Clifford H. Brown, Fullerton, California, 1964
Objective: To show how Paul’s teachings are meant for everywhere and for all time.
I. Introduction and Salutation (1 Corinthians 1:1-3)
Despite the disorder at Corinth, and the Apostle having many things to address the Corinthians about which were not pleasant, he opens the letter and tries to address them in the beginning by bringing to their remembrance all the positive things that he could. This is where we stand in the blessed thoughts of our Head in heaven. This is the way that He looks at us despite our failures. If we could keep this before us, it would be much easier for us to readjust in the things where we are wrong.
The universality of the epistle is set forth in the second verse: “…With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.”
“Sanctified in Christ Jesus” means that we are set apart; set apart in Christ Jesus.
“Called saints” – What is a saint? A separate one. A holy one. We are called into a most high and holy profession, to be a saint in a world like this.
“The grace of God” shows that all this was from above. It is what had come down and enveloped them. It is what they were in Christ, and not what they were in themselves.
II. His Coming, and the Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:7-9)
We have not been left here to undergo a vast world program to complete it so the Lord could come. Or think that we will reform the world. The Apostle left the saints in the expectancy of the any moment return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“The fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” is the most blessed and precious of all fellowships. We live in a day where we are solicited on every hand to join up, and become a member of all kinds of fellowships. Is there anything more blessed, more holy, or that will touch our hearts and lives like the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord? To this, we all have been called. We ought to be satisfied with the simplicity of it — not to add anything to it, or take anything away from it.
“The church of God, which is at Corinth” – We never find the mention of the churches (plural) of God at any city. You will find the churches of God of Galatia. There you have not a city, but a province. That is a matter of geography. When it is a question of unity concerning a particular locality, then it is always the church of God at that place. We ought to think on these terms of the church of God. It is all the same. There is only one church, one Holy Spirit, and one mind of Christ, wherever it is found on the face of the earth.
III. Paul’s Reputation, Pastoral Care, and Ways (1 Corinthians 4:10-20)
What treatment was Paul receiving? “Fools for Christ’s sake…working with our own hands…being defamed…made as the filth of the world…the offscouring!” Did the great Apostle Paul have any titles and honors at all? No! He got rid of them long ago. “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8). What a great servant and great gift to the church of God. But, what treatment did he receive?! Unfortunately, it was also from the very Corinthians to whom he was writing.
“Ye have ten thousand instructors…yet..not many fathers” – Paul was a true father to the saints. There was no seminary assembly line to push out instructors. But Paul was a true pastor to them. There is no substitute for maturity in the things of Christ. Beware of those that mature at least according to their own estimate. There is no substitute for maturity and experience in the things of God. Of course, the word of God is the last appeal. However, when it comes to leadership in the church, God in His wisdom has not put it into the hands of novices. “Yet have ye not many fathers.”
(Story about John L. Willis)
“Be ye followers of me” — Let us hold tightly to Paul’s ministry, and not let it slip. Paul wrote to Timothy and told him that all of Asia Minor had turned away from him. This also has happened at large in Christianity; turned away from Paul and his teaching.
“Timotheus…shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church” — In general terms, Paul’s doctrine and manner of life were in tune. “My ways which be in Christ.” This applies to everywhere in every church. And this again establishes the universality of Paul’s teaching.
Paul carried about with him the power of God, and whenever he spoke, those who heard him were conscious that the power of God was with him.
IV. The Lord’s Freeman (1 Corinthians 7:17-24)
There is no program for self-aggrandizement. “He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman; likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.” It is a very beloved thing to be set free! This world is in awful bondage. Satan is the god of this world, religiously. He is the prince of this world, politically. And the service and bondage of Satan is very hard and weary.
Every individual has a peculiar value and a special place in the church of God to fill — no dead timber! “Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God!” Sometimes we may have to “step down” so that we avoid dwelling with the world, or being in a position where we are not allowed to abide with God!
“May we value the word of God! May it have its proper authority over our souls to guide us through this scene!”
V. God’s Order (1 Corinthians 11:1-16)
“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (vs. 3). This verse shows that God has an order that even nature itself teaches. God is a God of order. In Christianity, then, you find proper headship.
The first 16 verses of 1 Corinthians 11 are not connected primarily with the meetings of the church (or assembly). Verse 17 onward is a section more directed to the meeting of the church, as we read, “when ye come together in the church…” (vs. 17-18). Note, then, that the first 16 verses appeal to individual responsibility before God.
If we had gone to a Jewish synagogue, where Christianity is not known nor owned, the men would wear a covering on their heads. Christ is rejected there; however, in Christianity, the man uncovers his head when praying or prophesying because he recognizes God’s divine order and the headship of Christ. The woman, then, is instructed to pray or prophesy with her head covered.
“For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head, because of the angels” (vs. 10). Power means that it is a covering in sign that she is under the power and headship of her husband, based on the preceding vss. 8-9. “For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man; neither was the man created for the woman; but woman for the man.” And she has this on her head because of the angels!
“Neither the churches of God” — This again sets forth the universality of the teachings of Paul to all the church of God in every place. In the world, we see such a climax of rebellion against authority, and ultimately against the God in heaven. This truth is not trivial. “If any men seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither in the churches of God.” These things are important. Instead, we find indifference to the plain simple word of God. Many feel that this is Paul’s prejudice or a cultural practice prescribed by Paul for that time. God looks down, and the angels look down, and they expect divine order in the church of God.
VI. Sisters, and Prophesying in the Church (1 Corinthians 14:29-40)
The fact that this section is here can only be due to God’s wisdom. God has seen fit in His own wisdom to place the woman in a place of submission and a place of silence during the meeting of the church. Chapter 11 taught us about women praying and prophesying. That means that there is a place for a woman to pray or prophesy. Philip, the evangelist, had four daughters who all prophesied. But they did not do it during the meeting of the church. There was a time and a place for it, and the word of God will show us the path clearly if we are dependent on it. However, we dare not trample on any section of the word of God and expect to have God’s approval. “If any man think himself to be … spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (vs. 37).
“The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (vs. 32) — there is no energy or power that overcomes the believer that compels him to have to speak in the meeting of the church. There is order and control, and such will be the leading of the Holy Spirit. “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (vs. 33).
“In all churches of the saints” – Yet another evidence of the universality of the teaching that Paul outlines in 1 Corinthians. We will not gain anything by short-changing or trying to circumvent these teachings. May we value the word of God! May it have its proper authority over our souls to guide us through this scene!