Beginning our journey through 1st Corinthians, we reflect on the Apostle Paul’s guidance to the Corinthian church on overcoming division and embracing unity. The episode invites you to explore Paul’s first-hand insights into dealing with societal influences and internal conflicts while emphasizing the transformative power of the cross. Join us as the guest reader, Dr. Michael Elliott, brings these scriptures to life, shedding light on how these teachings can be applied in our daily spiritual walk.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today we begin our journey through 1st and 2nd Corinthians. The Apostle Paul is the author of both books, writing 1st Corinthians from Ephesus in about 53 to 55 AD, and then writing 2nd Corinthians from Macedonia around 55 to 56 AD, a year or so after writing 1st Corinthians, and a year before he wrote Romans. Paul had established the church at Corinth in southern Greece, aided by two newfound friends from Rome, Priscilla and Aquila. Like Paul, Jews and tent makers. They spent 18 months in Corinth in the early 50s establishing the church. Paul moved on to Ephesus, where he wrote this letter back to the church at Corinth. Paul wanted the church at Corinth to work together to advance the gospel. What was preventing unity was arrogance and one-upmanship. They were divided about misunderstandings about social snobbery and sexual immorality, confused about marriage, divorce, participation in pagan religions, and order in their own worship services, and even the bodily resurrection of Christians. Spiritual arrogance often stems from a lack of understanding of the holiness of God and His requirement of such holiness from His people. The letter of 1 Corinthians is very relevant today. These same issues still plague our churches. The relationship between Christians and pagan culture, divisions within churches, church practices like the Lord’s Supper and use of spiritual gifts. The letter also deals with personal matters like sex, marriage, celibacy, and virtues like love. There are two firsts in 1 Corinthians. First first is the first announcement of our bodily resurrections. And we’ll find that in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 51 through 52. And the second first in 1 Corinthians is the first recording of the church celebrating the Lord’s Supper. And we’ll find that in chapter 11 verses 23 through 26. There are 16 chapters in 1 Corinthians, and I will save the introduction to 2 Corinthians until we finish the first book. Our guest reader for both 1 and 2 Corinthians is Dr. Michael Elliott, my pastor in Denver for over 15 years, and the first chairman of the board of the Ezra Project. He served as chairman of the board for 14 years. Dr. Elliott is pastor of Regency Christian Center in Parker, Colorado. He also started and leads Touching Africa Ministries, training pastors, planning churches, offering medical care and community development to one of the poorest nations on earth, Ethiopia. If God ever lays on your heart to go on a missions trip to Africa, I’ll tell you this is the guy to go with. Check out Touching Africa Ministries and Dr. Michael Elliott at Touching Africa Ministries on the World Wide Web. Let’s get started with 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And let’s listen in to Dr. Michael Elliott read the 31 verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
SPEAKER 02 :
1 Corinthians 1. Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you were not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. But is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say you were baptized in my name. I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers. Do not many of you who are wise, according to the world’s standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being may boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, let no one who boasts boast in the Lord.
SPEAKER 03 :
I have selected three of my personal Bible reading journals to help us through 1 and 2 Corinthians. The first journal will be 1994. Then we’ll look at one 10 years later in 2004. And then 11 years later in 2015. I try to select journals from various decades. So here we’ll have one from the 90s, the 00s, and the teens, 2000 teens. By selecting various journals, it also is different ages for me. 1994, 39 years old. 2004, 49 years old. And 2015, a whopping 60 years old. By selecting journals from various decades, it gives us perspective on how the Word of God maybe stays the same or maybe changes as we read Scripture throughout our lifetime. So I’ll begin with my journal back in 1994 on 1 Corinthians chapter 1. At that time, I kind of quoted some verses that meant something to me as I read this chapter. And I wrote, “…the testimony of Jesus Christ was confirmed in you.” That was verse 6. Help it be the case in me. Give me a renewed spirit of humility and integrity. Then I continued with verse 9. God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The next verse I referred to was verse 18. For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Next, I wrote about verse 22. I said, verse 22 is true today. People ask for signs and wisdom, and God gives both. But people do not want to give God the credit or the glory. Next, I quoted verse 25. The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And I finished off 1 Corinthians chapter 1 with verse 29. No man should boast before God. In my journals, I also tend to write some prayers. And after reading 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I wrote, Help me with humility. Cause me to be careful and not to be prideful, not to be boastful. In 2004, I was reading the Bible chronologically. To get through the whole Bible in one year, I had to read more than one chapter at a time. So in my first recording of 1 Corinthians, I read 1 Corinthians 1 through 4. But I did refer to a few verses in chapter 1. And in 2004, I wrote in my journal, Paul writes with such elegance. Then I quoted verse 25. The foolishness of God is wiser than men. Then I quoted verse 18. The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And in 2015, after reading 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I wrote, Called, like Paul, I sense God’s call on my life. Gideon’s and the Ezra Project. Then I wrote about verse 9, God is faithful. In verses 10 through 13, I wrote, no denominations. In verse 18, I wrote, the cross is folly to unbelievers, but power to us who believe. About verses 22 through 23, I wrote, rather than suggest wisdom, preach Christ crucified. And then I continued, God is wiser and stronger than men, referring to verse 25. And then lastly, verses 29 through 31, I wrote, we have nothing to boast about. Our life, our strength, wisdom, everything comes from him. And my note on prayer after reading 1 Corinthians 1 in 2015 was, The power of the cross in my life, also no boasting, and using the gifting you give me in the right way. Let’s look at a couple power verses in this chapter. Verse 7 draws my attention. You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” According to those verses, we lack no spiritual gift and God will sustain us to the end. He is faithful. That gives me hope. Does it give you hope? Then Paul kind of gets to the crux of the matter of why he’s writing this letter. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Remember in my introduction, that was the point of this letter, was to get the Corinthians to agree and move forward in spreading the gospel. And then that power verse, verse 18. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. What a contrast to those who don’t believe it’s foolishness, but to those of us who believe it is the power of God. And Paul goes on in verse 23 to remind us, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. So yes, then and now the cross divides people. To those of us who believe, it represents the power of Jesus Christ. But to the unbelieving world, it’s just foolishness. And what does Paul tell us to do? Preach Christ crucified. Paul closes out chapter 1 by reminding us, Brothers, not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were noble of birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not. to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus. That’s a good start to 1 Corinthians, isn’t it? Father, we ask like Paul that we would all agree that there would be no divisions among us, that the Christian church would be united in the same mind in you. We pray in thanks that the power of the word of the cross is power to us. And we pray that you would use us with that power to enlighten those who think it’s foolishness. These words remind me that it’s not Paul’s eloquence or my own eloquence that’s going to convince somebody. It’s preaching Christ crucified. Father, give me the strength. Give me the wisdom to point people to you. Change their foolishness into saving faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. To support AdBible, visit EzraProject.net, the donate button. For a one-time gift of $39 or more, we will send you a free copy of one of our day-by-day through the Bible books. And for a gift of $100 a month, we will send you the entire 11-volume series covering all 66 books of the Bible chapter by chapter. You will get a book a month for the first 11 months of your $100 a month contribution. So support the Ezra Project today by going online and hitting the donate button at ezraproject.net.
