[0:00] I don't want to unduly delay getting in the book, but in addition to that overall outline, which you can see how some of the causes of the letter shapes its contents.
[0:17] ! I always like to give attention to structure because structure is a function of inspiration.
[0:40] Structure isn't just an academic thing that we do. God inspired the structure of certain books, and so I think getting the structure in a book in your mind is very helpful.
[0:51] Many commentators have felt, and a lot has been written with this assumption, that the main issue Paul addresses is that of unity.
[1:03] There's a well-known book. It was actually a Ph.D. thesis by a woman named Margaret Mitchell. Paul and the rhetoric of reconciliation had a big influence. And so many would see chapter 1, verse 10, I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you.
[1:23] So many would see that as the theme verse for the entire book. And then the rest of the contents of the letter support that overall thrust and purpose.
[1:33] And so all the issues Paul addresses are things that have to be dealt with before real... Back up. Where do all these other things fit?
[1:44] Well, they are issues that have to be dealt with before real unity can be achieved. Now, there's no question that unity is a big issue, but I think it's only one issue. The goal of this letter is bigger and more fundamental than just unity, especially in light of what we said earlier about the Gentile composition of the church, the influence of Corinthian cultural values upon the church.
[2:07] More important, I think, than the issue of unity is the issue of purity. And not ceremonial purity, as in a Jewish context, but a moral purity.
[2:21] And in this letter, the assaults on that purity take two particular forms, sexual immorality and idolatry.
[2:31] Again, in Jewish thought, if you look at... There's plenty of evidence from intertestamental period, not to mention the Old Testament.
[2:45] Those in Jewish minds were two particularly heinous sins and two particular sins that characterized Gentiles. And given the Greco-Roman setting of Corinth, again, the infiltration of these Corinthian values, it's no surprise that they are major issues for this church as well.
[3:06] And I think you can see this both in the bulk of the letter as well as the heart of the letter. The middle ten chapters, the bulk of the book, take up these two primary issues.
[3:19] And the various manifestations of these issues among the Corinthians. And they really flow out of the introductory sections on division and unity.
[3:31] And as Paul's argument there unfolds, he arrives at a key theological reality that informs not only the division issue, but everything that's going to follow in the letter.
[3:43] Look at chapter 3, verse 16 and 17. This fits within a particular argument Paul's making, but it functions, I think, even more broadly, where he says this to the Corinthians.
[3:55] Do you not know that you are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy and you are that temple.
[4:11] So, the Corinthian church is God's temple. Made so by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is their fundamental identity.
[4:22] This is to inform who they are. This is how they are to view each other. Thus, the unity issue that Paul is addressing in this particular context. And it's especially going to inform how they live.
[4:36] To be God's temple, to be indwelt by the Spirit, has massive ethical implications. And Paul unfolds these in this letter.
[4:49] First, in the focus on sexual immorality and how that affects their purity. In chapter 5, we'll look at this in a little while, but he's going to exhort them to clean out the old leaven, to purge the sinner from their midst.
[5:06] He's dealing in communal purity terms. When he deals with visiting prostitutes. In chapter 6, what does he say? They, individually, are temples of the Holy Spirit.
[5:21] So, do not join yourself to a prostitute. You hear his theological reasoning. It's not just good Christians don't visit prostitutes.
[5:31] No, the issue is far more fundamental, far more deep than that. It's possible that it was... I think there is temple prostitution involved.
[5:48] Because in many of the cults there, there would have been pagan banquets. We'll talk about what those pagan banquets were. But a lot of times, the host would provide prostitutes for people who were attending the banquets.
[6:03] And a lot of these cults were almost like clubs. This is sort of... You made social connections, business connections. You did business deals at these kinds of things.
[6:13] And so, again, the prostitute... It's not just a man slipping out and going to a prostitute. This is sort of part of how you did business. Part of how you engaged culturally. So, I think that's what's primarily in view.
[6:26] Is the prostitutes associated with these temple... These pagan temple structures that were there. When he deals with marriage in chapter 7, he speaks about...
[6:43] Mikey and I were talking about this. He speaks about a believer sanctifying or making pure... The non-believing spouse as well as the children.
[6:56] And so, this issue of sexual immorality in the church becomes a major thrust in the letter... And occupies Paul for a full three chapters. The other pagan vice...
[7:09] The other typically Gentile vice... That impinges upon the church's purity... And that runs counter to its identity as God's temple... Is idolatry.
[7:20] And Paul's going to take that issue up in chapters 8 to 14. So, chapters 8 to 10 address the issue of meat sacrificed to idols...
[7:30] Which then culminates in a lengthy treatment of idolatry in chapter 10. Perhaps you'll remember that. He will use Israel's experience in the wilderness to warn the Corinthians.
[7:44] The take home of that example is... Don't be idolaters. Flee from idolatry. He'll say that twice. And then he speaks about pagan banquets...
[7:56] As a fellowship of demons. Totally opposed to the fellowship we have in Christ. Again, dealing in identity categories. And then in chapters 11 to 14...
