Bible In A Year: The Book of 1st Corinthians

Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

SPEAKER_00 0:00

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SPEAKER_03 0:27

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Alex Wolf. I'm here again with Dr. David Klingler, and in this series, we're going through the Bible in a year. Um, if you've been following along with us, you'll know we're in the New Testament. And so we uh last week finished up the book of Romans, kind of did an overview of the book of Romans. We we really hope that that was uh helpful to you in getting started and understanding and maybe undoing some of the things that we learned. We're gonna do a little bit of the same thing in First Corinthians uh today, but before we before we dive into the book of First Corinthians, we want to just take a little bit of time and just do a short overview of Paul's interaction with the Corinthians that spans both of his books, first, second Corinthians. And so uh that's gonna start our discussion today, and then we're gonna jump into First Corinthians and and see uh what Paul says

Why Corinthians Fits Today’s Church

SPEAKER_03 1:20

there.

Dr. David Klingler 1:20

So, Doc, if you want to so we'll jump in. So when we're when we're thinking about you know Paul's letters uh to in in the New Testament, I think that Ephesians is the place where we need to go to learn what is the church and and what's the church supposed to uh to be doing? What's it what does it look like? What is a uh you know, what's the ministry of the church? Um but I think that the a couple of the letters that are most relevant to the situation we find ourselves in in the church today are the first and second Corinthians. And the reason why I say that uh is because the Corinthian uh church, the the the the church at Corinth, they've got uh all kinds of problems. And their main problem is divisions. There are divisions among them. And so uh and so you know, just a brief uh uh history of uh of what happens. Uh we learn from the book of Acts that uh this is in chapter 18, uh that that uh you know Paul, this is after he leaves Athens uh and he goes to Corinth. Uh and this is where uh he says he found a certain Jew named Aquila uh and uh his wife Priscilla. So Aquila and Priscilla, and uh and and these are two characters that we're gonna see uh in the New Testament. Uh and um uh you know, Silas is there, Sylvanus and Timothy is there, and Paul is there. And in verse 24 of chapter 18, we're introduced to a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, uh, and he uh came to Ephesus. And so now Paul's in Ephesus, and he was mighty in the scriptures, and this man was being instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, and he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, uh, being acquainted uh only with the baptism of John. And so uh he began to speak boldly, uh boldly in the synagogue, and uh and Priscilla and Aquila heard him, and they took him aside and they explained uh to him the way of God more accurately, you know, that that Christ had come, and uh and so so this is uh this is uh Apollos, and and he uh ends up going to Corinth. Yeah and so he's going to become you know the the pastor of First Baptist Church at Corinth or whatever, right? He's gonna be the pastor. Whatever they named him. So Paul has gone through Corinth, he's planted the church there. Um uh and uh then uh Apollos is sent, and Paulos begins a gifted teacher, eloquent, you know, that eloquent word, it's uh he's a uh he he he can speak, right? He's a he's a gifted speaker. Paul apparently not so eloquent with the tongue. Um and you're gonna run into some of these things in in 1 Corinthians. And so what happens uh as so often happens in the church is you get factions. This person's following Paul, this person's following Apollos, right? Um, and uh and so it has produced uh divisions in the church. And not so foreign to us today, yeah, right, you know, that we we follow uh and and the other thing they're doing is because maybe because of Apollos, maybe because of uh of his eloquent uh talk, or maybe because uh probably more likely because of their being influenced by their culture, uh they valued Greek wisdom and you know, and and how to articulate things well and and how to reason and and all of this. That uh

