 Good morning once again and welcome to BC103 New Testament survey so Even before we can begin our Sections with the Paul and Episodes, can I request one of us to please lead us in prayer? Can I request Jack in? Can you lead us in prayer? Sure Father God, thank you Lord. Thank you for this wonderful time. Lord God Almighty father We commit ourselves into your hands father father this time Lord as we read from your word Lord father I pray that you speak to each and every one of us Lord God father We come at all of us into your hands Lord whatever that you want us to learn Lord the Holy Spirit I pray Lord that you will teach us Lord and you will enable us to follow that word Lord That truth Lord that will set us free and we will be able to serve you wholeheartedly Lord God Almighty we come at this time in your hands in Jesus might in that place may be Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. I can for pray. So last class we looked at the letter to Romans Actually, I thought we are missing on the introduction to the Paul and Episodes So I thought even before we could start with first Corinthians We will introduce all the 13 letters of The Paul and Episodes and then we will move on to first Corinthians. Is that fine with everyone? Yes. Last confirmed. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So let me share the slide PPT Give me a minute. Thanks Anthony for confirming Okay, so So the New Testament survey, sorry the New Testament includes the 13 letters of Paul's Episodes. So these Episodes are not just a series of writing but then it focuses on certain topics that the Holy Spirit guided the author to write or the individuals to write addressing certain matters according to the church needs which was during each time during their time So what happened? This led to the importance of knowing the circumstance through which these letters were written So Apostle Paul had written 13 Episodes. Some scholars say 14 that includes the Hebrews but then most of them say that the author of Hebrews are unknown. So we will remain with 13 Episodes of Apostle Paul So these in these 13 Episodes, nine of them are classified into the first two, the Thessalonians, first and second Thessalonians are known known as the Eschatological Episodes which was written during the second missionary journey and the letter to Galatians, first and second Corinthians and the Romans these four were known as Sotoreological Episodes and it was written during the third missionary journey and the letter to Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians were known as Christological Episodes which was written in the first Roman imprisonment and the next three that is first, second, third, first and second Timothy and Titus were known as the pastoral Episodes during the final travel of the second imprisonment. So what are these Eschatological? Why are they classified and what are these stands for? So Eschatological Episodes where both the first and second Thessalonians are up and classified because since these two letters emphasize, they emphasize on the second coming of Jesus. So they were probably written within few weeks of each other. So because they emphasize on the second coming of Jesus, so they are named as Eschatological. Okay that is the end times or the coming of, second coming of Jesus. The next four, yes the next four Galatians first and second Corinthians and Romans are known as Sotoreological Episodes. These four are the major The Sotoreological Episodes are concerned the personal salvation. It means it's out of math the nick arms for the Greek word called Sotoria or Soteria means salvation. And then next we see the prison epistles that is two three four four, Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, Philippians which is known as Christological are also known as the prison epistles because after Paul's Third Missionary journey he was arrested in Jerusalem by the Jews and he was later turned over to the Romans. For two years he was in the house arrest at the palace at Caesarea then took his voyage to Rome where he was held for two years in the house arrest. So soldier and this was his first Roman imprisonment. So during this time we either during the two years in Rome Paul wrote four short epistles which is known as the prison epistles. So sometimes they're also called as the Christological epistles because these letters emphasize of the doctrine of Christ and so these three letters that is Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians and Philemon were written and sent to get all these three were written and said Philippians was written were known as the pastoral epistles. So these three letters were written to you know Apostle Paul's sons and faith. So Timothy and Titus were the spiritual sons and after his release from the prison in Rome Paul was able to travel and establish more churches during these three missionary journeys. So he left Timothy in charge of a large church in Ephesians where he had the responsibility to supervise along with the church in Ephesians the other churches around the region and the same thing happened with Titus. He left Titus at Crete with similar responsibilities and instructions. So the first Timothy and Titus were written during that last travel of Apostle Paul. So after the burning of the Rome by the king Nero in AD 64 the Roman attitude toward the church changed where Nero continued to persecute the church in Rome until the death of AD 68. Let me show that picture just give me a bit. Yeah okay these were some of the persecution during the rule and reign of king Nero. So we see he crucified the Christians whoever believed and followed Jesus were crucified on the cross and they were also this is the emperor where