Is Christ Divided?
Notes for the house groups on 1 Corinthians.
Week nineteen, beginning Sunday 25 November: 1 Corinthians 15.35 – end of 16

Main theme: the resurrection body; closing comments

Questions to prompt discussion

1.What does the prospect of being raised bodily mean to you? Are there any implications for how you treat your body now?
2.In what ways can we live today without being afraid of death?
3.How should rich Christians support poor ones?
4.If you were writing a letter like Paul’s, who would you thank?

Supplementary thoughts:
After a highly sensible ‘don’t ask such silly questions’ attitude at the beginning, Paul proceeds to give us a metaphor or image for understanding the resurrection. What we are dealing with is something mysterious, for which we have only pointers. The important points are a) that we will be raised as Christ was raised, and b) that we will be raised bodily. People might like to consider the following terms, and how far they overlap or are incompatible: resurrection; life after death; eternal life; living in the Kingdom; being in heaven; reincarnation. NB Bear in mind that Paul uses ‘flesh’ to describe two things: the physical body (flesh and blood) and worldly desires (the way of the flesh).

Paul’s collection for the saints (ie other churches) is referred to in Galatians 2.10 and is key to his missionary journeys, and a principal way of binding the different communities (Jew and Gentile) together. See 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 for an idea of the response he got! (but see also Rom 15.25-7 – Corinth was the capital of Achaia).

Notes on verses
v 15.38 the emphasis is upon God’s power of resurrection
v 42 and onwards – physical body is literally a body driven by a soul (psyche) as opposed to the spiritual body driven by a (Holy?) Spirit (pneuma). Compare with ‘born again’ = literally ‘born from above’.
v 51 it’s possible that Paul expected the general resurrection in his own lifetime (compare 7.29-31; 1 Thess 4.15-17)
v 16.2 The reference to ‘the first day of the week’ is the earliest in Christian literature
v10-11 it’s possible that Timothy was not an imposing figure, hence the need to ask for help – which may be deliberate on Paul’s part, given the themes of the letter
v17 these are the members of the Corinthian church who came to Paul with the letter from the Corinthians to which this letter is a reply
v20 the holy kiss is mentioned a number of times in the New Testament – a sign of the communal aspect of Christian belief (compare with the 20th century difficulties associated with re-establishing exchanging the peace).

Is Christ Divided?
Notes for the house groups on 1 Corinthians.
Week eighteen, beginning Sunday 18 November: 1 Corinthians 15.1-34

Main theme: the resurrection

Questions to prompt discussion

1.Is it necessary to believe in the resurrection in order to be a Christian? What might a ‘yes’ answer imply? (NB Sam thinks the answer is yes….)
2.What is it that we are able to hope for?

Supplementary thoughts:
At the beginning of this extended discussion Paul points out that he is passing on what he himself has learned, in a line going back to Peter. In other words Paul has been caught up in a tradition of teaching that is passed on from person to person.

The understanding of resurrection that Paul is deploying here was something that began to be developed in Jewish thought in the two or three centuries before Christ, and given especial strength through some of the events associated with the Maccabean revolt. It was not a generally accepted notion in other cultures, and Paul’s language cannot be glossed into ‘life after death’. It was also disputed by some elements in Jewish culture (eg Sadducees, see Luke 20.27-39). So it doesn’t mean that Jesus was ‘raised to heaven’ or ‘vindicated by God’ – both of which may be true but it’s not what Paul is describing! It’s because Jesus was raised from the dead that Paul understands him to be Lord. The notions cannot be separated, but it’s the claim of a specific historical event that drives Paul’s language. Given the Corinthian culture at the time, the idea of resurrection made no sense to them – hence a downplaying of the idea in their community, and hence Paul’s insistence that without an acceptance of the resurrection their faith is ‘in vain’.

Note the link between sin and death (vv 16-18), and the way in which the resurrection overcomes both (deals with both). Without the resurrection the ‘world’ is still all that there is, and we need to come to some sort of accommodation with the world in order to live. With the resurrection there is a place to stand apart from the world, which allows us to live in distinction from the world (ie be leaven in the bread). Those who are in Christ (v29) become the means by which the disordered world is put back into good order, they share in Christ’s work.

Notes on verses
vv 3-7 are the earliest known Christian creed
v32 may be a metaphorical reference to arguments that Paul has had in Ephesus (cf Acts 19)

Is Christ Divided?
Notes for the house groups on 1 Corinthians.
Week seventeen, beginning Sunday 11 November: 1 Corinthians 14

Main theme: spiritual gifts, and their place in church life

Questions to prompt discussion

1.Have you ever experienced yourself, or been with someone who has experienced, ‘speaking in tongues’? How did it make you feel? Inspired? Disturbed?
2.What do you think prophecy is? Is there a difference between the dictionary definition and a biblical understanding?
3.What do you think Paul’s over-riding concern is in this passage? How might it apply to our church here in Mersea?
4.What do you make of the description of worship in verse 26? How does it resemble our Sunday mornings? or our house groups? Is Paul being prescriptive here?
5.What is your area of spiritual giftedness?

Supplementary thoughts:
This is a long passage, but with one exception (see below on vv 33b-35) it hangs together as a discussion of the relative place of prophecy and speaking in tongues in the life of the church. Speaking in tongues was not unique to the Christian church in Corinth, it was a part of the ‘religious scene’ in Greece; there were other ‘ecstatic cults’ at the time, and the sense is that some in the Corinthian church had become ‘puffed up’ by the experience of speaking in tongues, and were using these experiences to establish a spiritual hierarchy – which triggers much passion from Paul! Note that Paul never denigrates speaking in tongues as such (see especially v 18) he simply insists that this gift must be used for the ‘edification of the church’ and not as a badge of individual superiority (see especially v 28). There is a link back to the beginning of chapter 12 and the discussion of spiritual gifts there, as this sequence brings the argument of the last three chapters to a close. There are many sorts of spiritual gifts, including some not mentioned by Paul (there is no suggestion that Paul is giving an exhaustive list).

Verses 13 to 19 contain a consistent emphasis upon the life of the mind in building up the community of the church, and this is not simply about intellectual matters but a more general sense of understanding what is going on, so that the ‘Amen’ can actually mean an informed assent. Historically this has often led to conflict within church communities, eg over worshipping in the vernacular (ie English rather than Latin). There are issues in our church at the moment that this verse applies to quite specifically! The important thing is to worship as a whole human being, with mind and body, heart and soul.

Notes on verses
vv 33b-35 are highly controversial, and there is a suggestion that they are not originally from Paul (a number of manuscripts place them at the end of this chapter, which may indicate that they were added in by a scribe or one of Paul’s followers). Compare with 11.5 which implicitly allows women to speak; the last chapter of Romans which describes a number of women with (public) roles in the church; Phil 4.2,3. Consider also the appeal here in general terms to ‘the law’ (v34) which is a distinctly odd argument for Paul to make! Compare it with the arguments in Romans and Galatians about reliance on the law.