The New Testament in 90 Days

Finally, Paul gets to another controversy that the Corinthians are involved in:  whether the dead are raised or not.  Apparently this is another disagreement that the Corinthians have, and Paul meets it head-on, and ends up with one of the most beautiful (and oft-quoted) chapters in the New Testament. It appears that the Corinthians do believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, because one of the arguments that Paul uses is that, if you aren't raised from the dead, that means that Jesus wasn't raised either.  He also appeals to the witnesses to the resurrection:  Cephas (Peter), the Twelve, 500 disciples, James, and then, finally, to Paul.  (Not that when he sees Jesus on the road to Damascus, it is more like a vision, but it is still proof to him that Jesus has been raised.) he's what I don't like about Paul:  he doesn't mention Mary Magdalene, or any of the other women.  Nothing.  Is it because women are considered to be unreliable witness...

If you want to know something about what the church as "the body of Christ" means, you want to read first Corinthians 12.  There Paul uses a metaphor for the body politic for the Christian community.  It was common to talk about the community, the city, the state as a "body", where there were many members, and where each member had a part.  So Paul wants the Corinthians to consider that they are united in one common purpose, even though they are diverse in gifts.  Paul, of course (as always) tweaks the metaphor so that the weaker members of the body have greater honor. And then he puts all of the talk about the body in the context of spiritual gifts, gifts given to the Corinthians, but for the common good.  that seems to be a growing edge (Or "weakness") for the Corinthians, who love spiritual gifts, the glitz and glamour of them, but don't seem to get the idea that the purpose of gifts is to share and to build up the body, rather than to divide and ...

Now Paul starts giving advice with regard to eating meat sacrificed to idols, one of the many controversies of the Corinthian church.  Again, there is a difference between theory and practice.  In theory, there are free to eat meat sacrificed to idols, because they realize that the idol is not real, and the meat is "just meat"; there is nothing especially holy or unholy about it. BUT, Paul writes, if there are people for whom eating meat causes them to doubt, who wonder if they are sinning when they eat it, or whose consciences are bothering them, then we should be willing to abstain so that we don't shake their faith.  Again, what is important is how our actions affect our neighbor. (I wonder what modern day dilemmas we could apply Paul's logic to:  what actions should we be careful about, for the sake of our neighbors?  It is worth thinking about.) Now Paul addresses the issue of compensation for apostles.  He seems to be arguing that he has a right...

Or at least, that's what it seems like, reading Paul's next three chapters.  They've been staying up late in Corinth, and engaging in some actions that some people won't do.  And even if they aren't all behaving immorally, they are not calling into account one of their own who is (ahem) sleeping with his father's wife, for example. The Corinthians brag that they are free -- they are free, right?  That means that they cane do whatever they want, right?  Paul is all for freedom, but thinks that the Corinthians might have misunderstood him.  He thinks that they have become arrogant; they have let some success in spiritual matters go to their heads, and it has affected their vision with regard to their behavior toward one another as well. (This reminds me a little of the arrogance of the Enron executives right before its fall.  They were so drunk with their financial success that they lost their moral compass.) The Corinthians are wayward not only in...

I like the first letter to the Corinthians.  I think one of the reasons that I like it is that it's very clear, in this letter, that Paul knows these people, that Paul knows this congregation, and that he is responding to very specific issues that have arisen in the community.  Even though it's helpful to read background notes about the people in Corinth, you can figure out some of what is going on without doing any background reading, because you can just tell from the kinds of things Paul is talking about.  It's like reading other's people's mail, something no one should do, but perhaps something we are tempted to do on occasion, just out of curiosity. So, what's going on in Corinth? People are fighting, for one thing.  People are playing favorites, jockeying for position saying "I'm a better Christian than you are because such-and-such baptized me."  There are factions based on leadership, and who is the best public speaker (possibly Apollos...