Episode Synopsis:

I’m very excited to kick off season three of the Blessed Hope Podcast because we are taking up one of the most interesting and challenging letters in all the New Testament–Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  This is a letter which is practical in the best sense of the term and we will spend a great deal of time going through it in some detail.

One of the first things we will notice in Paul’s First Corinthian letter is that he is not writing a systematic treatise (as he does in Romans and Ephesians).  Instead, Paul is responding to a number of important matters which have come to his attention that were troubling the Corinthian church.  

But Paul is in Ephesus when he gets this information and cannot get to Corinth (some 425 miles away) any time soon.  So Paul must address these issues by letter.  We know Paul wrote at least three letters to the Corinthians (we are in possession of two of them – 1st and 2nd Corinthians) and we’ll tackle them consecutively in our usual verse by verse manner.

There are an number of controversies in 1 Corinthians with which we’ve all wrestled, and which are addressed by Paul.

• Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world.”  What does this mean, and why is it that so many Christians in Corinth remain “of the world, but not in the world?”  Paul tackles this question.
• What about the gifts of the Spirit?
• Maybe you or someone you know finds speaking in tongues to be the high point of the Christian life.  Perhaps you think it tied to the apostolic age and something not to be practiced today–what does Paul say about speaking in tongues and how it is to be practiced?
• What went on in a worship service in the apostolic church?  Paul gives us our only description of such worship in 1 Corinthians 11-14. 
• What are we to do with those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but who then do things which are utterly at odds with their profession of faith?  What is church discipline and why do Reformed churches practice it?
• Why does Paul spend so much time and energy in his discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?  What does he say about the resurrection of our bodies and how we will dwelling in God’s presence for all eternity?

And this is just scratching the surface.  So, there will be much more to come as we work our way through Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

For show notes and other recommended materials located at the Riddleblog as mentioned during the Blessed Hope Podcast, click here: https://www.kimriddlebarger.com/