[8:09] Paul addresses issues of worship. In other words, true faithful worship... Over against false idolatrous worship. And so, chapter 11...
[8:22] He will deal with the Lord's Supper. He will deal with head coverings. He will deal with the corporate assembly and spiritual gifts. Chapters 12 to 14. So, you see what he's doing.
[8:34] What you have from chapters 5 to 14... Is a lengthy treatment of both of these issues. Immorality and idolatry. And Paul's strategy with each of these issues...
[8:46] What he does is he addresses a problem in the church... And he deals with the issue negatively. In other words, in corrective terms. And then he gives instruction...
[8:57] That addresses and applies these principles positively. Okay? Now, one other fascinating thing Paul does in these sections...
[9:07] Which is theologically rich and loaded... Both for them and for us... Is to conclude his corrective... The negative teaching... With a statement of what is ultimately at stake.
[9:21] So, look with me. I said he's going to deal with immorality. Chapters 5 and 6. And he deals with it negatively. So, he's correcting them. And how does he conclude this?
[9:33] Chapter 6, verse 18. He concludes it with a statement of what is ultimately at stake. Flee from sexual... Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Flee from sexual immorality.
[9:44] Verse 18. Verse 19. Don't you know that your body is intitulable to the Holy Spirit? Verse 20. For you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body. Okay?
[9:54] Okay? And then he deals with purity issues positively. Chapter 7. So, he deals with issues of marriage and so forth. Are you with me? So, sexual immorality.
[10:05] Negatively. Five and six. A statement on what's ultimately at stake. Glorify God with your body. And then positive... A positive treatment of those kinds of issues. Then, chapters 8 to 14.
[10:17] He's going to deal with idolatry. Okay? Okay? So, he warns the Corinthians about this. So, chapters 8 through 10.
[10:29] Look with me at chapter 10. Verse 14. What does he say? Therefore, my beloved, free from idolatry. And then after unpacking this a bit more, he again reveals what's ultimately at stake and what is to be their ultimate motivation for obedience.
[10:46] Chapter 10, verse 31. So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And then, he deals with the whole issue of idolatry from a positive standpoint.
[11:00] In other words, good worship. True worship. Faithful worship. Chapters 11 to 14. Does that make sense? So, you see this brilliant strategy. I've included on your outline, basically what I just mentioned.
[11:13] How these two key issues, immorality and idolatry, both linked to the church's purity, structure the heart and the bulk of the book. I've actually adapted this from one of the commentaries I mentioned.
[11:26] The one by Sampa and Brian Rosner who unpack a number of these observations. But again, you can see both of these issues, each with a summarizing command and an ultimate reason.
[11:38] So, sexual immorality, 418 to 740. Negative correction, flee sexual immorality and greed. And then, positive instruction, glorify God with your bodies.
[11:52] And how that is applied. Then, idolatry, 8 to 14. Negative correction, flee idolatry. So, he deals with it negatively, 8 to 10.
[12:04] And then, the negative correction, flee idolatry. Positive instruction, do all to the glory of God. Then, he applies that positively, chapters 11 to 14. Are you with me?
[12:17] Get that in your mind. Bam. You've got. And then, okay. 1 to 4, unity. Factions. 5 to 7, purity.
[12:29] Immorality. 8 to 14. Idolatry. Negatively and then positively. 15, resurrection. 16, close. You've got it.
[12:40] You've got. You know 1 Corinthians now. It's that easy. There you go. But I do think this helps to point out what is at the heart of Paul's concerns with the Corinthians.
[12:52] Yes, unity is a key issue in the letter. But more fundamentally, this church, in its ongoing embrace of the Corinthian values, again, living like any citizen in Corinth would.
[13:06] And how they used to. They're just living life as a Corinthian. Well, that, in doing so, they have fallen prey to serious sin and compromise.
[13:18] It is a complete contradiction of their identity in Christ. It's damaging both to their individual lives personally and to the corporate health of the church.
[13:29] And ultimately, it is displeasing and dishonoring to God. The God who called them and sanctified them and indwelled them as his treasured people.
[13:41] So, glorify God in your body. Chapter 6, verse 20. Do all to the glory of God. Chapter 10, verse 31. Now, beyond this, I've given you one more structural observation about the letter.
[13:59] It includes what we just covered. But I think it helps to illustrate the flow of Paul's argument in the letter and in the major sections of the letter. So, between the opening greetings and Thanksgiving, chapter 1, and the closing remarks, chapter 16, we can see four primary concerns of the letter, which help illustrate the flow of thought in the letter.
[14:22] So, you see there on your outline four primary concerns. Again, just getting our minds around the strategy. First of all, division. The wisdom of the cross and Christian unity, 1 to 4.
[14:34] Or 110 to 421. Sexual morality, impure, impure. Worship, impure, impure. Eschatology, the centrality of the resurrection.
[14:47] Okay? That's actually what I just riffed on for a second. Forgetting it was what the next thing was on your outline. Finally, in all that Paul addresses, and we never want to lose sight of this, the fundamental reality that shapes his perspective, that informs his responses, and that is the ultimate solution for the sin and the challenges of this church, is the gospel of the crucified and risen Lord.
