinthians, first and second Corinthians can be found in Acts, chapter 18. Paul actually spends 18 months living in Corinth building this church, planting this church, developing disciples, growing people, preaching, teaching the word of God. Actually, this is the second longest stay that Paul has in any city. He's in Ephesus for three years. He's in Corinth for 18 months. And if you were tracking with us in first and second Thessalonians, he was only in Thessalonica for three weeks, maybe a month. So 18 months is a long stint for Paul. Paul has fruitful ministry in Corinth, despite the fact that Corinth is known for debauched immorality. All right. There's a saying in the ancient world, in the Greek world, not every man can afford a trip to Corinth because Corinth was known for this Acropolis. There was this hill, largest hill in the city. And on top of that hill, on top of the Acropolis, sat the temple to Aphrodite. And a thousand temple prostitutes worked that temple. They would come down the hill at night and they would engage in sexually explicit, sexually immoral behavior with travelers and men of the City, because Corinth was a port city. And like many port cities, you've got tons of trade, tons, tons of travelers. It's a cross pollinization of all types of cultures. It's kind of like I was on a missions trip to Bangkok, Thailand, years ago. And because Bangkok's a port city and the red light district is there in the city, during the Vietnam War, tons of soldiers would come. Men from the navy would come right there to Thailand and enter that port city and engage in prostitution. So when you think about Corinth, I want you to think about, like, Amsterdam, Bangkok. But I. I also want you to think about. It's an entertainment capital, okay? Tons of theater. In the ancient world, there was this thing called the Isthmian Games. So this is a home to tons of athletes. Think NBA culture, okay? If you got NBA players, you got groupies. All right? So the Ismian Games is second in popularity to the Olympic Games. Super, super popular in the ancient world. There's tons of nerds that debate whether or not Paul would have actually ever gone to one of the Isthmian Games. So Corinth, super major hub because of the trade, because of all the travel, Corinth was also super wealthy. And one of the things that we're going to notice as we kind of go through the book of Corinthians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians over the next couple of days is that wealth and status are some of the context that we need to understand in order to really understand the content of the book. So Paul's there. They've got entertainment, they've got sports, they've got prostitution, they've got trade, they've got money, but they don't have a church. And this is a great place for a church. And this is one of the most dramatic letters that we have. A lot of people will say things like, we just need to be like the early church. They kind of romanticize or glorify the early church. And sometimes, you know, Bible nerds like me like to ask, like, which early church? Because Corinth is an early church, and they've got a lot of problems in the church. There's a guy in the church that's having sex with his dad's wife. There's divisions in the church. There are people that are pitting Christian leaders up against each other. We got celebrity culture in this church, and we got people getting drunk during communion at this church, and we got people who are living sexually loose lifestyles but are full of the gifts of the spirit. Okay, can prophesy and can speak in tongues, but don't have the fruit of the Spirit evident in their life. And so the book of Corinthians is a really, really, really pastoral letter. And the entire book is actually divided into sections based on the issues or the problems that Paul's addressing. So first Corinthians, chapters one through four, all about divisions. First Corinthians, chapters five through seven, all about sex and sexuality. One Corinthians, chapter eight through ten, all about food, sacrifice to idols and Christian liberty. One Corinthians 11, 14 is all about the worship gathering. And then chapter 15 is all about the resurrection. And then we get a conclusion in chapter 16. So this book kind of reads like many essays. Okay, Paul is just going through the problems that he's received from Chloe's household. Now, Chloe is probably a leader within the church, and people are meeting at her home. There's actually some debate on whether Chloe is a male name or female name. Not really relevant. But Chloe's household has reported. Paul, I know you spent 18 months here, but, man, there are problems in the church. There are real issues in the church. And so Paul is going to address those issues one by one. And so the letter of Corinthians really feels like a bunch of mini essays kind of combined together. And so here's what we got. In 1 Corinthians, chapters 1 through 4, Paul is going to deal with divisions in the church. There are people in the church who are saying, man, we rock with Paul. We like Paul. Then there are people who are saying, man, now, we like Apollos. And actually Acts chapter 18 tells us, says, while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. So they kind of swap. Okay, Apollos has been discipled by Aquila and Priscilla. And now Apollos is at the church leading. And so Apollos is eloquent. He's kind of like a philosopher. He's got a great command of the Greek language. And there are some people who are like, see, man, we need an educated. This is the kind of guy we need. This is the kind of leader that we identify with. And then there's other people who are like, we rock with Peter. Peter, he actually followed Jesus. For real? For real. So there's some people who are like, we like Paul. He's our guy. Then there are people in the church who are like, we like Apollos, man. Man, he's regal, he's tall, he's handsome, he's educated. There's a lot of People who think that Apollos wrote the book of Hebrews. Because Hebrews is some of the best Greek that we have in the entire New Testament. Very erudite, formal Greek. A lot of what we have in the rest of the New Testament is kind of like street Greek, okay? Like just casual conversation Greek. And then there are these hyper spiritual people in the church and they're like, we don't follow Christian. We don't follow human leaders. We follow Jesus. Okay? We're part of the Jesus people. And there's always these people in church who want to downplay the role of Christian leaders and just, we follow Jesus. And Paul flat out says, all of you are foolish. These are all ridiculous. Me, Apollos, Peter, we're all on the same team. And it is not mature of you to create factions within the church based on your favorite preacher. And to be honest, we have this today. Like, this is not new. Celebrity culture is not a new thing. Celebrity culture is not a modern phenomena. No, there are people in Corinth who are like, we only like it when Apollos preaches. I know people today who are like, if my past ain't preaching, I don't like going to church. Right? That is immature. That's spiritually immature. And Paul addresses that. Actually, I'll get into the end of this video. Why? I think it's really huge that Paul addresses this. