WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:02.870 Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:02.988 --> 00:00:03.688 Day 21. 00:00:04.099 --> 00:00:05.989 Immersed in First Corinthians. 00:00:08.749 --> 00:00:12.529 The people in the church at Corinth, a Greek city, renowned 00:00:12.529 --> 00:00:14.869 for its immorality were struggling. 00:00:15.589 --> 00:00:19.099 They were grateful to Paul for introducing them to Jesus, but 00:00:19.099 --> 00:00:23.149 now they were convinced they had moved beyond Paul in some key ways. 00:00:23.809 --> 00:00:27.529 The Corinthian community was deeply influenced by the Greco-Roman 00:00:27.529 --> 00:00:28.939 religious culture around them. 00:00:29.629 --> 00:00:33.109 Many of their ideas came from this cultural environment, which 00:00:33.109 --> 00:00:36.109 they were trying to integrate with their new Christian faith. 00:00:37.099 --> 00:00:41.809 One set of ideas, supposed a sharp divide between physical and spiritual 00:00:41.809 --> 00:00:44.419 realities, including the body and soul. 00:00:45.169 --> 00:00:48.409 It was thought that physical realities like the body were 00:00:48.409 --> 00:00:52.639 inherently evil, while spiritual realities like the soul were good. 00:00:53.704 --> 00:00:57.754 In this heresy, the body and what was done in the body would've 00:00:57.754 --> 00:00:59.404 been considered insignificant. 00:01:00.094 --> 00:01:01.654 Only the soul was important. 00:01:02.734 --> 00:01:07.144 This view so different from the Bibles went back many centuries. 00:01:07.149 --> 00:01:08.704 To the philosopher Plato. 00:01:09.424 --> 00:01:13.684 It was still highly influential as evidenced in a religious movement known 00:01:13.684 --> 00:01:18.154 as gnosticism, which would become a major adversary to the early church. 00:01:19.084 --> 00:01:21.884 Paul wrote this letter shortly after AD 50. 00:01:22.864 --> 00:01:26.704 After having stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, Paul had moved on 00:01:26.704 --> 00:01:29.404 to Ephesus, just across the a gnc. 00:01:30.034 --> 00:01:34.204 The Corinthians took advantage of the short distance corresponding with Paul 00:01:34.209 --> 00:01:36.094 about the problems facing their church. 00:01:36.964 --> 00:01:38.524 So what was going on in Corinth? 00:01:39.454 --> 00:01:39.964 A lot. 00:01:40.024 --> 00:01:44.644 It turns out they seemed to think that being spiritual meant 00:01:44.644 --> 00:01:47.824 being free from the bodies that trapped their spiritual selves. 00:01:48.484 --> 00:01:53.224 This led them to ask questions about marriage and sexual relations, including 00:01:53.224 --> 00:01:56.074 whether people should even bother to get married and have children. 00:01:56.644 --> 00:02:01.114 On another extreme, some boldly argued that certain actions done with 00:02:01.114 --> 00:02:03.394 the body had no effect on the soul. 00:02:04.444 --> 00:02:08.554 This included things like eating food sacrifice to idols, and visiting 00:02:08.554 --> 00:02:10.414 prostitutes in pagan temples. 00:02:11.254 --> 00:02:15.364 Paul's teaching about the resurrection also raised questions for them. 00:02:16.234 --> 00:02:18.184 What was the point of the resurrection? 00:02:18.424 --> 00:02:21.814 Where the soul would return to the body if the physical body 00:02:21.814 --> 00:02:23.644 wasn't important or even good? 00:02:24.394 --> 00:02:28.804 And besides, how would that work and what would those bodies be like? 00:02:29.524 --> 00:02:33.094 The letter from the Corinthian believers to Paul provided him with 00:02:33.099 --> 00:02:37.864 plenty of questions to answer, but Paul had also learned from some friends 00:02:37.864 --> 00:02:41.434 who had visited Corinth that even more things were happening there. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:45.769 A man in the church was having sexual relations with his stepmother. 00:02:46.729 --> 00:02:51.049 The church had also divided into factions based on which famous teacher they liked 00:02:51.049 --> 00:02:57.229 Most, Paul, Peter or Apollos, the weekly worship gatherings were full of disorder, 00:02:57.559 --> 00:03:01.429 and believers with disputes were even taking one another to public court. 00:03:02.119 --> 00:03:06.499 In all, Paul would have to address 12 different problems in his letter. 00:03:07.549 --> 00:03:10.669 We don't have the letter the Corinthians sent to Paul. 00:03:11.164 --> 00:03:15.424 But we do have this lengthy reply now known as First Corinthians. 00:03:16.024 --> 00:03:18.364 This was not the first letter Paul wrote to them. 00:03:18.634 --> 00:03:23.434 In this letter, he mentions an earlier one that has not survived even with 00:03:23.434 --> 00:03:25.084 all their questions and problems. 00:03:25.324 --> 00:03:30.724 Paul addresses the Corinthian believers as God's own holy people and gives thanks 00:03:30.724 --> 00:03:33.484 for them in the main body of his letter. 00:03:33.484 --> 00:03:38.074 He addresses all their questions as well as his own concerns, one by one. 00:03:38.944 --> 00:03:42.424 While he writes about many different topics in his reply to the 00:03:42.424 --> 00:03:47.254 Corinthians, a basic correction is inherent in many of Paul's responses. 