Acts 18 Background And Apollos

Dr. David Klingler 4:50

that they are uh elevating um um you know uh argument, um, they're claiming to be wise, uh they're elevating the use of tongues, uh but the wisdom that they're elevating is the wisdom of the world, it's not the wisdom of God. Uh and so Paul writes this letter uh to them. Uh and uh and Paul's point in in all of his dealing with the Corinthians is for them to recognize that they are not of Paul or of Apollos or of Peter, but they're of Christ. They are in Christ. And so uh he he introduces the letter uh and he explains to him, I thank my God uh always concerning y'all for the grace of God which was given to y'all in Christ Jesus, that in everything y'all are enriched in him, in all speech and in all knowledge. They're going, oh yeah, look at us, you know. Now, the rest of the letter, he's going to explain how they are enriched in all speech and in all knowledge, and the speech and knowledge he's talking about comes from him, right? That's good. It doesn't come from that twist. Uh even as the testimony concerning Christ was conformed to you. So they're not you're not lacking any gift. There's, oh, look at us, we're not lacking any gift. He says, I'm I'm gonna explain why y'all aren't lacking any gift, because y'all are in the body of Christ, and and Christ has gifted the body with every everything so that you are adequate uh in uh in the body, uh as we eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the gifts uh to the body, uh the functioning in the body, so that the body's not lacking any gift is for the building up of the body until Christ returns. And so he's already introduced what he's going to say. Uh so this uh revelation of Jesus Christ who will confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom y'all were called into fellowship with his son. Y'all were called into fellowship with his son. In fact, uh if we go back up uh into to chapter one, verse uh two, he says, uh he writes, he says, you know, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, verse one, by the will of God. And so he's he's throwing that in there because he's gonna appeal to that later. Uh, and Sosthenes, our brother, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been set apart in Paul. No, that's not what he says. Uh, set apart in Apollos. No, it's not what he says. He says, set apart in Christ, in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, uh, with all who in every place call on the name of the Lord. Why does he include that? Because the the body of Christ, it's all who call on the name of the Lord. All aren't calling on the name of Paul, they're not calling on the name of Apollos, they're not calling on the they're all calling on the name of uh of Christ.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

Yeah, that's good. And it could be so easy if you're just reading this to gloss over that and just skip it. But it's so important to his argument because they they're claiming other people rather than Christ.

Dr. David Klingler 7:44

If you watch a movie, listen, uh yes, go back to your your favorite movie uh and watch it again. Uh make sure you get it at the very beginning of the movie and watch, listen to the first words or the first thing that appears on the screen. That sets the movie, right? Same thing with the letter, right? So so these letters, if you if you understand the first few sentences, no, yeah. He's gonna say, here's what I'm gonna talk about. Yeah, and he's gonna talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 8:14

Uh and so um he's introduced this, and uh, you know, and so they're they're they're you know, they're probably taking this all wrong. They're thinking, oh, look at it, he thinks that we're big shooters and you know, we have everything, we're not lacking any gift, and we have everything uh in all speech and knowledge. We're so smart. And he uh he says, I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, uh, that you all be of the same mind. Um now um you know he's going to explain to him, uh to the church uh that we have the mind of Christ. Yeah you don't. You need to listen to us so that y'all will have all wisdom and knowledge. You will uh, you know, so so everything that you're doing is dependent upon everything that that uh we are. So um as uh so um I exhort you that there that you agree there be no divisions among you that you may be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now, where are they supposed to get this same mind and same judgment? They're gonna get it from the apol from the apostle Paul, right? For I have been informed concerning y'all uh by Chloe's people that uh there are quarrels among you. I mean this. Some are saying, I'm of Paul, or I'm of Apollos, or I'm of Peter, or I'm of Christ. Was Christ divided? Has Christ been divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Uh were you baptized in the name of Paul? I I thank God I didn't baptize any of you so that none of you could say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize a few, but other than that, I don't know if I baptized any of you. Uh and in this verse, we need to just really pay attention to. For Christ did not send me to baptize. Think about that. Uh apparently Paul didn't read the Great Commission, right? He didn't send me to baptize, right? Uh, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech. That's what y'all value. Um, so that the cross should not be made void, empty, right? Um, based on human ability to speak eloquently, pretty uh the wisdom of men, none of that.

The Cross Versus Worldly Wisdom

Dr. David Klingler 10:30

For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing, foolishness. But to those of us who are uh being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever, all set aside. So where is the wise man? He's he's gonna go on to say, Hey, not many of y'all were wise, not many of y'all were you know big shooters, right? Uh and so when we track through uh this book, he says uh verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God the world uh through its wisdom did not come to know God, right? If if if the world's so wise, and if what you value is the wisdom of the world, and boy, here we're talking to the present church as well, who wants to be wise in the eyes of the world.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Wow.

