The Immorality and The Idolatry

Through the redemption in Christ, the salvation was given not only to the Jews but also the gentiles. But because of that, there were some problems related to Mosaic Laws among the Jews and the Gentiles. Some Jews taught the Gentiles to keep the Mosaic Laws as they used to do in the Old Testament. So as the story written in Acts 15, some Jews forced the Gentiles to get circumcised in ordered to be saved. So in Acts 15, Paul taught the Gentiles that the least things they have to be aware of are “the things polluted by idols, sexual immorality, and the things that has been strangled”. He also talked about the things that are related to idols in 1 Corinthians. Especially in 1 Corinthians 7-8, Paul talked about the sexual immorality and the idolatry. So what kind of problems did these things brought into the Corinthian Church?

“Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
- 1 Corinthians 7:1

The Immorality and the Corinthian Church

Paul repeatedly commanded the church to keep themselves away from the sexual immorality. So in order to teach them “what’s right”, Paul taught them about marriage and the right relationships between Christian men and women. Because as Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5, the Corinthian Church had a big problem among them about sexual immorality. Even though the apostles taught the chosen Gentiles to be aware of these sinful desires of the body, the Jews had this bad behavior among them. So Paul dealt with this problem by teaching about the right marriage and also by giving them the advice of not to get married in the circumstance that they were in.

To Stay Away from Immorality

What Paul said to man in 1 Corinthians 7:1 is to not to touch woman to keep themselves away from the immorality. He also said that man should have his own wife and woman should have her own husband to be away from these things. But when Paul wrote this letter, the persecution by the opponents of Christians aggravated so by giving himself as an example, Paul adviced them not to get married if possible. But at the same the, he said that not everyone has a gift to stay single, so those who wants to get married are allowed to get married. So by these things in mind, Paul taught the Corinthian church in chapter 7 that the marriage is not sin, but staying unmarried is recommended to keep themselves safe from the troubles in their lives.

“To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband…”
- 1 Corinthians 7:8-10

The Food Sacrifice to Idols

Paul made clear the problem that he will talk about in the very beginning of chapter 8. He talked about the food sacrificed to Idols to protect the weak brothers from stumbling. So he first clearly stated that there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ. And that there is no other gods exists in this world. This is very obvious truth among the Christians. But as Paul said, there were Christians that were not very familiar with this fact. So Paul had to teach them specifically about the food sacrificed to Idols, so that the weak brothers will not be destroyed. Because having a knowledge about the true God sometimes may lead the weak brothers to stumble. And it should not happen. For Christ died for the weak brothers as well as those who have knowledge. Paul made clear that destroying the weak brothers is a sin.

“Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth–as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”– 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:4-6

The Solution

So Paul taught the church about the immorality and the idols in order to deal with the problems in the church. So that they will bond and unite in Christ instead of having a confliction among the Christian brothers.

“Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:12-13

Those Who Will Not Inherit the Kingdom

Unlike some of the other Pauline Letters like the Epistle to the Philippians, which Paul encouraged the church that were fighting against the persecution from opponents. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church about the problem that was happening in betweent the saints. Even though they were believers, they had factions among them. So they had lawsuits with one another for wrong reasons and they also had problem of not judging the unrighteousness. So how did Paul deal with these problem in this letter especially in chapter 5 to 6?

“But you yourselves wrong and defraud–even your own brothers!”
- 1 Corinthians 6:8

The Sexual Immorality

In the beginning of chapter 5, Paul said “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans…”. This is what Paul wrote briefly about the sins of the Corinthian church. As you can tell from this verse, Paul talked especially about the sins of sexual immorality. He said that there was man in the church who had his father’s wife as his wife. Paul described this sins as the sexual immorality that can not be found even among the pagans. By this description, it is very clear how deadly this sin was. But this was not the only problem in the church, but they made the problems even worse by not dealing faithfully with these sins.

Do Not Associate with Immoral People

So Paul commanded them strictly not to associate with sexually immoral people. What he meant by writing this was not to associate with the sexually immoral people in the church, but he did not mean that Christians should never associate with all the people like this in the world but he meant the people in the church particular. So if the person that declares himself as christian and still do sexual immoral things or be greedy like idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler, we should not associate with him or eat with such person. Because even if we judge outsiders, if we don’t judge people among us we will be hypocrites. So we have to leave outsiders in the hands of God and focus on judging the people among us.