[15:19] It is the gospel to which the Corinthians must return. It is the gospel that has transformed their very identity. It is the gospel that must shape their thinking and their living.
[15:33] It is the gospel that has brought about a whole new era of God's dealings with his people. They, former pagans, have been swept up into God's purposes.
[15:46] They are part of the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. He's like, guys, don't you see who you are and what God has done? I love what Paul does here.
[15:57] His promises to dwell among his people as the true eschatological temple, that's who they are. His promises to bring worldwide worship of the true and living God, that's what they're a part of.
[16:11] All that, all brought about by the cross, which humbles human wisdom, which brings God's saving, transforming power in the world, all to the glory of God.
[16:23] If you were going to preach this letter in one sermon, what I just said would be, I think, a big part of that sermon. And in light of all of this, they are to live, this is the letter, they are to live in light of this fulfillment.
[16:51] This, their new identity in obedience to and imitation of their crucified and risen Lord. That's the letter.
[17:05] Okay? Now, with all that, we can get into the letter. To which we all say, finally. When I say idolatry, the overall issue of idolatry, he deals with it in those chapters.
[17:21] In both sections, both with immorality and idolatry, he deals with it from a negative corrective standpoint. And then he deals with it more positively. And so, what I say, so he's in that category of relating to God.
[17:34] Negatively, that's idolatry. What does true worship look like? And that's what he's dealing with in 11 to 14. Yes, true worship. And in so doing, he deals with some of the issues they're facing.
[17:47] Head coverings, what's that about? And so, he still corrects them. In fact, he's still correcting them. But in so doing, he's dealing more positively by setting forth a vision of true worship. And how the people of God relate in the corporate worship.
[18:01] Because really, 11 to 14 all deal with, he's not just dealing with heart. When I say true worship, not necessarily heart worship. But how are the people of God to worship appropriately and faithfully together?
[18:15] So, there's really a focus on the gathering of the believers in all those chapters, 11 to 14. I hope I'm understanding what your question is. The Corinthians weren't, it wouldn't be the case that they were completely excluded from society.
[18:36] They wouldn't have to offer incense to the emperor to enter the marketplace. They would, but they would be seen as not offering incense to the emperor at the imperial cult, which would have been at the head of the marketplace.
[18:54] At this point, it doesn't appear that emperor worship is being enforced. That comes later.
[19:05] In other words, and we see evidence of that in Revelation, for instance. But it's still there. And to remove, to avoid it, to remove yourself from it, is going to send certain signals.
[19:19] And it will serve to sort of exclude you. When we get to chapters 8 to 10, we'll talk about these, and I alluded to this a second ago, the pagan banquets.
[19:34] You might think, well, why in the world would they go to pagan banquets? Well, again, the pagan temples served a social function.
[19:46] And so you might hold birthday parties there. You might celebrate big events in your family at one of these banquets, along with, which would be accompanied with sacrifices to the idols of that.
[20:04] And you, just in your interaction in society, you'd be invited to these things. Business deals would be, some of these banquets would be surrounded by social connections.
[20:21] And so if you're an attorney, well, let's just come along to the banquet. And you can meet my accountant, and you can meet this guy. And so if you say, well, it's just part of doing business. And so I go, and so their allegiance to Christ is going to have significant impact on their ability to kind of live life as a Corinthians.
[20:43] So there is pressure, and it is going to exclude them in certain ways, and Paul is going to address that. But they're not sort of completely isolated now. In fact, the problem is, and Paul goes on to say, you know, you can't leave the world, right?
[20:59] Chapter 5, when I said don't associate with immoral people, I didn't mean immoral of the world. That means you'd have to leave. So Paul is not saying you can't have interactions with people. But he is going to say later, your allegiance to Christ has implications for how you do interact in Corinth.
[21:17] Well, one of the things we're going to see soon is they were largely lower class. And one of the effects of what I was just talking about, the interactions with these pagan banquets and just the way people did business in Corinth, that's largely going to involve the upper class people.
[21:45] The lower class wouldn't be invited to such things. They wouldn't participate in such things. And so one of the effects of that participation of the upper class with certain things is creating division with the lower class.
[22:02] More directly to your question, so the upper-lower class, or that divide, is going to be, it's going to come in with the lawsuits. It's going to affect a number of the interactions that are creating tensions in this church.
[22:18] They are not embracing a completely different gospel. It's an emergency. You know, a fire alarm? We throw the alarm.
[22:30] Things on fire, throw the alarm. Paul's throwing the alarm in Galatians. Their salvation is at stake. People have snuck in. They are welcoming these people and embracing these people.
[22:43] I have to intervene. That's not the case here. But they are distorting the gospel. Paul's going to get real strong in this letter, but it's not that kind of theological emergency that we have in Galatians.
[22:56] That fundamental theological emergency. There, the gospel is being abandoned. Here, the gospel is being accommodated to culture. That's the key difference, I think. We're going to talk about this in the opening introduction.