the they call it as Colosseum. So the people the Romans gathered together in this place to see how the king Nero punished the people who followed Jesus. So we see some of them were crucified here some of them were you know tied on the wooden cross and you know and they were burnt as a live torch and also some of them we see the believers were put in the ground and they were open to the hungry beast where they came and ate them alive. So people had a spectacular watch over these all three incidents and they enjoyed seeing the believers been burned and killed. So these were some of the persecution that happened during the time of king Nero. So not all three may happen at the same time this image I just chose this image which was available on the internet which showed all these three incidents for our understanding. Maybe each time the king Nero chose a different way to persecute the believers and there was again another apostle who was beheaded during his time yeah yeah these were some things that happened during the king Nero's reign yeah he persecuted the church in Rome and yeah all this happened incidents happened till his death in approximately 68 AD and during those years apostle Paul was arrested by the Romans and brought to Rome for a second imprisonment. So this time this confinement was much weaker and he expected to die as a martyr for Christ. So during his second mission imprisonment in Rome he writes 2nd Timothy asking his young helper to come to him before his death. So being said that yeah so here I would like to share about the distinctive emphasis and the contribution of the Pauline epistles. Here I have listed nine letters that is Romans first and second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1st and 2nd Thessalonians if you see the first column okay other than leaving out the personal epistles the personal letters were 1st and 2nd Timothy Titus and Philemon so that makes 13 epistles of Paul Paul Paul well the first letter Roman described Lord Jesus as Christ the whole letter describes Jesus or emphasizes on Jesus Christ the power of God to us and the gospel message from this letter Romans says that it's the gospel and its message. So we found that apostle Paul taking every opportunity to share the gospel message to the Roman believers and this gospel is also known as in Christ justification the Romans was also known as book of justification. Now being said that we'll move on to the 1st Corinthians 1st Corinthians it emphasizes on Christ the wisdom of God Christ the wisdom of God and the message that we get amures about the gospel and its ministry and the ministry work how a ministry work need to be conducted and the gospel on the believers union emphasizes on the sanctification need to be sanctified when we are when we are called for the call to serve God we need to be sanctified where that's why the 1st Corinthians also known as the book of New Testament Church Order there is order in the church there's an order in the ministry that we need to follow and the 2nd Corinthians emphasizes on Christ the comfort of God to us and the message that we get here is the gospel and its ministers and also it talks about in Christ there is consolation and the book of Galatians talk about the Christ the righteousness of God to us and the gospel message that we get overall from the letter to Galatians is that the gospel and its multilators and the believers union is in Christ we have liberation we have freedom the book of the letter to Ephesians talk about the the richness of God to us Christ is the riches of God to us and describes the whole gospel message that we get from the book of from the letter to Ephesians is the gospel and its heavenlies and yes it is in Christ there's exaltation the letter to Philippians describes Christ as Christ the sufficiency of God to us and the message that we get here is the gospel and its earthlies and there is in Christ is exaltation and the letter to Colossians we see Christ the fullness of God to us and the we do get the gospel and its philosophies in the letter to Colossians in Christ we have completion the first Thessalonians talks about Christ as the promise of God to us we do get the gospel message and Christ's future that is the second coming and it also talks about the behaviors union as in Christ there's translation and lastly the second Thessalonians talks about Christ as the reward of God to us we do hear the gospel and the antichrist in this and then in Christ there's compensation been shared on this now we can move on to the episode so we have this as the background in our mind when we study on the each individual letter so we come letter to Romans last week yes we covered all this now we will move on to sorry we will move on to first Corinthians where sinners were made saints okay so before writing this okay so before we get into the first Corinthians let's look at let's look at the background what is Corinth what do we know about this city the location the place the history or why was this place important so the city of Corinth let me change yeah this map is very clear the map is clear so the city of Corinth was located in the southern Greece which is about 40 miles or 60 kilometers west of Athens and it was almost located on a narrow strip of the land called Ismus it formed a land bridge between the Aegean and the Adriatic seas well it was considered as one of the most strategic cities of its day when we look at the history part of it this the city of Corinth back then in the ancient times it was leveled about you know in 146 BC by the Romans and it was rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 BC and it was established as a major capital for all the southern Greece so it was established as a