Swahili Kiswahili. Swedish Svenska. What's Next? Learn More. Share Download. Paul issues a challenge to Jesus followers in Corinth. The Gospel Changes Everything 1 Corinthians challenges believers to examine every area of life through the lens of the Gospel. Dive Deeper and Explore More. Reading Plan. In some cases, special treatment may be appropriate, based on the nature of the work performed and organizational responsibilities.
But in other cases, such privileges may create unwarranted gradations of human worth and dignity. If we enjoy—or suffer—such distinctions at work, we might ask ourselves whether they contradict the equal dignity of persons in the presence of God and, if so, what we might do to remedy them. We noted above that the main problem in the Corinthian church was that of factionalism.
Paul will have none of this. He and Apollos are simply servants. Although they have different roles, neither of them is more valuable than the other. All are necessary and no one can do every necessary task. Paul, in other words, is aware of the importance of diversification and specialization. It is actually the product of several sophisticated processes, only one of which a given individual can master. If Christians believe what Paul says about the God-given nature of different roles, perhaps we can take the lead in bridging dysfunctional divides in our organizations.
If we are able simply to treat others with respect and value the work of people different from ourselves, we may be making significant contributions to our workplaces. An important application of this is the value of investing in worker development, whether our own or that of people around us.
This is not arrogance or laziness, but mentoring. He would far rather invest in training effective workers and leaders than in calling all the shots himself. As we mature in serving Christ in our places of work, perhaps we will find ourselves doing more to equip others and less to make ourselves look good.
Paul introduces the metaphor of a building under construction in order to make a new point—do good work. This point is so important to understanding the value of work that it is worth including the passage in its entirety here. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it.
Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.
If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. This may be the most direct statement of the eternal value of earthly work in all of Scripture.
The work we do on earth—to the extent we do it according to the ways of Christ—survives into eternity. Paul is speaking specifically of the work done by the community of the church, which he likens to a temple.
Others build on top of this foundation, and each one is responsible for his own work. Paul likens good work to gold, silver, and precious stones, and shabby work to wood, hay, and straw.
Though some have tried to assign specific meanings to each of these materials, it is more likely that the difference is simply that some materials have the ability to withstand testing by fire while others do not. Instead, Paul is concerned with the church as a whole and how its leaders work within the church. If they contribute to the unity of the church, they will be commended.
As we have seen, Paul regards Christian work to include the work believers do under secular authority as well as in the church. God has called all believers to work in whatever circumstances they find themselves, and he has given us specific gifts to fulfill that calling. He expects us to use them responsibly for his purposes, and he will inspect our work.
Paul uses two words in this verse to elaborate what he means. In this sense, leaders attend personally to the needs of the people they lead. Leaders are not exalted, but humbled, by accepting leadership. The chief distinction in this position is trust. The steward is trusted to manage the affairs of the household for the benefit of the owner.
This quality is explicitly ascribed to Timothy 2 Cor. These are the kinds of people God relies on to carry out his plan for his kingdom.
This is probably a wise practice, unless it encourages leaders to attain such rewards at the expense of the people they lead. Leaders are indeed responsible to accomplish—or better yet, exceed—the work their teams are assigned to do.
At this point, he says simply that Christians are not called to withdraw from the world because of fears about ethics. By mentioning the greedy, robbers, and idolaters, he explicitly indicates he is including the work world in his instructions. Needless to say, this is a difficult proposition, although he defers getting into specifics until chapter The point he makes here is simply that Christians are forbidden from trying to create some kind of Christian-only economy and leaving the world to fend for itself.
Instead, we are called to take our place in the work of the world alongside the people of the world. Other things being equal, believers should remain in the life situation in which they found themselves when they were converted 1 Corinthians The specific question that Paul is dealing with does not directly impinge upon most people in the Western world, though it is critical in many parts of the globe today. What should believers who are slaves do if they have the chance to gain freedom?
Slavery in the ancient world was a complex phenomenon that is by no means identical to its modern manifestations, whether in the pre-Civil War American South, or in debt bondage in contemporary South Asia, or in sex trafficking in virtually every country on earth. Certainly, it was equally heinous in many cases, but some slaves, particularly the household slaves Paul probably has in mind here, were better off, at least economically, than many free people.
Many educated people, including doctors and accountants, actually chose slavery for precisely that reason. Thus, for Paul, it was a genuinely open question whether slavery or freedom would be the better lot in any given situation. Modern forms of slavery, on the other hand, always severely diminish the lives of those enslaved.
Paul's question then is not whether slavery should be abolished, but whether slaves should seek to become free. Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever.
Thus, if there are no compelling reasons to change your status, it is probably best to remain in the situation in which you were called. While we may feel that getting the right job is the most important factor in serving God or experiencing the life he intends for us, God is much more concerned that we make the most of every job we have over the course of our lives.
In a given instance, there may be good reasons to change jobs or even professions. Fine, go ahead and do so. There is no hierarchy of more godly and less godly professions. Certainly this cautions us against believing that God calls the most serious Christians into church jobs. For an in-depth discussion of this topic, see the article Vocation Overview at www. I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on. The unifying element of this letter is instructing the church in what it means to live as Christians in a non-Christian world, ultimately bringing them to the idea that love itself is the primary driver and conclusion of how to live out faith.
As believers, our behavior should set us apart to look different from the world around us. Paul had several purposes for writing this letter to the Corinthians. His first purpose was to deal with moral problems and the divisions that had formed, as people had divided themselves into followers of Paul, Apollos, Peter or Christ His second reason was to deal with several questions that had been asked in a letter the Corinthians had sent to him This letter from Paul to the church at Corinth has astonishing parallels for us today, in that we continue to struggle with many of the same issues as they did.
The Corinthians experienced trouble with division amongst themselves, sexual sin, church discipline, application of spiritual gifts, interactions with the idol worship going on around them, and general disorder in the church. These issues continue to be seen in the church and deter our effectiveness in serving one another and the world around us.
We are to always live in a way that brings glory to Christ. It presents us with a faith grounded and expressed in love and commends Christian love as greater than any other spiritual gift we could possess. We are reminded that our spiritual knowledge, without love, amounts to little.
In a world filled with hate and selfishness, the sacrificial love of Christ should be clearly evident in us. Live in Unity From the earliest days of the Church, believers in Christ have fallen into the dangerous trap of splintering into competing groups.
Please note, our website requires JavaScript to be supported. Please contact us or click here to learn more about how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Follow us:. Listen Now. We know that the Corinthians misunderstood an earlier letter from Paul —11 , though that letter has not survived. Four years prior to writing the letter we know as 1 Corinthians, the apostle had spent eighteen months in Corinth, so he was intimately familiar with the church and many of its congregants.
Only a few decades after its origin, this letter to the Corinthians had traveled outside of Corinth and was considered authoritative beyond its initial Corinthian context.
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