The Pentecostal Bible Commentary Series

A commentary of the early and remarkable first epistle of the apostle Paul to the Corinthians uncovers the many teething troubles which were present in the church which he had recently planted in Corinth. Arrogance had led to discord; sexual sin was being tolerated by the church; civil lawsuits had sprung up between disgruntled believers; the spirit of idolatry which pervaded the city presented a number of ethical difficulties; the spiritual gifts which God had meant for blessing were being wrongly emphasised and incorrectly used; and false teaching concerning the resurrection threatened to bring down the faith of some. These and many other difficulties are dealt with in this letter. Throughout the epistle the godly wisdom and pastoral balance of the apostle is clearly displayed. In the light of atmosphere of sexual temptation which surrounded the believers, some were advocating complete abstinence- whereas Paul's, in an intensely practical discussion, recommends marriage as the better option for the majority. Others, in the light of the abuse of spiritual gifts, may have thought an outright ban on the use of tongues in public worship to be necessary; whereas Paul gives instructions which gender both freedom yet balance to the gifts, encouraging their correct use. Before turning to any of these problems, however, Paul begins the epistle by thanking God for everything that He had done for the believers, and for the evidence of God's presence and work among them. Despite the problems, they remained recipients of God's grace; they were still the church of God, God's holy people, set apart for Him. In addition, Paul's closing remarks present a picture of a loving and kind pastor, personally interested in each one of the congregation. To Paul, the church at Corinth was not his own possession to be lorded over, but a group of people belonging to Christ, who were to be deeply loved for His sake despite their many problems It is these people whom Paul wished most ardently to help on their way with spiritual teaching and godly admonition. It is to this fervent and all possessing desire of Paul's to build up the young church that we owe our own possession of this most practical and helpful of epistles. The problems in our own contemporary churches remain very similar to those in Corinth, but we ought not to allow this to fill us with despair. Paul shows us the way out of such difficulties and into abundant spiritual blessing. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians demonstrates that all churches, however encumbered with by problems and impeded by immaturity, have the capacity for spiritual growth and the potential for spiritual maturity.