[23:10] It's really important. All right, so let's look at, let's begin with chapter one. And the letter opens, I won't go in too much depth here, but the letter opens with normal elements, opening elements of an ancient letter.
[23:24] You men have studied Paul's letters already, so you already know that ancient letters had certain conventions, right? Just like we do. We don't write letters anymore in our setting.
[23:37] Do you still write letters? You just send emails or text, right? Letters are going away. Well, you know, it used to be, at least in my setting, you would always begin a letter, dear so-and-so.
[23:52] And then you'd end with a phrase like, sincerely, so dear Michael. Then I'd write a letter, and at the end, sincerely Jeff. Or your friend Jeff.
[24:04] Or if it's to your wife, love Jeff. Ancient writers did the same thing. And because ancient letters were written on a scroll, you can understand why the sender's name was at the beginning.
[24:19] So we say, dear so-and-so, and then love Jeff, right? Well, if you did that in an ancient letter that's on a scroll, if I got the letter, what would I have to do to find out who it's from?
[24:33] Oh, that's who it's from. So ancient letters would start, you know, from Jeff to Michael, greetings.
[24:45] And that's exactly what Paul does. Paul to the church in Corinth. So the form is pretty obvious. And Paul follows those normal conventions.
[24:58] However, although Paul utilizes normal letter-writing conventions, he never merely follows convention. He always shapes.
[25:09] It's brilliant. He shapes and adapts those conventions for his larger theological purposes. In every letter of Paul's, his greetings, his designations of himself, the way he talks about himself, the way he talks about the recipients, are always appropriate to the situation at hand.
[25:32] So, again, he follows form, but his designations are never merely formal. But they're always designed to accomplish something, theologically, excuse me, and pastorally.
[25:47] Okay? One other thing about these ancient greetings, the normal ancient greeting, and we have endless examples of this.
[26:00] The way an ancient greeting would start, it would be from, you know, from, you know, so-and-so from X. I don't know if you can see this.
[26:13] From X to Y, karen. And do you recognize maybe the root of that word? Yeah, or thanks.
[26:24] But it became idiomatic for greetings. Greetings. So, from me to you, greetings. So, it became an idiom, a polite idiom.
[26:37] What does Paul do in all his letters? I just want to give you one example of what he does. Paul, to the church in Corinth. Now, he's going to say a lot more.
[26:48] But then, verse 3. But he does this in every letter, virtually every letter. Grace. So, instead of karen, which virtually every letter had, he doesn't say karen.
[27:01] What does he say? Kares. Grace. So, you see what he does. He's following convention, but he adapts the convention and inserts it with theology.
[27:15] Grace. Grace. And what else? Grace and, ah. Shalom. So, he takes the Greek greeting, changes it to grace, and then adds to it the Hebrew greeting of shalom.
[27:38] Isn't that wonderful? Grace and peace. So, he gives them the gospel at the very outset. Grace, the source of our life in God through Christ.
[27:53] And shalom, the result of our life in Christ. Grace that brings Christ to us. Shalom is the blessing and peace with God that we have as a result.
[28:07] So, Paul just gives this sort of thumbnail description of the gospel in his greetings. But taking the original form and then transforming them.
[28:20] That's what Paul is doing time and again. So, he doesn't just write letters. He's pastoring people. He's pastoring people. Now, as you move through. So, let's, let's, let's, as I said, the way he identifies himself and the way he identifies his readers are always in intentional terms appropriate to the situation and to the letter.
[28:43] So, he begins by identifying himself how? Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle. So, he identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
[28:55] Basically, a messenger. Someone sent. But, he's not just any apostle. And again, there appear to be some in Corinth who are questioning his authority.
[29:07] So, he includes two things here that highlight this authority by stressing the divine origin of his apostleship. So, look at what he says.
[29:18] Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. Probably a reference to his Damascus Road experience.
[29:30] So, similar to what you saw in the letter to the Galatians, this, his role as an apostle was not his idea. His function as apostle was not his initiative.
[29:44] Paul wasn't an ambitious man. I want to climb to the top of the ecclesiological ladder. No, he didn't volunteer. He didn't dream this up. He couldn't have even conceived of this.
[29:56] He was called. And when Paul uses that word call, you've seen it. Do you remember the verb? Kaleo.
[30:09] Right? So, this becomes part of Paul's vocabulary of divine initiative. In particular, divine initiative in salvation.
[30:22] But, also more generally, divine initiative. So, when he says called, that's emphasizing the divine initiative of God. Paul did, you can reject me as an apostleship.
[30:36] You can question my apostleship. But, let me just tell you, it doesn't emerge with me. It wasn't bestowed upon me by the big 12. That's exactly what he says in Galatians. Remember that? I didn't go to Jerusalem and have Peter sprinkle holy water on me.
[30:53] No. Called by God. This was God's idea. And then, what's the second thing that he says? His apostleship was by the will of God.
[31:05] In other words, his apostleship was not self-originated. It was not mediated. His apostleship comes directly from the call of Christ.
[31:17] And he's going to reference this again in this letter. Do you remember in chapter 9, he's going to speak of his rights as a legitimate apostle. Remember that in Acts chapter 9? Am I not an apostle?