Roman colony and therefore a model city for the Roman Roman rule or and many of the Roman colonies in Corinth had a strong Jewish population and also they had a synagogue that's where Paul visited first and this place was important because Corinth was a capital city of the southern provinces in Greece that is called is Akhaya because because of its strategic location between the major centers there was often you know more of travellers way attracted and also it was a place of trade so Corinth was the site of a for a large stadium where the athletic contest used to happen they hosted the second most significant games outside the Olympics back then the game was known as Isthmian games which held every first and third year of the Olympiad we see that in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 we see that there was a game that used to take place let's turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 9 okay 24 27 okay so do you not know that those who run in a race he also described the race because these people were very much aware of these games that was taking place so in relating to that Apostle Paul is writing this is making this statement for them to understand that do you not know that those who run in a race all run but only one receives the prize we should run in such a way that you may obtain it and everyone who competes for the prize is temporary in all things now they do it to obtain a perishable crown but we for an imperishable crown therefore I run thus not with uncertainty thus I fight not as one who beats the hair but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection less when I have preached to others I myself should become I myself should become disqualified so well as he is teaching about many instances in this letter he's also making a statement in the way that they can understand the people could relate and understand about the race so we will discuss more on what these letter addresses some of the matters that this letter addresses okay just give me a minute yeah some of the some of the unique features that this place Corinth has is the Corinth was constructed a road later it was converted into a canal in 1893 to carry the cargo at large ships so we see that's why it was attracting a larger travelers and there was a commerce business the business trade was very popular so this place had many visitors coming across the nation to this place so when people came to this place they were also getting the history along with the history they were getting blended with many cultures in this place so during the population of the city and the surrounding area were about 700,000 so it was a very well populated city so Corinth in nature the whole city was known for immorality because of the sailors or the visitors the merchants that raid the business people who were visiting the place so one of the most common business that was happening in the city of Corinth was to do with the prostitution that was the carnal pleasure which apostle Paul is addressing in first Corinthians chapter six he addresses certain issues about the prostitution that has been taking place where the people of Corinth were giving heed to the carnal pleasure pleasure well in English the word Corinthian means luxurious licentious coming from a reputed lifestyle of the dwellers of Corinth well at the same time this Corinth was also known for the temple of Aphrodite that is the goddesses of love which stood high above the city and it served about you know the the history says that this temple had about 1000 prostitutes who served in the temple and this was the major source of revenue to the city so now you understand how the culture and the people of Corinth would have lived this sinful nature would have become the custom and norm they wouldn't have realized that this was displeasing God so or in all manner there was immorality was a practice of this people in the name of religious experience along with prostitution we also see there was drunkardness was part of their religious ceremonies so there was no way that the people of Corinth would understand these were something that is immoral displeasing God because they did this in the name of religion so keeping this in mind let's move on move on to what Apostle Paul was addressing in this letter so Apostle Paul found the church in Corinth during his second missionary journey approximately 49 to 51 AD so when he was when he was when he visited Corinth he first visited the synagogue that was present in Corinth usually that's how when we read every epistle that's where Apostle Paul starts his journey every place Apostle Paul visited he first goes into the synagogue that was to the Jews and then he steps out to the Gentiles how when the Jews reject the gospel of Christ that was carried by Apostle Paul then he steps how to preach the gospel to the Gentiles those who believe the message the gospel message that Apostle Paul was carrying so we see that in the similar pattern in the book of Corinthians Apostle Paul first visits Corinth and he goes on to minister at the synagogue and he's and he at the same time he also has a tent making business for his survival and during because that's a business place so during his business time he meets a couple named Achilla and his wife Priscilla so Paul that's where he he he met them and he shared the gospel to them and he also plans a small church or starts a small church with the leadership of Achilla and Priscilla at their place later Paul writes out his welcome in the synagogue and started a church just adjacent to their to his home so Paul had good fruit I guess okay in that place because most of them were accepting the gospel in Corinth including Christmas the chief ruler of the