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community. A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. There's some context that I need you to know. I'll give you a nerdy nugget, and then I'll give you some context. Here's a nerdy nugget. If you read First Corinthians. If you First Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 9, it says this. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. So Paul in First Corinthians is actually alluding to a previous letter. And so a lot of scholars actually believe that what we have as 1st Corinthians is quite possibly 2nd Corinthians. But the Holy Spirit didn't want that original letter to Corinthians to be in the canon, okay? So although Paul wrote that letter, it got lost in history. And that's according to the will of God that it got lost. Not that it was wrong or anything was bad about it, but it wasn't for us. But Paul does allude to that letter. That's our nerdy nugget for the day. That what we call 1 Corinthians is probably actually like, technically 2 Corinthians. And let's get some context. Actually, in the ancient world, in the Greco Roman world, rhetoric and eloquence and sophists were massive, okay? The Greek world was the first culture to make public speaking an actual profession. And so orators would travel from town to town. And Greek people were in love with the Greek language, okay? They were fascinated and kind of obsessed with the Greek language. And so no other culture before Greek philosophers, like, actually esteemed public speaking. So when you think about philosophy and oration, like eloquence, that is like the pinnacle of Greek culture. Paul gets to Corinth, and it feels like once he's done addressing divisions in the church, that he switches topics to start talking about human wisdom. But he's not switching topics, actually. What he's saying is that I'm not a philosopher. I'm not a Greek philosopher. I'm not an orator, I'm not a sophist. I'm not a rhetorician. That's not what I'm here to do. Now we see that Paul has the ability to do that, because where was he before he got to Corinth? He was in Athens. And when he was in Athens, he did function as a philosopher. He gets to Mars Hill and he's quoting Greek poets, he's quoting Greek philosophers, and he actually is, like, speaking and preaching more like an order. He gets to Corinth, and he knows if he does that in Corinth, it's only going to fuel the celebrity culture issue that's already there. And so some people may think, well, Paul's switching topics. When he starts talking about wisdom, he is not switching topics. And here's how we know that he's not switching topics. Because when we get to chapter four, this is what Paul says. This then is how you ought to regard us. Who's the U.S. paul, Apollos, Peter and Timothy and Titus. This church in Corinth is familiar with all of these Christian leaders. This is how you should regard us. Not as celebrities, not as personalities, not as a brand. That's not how you should regard us. You shouldn't be debating about which speaker you like the most. Here's how you should regard us is what Paul says, as servants of Christ and those entrusted with the mysteries that God has revealed. So I don't have wisdom, but I do have mysteries from God. And so from 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 11, in which he says, my brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household, inform me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean by this is one of you says, I follow Paul, another I follow Apollos, another I follow Cephas, which is Peter. And so another I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? If you take 1 Corinthians 1:11, 13, and just then skip to 1 Corinthians 4, where it says, then this then is how you are to regard us as servants, you see a clear flow of thought, right? Paul starts a thought in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and then ends that thought in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Which means the stuff that we have in the middle about wisdom is actually about divisions. It's not a change in topic, but it's actually concerning the divisions. And the context you need in order to understand that is ancient rhetoric, ancient eloquence, Greek philosophy, that Paul is saying something about the wisdom of men versus the wisdom of God. And it has to do with the divisions that they're experiencing in the church. Let me give you my timeless truth, and then we are going to wrap today's episode. Here's my timeless truth. Celebrity culture is nothing new in church. This isn't a modern phenomenon. This is human nature. Public speaking, leadership and spiritual authority will always create an environment where it's easy and natural to idolize leadership. Paul responds in the way that secure and healthy leaders should always respond. He responds with confidence and authority. He says, hey, I'm actually the leader like you're going to follow what I'm saying. He doesn't have false humility, but he also then says, but you don't need to idolize me, and you don't need to idolize Heder, and you don't need to idolize Apollos. We actually all worship Jesus. We center around him, but we're going to avoid extremes. I'm going to have authority in this church because I am the leader in this church. However, you don't need to idolize me, and I'm never going to abuse that power. That is a tension that I think a lot of leaders fail to strike. We have a lot of leaders who don't have authority because they want essentially to turn the church into democracy. And then you have leaders who have. Have so much authority that it's become really toxic. And so Paul strikes a balance. Paul could have said, yeah, don't. Don't listen to Apollos. Don't listen to Peter. Only listen to me. But he doesn't do that. He says, actually, you should regard us all as servants. You should have the right perspective when it comes to us. He doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. He retains authority. He retains influence by checking them and, and getting them to focus on Jesus. All right, that is 1 Corinthians, chapter 1 through 4. Tomorrow we've got 1 Corinthians, chapter 5 through 7. And I'll see you right here as we dive into the content for tomorrow. Love you guys. Proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram @thebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses at thebibledepartment. Com. We'll see you back here tomorrow.