[31:31] Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Don't I have a right to take along a wife like Peter? Et cetera. He's going to call them in chapter 9 the seal of his apostleship.
[31:44] In chapter 15, he's going to speak about Christ appearing to him like the other apostles. So, this apostleship is not just here.
[31:56] It's not just a formality. He's going to refer to it again and again. Now, again, this is not as strong as, say, Galatians.
[32:07] But we do have a preliminary glimpse of some of the tensions between Paul and at least some of the Corinthians in this church. And we have Paul beginning to address those tensions by the way he introduces himself and stressing that authority.
[32:25] Okay? Now, I want to think for a second about just what kind of apostle Paul is. I don't know if you've dealt with this in Pauline theology, but there can be a lot of confusion here.
[32:39] And I just laid this out for you the way I think it's helpful to think about. Paul did not regard himself as one of the 12.
[32:51] Because in 15.5, he's going to mention the 12. Right? So, the idea in the New Testament is not after Judas died and the apostles drew straws and pointed Matthias.
[33:05] Some people would say, you know what? They made a mistake. They were rash. They were impulsive. Matthias was not the one who replaced Judas. Paul was.
[33:17] That's not true. There's no indication that they made a mistake. And Paul himself refers to the 12. He doesn't identify himself as one of the 12.
[33:28] So, he's not one of them. Well, what is he? Well, if we look at the usage of the term apostle in the New Testament, we can see, I think, three levels of apostleship.
[33:39] Or three ways the word is used with regard to followers of Christ. So, I put these on your outline. First of all, there's a technical use. Meaning, one of the 12.
[33:52] So, these were the apostles of the Lamb. So, Jesus' original followers minus Judas plus Matthias. Acts chapter 1. Okay?
[34:02] They occupied a particular office. Do you remember when they were placing Apollos in Acts chapter 1? What does Peter do? They're praying to the Lord, meaning the Lord Jesus. And he quotes Old Testament scripture.
[34:16] Let another take his office. Episcopae. You hear in that Episcopalian. Let another take his office.
[34:27] In other words, these 12 occupied a particular office. They were specifically authorized eyewitnesses of the risen Lord Jesus. They had certain qualifications that were set forth in Acts chapter 1.
[34:38] They had to be eyewitnesses of Jesus during his entire earthly ministry. Their names will appear on the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21, 14. So, that's the technical sense of apostle.
[34:50] There's also, however, I think, a semi-technical sense that we see the word used this way. Those called apostles who were not of the 12.
[35:04] So, it seems that Paul is more than the others besides the 12 who are referred to as apostles. So, in Galatians 1, 19, James is called an apostle.
[35:16] This is not James the original apostle. James the brother of John. This is James the brother of Jesus who, nonetheless, is designated an apostle. Barnabas is called an apostle in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 6.
[35:30] Paul categorizes Silas as an apostle. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 6. You with me? So, there is, I think, a second category of persons commissioned by the risen Christ for a particular function.
[35:50] And what is that function? Well, when you look at the people who were called apostles, I think that function is leading the church in its mission. Whether it be pioneering work like Barnabas and Saul and Silas, or whether it be significant leadership in the church that extends beyond a single congregation like James, who, as we learn in Acts chapter 15 and Acts chapter 21, is the leader of the church in Jerusalem.
[36:25] And then we have churches coming to Jerusalem, appealing to Jerusalem, to make a decision on a theological issue that affects many congregations.
[36:37] So, there is a second sense of apostleship. I think that's what Paul probably has in mind in verses like Ephesians 4, 11.
[36:49] God has put in the church, or the risen Lord, He rose and He gave gifts to the church.
[36:59] Verse 9, and there's a parenthesis in verse 10, and then Ephesians 4, 11. And He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Then there is clearly a non-technical sense.
[37:14] You see that on your outline. Those who are basically representatives, deputies, maybe messengers. There's two uses of that in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 8, 23, when He's talking about these unnamed people.
[37:27] As to the brothers, they are apostles of the churches. I think that's a, He just means they're messengers, they're representatives of the churches. He speaks about Epaphroditus in these terms in Philippians 2.
[37:39] He is my brother and my fellow worker. He is your messenger and minister to my need. Remember that? The word is apostle.
[37:50] He is your apostle and minister to my need. In other words, He's representing them in the way He cares for Paul. So, where does Paul fit? Well, I submit to you that I think he fits between A and B.
[38:06] He's not one of the 12, but he's above those others like James. He had a particular call.
[38:18] He is the apostle to the Gentiles. Jesus words Himself to him in Acts chapter 9. He sees Himself as an eschatological figure.
[38:31] Paul sees himself as fulfilling the servant role of Isaiah 49. We see that in Acts chapter 13. Paul sees himself as a figure of his eschatological significance.
[38:43] He's not like just any old guy. Now, how this is traditionally treated, well, what I just said is not how this is traditionally treated.
[38:55] But I think the whole topic of apostleship must pay careful attention to lexical issues. And how the term is used in various contexts. And so, you have sort of two ways in which it's normally used.
