Introduction to 1st Corinthians
Hello, and welcome to the introduction to our series of Bible studies on Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. This series is specifically designed to divide this important letter into smaller bite sized lessons suitable for individual devotional study, small group studies or larger Bible studies.
Also, these lessons have been designed to add perspective on why the book was written to this audience and how that perspective informs us as Christians. This knowledge will help us gain victory in the ongoing battle between Biblical Christianity and Cultural Christianity that still exist in our present day.
From the beginning there have always existed two expressions of the Christian faith. There is biblical Christianity derived from the biblical text and expressed within a given culture. There is also the worldly counterfeit of biblical Christianity that we can call cultural Christianity. This counterfeit derives its beliefs from a given culture with little or no reference to the biblical text. These two versions of the Christian faith have been in conflict since the time of the apostles with the souls of you and I hanging in the balance.
The apostles in their epistles to the early church spent most of their time pushing back against this worldly invasion of the Christian faith. There is no clearer example of the attack of cultural Christianity on Biblical Christianity and the apostolic defense of the faith than the Apostle Paul’s letters to the Corinthian Church.
Corinth in Paul’s day was a cosmopolitan hub of worldwide commerce, sensually degraded culture, and pagan religion. It should come as no surprise that the newly formed church would come under immediate spiritual, social, and intellectual attack from the culture that surrounded it. As horrible as the physical attacks that the world has inflicted on the martyrs of the faith, the most dangerous attacks on the Church have been the separating of Christians from biblical truth and replacing that truth with the patterns of contemporary culture.
I look forward to you joining us as we examine 1st Corinthians in the coming weeks. Together we will apply the biblical principles expressed by Paul to the current cultural influences that you and I wrestle with every day.
Next: The Three Foundational Ideas In Paul's Greeting