Dr. David Klingler 11:14

If the world was so wise, why'd they crucify Christ? Um if the world was so wise, uh how come the world doesn't come to know God? How come the world just making a God in their own image and in their own likeness and then worshiping it? If they're so wise, they're not wise, they're morons, they're fools, right? Um God was well pleasing through the foolishness of the message preached to those who believe. For indeed, Jews ask for a sign and Greeks search for wisdom. Ain't nothing changed here. We're still valuing the same thing. We want to be wise in the eyes of the world, we want to be liked, right? Um we want to, you know, have that little click that says, you know, we like you, right? We want the world to like us. He says, but we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block for the Jews and to the Gentiles. It's moronic. It's foolish, right? It's where it's actually um it's it's where we get the word moron. Moron, yeah. Right? Uh and and and so uh and so I I like uh I like that word. Uh um, you know, oh he's a fool, right? Oh, you're he's just foolish. My son, he's just foolish, right? That doesn't quite have the punch. In English, it's that's my son's a moron, right? Your son's a moron. You say, well, your son's acting a little foolish. Well, that's not so offensive, right? If someone says, your son's a moron, gets their attention. You're going, whoa, hey, wait a second, you just offended me. You're dang right, right? Uh yeah, he he uh he says, Look, um we preach Christ crucified as stumbling block uh to the Jews, and it is moronic to the Gentiles, right? But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. So you're see seeking for wisdom in the wrong place. Yeah, you're circ seeking for wisdom in the world. But the uh the the foolishness, the moronicness, I don't know what you have to make up a word here, uh, of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now hold on to these things because uh the you know uh the uh the the the weak, uh the fools, uh the ones without honor, uh he's gonna return to this. Yeah uh and so for consider your calling, not many of y'all were wise according to the flesh, not many of y'all mighty, not many of y'all noble, but God has chosen the foolish to shame the wise.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Now not actually foolish, right?

Dr. David Klingler 13:43

Well, what the world claims to be foolish, yeah, God is using. Now, yeah, who are they gonna call a fool? Now let's let's let's look forward a little bit in this uh uh in this uh in this letter. Uh this is in uh chapter four, verse ten. Uh uh let's pick it up in verse nine. For I think God has exhibited us apostles, last of all, men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ. But y'all are wise in Christ. Uh we are weak, but y'all are strong. Y'all are distinguished with honor, but we are without honor. Yeah. See, see what he's doing. He's a sarcasm. Oh, he's he's just our ellips. Yeah, right. Um to this very yeah, to this very hour, we apostles were hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, roughly treated, we're homeless, we toil, working with our hands. When we're reviled, we bless. When we're persecuted, we endure. When we're slandered, we try to conciliate, reconcile. Uh, we have become the scum of the world, the dregs of all things until now. I don't write these things to shame you, but to admonish you. Now, that word admonish is we get it from the word mind. It's the I'm writing these things so that you'll have the same mind that we have, right? Which goes back to chapter one. Right? Uh, that uh that his desire for them is that they would uh there be no divisions in them, uh among them, they would be complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now the word they're judgment. Um they are judging um and they're judging all wrong. They're judging by worldly standards, not not judging by God's standards. Uh and so uh in chapter two, we're kind of putting this all together, right? So they show how he forms this um this letter. And so uh uh and and so they they are going to the they're they're judging Paul is what they're doing. Uh they're saying, you know, he he's not very he's not very impressive. Yeah, he he he's not very wise, he's not very strong, right? Not very honorable, right? And and since we value wisdom and strength and honor, you know, think of gladiator here, right? This is the culture, right? Uh we these are the things we well so so the church is valuing the things of the world and then evaluating the things in the church by the things of the world and saying, Well, Paul's not uh very strong, uh, he's not very wise, he he's not very honorable. And Paul says, Um, do you not realize that God has chosen the foolish to shame the wise? Now, what's Paul doing in this book? He's being regarded as the fool, and he's shaming those who view themselves as the wise. And so, so this so for consider your calling. Not many of y'all were wise according to the flesh. God has chosen the foolish, they put things in there, the foolish to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak. Who's the weak? We are weak. You know, uh us apostles, we are weak. We are fools for Christ. Uh the weak things to shame the things which are strong. Who claims to be strong? They do, right? Uh the base things and the despised things, God has chosen the things which are not to nullify the things which are, so that no man should boast before God. And that's what y'all are doing. Y'all are boasting. You become arrogant, right? And uh, and so they're becoming arrogant in their supposed wisdom and their supposed strength and their supposed honor. There's factions among them.

