Brief reflections on the First Epistle to the Corinthians

This letter is considered as one of reproof, but all the brethren in Corinth were not evil. The Ecclesia had originated from the work of Aquila and Priscilla—that couple who so wonderfully illustrate the worth of true partnership in Divine service. As a city, Corinth was prosperous, and keenly intellectual. Its name became a synonym for luxury and vice. Such circumstances always tend to create difficulties for the recipient of the Gospel.

Dissensions and deflections entered into the company of believers, and as a result of a visit to Paul, these epistles were written. The essential message of the first letter can be summed up in the contrasts drawn between the causes of spiritual failure and spiritual success. The causes of their failure had been because the brethren had allowed the spirit of the city to invade the Church. They allowed religious licence (chap. i. 10-12); there was moral laxity (chap. v. 1) and disorder. They had failed because they did not realise the life the Spirit demanded of them.

As seen by Paul, the secrets of spiritual success were a vivid realisation of the privileged position as part of the one organism — one Lord, one Faith, one Spirit. They must ” perceive the implications of the Divine law of love, and also receive the energising secret, ” We shall not all sleep.” Such secrets are manifested  when the Church invades the city — proclaiming the Lord, and rebuking all evil by the power of its own example.

Paul realised the “day of the Lord” for many would not come until they had fallen asleep and been awaked to life again to receive “in body” the things done. The ground of confidence, however, was in the fact of the resurrection of Christ We became the ” first fruits,” and so ” we shall not all sleep.” The judgment would declare the issue : and if the Church had kept the city at bay —had overcome the world—” we shall be changed.”

We are still awaiting the declaration of the issue, and if we are, in fact, invading the city, the thought of the Judgment Seat will not he one of terror, but rather an event for which we pray, in order that our course in life may he declared to have been honour­ing to Cod.

Let our Ecclesias observe narrowly their spiritual course. Is it that the spirit of the city is coming into the Church or is it otherwise? The letter to the Corinthians is modern in its outlook and contains lessons for us all.