00:03:47.674 --> 00:03:52.384 For example, being spiritual doesn't mean being freed from the body. 00:03:52.804 --> 00:03:57.634 Instead, it means living in the human body with a true appreciation 00:03:57.639 --> 00:03:59.224 that it is a gift from God. 00:04:00.364 --> 00:04:05.254 Our bodies were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 00:04:05.314 --> 00:04:06.304 Paul insists. 00:04:07.009 --> 00:04:11.719 Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:17.149 in you and was given to you by God, so you must honor God with your body. 00:04:18.229 --> 00:04:22.069 Paul's stunning conclusion about the importance of the resurrection 00:04:22.099 --> 00:04:26.119 is crucial, not only for the Corinthians, but also for us today. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:30.919 The good news about Jesus is built on the teaching of God's victory over 00:04:30.919 --> 00:04:36.349 death Without the resurrection of Jesus, the faith of God's people is useless. 00:04:36.649 --> 00:04:41.539 And they are still trapped by sin and its deadly consequences, but with it 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:46.699 believers know that God's renewal of the world has already begun in Jesus, 00:04:47.119 --> 00:04:52.309 and that they will experience it fully in resurrected bodies at his return. 00:04:58.009 --> 00:05:00.139 The first letter to the Corinthians, 00:05:02.689 --> 00:05:03.739 this letter is from Paul. 00:05:04.504 --> 00:05:07.924 Chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. 00:05:08.644 --> 00:05:13.834 And from our brothers Shanise, I'm writing to God's church in Corinth 00:05:14.344 --> 00:05:17.554 to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. 00:05:18.424 --> 00:05:24.664 He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere 00:05:24.784 --> 00:05:31.384 who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord, and ours may God 00:05:31.384 --> 00:05:33.664 our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:05:33.949 --> 00:05:35.929 Give you grace and peace. 00:05:38.359 --> 00:05:43.489 I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you now that 00:05:43.494 --> 00:05:48.859 you belong to Christ Jesus through him, God has enriched your church in every 00:05:48.859 --> 00:05:54.259 way with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge, this confirms that 00:05:54.259 --> 00:05:56.179 what I told you about Christ is true. 00:05:56.869 --> 00:06:01.219 Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for 00:06:01.219 --> 00:06:03.109 the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:03.769 --> 00:06:07.609 He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all 00:06:07.609 --> 00:06:13.039 blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns God will do this. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:18.769 For He is faithful to do what He says, and he has invited you into partnership 00:06:18.769 --> 00:06:22.129 with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:06:24.049 --> 00:06:28.819 I appeal to you dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:06:29.089 --> 00:06:30.979 to live in harmony with each other. 00:06:31.849 --> 00:06:36.169 Let there be no divisions in the church, rather be of one mind 00:06:36.409 --> 00:06:38.419 united in thought and purpose. 00:06:39.349 --> 00:06:43.339 For some members of Chloe's household have told me about your quarrels. 00:06:43.429 --> 00:06:44.899 My dear brothers and sisters. 00:06:45.649 --> 00:06:48.799 Some of you are saying, I'm a follower of Paul. 00:06:49.429 --> 00:06:56.479 Others are saying I follow Apollos, or I follow Peter, or I follow Only Christ. 00:06:57.859 --> 00:07:00.169 Has Christ been divided into factions? 00:07:00.169 --> 00:07:00.229 I. 00:07:00.949 --> 00:07:04.129 Was I Paul crucified for you? 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:07.789 Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? 00:07:08.629 --> 00:07:09.499 Of course not. 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:15.349 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. 00:07:15.829 --> 00:07:18.829 For now, no one can say that they were baptized in my name. 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:20.209 Oh, yes. 00:07:20.269 --> 00:07:24.769 I also baptized the household of STIs, but I don't remember baptizing anyone else. 00:07:26.194 --> 00:07:31.564 For Christ didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the good news and not 00:07:31.564 --> 00:07:36.484 with clever speech for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. 00:07:37.444 --> 00:07:41.524 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction, 00:07:42.034 --> 00:07:46.024 but we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 00:07:46.894 --> 00:07:51.664 As the scriptures say, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard 00:07:51.669 --> 00:07:53.464 the intelligence of the intelligent. 00:07:54.814 --> 00:07:58.174 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and 00:07:58.174 --> 00:07:59.914 the world's brilliant debaters? 