The Saints Will Judge the World

As it was mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:2, the saints will judge the world in the future. Which means that we were promised to sit on the seat of judgment with Christ when the promise is fulfilled. Even though this promise was given to all belivers, Corinthians pulled themselves away from the promise by having lawsuits with each other and asking the non-christians to judge them. Paul called this “unrighteous” and taught the church to get rid of it from the church by doing right punishment.

“Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?”
- 1 Corinthians 6:2

The Kings of the Kingdom of God

The saints judging the world means that they will become the kings of the Kingdom of God. But Paul said that the people like the saints in Corinthian church will not inherit the Kingdom of God. He gave out the detailed list of people who will not inherit the Kingdom. This is a very antithetical people compared to what Jesus listed up as “the blessed” in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”
- Matthew 5:3-11

The Cleansing by the Holy Spirit

As Paul wrote in chapter 6, both he and the Corinthian church were once unrighteous idolaters and adulterers, but by the cleansing by the Holy Spirit, they were sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus Christ. So Paul wrote to the church to turn back from the sinful living and to live like the people who were sanctified.

“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread…”
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

The Analogy of the Building

The are many metaphors that represents the Church in the Bible. In this letter to the Corinthian Church, Paul used several metaphors as well. Especially the analogy of “building” is mentioned in relatively long section of 1 Corinthians 3-4. The analogy explains that we the Christians who believes in Christ are the Temple of God. Than how did Paul explained about this symbolism in this letter? Why did Paul used the analogy of the building to explain the Christians?

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
- 1 Corinthians 3:16

The Masterbuilder of the Temple of God

There are several other passages in the Bible that the analogy of the building or something similar is used for the Christians. But one thing that is different from other passages is that there is a mention about the “masterbuilder”. Not only that Paul explained the believers as the temple of God but he also talked about the people who builds it.

“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:10

Jesus Christ the Foundation

This masterbuilder built the Church, the building of God according to the grace of God on the foundation. And Paul was one of the masterbuilders and Jesus Christ, God himself is the foundation that he built the Church on. As Paul mentioned, Paul and other disciples were not the only one who did the building but the works of each churches built these churches as well. So Paul exhorted the Church to be aware of how they build the buildings. Because they may defile the temple of God by building something else on the foundation.

“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw– each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:11-13

The Godly Life of Christians

So and so, the temple of God is us, the Christians. So as Paul said, to build the good building on the Foundation is to live a righteous life as Christians, and to do good. But on the other hand, if we live ungoldy life, that defiles the temple of God.

The Collapse of the Temple of God

The Corinthian churches had some issues among them. The issues that can be considered as “the collapse of the temple of God”. And it seems that their problems about immorality and hatred among the brothers were causing big issues especially. Mainly because the church did not deal with these issues or judge them even if they knew about what is happening in the church. So the brothers accused each other and had conflict between them.

Instead of building the temple of God, the Corinthian Church led the people to defile and collapse it from inside. So Paul warned them by harsh words. So that they will build themself firmly on the foundation of Jesus Christ. By doing these Paul called himself and other disciple “the fellow workers”. To emphasize the fact the they are not the ones who builds the Church but God is the one who builds them.

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.”
- 1 Corinthians 5:1

God Who Increases Us

Paul used the analogy of the building to explain these things. In addition to that, Paul also used the analogy of the plant. That he planted the plants, Apollos watered them and God gave the increase. So the most important thing in this process is God who increases the plants. Whether we will be likened as the building or the plants. What we have to lay our eyes on is the God that grows us and Jesus Christ our foundation. So by living godly lives as Christians, we have to build ourselves firmly on the foundation.

“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
- 1 Corinthians 3:7

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
- 1 Corinthians 3:16

The Word “Glory” in 1 Corinthians

The word “glory (pride)” was used 4 times in 1 Corinthians, and the word “proud” was used 6 times. By reading the passages that these words were mentioned, we can tell that Corinthian church had some issues related to pride in Paul’s days. So by sending this letter, Paul taught them not to be proud and warned them about the problems that they had in the church. So what exactly was these problems? And what was the solution that Paul gave them?