[39:09] It's only the 12. But then people have trouble. Well, how do you deal with Silas and Barnabas and even Saul? Or there's all kinds of apostles.
[39:21] Self-appointed apostles. In certain parts of America, you can drive by the highway and see a big billboard.
[39:32] Apostle so-and-so coming to the arena near you. Having some kind of special anointing on them or so forth. I think what we've just laid out is faithful to the biblical data.
[39:49] And I think it's the existence of a significant leadership gift of an apostle. Like Barnabas and James that seems to be behind those texts. Like Ephesians 4.11.
[40:00] It is interesting. There's an interesting adverb in that verse. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. That are given to equip the saints for the work of ministry.
[40:14] You know the verse, right? And then there's this adverb, mechri. Until. Until we attain to the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.
[40:26] To measure the stature of the fullness of Christ. So are there apostles that continue on until that happens?
[40:39] Okay, let's pull up the Psalm of Grace statement of faith. Just a note. Turn to the section of the empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit.
[40:54] And then there's two subheadings under that large heading. There are the filling of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. Everyone there?
[41:07] All right. Now I want to read something to you. Under the gifts of the Spirit. Christ. So we'll just read. Christ loves the church, his body. And provides for its health and growth through the Holy Spirit.
[41:20] In addition to giving new life. So we're wanting to stress that's fundamental. The Spirit sovereignly bestows gifts on every believer.
[41:34] And you see the footnotes there. Spiritual gifts are those abilities and expressions of God's power given by his grace for the glory of Christ. And the building up of his church.
[41:45] The variety of these gifts. Some permanent. Some occasional. Some more natural. Some more remarkable. Reflects the diversity of the members of Christ's body.
[41:56] And demonstrates our need for one another. The gifts are not to be exercised with apprehension, pride, or disorder. But with faith, love, and order. And always in submission to the authority of Scripture as the final revelation of God.
[42:09] Okay? Now this next sentence is relevant to what we're talking about. With the exception of those among the apostles who were commissioned as eyewitnesses of Christ.
[42:21] And made recipients of normative revelation. The full range of spiritual gifts remain at work in the church. And are given for the good of the church and its witness to the world.
[42:33] Okay? So we're saying that all the gifts are available. We are continuationists. Right? And you've had a whole course on that. I think. Didn't you?
[42:46] But this was very carefully worded. With the exception of those among the apostles. And even note the wording there.
[42:56] Not the apostles. But those among the apostles. Who were commissioned as eyewitnesses of Christ. And made recipients of normative revelation.
[43:07] Meaning what? They wrote the Bible. Exactly. Scripture. Scripture. So. And hence Paul is included in that. And Paul was an eyewitness of the risen Christ.
[43:20] But we also realize there's other apostles. Now look at the footnote there. Well actually. It's footnote 369. Under gifts of the spirit. Can you see that?
[43:34] Okay. It's a long footnote. And these footnotes are there too. These footnotes aren't part of the statement of faith. So a sovereign grace pastor doesn't have to.
[43:46] I agree with everything written in all these footnotes. I mean. I don't think they will disagree. These were given. These were written. I wrote these. I think I wrote all of. All but one. To.
[43:57] Just give explanation of. The rationale. Behind what we're saying. And maybe some clarifying. Statements. So the importance of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. Our own continuationist convictions.
[44:10] And the confusion that often surrounds the gifts. All warrant. This subsection on the gifts. And so what we're saying there is. Find me a statement of faith.
[44:23] Or a confession of faith. That deals with spiritual gifts. I don't know of another one. But. We're saying. This was important to include.
[44:34] Not because it's the most important thing in the world. But. They are important in the New Testament. They are important to our own. Continuationist convictions.
[44:46] And. There's a lot of confusion about these. So all that warrants this subsection. Then this just describes the section. The paragraph begins by placing the gifts. In a biblical context. As aspects of Christ's care for his church.
[45:00] Such a context preserves a Christ centeredness. Relative to the gifts. As well as an appreciation for them. So we're keeping Jesus central. You with me?
[45:12] This is followed by a definition of the gifts. Along with a statement of the general purpose. The next sentence picks up on key New Testament teaching. On the gifts. Including their variety. And their role of promoting interdependence.
[45:23] Among members of Christ's body. By addressing the manner in which gifts are to be practiced. Faith, love and order. We are affirming that churches must vigilantly guard. Against the abuse. And misuse of gifts.
[45:35] The paragraph then affirms the continuity. Of spiritual gifts. Therefore excluding the view of cessationism. Cousationism. Which holds that some classes of the spirit's manifestations have ceased. And are no longer needed by the church in the present age.
[45:48] The single exception to this. Those quote apostles who were commissioned as eyewitnesses of Christ. And made recipients of normative revelation. Is acknowledged.
[45:59] And thus the technical sense of apostles. As eyewitnesses of Christ. Acts 1 20 and 22. Is thus excluded. Reflected. Okay. So what we just talked about is reflected here.
[46:12] But then. Beyond this. The statement does not go into detail. Concerning offices. And in so doing. This. Makes room for an ongoing gift of apostleship.