Who Gets To Judge An Apostle

Dr. David Klingler 17:20

I am of this one, uh, you're of that one. Uh, and so they think they're big shooters. And this is the church today, right? Uh, there is no uh so they need to be you have their feet knocked out from under them, right? And that's what he's doing. Yeah, right. Uh so Paul is disciplining them.

SPEAKER_03 17:38

That's good.

Dr. David Klingler 17:38

And so uh so that uh so that he's doing this uh so that no one would boast before God. For by uh but by his doing, y'all are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God. He ain't including the Corinthians here.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 17:55

God came, uh became the uh you know, Christ became the wisdom of God to us, apostles, and the righteousness and sanctification and redemption, just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. And when I came to y'all, uh I I didn't come to you with superiority of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God, for I determined to know nothing uh uh uh among you except Christ Jesus and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and I was with you in fear and in trembling. And my message and my priesting, they weren't based on persuasive words, uh uh, you know, on on some kind of uh rhetoric, some some you know dramatic argument. Uh uh my preaching was not uh uh uh was not of persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature. In other words, the mature believer recognize what Paul says is true and wise and strong and honorable. See a wisdom, however, that this age, um the this age didn't recognize, nor the rulers of this age didn't, and they're all passing away, right? And so you're on the wrong side of this equation. Yeah, you you've got all the wrong definitions. We speak God's wisdom in a mystery, a hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory, um, that none of the rulers of this age understood. If they understood it, they wouldn't have crucified the God of glory. Uh, and and so he's saying, you're aligning yourself with the world that crucified the Christ. They they claim to be wise, they claim to be strong, they claim to be with honor. You're claiming the same things, um, but they crucified Christ, so you're aligning with the ones who crucified Christ. He continues with this mystery, verse 10, chapter 2, verse 10. For God uh revealed to us through the Spirit. Uh He didn't reveal to y'all. You you're viewing me as a fool. He didn't reveal anything to you. Y'all are just a bunch of Gentiles who think you're smart, who think you're wise, who think you're honorable. But for God uh re uh to us revealed through the spirit. For the spirit searches all things, even definitely God, uh, even the depth of God. Uh for who among men knows the thoughts of a man except for the spirit that resides in him? In other words, he's making the point. No one knows the thoughts of a man at the spirit except for the spirit that's in the man. That's how it works with God. No one knows the thoughts of God except for the spirit of God. Uh so now we have received, not the spirit of the world, that's what y'all have, but the spirit which is from God, that we may know the things freely given to us by God, things which we also speak. That's what we're proclaiming. Not in words taught by human wisdom, that's what you value, but those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual with spiritual. But the natural man, that would be you, Corinthians, uh, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined, judged, right? Um, that uh uh that his desire for them is that they would have the same judgment that he has. But they're examining him, they're appraising him. Now, this hold on to this word appraise because it's gonna be the same word. Uh in chapter four, he's gonna say, uh, so therefore, let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ. It's a very small thing, verse three, chapter four, verse, for me to be examined by you. See, they're judging him. He's saying, You don't have the equipment to judge me. Uh God has you don't know anything. Y'all are fools. Yeah, you're weak, you're without honor. Sure, uh the world says that you are strong uh and wise and have honor, but in God's economy, y'all are morons. You don't know anything. And the only way you're gonna learn anything, the only way that you're going to come of the same mind and the same judgment is you're gonna have to listen to me. Because I'm an apostle, right? Uh and so um uh uh I, brethren, could not speak to y'all as spiritual men, but as mere men of flesh, bathes in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, you couldn't even digest that. You're still fleshly. Uh for there's jealousy and strife among you. Are you not fleshly? Are you not walking as mere men? When you say, I'm of Paul, or I'm of Apollos, are you not mere men? What is what is Apollos? And what is Paul? Are they not just servants through whom you believed? Uh I planted, Paul, Apollos watered, but God caused growth, so neither one who plants or the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. For we, Apollos, Paul, are God's fellow workers. Y'all are God's field, God's building, according to the grace which was given to me, because I am a member of the body as an apostle, Apollos as a teacher, and he's going to return to this in this the gifts of the spirit in chapter twelve. I planted Apollos water, right? According to the grace given to me as the wise master builder, I laid the foundation, another built upon it. I, Paul, laid the foundation, Apollos built upon it. Let each man be careful how he builds upon it. Uh for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Right? So I wouldn't lay my own foundation, it was Christ Jesus. Uh now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold and silver and precious stones, or each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it. Um the uh the the day uh will show it, and and we'll uh we'll we'll return back to that. That'll become uh important uh here in uh just a few minutes as we continue through first uh

