Overview of 1 Corinthians (2)

[瑤翰 김요한]

Overview of 1 Corinthians (2)

Now let's get to the main point.

Chapter 1, verses 1-9 are greetings, and verse 10 begins with the main text of 1 Corinthians.

The church is the invisible church of God, but because it is a church where people gather, various problems arise.

The fact that divisions occur among the visible workers in the invisible church of God, that is, the fact that God is invisible and people are making a fuss, is one of the greatest absurdities of the church.

At least three people passed through the church of Corinth: Paul, Apollos, and Cephas (Peter) (verse 12).

You can see that three pastors changed in a short period of time.

As a result, a fandom for the Lord's workers rather than God arose, and divisions occurred.

Even now, among the problems faced by many churches, there are many churches that are in trouble for this same reason.

In this way, it can be seen that most of the problems in the church are caused by human emotions.

So, the commonly talked about success factor of ministry is ministry with good human relationships, which is administrative ministry.

Then, there is ministry with spiritual authority because human relationships are distant but only speak the word of God.

This refers to leadership with strong spiritual charisma.

When a young believer first joins the church, it is mostly through personal relationships.

Then, as your faith develops, you must become connected to the Word.

If this is not done, we often see various problems occurring after a person’s feelings change.

Therefore, the church should not acknowledge a person who does not love the word of God.

In the church, people go out in search of the Word, and what they meet there is the fellowship in Christ, which is the true fellowship of saints.

Apostle Paul strongly urges the church in Corinth to leave human relationships.

He demands that they become one in the Word.

Becoming one in Christ is the very value of the church’s existence.

Without this, the church will be criticized by people.

It can be said that the Korean church has bigger problems within the church because of sticky human relationships rather than faith that seeks earthly blessings.

There are many churches that are entangled with regionalism, school ties, denominations, and classmates.

This can be seen as a type of church that appears in the last days like Babylon.

In addition, there are denominations that do not tolerate even an inch of those who do not follow their doctrines.

There is no love or affection.

In fact, there are churches that do not even greet each other.

However, brothers who have become branches of the same vine in the Word communicate with each other in the Word regardless of the fence of the visible church.

That is the true church.

And the church must be natural in the truth while being cool and strict.

In it, we must become eternal brothers and comrades.

Even though people change and life passes away, God's word remains unchanged and alive.

Just as we have become eternal beings through the Word of God, the church must be filled with the Word of God.

Without this, everything would be like morning fog. In the end, the church will be scattered amidst strife and conflict.

We must not only pursue the negative problems of 1 Corinthians, but also find the essential solution.

That is, the Word of God.

We must not try to solve the problem, but eliminate it. If the power of the Word of God is greater than the problem in reality, the problem will disappear.

For example, when something bigger breaks out in domestic news, the smaller ones are buried.

A few days ago, a politician was attacked by a terrorist, and we see that the smaller incidents are buried.

Therefore, we must not find the problem, argue, and fight, but bury it with the Word of God.

This is the solution of the Apostle Paul.

So Christ's solution is the best solution.

The key verses of chapter 1 of the classics are verses 18 and 24. The message of the cross is the power of God, and it says, “Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God.”

The reason why Christ is the best is because everything is resolved in Christ.

First, death is resolved.

However, with the contents of the gospel such as Jesus only, the blood of Jesus, and the cross, the belonging from Adam to Christ has not been determined, so many people are still slaves to death and are dying of weakness and disease.

The pocket that death carries is Hades, and in Hades there is no victory, so there is no praise or thanksgiving.

All negative human behaviors appear in Hades.

If only the issue of death is resolved for humans, everything else is trivial.

This is because if you gain life in Christ, peace and joy follow.

Christ also resolves family issues.

If you possess the glorious value of Christ, health, economy, and miscellaneous incidents will all pass without a hitch with gratitude.

Christ’s indwelling work is a vacuum cleaner that solves problems.

The problem is problematic because neither the individual nor the church has Christ in them.

This is because Christ is the Power and Sense of God working within us.

The apostle Paul's criticism of the church in Corinth is that they have many words, but they are full of words that do not have Christ in them. This is the core problem of the church.

Jesus also said to the Jews, "Your lips honor me, but your hearts are far from me" (Matthew 15:8). God is not in them, and Christ is not in them.

This is the image of the church in Laodicea, the church of the last days, and the image of the modern church.

Therefore, 2 Corinthians 13:5 is the concluding word to the church in Corinth.

He asks the church in Corinth, "Do you really have faith that Christ is in you?"

He is asking whether they cannot solve their problems even though Christ is in them.

Even in the church of this age, Paul advises us to always test our faith and make sure of it, saying, “Do you not know yourselves that Christ is in you?”

Otherwise, he says, you are reprobates.

This is a scary words.

This is also the reason why I strongly tell people that if they die now, they will go to the lake of fire.

If Christ is in you, there is life, but if you do not believe in the death and resurrection of Christ and follow him through baptism, but you yet look at the cross in that place or wait for Jesus to come again, and you are under death, the wrath of God remains on you (John 3:36).

So some faiths have a lively, cheerful, and refreshing appearance because they think of the spirit with the Holy Spirit of life in Christ, but some faiths always have a sad face.

The pastor seems to be doing a losing business, and the church members always have a sad face that is losing money.

If you tell such people to live a life of faith positively and actively with passion, it is like pushing a car with a dead engine, so will that work?

Therefore, in order to properly preach the gospel, you must understand the message of the cross and experience the fact that 'I died with Christ on the cross, and Christ lives and works in me', and you must preach with conviction that the message of the cross is the power of God for us who are saved (1 Corinthians 1:18).

It is not the cross, but the message of the cross.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION

To God be the glory.