[46:26] Parenthesis. Or. An apostolic gifting. As for example. A pioneer slash church planter. And shepherd to other pastors.
[46:37] So it makes room for that. Written this way. The statement stops short. Of insisting on. An apostolic gifting. In a way that might exclude a pastor.
[46:48] Who is uncertain. About this way of articulating such a gifting. In other words. We don't. If there's a pastor saying. I'm not sure I want to talk about that way. Okay. We're not. We're not insisting upon that. In other words.
[46:59] We're allowing a range within sovereign grace. Of thinking about that. Meaning what? Well. Meaning.
[47:09] Okay. Based on Ephesians 4.11. Based on these other guys who are called apostles. We don't know if they saw the risen Christ. Maybe Barnabas did.
[47:20] Not sure about Silas. But the way they're functioning. And then Ephesians 4.11. There does seem to be. A potential for.
[47:32] That as being an ongoing gift. Not as a person who writes scripture. And not as a person who sits on top of an ecclesiological hierarchy. So not a pope.
[47:45] Or a patriarch. But rather someone who provides. Who has a significant leadership gift in the church. That extends beyond one congregation. In particular that leads the church in its mission.
[47:59] Okay. Some would call that. No. I believe in that ongoing gift. But we call it an apostolic gifting. We don't label guys apostles. And when I was doing a teaching on this back in 2010.
[48:11] This was long before this was. Long before this came about. But we used to have in Sovereign Grace an apostolic team. Now the guys didn't call themselves apostles.
[48:22] But it was basically being used in this sense. Guys leading the church in his mission. But one of the points I made there is. I think we should be. We should be chastened.
[48:34] We should be. We should be warned. And cautious. Given the testimony of church history. About using that noun.
[48:44] As a label for a particular people. Now there are people who are called apostles. Later in the church. Late first century. Early second century. In early Christian works.
[48:55] Like the Didache. In other church handbooks. And so forth. But it disappears pretty quickly. And pretty soon. The people who are leading the church in its mission. Or exercising authority over a number of churches.
[49:09] Are not called that anymore. They become bishops. Or monarchical bishops. And so forth. One of the things you do have in the church though. Is that there are.
[49:20] There have always been throughout the history of the church. Men whose gifting has made room for them. In providing leadership of the church. And sometimes you even hear.
[49:32] Very conservative Christian circles. Who would never agree to apostles. They will call somebody like. A Hudson Taylor. Do you know that name? That brought the gospel to China.
[49:45] Sometimes he's referred to. You know just casually as. Well he's the apostle to China. In other words in the church. There's God has always raised up people. Who lead the church in its mission.
[49:56] And so. You might call that an apostolic gifting. So what our statement of faith. Makes room for. Well if you want to think of that. As an apostolic gifting. That's fine.
[50:07] But we don't insist on that. If you say. Well I'm not sure I want to use that. That's fine too. So. But we do not use it as a term. In our ecclesiological structure.
[50:18] Because of. The lack of clarity of that. That. The off. In the New Testament. The offices in the New Testament are clear. Elder. Deacon. Pastor.
[50:29] Deacon. Overseer. Deacon. And that has been the pattern of church history. And so we don't use the term in that way. Although. Even in Gordon Fee's commentary on 1 Corinthians.
[50:41] He makes a statement to this account. He says. There needs to be an ongoing expression of the apostolic gift throughout church history.
[50:52] And we would agree with that. Or you could just say. We. Just using the doctrine of spiritual gifts. There is a gift of leadership. So some men have a gift of leadership.
[51:05] That is of the. The level. That. Positions him to serve the church more broadly. Does that make sense? Is that helpful?
[51:16] So a little. Little. Lengthy. Parenthesis about. Sovereign grace. And how we think about that. But how. How it articulates with the. The usage of the word here. Yes James. Yeah.
[51:28] That's a great question. And it's not always easy. And you have to be very careful. I think in Ephesians 2 20. Paul is speaking there.
[51:39] Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. I think there he's speaking of. Of the original apostles. What does he mean by prophets?
[51:51] Most would. Most would. I think. An increasing consensus would say. I certainly would say. I think. Those would be. Not just a person with a prophetic gift now.
[52:02] I think they were. In the first century. In the early church. There were some. Who were. Called. Prophets. Who functioned with the apostles. And in that function.
[52:14] Gave normative revelation. It's real interesting. When you look at Acts chapter 13. You don't have to turn there. But. This is. Just before Paul and Barnabas are sent out.
[52:25] On the first missionary journey. Listen to how it's described. Now there were in the church at Antioch. Prophets and teachers. Barnabas. Simeon. Lucius.
[52:36] Manion. And Saul. Doesn't say there were apostles there. Although Paul is later called an apostle. But he says. Prophets and teachers.
[52:47] So. You see there. And he doesn't say. Which ones are the. Prophets. And which ones are the teachers. But you can see there. Men. Paul. There.
[52:59] Being categorized. Probably as a prophet. Meaning. One who. Who. Who. Was given. One who the spirit. Gave inspired speech.