God’s Temple And The Cost Of Division

Dr. David Klingler 23:41

um first uh first Corinthians. Um for it will be revealed with fire, for fire tests the quality of each man's work, right? Uh if each man, you know, if if his man works remains, he will receive reward. If it doesn't, it'll be burned up. Do y'all not know that y'all are the temple of God? Uh foundation, Christ, temple, y'all, I'm building the temple on the foundation, y'all are the temple. He's not saying you individually are the temple of God, right? Therefore go on a diet. Right. It's not what he's saying, has nothing to do with anything he's saying in this book. He's saying, Do y'all not know that y'all are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in y'all? It says the same thing in Ephesians. And if any man destroys the temple of God, if anyone tears down, causes divisions in the temple of God, God will destroy him. This is why some of you are sick and some of you sleep. Chapter 11.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

That's no joke.

Dr. David Klingler 24:35

For the temple of God is holy, and that's what y'all are. So let no one deceive himself in how he thinks. Uh if he thinks that he's wise in this age, uh let him become a fool. Let him become a moron so that he can become wise. Right. So, in other words, they're calling Paul a moron, they're calling the things of God moronic.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 24:52

Uh, the people who crucified Christ, they view themselves as wise. They they think the gospel is moronic. And so he says, if any man among if any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a moron so that he can become wise. In other words, you gotta align yourself with the moron side, which is the gospel, yeah, so that you become truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is moronic before God. We we don't get this right. This is stark, yeah. Right? Uh the world is a they're a bunch of morons. The way they think is moronic. Uh and and and they claim to be fools, uh, but their their thinking is inconsistent. It's illogical, it doesn't work. It's internally inconsistent. I I don't need the gospel to tell me that. I can just evaluate what they're saying. Uh so he continues, so let no one boast in men. Don't boast in Paul, don't boast in Apollos, don't boast in Peter, don't boast in I am a Calvinist, don't boast in I'm an Arminian, don't boast in I am a Baptist. Don't boast in don't boast in men. Divisions among you, right? Claiming to be wise. So let no one boast in men, for all things belong to you, whether it's Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death, things present, things to come, all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ. Christ belonged to God. So let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ, as uh as stewards of the mystery uh of uh of God, the mysteries of God. So it's required, it's more uh for in this case, it's required of stewards to be found trustworthy. So it's a very small thing for me to be appraised, examined by you. I don't even examine myself, right? You don't have the equipment to examine me. So uh therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time. They translate it before the time, it's actually before the

Motives Revealed On The Day

Dr. David Klingler 26:50

day, right? Um uh before but before the time, before the day. It's this day of Christ's return. Um uh until the uh the hidden things of the darkness is closed, the motives of men's hearts. Boy, and that's huge. What's your motive? Is your motive for building up the body of Christ? Or is your motive to tear down to proclaim the wisdom of Christ or proclaim your own wisdom? Right. Uh and so uh now these things I have spirit uh figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for y'all's sake, that in us y'all might learn to not exceed what is written. Who's writing it? Well, Paul is, the apostles are, uh, the prophets are, right? The the scriptures, in order that none of y'all might become arrogant on behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? Um who you know what makes you a big deal? Uh what do you have that you didn't receive? And this applies to us too. We have received nothing from the Lord except for the words of the apostles and prophets. What do you know about God that you haven't received? Proclaimed in by the inspired prophets of the Old Testament, Christ and his apostles in the new. You can't tell me anything about God, anything about anything about Christ apart from this book, right? And so what do you have that you didn't receive? And if you received it, why do you act like you didn't? Why do you boast as if you didn't? Um here's where he his sarcasm begins. You're already filled, you're already rich, y'all have already become kings without us. Um indeed, I wish that y'all uh would have become kings, that we might reign with y'all. For I think God has appointed us apostles, last of all, men condemned to death, a spectacle uh to both angels and to men. We are fools, uh, but y'all are wise uh in Christ. We are weak, but y'all are strong. Y'all are honorable, we're without honor. To this very hour, we're both hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless, and we toil working with our hands while reviled, we bless, persecute, we're slandered, we try to conciliate, we become the scum of the world, the the dregs of all things until now. I don't write these things to shame you, but to change your mind so that you would become of the mind of Christ. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, uh yet you don't have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I exhort you, therefore, be imitators of me. In what way? Be like Christ. Quit boasting, quit acting like you have the wisdom of the world. You don't know anything, but you you received it through the apostles and prophets. Listen to them, recognize you are in Christ, because some of you become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. Right? Now, you're gonna see this all the way through. Uh they are arrogant in verse 18, verse 19, uh, and you become arrogant, uh, verse uh verse five. And uh, and so let's just kind of walk through and kind of show it. So that kind of sets the template for where he's going

