An Overview of 1 Corinthians
by David Gooding
The biblical authors used the literary conventions of their day to convey their message. These included structures and patterns less obvious to us in our modern age. David Gooding brought his expertise in ancient literature to the biblical text, and these study notes represent his thinking about the structure, patterns and thought-flow of 1 Corinthians.
When speaking to groups of Bible students, he often said, ‘When it comes to Bible study, there is structure, pattern and thought-flow, and the greatest of these is thought-flow. Here are the thoughts of God expressed. Our job is to follow the thought-flow’. He taught that the most important thing to grasp in biblical interpretation is the way the author develops his message, and that discerning structure and patterns within the text should always be directed towards that end.
David Gooding developed these study notes over many years and distributed them at public and private talks. The study notes are not meant to be the last word on the book, and may not cover it entirely. The Myrtlefield Trust offers them to Bible students, preachers and teachers in order to stimulate further thinking about the book, so that its message may be better understood.
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Study Notes
Major Sections in 1 Corinthians
Man in Relation to God (1 Cor 1–4)
Danger: Man's confidence in man rather than in God.
Answer: The cross: Christ crucified; the wisdom and power of God.
God is faithful (1 Cor 1:9).
Man in Relation to his Body and to Marriage (1 Cor 5–7)
Danger: Desecration of the Holy Spirit's temple.
Answer: Passover and unleavened bread; Christ sacrificed; bought with a price, not your own.
Man in Relation to God (1 Cor 8–10)
Danger: Idolatrous disloyalty to God.
Answer: The table of the Lord; God's jealousy.
God is faithful (1 Cor 10:1).
Man in Relation to Christ (1 Cor 11)
Danger: Disloyalty to headship and lordship of Christ.
Answer: A new regime.
Man in Relation to the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12–14)
Danger: Infringement of love.
Answer: A new entity.
Man in Relation to Christ, the Second Man: Man's True Evolution (1 Cor 15)
Danger: Denial of the resurrection of the body.
Answer: Back to the gospel.
1 Corinthians 12
Three Major Considerations
The mark of the Spirit of God is that he always testifies that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor 12:1–3).
The diversity of spiritual gifts is an expression of the diversity of persons within the unity of the Godhead (1 Cor 12:4–11).
Spiritual gifts and their exercise are functions of the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12–31).
The Body of Christ is a Unity (1 Cor 12:12–13)
How then do we get into it?
- By being baptised in one Spirit.
- By being made to drink of one Spirit.
- For 'baptism in the Spirit' (see Acts 1:5).
- When we are baptised in the Spirit, we are placed in the Holy Spirit.
- When we drink of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit enters us.
- Both baptism and drinking are necessary for the formation of the Body.
The Body of Christ is a Plurality (1 Cor 12:14–31)
There is, and must be, a plurality and diversity of gifts
If all the members (all the gifts) were the same, it would not be a body (1 Cor 12:14, 17).
You don't have to have a specially important gift in order to qualify for entrance into the Body. It is the other way round. God first puts us in the Body, and the place he sets us in determines our gift (1 Cor 12:15–18).
Every member has the same objective and possibility: to please God (1 Cor 12:18).
Every member, strong or weak, is necessary, if the Body is to be complete (1 Cor 12:21–22).
All the members should have the same care for one another (1 Cor 12:23–26).
But while all gifts are necessary, not all are the same; and some are greater than others (1 Cor 12:27–31).
1 Corinthians 13:1–14:6
Love—The Only Worthy and Acceptable Motive for Seeking and Exercising Gifts
- The futility of gifts without love (1 Cor 13:1–3).
- Love's qualities (1 Cor 13:4–7).
- The limitations of present gifts compared with the coming perfection:
- in amount (1 Cor 13:8–10).
- in mode (1 Cor 13:11).
- in medium (1 Cor 13:12).
- The abiding things (1 Cor 13:13).
- Our resultant duty (1 Cor 14:1–6).
1 Corinthians 14
Regulations for the Exercise of Speaking Gifts in the Meetings of the Church
- The only acceptable and permissible objective: the edification of the church (1 Cor 14:1–6).
- For that objective to be attained:
- The message must be delivered in a well-ordered recognisable language (1 Cor 14:7–9).
- The language must be one that is known by the hearers (1 Cor 14:10–13).
- Anyone who prays audibly in the church must use a language understood by the listeners, otherwise they are not edified (1 Cor 14:14–19).
- The Holy Spirit requires us to use our intellects to understand the proper purpose of tongues and prophecy (1 Cor 14:20–25).
- Practical rules for the use of tongues and prophecy and for the conduct of men and women in church (1 Cor 14:26–33, 34–38).
- Final exhortation (1 Cor 14:39–40).