synagogue so Paul had more you know a reason to follow up but to interact with this church so he visited about three times this church and he spent about you know he had written about four letters to the church of which uh they were lost just give me a minute I have addressed it yeah Apostle Paul actually wrote four letters to the church of Corinthians where the first one was in he addressed certain matters in in in ineffective to correcting the problem in the church give me a minute please so he was he was writing to correct a problem in the church so when we read first Corinthians chapter 5 9 we see that he had written a letter and this early letter had not survived for some reason we have missed it but some scholars say that a small bit and pieces or a small fragrant of that message is preserved in the second Corinthians chapter 6 you know they they say 14 to chapter 7 verse 1 so later the Corinthian church wrote another letter to Paul about several matters that was addressed in first Corinthians chapter 7 we see about the principles of marriage keep your marriage wives live as you are called to unmarried widows addressing certain issues you know there were many questions that they asked and this letter was sent to three groups sent by a group of at least three people okay later in first Corinthians chapter 6 17 we also see that another there were a certain another letter that was presented which erase certain questions and Timothy was entrusted with a task to carrying and delivering this letter so what we see is the first letter that was written written in correcting the problems that has been missing and what we have the first Corinthians what we have right now was actually the second letter in response to that okay and the third letter we see it was a very severe letter but then again that letter is missed and the fourth letter is also considered to be the second Corinthians after hearing the good report from Titus about how is a severe letter was was received by the church so this are these are the four letters of which two are missing two is what we actually have so as per Acts chapter 18 so it's not just Paul who preached or ministered at the church of Corinth we also see Peter and Apollos ministered in the church of Corinth can I request one of y'all to please turn to first Corinthians chapter 1 verse 10 to 15 can I request one of y'all to read now I plead with you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment for it has been declared to me concerning you my brethren by those of closed household that there are contentions among you now I say this that each of you says I am of Paul or I am of Apollos or I'm of Kephas or I'm of Christ is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul I thank God that I baptized none of you except Christmas and gears lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name thank you so what we see here is there were three people there is a apostle Paul Peter and Apollos also ministered in this church of Corinth that was one of the reason why the church in the church people they were division some said you know I will follow them I mean all three preach the same gospel but you see there was a division in the church they said I like Paul I go with what he says I like the leadership of Apollos or I like the leadership of Peter so this is how the church was divided within them so apostle Paul is trying to bring the correction in the divided church to bring a union among them saying that we all carry the same gospel it is one who sows the seed one who you know one who waters it one who nurtures it the other one leaps the harvest so in God inside of God all three of them has the same reward so he's trying to explain that we all are called to minister and serve Jesus Christ and not to serve not to have our own ministry it is about serving Christ through the call that God has called each one of us so he's trying to bring a gentle correction among the people whose mind was divided into or paying attention to different aspects so while apostle Paul was teaching and preaching in Ephesus during his third missionary journey we see some visitors arrived from Corinth from the church of Corinth and where he planted okay so what happened there this group of visitors carried a very disturbing report or a disturbing news of factions immorality and within the body of believers there was division so why that was discussed or addressed there was another group came with a difficult letter questioning concerning marriage and there was eating food offered to idols the matters of public worship and along with that they also had another question about the resurrection of the body so apostle Paul is using his god given power and authority as an apostle so he pens this letter to address their unacceptable contact and also he answers to their questions okay yeah so that is what this letter he writes and addresses to so along with that we all just see there are many other issues that addresses apostle Paul relating to the issues of immaturity or parnality and how this church was blending the pagan doctrine with Christianity it's not just the doctrine they all they carried a culture to do with immorality or the prostitution they were trying to blend that with the Christian culture so some of these problems were included in the in the church so can I request one of y'all to turn to first Corinthians chapter 3 verse 1 to 4 and I brethren could not speak to you as the spiritual people but as the corner as your babes in Christ I fed you with milk and not with solid food for until now you are not able to receive it and even now you are still not able for you are still carnal for the for where there are envy strife and divisions among you are you not