A Commentary on the Book of First Corinthians (Volume 1)

In the first four chapters of his letter to the Corinthian church, which was obviously not originally divided into four easy-to-read chapters, Paul talked about a division in the church that he had learned about from either Chloe or from a person in Chloe's household. Then in the next four chapters of this first volume of a commentary on the book of First Corinthians, he talked about fornication in the church, taking a brother or sister in the Lord to court, to marry or not to marry, and the Christian position on eating meats that had been offered to idols. But in looking at his organization or structure of the first eight chapters, two fascinating things stand out.

The first is the amount of ink that he used to talk about the division in the church. He used four chapters worth of ink to talk about division in the church. But he only used one chapter of ink, each, to talk about fornication in the church, taking a brother or sister in the Lord to court, to marry or not to marry, and the Christian position on eating meats that had been offered to idols.

So that shows how important he thought unity is in a local church. Clearly fornication is very, very wrong. Illicit sex among God's people, among those who have truly been born again, is a reproach to the Lord and a betrayal to the cross of Jesus. Similarly, taking a brother or sister to court has some importance, as does marrying or not marrying. So while they may not be as significant as fornication, Paul still weighed in on both. He also thought that eating meats offered to idols was important enough to mention, too. But he still put divisions in the church at the top of the list as the most significant problem to avoid.

The second fascinating thing about Paul's organization or structure of the opening chapters of First Corinthians is that he put the division in the church at the front of his letter. That is actually fascinating for two reasons. The first is that it again shows how important he thought unity is in a local church. People who cannot get along or who are divided over issues of little importance will probably never be very fruitful for the Lord. So he wanted to talk about that first because it probably bothered him most.

The second reason that his discussion about the division of the church is fascinating is because he had put that part of his letter at the beginning of his letter even though he had learned about the division in the church after he had already started his letter to the church. That would again suggest that he had wanted to talk about that matter first because it had probably bothered him more than all of the other topics in his letter.

There is one note, however, to be made before ending this introduction with respect to the organization of this text. Something that the reader might find useful is boxes throughout that show the different passages that are being referenced at the times and in the places where they are being referenced. That way, he or she will not have to jump all over the place or get into or out of the scriptures to locate a particular reference. Hopefully that inclusion will help the reader in trying to understand the various events and to also put them into their right and proper context. So it is hoped that that will make this book easier to read and that the Lord will receive the praise, honor, and glory that He rightfully deserves.