Marriage Singleness And Money Questions

Dr. David Klingler 30:00

in this book. He says, So here's what he does in chapter five. He says, Look, uh you're y'all are arrogant. You can't you think you're judging right. You can't judge anything. In fact, there's this guy in your midst who's immoral, uh, and and you can't judge him. Uh, and uh and so um you you don't have the equipment to judge anybody. Do y'all not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Um uh and so if you take uh a member of of the uh of Christ and attach it to a harlot, what are you doing? You see, you can't even equip yourself. You you can't even judge for yourselves. And and so I'm going to I'm gonna respond to the things that you've written. So apparently they have written to Paul and they're questioning him, they're judging him on certain things. Paul, uh, why why do you why aren't you married? Why don't you uh uh you know why don't you take a salary? Why do you eat and drink like you eat and drink? And he says, now concerning the things about which you wrote, um look, it's not for um I I'm I'm I'm remain single so that I can wholly devote myself to Christ. I'm just gonna summarize the chapter, right? Uh if you're married, you have a responsibility to your wife. If you're unmarried, you can wholly devote yourself to Christ. And remember, he's he's working off of uh uh everyone's uh is going to be evaluated uh by the motives of men's hearts on the day. So here's my motive build up the body of Christ, right? Um this is why I regard marriage uh the way that I regard uh marriage. Um this is why I uh uh eat or don't eat the way that I eat or don't eat. This is why uh I don't take a salary. Um he picks let's pick it up in verse nine. He says, Am I not free? He's been using that word all the way through uh through chapter seven and chapter eight. Y'all become arrogant, but uh am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in Christ? If others uh uh if to others I'm not apostle, at least I am to y'all, for y'all have the seal of my apostleship. My defense to those who examine me is this. Do we not have the right to eat or drink? Check covered that. Uh do we not have the right to take on a believing wife as the rest of the apostles and our brothers? Or do only Barnabas and I not have the right to refrain from working? See, he's he's addressing these things because they're examining him. And his defense is everything I do is for the building up of the body of Christ. Everything, right? Uh I would never cause a brother to stumble. I would uh I'm unmarried, but so that I can wholly devote myself to the Lord. Uh I don't take a salary so that I could offer the gospel to you free of charge, so you could never question my motives.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 32:48

Right. Uh and and so um so y'all need to start judging correctly. Because here's what happens if you don't judge correctly, right? Just like back in the day, just like uh uh y'all need to recognize y'all were baptized into Christ. And this is where he's heading in chapter 12. Uh in chapter 10, he says, uh our fathers were baptized into Moses. Uh you know, they were all delivered, they all came out of the Exodus, and they are all baptized through the water and through the sea, and uh, and they were all plugging along, going to the promised land. And uh but they forgot that what was feeding them, what what what what they were drinking from the rock, which was Christ. They were in Christ. Uh their provision was from Christ. There uh they weren't following Moses for the sake of following Moses, they were following Moses because Moses was leading to the land and and Christ was coming. And so uh and they rebelled against him. There were divisions among the people, and he killed them. God laid them low in the wilderness. Uh, and so do y'all not know that y'all are the temple of God? If anyone destroys the temple, God will destroy you? Hey, that isn't that's nothing new. That was happening back then, too, right? God was laying them low in the wilderness, and so here I hear you're you're taking the Lord's Supper and just doing whatever, uh and you're causing disunity in the body, and this is why some of you are sick and some of you sleep. Y'all need to recognize you are baptized into one body through one spirit, and the function of the body, this is now I'm into chapter