00:08:00.934 --> 00:08:07.144 God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish since God, in his wisdom, saw to 00:08:07.144 --> 00:08:09.154 it that the world would never know him. 00:08:09.334 --> 00:08:14.794 Through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those 00:08:14.794 --> 00:08:20.224 who believe it is foolish to the Jews who ask for signs from heaven, 00:08:20.734 --> 00:08:22.474 and it is foolish to the Greeks. 00:08:22.804 --> 00:08:24.214 Who seek human wisdom. 00:08:25.144 --> 00:08:29.674 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and 00:08:29.674 --> 00:08:31.564 the Gentiles say it's all nonsense. 00:08:32.374 --> 00:08:38.644 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:41.614 power of God and the wisdom of God. 00:08:42.694 --> 00:08:47.524 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, 00:08:48.214 --> 00:08:52.324 and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. 00:08:53.479 --> 00:08:57.229 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise 00:08:57.229 --> 00:09:02.149 in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 00:09:03.169 --> 00:09:07.999 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame 00:09:07.999 --> 00:09:12.259 those who think they are wise and he chose things that are powerless 00:09:12.829 --> 00:09:14.509 to shame those who are powerful. 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:18.049 God chose things despised by the world. 00:09:18.349 --> 00:09:20.059 Things counted as nothing at all. 00:09:20.449 --> 00:09:24.829 And use them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 00:09:26.029 --> 00:09:30.919 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:34.699 God has united you with Christ Jesus. 00:09:35.359 --> 00:09:38.989 For our benefit, God made him to be wisdom itself. 00:09:39.739 --> 00:09:41.659 Christ made us right with God. 00:09:42.109 --> 00:09:45.829 He made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:51.739 Therefore, as the scriptures say, if you want to boast, Boast only about the Lord. 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:57.169 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn't use lofty words and 00:09:57.169 --> 00:10:02.539 impressive wisdom to tell you God's secret plan for I decided that while I was with 00:10:02.539 --> 00:10:08.389 you, I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 00:10:09.259 --> 00:10:14.119 I came to you in weakness, timid, and trembling, and my message 00:10:14.119 --> 00:10:15.919 and my preaching were very plain. 00:10:16.579 --> 00:10:20.569 Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only 00:10:20.569 --> 00:10:22.189 on the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:10:23.089 --> 00:10:28.969 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom, but in the power of God. 00:10:30.589 --> 00:10:35.599 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but 00:10:35.599 --> 00:10:39.259 not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of 00:10:39.259 --> 00:10:41.329 this world who are soon forgotten. 00:10:42.199 --> 00:10:44.089 No, the wisdom we speak of. 00:10:44.629 --> 00:10:49.789 Is the mystery of God, his plan that was previously hidden, even 00:10:49.789 --> 00:10:53.599 though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 00:10:54.649 --> 00:10:57.049 But the rulers of this world have not understood it. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:01.069 If they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 00:11:01.999 --> 00:11:06.589 That is what the scriptures mean when they say no eye has seen, no ear has 00:11:06.589 --> 00:11:11.119 heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 00:11:12.724 --> 00:11:18.094 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his spirit, for 00:11:18.094 --> 00:11:22.504 His spirit, searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. 00:11:23.404 --> 00:11:26.344 No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own 00:11:26.349 --> 00:11:31.594 spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own spirit. 00:11:32.344 --> 00:11:36.634 And we have received God's spirit, not the world spirit. 00:11:37.444 --> 00:11:40.984 So we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 00:11:42.184 --> 00:11:46.144 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. 00:11:46.534 --> 00:11:51.664 Instead, we speak words given to us by the spirit, using the spirit's 00:11:51.664 --> 00:11:54.094 words to explain spiritual truths. 00:11:55.054 --> 00:11:58.954 But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's spirit. 00:11:59.674 --> 00:12:03.544 It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it for 00:12:03.544 --> 00:12:07.174 only those who are spiritual can understand what the spirit means. 00:12:07.924 --> 00:12:10.594 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things. 00:12:11.254 --> 00:12:17.524 But they themselves cannot be evaluated by others for who can know the Lord's 00:12:17.524 --> 00:12:23.194 thoughts, who knows enough to teach him, but we understand these things 00:12:23.854 --> 00:12:26.284 for we have the mind of Christ. 00:12:28.624 --> 00:12:31.504 This concludes today's immerse reading experience. 00:12:31.624 --> 00:12:32.494 Thank you for joining us.