carnal and behaving like mere men for when one says I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos are you not carnal thank you thank you so he's a question of them are you not carnal because your mind your thoughts are divided so we see is addressing certain matters in this letter the purpose of this letter was to reply to the problems and the inquiries of the Corinthians church so from the beginning to the end we see that is from about chapter 1 to 6 first Corinthians chapter 1 to 6 we see it gives a reply to the reports of Chloe's household and in first Corinthians chapter 7 to 16 chapter 7 to 16 he replies to the letter from the church so when he is addressing these two matters we see that he's addressing all the problems that is happening in the church for example there was a problem of division am I belong to Peter Paul is or Paul so there was a division there was a strife and there was envy and these things were addressed in chapter 1 and in chapter 2 we also see another problem in this in this church was there was internal lawsuits which is addressed in chapter 6 and in chapter 6 we also see the problem about lavish and immoral immoral living lifestyle was also addressed there and in chapter 7 we see the problem related to marriage divorce and remarriage he's trying to answer several questions which a different group carried the group also had a problem with the Christian liberty versus license so that the addresses in chapter 8 yeah he talks about how to be sensitive through the conscience and in chapter 11 he addresses on the headship and covering they had this issue about who's the head and should we cover women should women cover the head or not cover these things were addressed and in chapter 11 we see the problem Lord's table there was an abuse for the Lord's table that was addressed so people came into the church to eat the Lord's table as a food and he was bringing a discipline how the Lord's table should be conducted in a proper reverent manner and in chapter 12 to 14 we see that the problem of the abuse of the gifts of the spirit especially the tongues and prophecy was addressed to how it needs to be handled when it comes to a corporate gathering and in chapter 15 we see the problem of misunderstanding the resurrection and the return of Jesus was questioned and he's trying to address all of this which i would like to take up this ninth point i mean discuss it i thought i discuss it after the key themes that i missed okay let me discuss all the key things yeah so what happened here the key themes where there were two root problem of the Corinthian church one was influence of worldly philosophy and their lifestyle the moral lifestyle that they had the second point is over realized eschatology they want to know about the end of the second coming of Jesus so what happened all these affected the unity in the church unity in the church and then they also hope of resurrection do we have though because they didn't believe in the resurrection so will the person have that hope and then paul also addressed on the true spirituality so when we talk about the unity in the church paul addresses that the church is to be pure if it is to be a witness to the world and it needs to be pure the unity of the church is very critical to the power of church witness which is where that is why we are called that we are god's body we are one body in christ so we must all be of the same mind when we are keeping the unity that's why the church that was divided okay he's trying to bring the unit he's addressing that we are one body in Christ so in body there are no different parts everyone plays a different role but still of one body and then he talks about hope of resurrection where the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is essential now when he states that he is making a statement which is very case making it is not you know it is very essential not only for christian faith and doctrine but also for the lasting hope for all the believers resurrection in Christ and also he's trying to bring in the spirituality he says the true spirituality requires the theology of Christ the understanding of Christ or the understanding of the cross that the world that Jesus did of the cross without the cross there is no meaning for our christian living or for our christian lifestyle so to correct the immoral lifestyle apostle paul is bringing the theology of cross to them so that they understand that they all are sinners come short of the glory of god and he also addresses that the wages of sin is death so when the sin nature the immoral lifestyle that each of the Corinthian believers were living in he leads to sin and death eventually so he's saying for you to be redeemed from the sin and death you need Jesus Christ you need to believe in the work that Jesus did on the cross for you to have the redemption for you to have this new life in him so he is bringing the theology of Christ so that they understand and believe in Jesus Christ and they have the redeemed life they have a life of liberty in Christ Jesus okay so with that the key chapter in this whole book is chapter 13 which talks about which is also known as the great chapter on agave love so undoubtedly it stands out as the pinnacle chapter for this book certainly there has never been a greater explanation of love that is written by apostle paul in this chapter being said that we will move on to the ninth point on this purpose and structure of the first Corinthians where the other eight points we would be discussing in your third year when we do a deep study on the first Corinthians as of now because it's just the survey and due to the time limit I'll just move on to the last point and I'll try to finish in this