Baptized Into One Body For Unity

Dr. David Klingler 34:20

12, the function of the body, many members, one body, all working together for the building up of the body until Christ's return.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 34:28

Uh and so chapter uh chapter 13, uh he says, you know, he what in chapter 12 he says, so there's many functions of the body, uh, but uh God appointed uh see, you know, verse let's pick it up in verse 27. Now y'all are Christ's body and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, yeah, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then healings, then administration. Then and he goes down the list, he says, and the last things on the list are the things y'all value. The first thing on the list is apostleship, which you have devalued. Right. You view as no value, you uh you view as weak, as foolish, and without honor. Uh not all our apostles are they, not all our prophets are they, not all our teachers are they, not all our workers of miracles, are they? Of course the answer is no, no, no. All do not have the gifts of healing or speaking in tongues, not not all interpret, but earnestly desire the greater gifts. What's the greater gifts? In other words, value the greater gifts, the uh so that you can be of the same mind and of the same judgment, that and what would be the greatest? Well, the apostle, right? For if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but don't have love. If I have the gift of prophecy, or I know all mysteries or knowledge, or have all faith, and I don't have love, I'm nothing. Notice the first person here. If I give my possessions to the feed the poor, if I deliver my body to be burned, and don't have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient. Uh, by the way, this is what I've demonstrated to you, Corinthians, patient. Love is kind, that's that's what I've been showing you. Uh, it doesn't uh it's not jealous, it doesn't break, it's not arrogant, that's y'all. Y'all are arrogant. It doesn't act unbecomingly, it doesn't seek its own interest, but the interests of the brother. That's why I eat and drink the way I do. It's not provoked, it doesn't take into account of wrong suffered. Uh it doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness. That's what y'all are doing over there in chapter, chapter five and chapter six. But it rejoices in the truth, it bears all things, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It never fails. Uh so chapter 13 was not written, so we have to have something to read at a wedding. It fits into the

Gifts Ranked And Love As The Goal

Dr. David Klingler 36:50

book. Yeah, they become arrogant. And so when he says, be imitators of me, this is what he means.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Yeah, right?

Dr. David Klingler 36:57

He doesn't mean be imitators of me, become an apostle. His desire is that they would become of the same mind and of the same judgment, so that they would follow his example in building up the body of Christ in love. I'd say this to Timothy, the goal of our instruction uh is love. And so uh chapter 14, he deals with tongues specifically, and that the old issue of tongues is for the building up of the body. Right. If someone's gonna speak in a foreign language, there needs to be an interpreter there. Why? For the building up of the body. And uh uh he actually quotes uh the Old Testament here, it goes back to Isaiah 28 and Deuteronomy uh 28. Uh tongues were a judgment against Israel. Yes, uh, that Israel would reject the word of the Lord, and so the gospel, the good news of Christ would go out to the nations, and the Gentile the Gentiles would proclaim the gospel back to the Jews in a foreign tongue. It is not a coincidence that the Old Testament is written in the native tongue of Israel, the New Testament is written in a foreign tongue in Greek. Uh and so uh an interpreter then uh because it was for the edification of the body, for the building up of the of the body until Christ's return, and that's chapter 15, right? Uh uh Christ return, chapter 15, and so so Paul's letter, this letter to 1 Corinthians, and we've gone a little bit long here today, but a lot to cover in this one one book is that uh he's saying, Do y'all do y'all not know that you're in Christ? And clearly they don't. And we could say this today. Do y'all not know that you're in Christ? We go, yeah, we're in Christ, we're in Christ. You don't even know what that means. You are in Christ, you are members of the body of Christ, and the function of the individual member of the body is for the building up of the body in love until the head returns. If you're not doing that, you really don't understand what it means to be in Christ. Yeah. And so this is the reason why Paul is writing these this letter to the Corinthians. Uh, and next uh next time we'll uh we'll pick it up in 2 Corinthians, and they hadn't learned their lesson. They're still doing the same stuff, figure

Tongues For Edification Not Status

Dr. David Klingler 39:10

it out, they're still trying to figure, yeah, uh, to figure some things out. Yeah, and so at the end of 2 Corinthians, he's gonna warn them. Uh, you want to see strength? Don't make me, you know, don't make me come over there. Don't make me stop this car. That's what my mom used to say. Don't make me stop this car. Um that's good. Uh and uh that's when the judgment begins. And so good. So uh it is a great letter to read uh for the unity of the body of Christ. Uh and we desperately need that today.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