“And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.”
- 1 Corinthians 5:2

The Salvation and Election

In chapter 1, the word “glory (pride)” was used in the context about the salvation and election. One of the reasons that God chose the foolish and not the wise was for us that we will not be proud of ourselves about being saved and elected. We were saved by His grace and by the will of God and not for our own wisdom. Paul referred himself as the apostle of Christ Jesus that was called by the will of God. And we were saved by His grace alone as well. So there is no way that we can be proud of our salvation.

People Who Gloried Themselves

People of Corinthian church were also elected only by the will of God and received the salvation, but they had pride issues among them. Because as Paul mentioned in the letter, there were some people who differed themselves from other people and claimed self as the wise. And not only that they gloried themselves but they did not deal with this issue in the church. So Paul had to send them this letter to deal with the problem of pride.

“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”
- 1 Corinthians 5:6

To Serve Faithfully as the Servants

Paul taught them not to consider themselves wiser than others, but to become wise in Christ. Because this feeling can lead them into wrong glory and pride. But instead, they were taught to serve God faithfully as His servants. To be faithful is the complete opposite of being proud of themselves. So Paul taught them how to live faithfully and humbly as the servants of Christ by giving an example of himself.

The Proud People in the Corinthian Church

Paul wished that he could visit Corinthian church to meet his brothers face to face and to encourage them. But some people in the church were puffed up that they thought that he will not come. Even though they knew that their church has a terrible sin of the flesh among them, they gloried and did not deal with this sins. So Paul warned and admonished them with harsh words to deal with their sins with justice and to keep their church holy and faithful (5:8).

“Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
- 1 Corinthians 5:8

Love and Pride

Many things are written about love in chapter 13, and by reading it, the point that love and pride are complete opposite things becomes clear. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 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.”. Paul taught the church to have true love among them instead of pride and to do everything with love. This is how Christians should live and not with pride like Corinthian church did. There is no worth of doing good if we do it for our glory and our pride.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;”
- 1 Corinthians 13:4

To Pursue Love

So Paul taught and encourage them to pursue love. To pursue love means to build the church by their faithful work. Whether they prophesize or speak in tongue, Paul taught them to do them for love of God and to build the church. This is the brotherly love of Christians and it’s the contrary of pride and glory.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
- 1 Corinthians 13:13

There are many resemblance between the Epistle to the Romans and the Sermon on the Mount. Because they are both written about how to apply the old covenant and the law in our days. Jesus said to the people in His sermon that He did not come to this world to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them. In Paul’s days the salvation for gentiles brought in some problems between them and the Jews about keeping the law. So both Jesus and Paul had to teach them the right way of applying the law in the New Testament.

The Fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets

“… which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures…” (Romans 1:2)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)

Lust – Adultery

“Sins of lust” (Romans 1:26-27, 6:12)
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Matthew 5:27-32)

The Capital Crime

“Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32)
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

Unrighteous Men – Blessed Men

“They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:29-32)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the meek… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… the merciful… the pure in heart, … he peacemakers… those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake… when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” (Matthew 5:3-11)

Leading Others to Sins

Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:32)
Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)

Judging Others – Forgiving Others

“O man, every one of you who judges… you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself…” (Romans 2:1-6)
“… and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”(Matthew 6:12)
“Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

The True Jews and the True Good Works

“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” (Romans 2:28-29)
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven…” (Matthew 6:1-18)

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery

Jews taught others not to commit adultery even though they were not keeping this commandment themselves. (Romans 2:22)
Jesus’ teaching on the law “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Matthew 5:27-32)

The Persecution for Righteousness’ Sake

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance…” (Romans 5:3-5)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the meek… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… the merciful… the pure in heart, … he peacemakers… those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake… when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” (Matthew 5:3-11)
e things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

The Law and the Prophets

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it– (Romans 3:21)
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)

Rejoice in the Lord Always

“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and were joice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2)
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:12)

“Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness…” (Romans 6:13)
“If your right eye… if your right handcauses you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30)