class itself so some of the problem that apostle Paul was addressing and one was on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ I thought I will pick up on this point and share a little bit so that we understand see the problem here was that wasn't a resurrection but if it was resurrection they're not even Christ himself was raised so if they don't believe on the Christ resurrection uh that is on uh Jesus uh that uh some of them we had a question on did Jesus really rise from death so if that and uh uh was the question in their mind then they cannot believe that even they have the resurrection in Christ then the gospel message that apostle paul carried and preached in the church of Corinth or even Peter for that matter Peter and apostle preach would have been nothing so apostle paul is trying to bring a clear note to them that we need Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ died on the cross he was crucified he was dead he was buried he was raised resurrection and ascension so he preaches the whole gospel message very clear to them time and again for them to know for them to have faith on Jesus that's what the book of roman says you know faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God this is what apostle paul did every opportunity every question that was raised every strife in every issue apostle paul found he shared the gospel of Jesus Christ again and again and again because he believed there is power in the gospel only the gospel of christ can save only the gospel of christ can bring correction only the gospel of christ can be the solution to the problem which this church was facing so he showed them the true wisdom is not found in the world that you think that is just the grave it ends all in grave but believing in Jesus the death has lost its sting so he encourages the Corinthian believers who are divided among them to be wise enough and and you know believe in Jesus Christ so that they can have a eternal life they can they can have a eternal life a resurrected life in Jesus Christ so that's why apostle paul brings the cross of Jesus Christ into every sin and every divided issues so because of which and he also makes a statement saying we all belong to Jesus Christ because he was crucified on the cross he died on the cross he paid a prize for you and me and when we believe we receive that liberty in them and all these problems that you are facing with regard to the sexual immorality or the division in the church or there's inequality or misuse of their freedom as big as they do not believe in Jesus Christ they do not have the fear of God in them so is guiding them back to the gospel message and he's reiterating the message of Jesus Christ about his death burial resurrection and ascension and he preaches the gospel so with that he's trying to bring the important church practices to them which is you know in this book we see that these were the some of the important practices to be practiced in the local church to do with church discipline the church service or the corporate gathering when we say church service it's about all believers come together under one roof and worship the God in a corporate manner then thirdly also addresses the table of the Lord the and he also goes on to address on the ministry of the body of Christ the importance of the gifts of the spirit speaking with other tongues and prophecy and so on so I would like to end this class with a reflection okay see our church sometimes in our time okay class can I just take two minutes just two minutes I would like to end this class with this reflection saying up in our time the church is divided may still find some of these problem that is related to the Corinthian church about immorality or you know the division or among taking taking following different church leaders so we need to have a checklist now and then you know we need to have a checklist to see are we still are we still put our desire over the needs of others are we still elevating ourselves over our sisters and brothers or the community among the community of Christ sometimes though we may claim to believe all the right things we may be missing the way the world has wrapped our theology so how do we deal with all the problems we see in ourselves and in the church system we need to thank we need to ask when we read this letter the way it was we all handled it is nothing but repeating the gospel about Jesus reminding ourselves and the people about the gospel message about Jesus death burial resurrection and ascension which may seem foolish to the world but yes it is God's greatest wisdom it is God's greatest wisdom so keeping this in our mind we can end this letter with a word of prayer can I request one of y'all to please pray and close this a session tomorrow we will look into the second Corinthians is a letter to second Corinthians so that is all about the first Corinthians where the talks and addresses on certain issues of the church anyone from the class can I please pray and close sure sure jacket I will share the PPT on first Corinthians on the google stream yes I posted Rin would you like to pray Lord Jesus we thank you Lord for this time that we have Lord to know what to have for us Lord in your word and thank you Jesus for speaking to us through Pastor Diana and Lord I pray that we reflect on what we've learned and that you'll help us Holy Spirit to make the right choices to know the truth of the gospel and that we will just be living with us for you and thank you Jesus Lord we send you this day in your hands and thank you Lord for everything we give you thanks in the name of the amen amen amen thank you so much for joining in today's session see y'all tomorrow with the next letter God bless thank you