Well, I think one of the helpful things about how you've explained it is adding the tone to it. You know, I think for for years I would read this book. For whatever reason, this is one of the books that I feel like new Christians, you know, if you want to really study the Bible, you start reading Romans and 1 Corinthians, but you never understand. Right, right. But the moment that the moment that I allowed Paul to have a tone, you know, that where he's coming at him and and where I allowed in my mind Paul to use sarcasm, for whatever reason, I I couldn't I couldn't picture, you know, an apostle or a book of the Bible where that's the case. But the moment you see what he's saying and you add that tone and you see the sarcasm in his wordplay and all these things. Well, and it comes alive.

Dr. David Klingler 40:22

And he he he frames himself as their father in Christ. Yes. Uh and if you know anything about Paul, and if you know anything about the Old Testament, you know, take uh, you know, he whoever wrote Hebrews is a was a close confidant of Paul. He was in Paul's inner circle, or you know, this person was at Paul's inner circle, and and you're quoting the father disciplines those he loves. Uh and so speak the truth and love. We say, Well, Paul, speak the truth in love. Yeah, that's supposed to sound real nicey nice, all that stuff. No, you speak the truth because you love, yeah. Right? And so uh Paul's truth is direct, yeah, and he is disciplining them.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Paul's Paul's loving them and calling them morons.

Dr. David Klingler 41:00

Yeah, that's okay. Yeah, for their good. Yeah, for their good. And that word discipline, and when you track that back into the old testament, it was uh how did the Lord discipline Israel? Well, he killed them.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

Oh yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 41:10

Uh he he kicked them out of the land, he scattered them among the nations, he uh he killed them, right? Um so to get their attention. How was the father in the old testament to deal with the rebellious son? Well, talk to him nicely and calmly? Uh no, you don't

Reading Paul’s Tone As Discipline

Dr. David Klingler 41:30

allow them uh to have their own view. Wow, it wasn't freedom of speech, right? You you you exhorted them in the word, you taught them the word of the Lord, and if they wouldn't do it, you took them down to the elders, and if they still wouldn't listen in the old testament, you still they were stoned to death, right? Because you love them. Wow, because you're not gonna allow them to go down the wrong trail. So you're not trying to be their friend. We were talking about this before we started today. My job is not to be the friend of my kids, it's to be my the father that disciplines them, that looks out for the best of them, because you're further down the trail than they are, right? And Paul's saying, y'all are you're wrong, and you need to be disciplined, you need to be corrected.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

Yeah, and your being wrong is gonna lead you to pretty devastating.

Dr. David Klingler 42:14

Yeah, this is why some of you are sick and some of you are dead.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Yeah. So let me pull you out of there. Yeah. Whatever it takes.

Dr. David Klingler 42:20

Yeah. So yeah, and so so his tone, yeah. You know, we we you know, we we take this, you know, nicey nice, flowery flower tone, and uh that's not that's not the tone that he has for the Corinthians, and that's not the tone he has for the Galatians. He calls it, you know, you know, he does the same thing. So you fools, who who you morons, who's bewitching you? Here's the only thing I want to know from you, right? He so Paul's corrective tone is all the time. He's yeah, these are letters of discipline. Yes, absolutely. And we need to read them as such. Very good.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

Well, all right, that's about all we have time for today. I just want to remind you if uh this is your first time tuning in with us, first off, we hope that we hope that this has been helpful um and that this sparks

Free Resources And Closing Charge

SPEAKER_03 43:00

a desire in you to continue learning the Bible. Um, along those lines, we encourage you to hop over to teachmethebible.com. We have all kinds of other resources for you. We have more in-depth studies we're adding to the books that we have uh all the time. And so those are coming out. Um, there's blog posts and other other uh resources for you to continue to dive deep into learning the Bible. And so we hope that you'll uh go check all that out. It's absolutely free to you. Uh, it's our pleasure to do it. We, you know, our mission is to help the people of God understand the word of God. And so um, so that that's our goal, and we hope that you'll engage in that. So uh with that being said, we'll pick up next week in 2 Corinthians.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

See you then. For more resources, visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store. You can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the Word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.