1 Corinthians by Preben Vang

Author:Preben Vang [Vang, Preben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Books & Bibles, Bible Study & Reference, Bible Study, Commentaries, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, New Testament Study, 1 Corinthians, Epistle of Paul, First Corinthians, New Testament
ISBN: 9781441211583
Amazon: B00J34RWZU
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2014-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

Teaching the Text

1. Paul’s proverbial statement, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (10:12), comes as both warning and encouragement. Self-reliance in faith can visit Christians with Pharisaic force. Christians who consider themselves “strong,” acquainted with God’s Word and accustomed to life in Christ, face the constant temptation to forget the necessity of vigilant reliance upon God’s strength to remain faithful. The cocksureness of Paul’s own pre-Christian Pharisaic faith may well have informed this warning. Paul’s point is not to create fear that God’s grace will be less than sufficient; it is to encourage an unwavering awareness of the need to remain faithful.

2. We must not presume on God’s love. The issue in the Corinthian context was participation in public events that were significant both for the social structure of the city and for the personal prominence of the individual. Participation in the imperial cult was an important opportunity for social interaction and networking. It may have been seen as a civic duty by Corinthians eager to display their loyalty to Rome. The early apologist Tertullian (AD 160–220) admits to participation in the banquets for the emperor’s birthday out of civic duty but is quick to underscore how Christian participation should differ markedly from non-Christian participation.13 The parallel to our modern situation seems direct. Human desire for personal prominence and the excitement of hobnobbing in socially important circles presents a variety of temptations to downplay the importance of one’s relationship with God.

3. Paul’s unapologetic typological use of key Old Testament texts to explain God’s character more than hints that he did not perceive a disconnect between the precross and the postcross God. God’s character was not changed by Christ but revealed in Christ. There is no discrepancy between the God of the exodus and the God of the new covenant in Paul’s mind. The structure of Paul’s argument in these verses leaves the not-so-subtle impression that Old Testament Scriptures remain authoritative for New Testament followers. They are not only informative for religious understanding but instructive for Christian living. Paul’s vehement rejection of the saving quality of the Mosaic law does not equal a refutation of God’s character as revealed through his actions prior to the cross. New Testament Christians are not free to take a few grand ideas, like love, grace, forgiveness, and Spirit, and reinterpret these apart from the greater story of God.

4. Paul’s application of the word “baptism” to the crossing of the sea in the exodus account conjures up images of, and establishes typological parallels to, Christian baptism. Those crossing the sea were baptized into Moses. Because of this baptism they considered themselves partakers of God’s covenant with Moses. They were now participants in God’s purposes and recipients of God’s blessings. Put differently, their “salvation,” present and future, was secured through their baptism. Paul’s aim is to expose and reject such a reduction of relationship to ritual. He could not make the parallel to the Corinthians’ baptism any clearer. The “spiritual rock” the exodus generation drank from was Christ—yet their rebellion still caused their death.

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