[53:10] One who produced. Normative revelation. So most would see. Well in the early. And so. Think about this. Is it only the apostles. Think back to your prolegomena class.
[53:21] Is it only the apostles who wrote scripture. No. Who was it. Apostles and those closely associated with them.
[53:33] Right. So Mark. Wrote a gospel. But we're. Almost certain that what. That. I mean Mark is. Peter's. Closely related to Peter.
[53:44] He's with Peter in Rome. And so. He's basically giving us. Peter's memoirs. His source. For his gospel. Is. The apostle Peter. The primary source.
[53:55] Right. And so the way to think about the New Testament. Is. It emerged. Out of. An apostolic. Matrix. Matrix. And that apostolic.
[54:08] Matrix. In other words. The apostles. And those with them. Including. Prophets. Certain prophets. That. Together.
[54:19] Gave. Rise. To normative. Revelation. Inspired. By the Holy Spirit. So there's an apostolic. Matrix. That's the phrase I've used. And I think that as apostles and prophets.
[54:31] In Ephesians 2. 20. Is that apostolic. Matrix. Matrix. Now. A very. Tricky. Question.
[54:42] Is. Okay. Then you get to Ephesians 4. 11. Apostles. Prophets. Evangelists. Pastors. Teachers. Teachers. Are those apostles prophets. The same as the apostles prophets. In Ephesians 2. 20. Hmm. Very interesting. It does seem.
[54:53] Contextually. That Paul envisions. Maybe a broader grouping there. Because he says. Apostles. Prophets. Evangelists. Pastors. And teachers. And then he uses that adverb. Mechry.
[55:04] Until. Until this future day. When the church is in full maturity. The measure of the stature. The fullness of Christ. So. I think there. Paul may have in view. A broader view of apostles and prophets.
[55:17] But I can't be absolutely certain of that. But that's my. That's how I would interpret it. Very. Very. Very good question. The upseka.
[55:30] Implicit. In what we write there. Is the exclusion of those. Ephesians 2. 20. Prophets. Why. Because we say. Who became.
[55:42] Instruments of normative revelation. So we're. We're excluding anyone. Or. Any notion. That anyone is giving. Inspired speech. That is normative.
[55:53] Right. We even say. Again. I mean. We're hammering away. All the gifts. Must be used in submission. To the final revelation. Of God. In scripture. And we exclude gifts.
[56:04] Of people. That may write. Normative revelations. So we're excluding those. But the reason. We don't put prophets. There is. There are prophets. There is the gift. Of prophecy.
[56:15] And. In 1 Corinthians 14. Paul speaks about. The spirit of prophets. Is subject to the prophets. Or prophets. Are subject to the spirit of prophets. Meaning.
[56:26] He's calling people. Who prophesy. On a Sunday morning. In Corinth. Corinth. Who clearly are not. The foundation. Of the church everywhere. They're just guys. Who have the gift of prophecy.
[56:37] On a Sunday morning. In Corinth. He calls them prophets. And so. We don't exclude. The gift of prophecy. Because the gift of prophecy. Clearly continues. We're commanded. To pursue it. Appropriately defined.
[56:50] Appropriately. Under the. Authority of scripture. And. Appropriately. Governed. By. Pastoral leadership. Which is also.
[57:01] A gift of the spirit. So. We didn't want to. Exclude that. Yep. Second. But. We do. Implicitly. Exclude any notion.
[57:11] Of someone. A prophet. Who's having. Inspired speech. That. Is scripture. Quality. That is normative. For all Christians. Everywhere. I suppose.
[57:24] We could have said. And. It would have gotten. A bit cumbersome. Though. And prophets. If you mean. Those prophets. Who were with the apostles. Who formed the apostolic matrix.
[57:34] Of revelation. Out of which our new testament emerged. But that would get a little. That would get a little cumbersome. But I can say it in a class like this. You could. You could. We could have done it that way.
[57:45] But I. Most. Prophets. That you see. In the new testament. Aren't giving normative revelation. The only time.
[57:56] We see that. Is implicit. In. Ephesians 2. 20. So. It's not a major category. That we felt like. We had to guard. That's basically. What's behind it. It's a good question.
[58:08] Yes. Brian. Well. No. By definition. It's not. When I say normative revelation. I mean normative. For all Christians. For all time.
[58:20] And that. Is. Captured in scripture. Right. It had to be. If God wanted something. That all Christians. Are to believe. And obey. Then he would put it in scripture. Okay.
[58:31] So. Do we have examples of that? No. But we. We do know. That. There were those. Among the. Apostolic band.
[58:42] Who weren't. Apostles. Who wrote. Scripture. And their. Words are received. As inspired by God. So those would be. I think. I think. Biblically.
[58:52] The category. For such a person. Like Mark. Right. Or like Jude. Would be. They are. Giving normative revelation.
[59:03] So they would be. Prophets. Perhaps. Paul. That. Paul is an apostle. And a prophet. A prophet. Acts 13.
[59:15] One. So we don't have. Explicit. Statements. Of such prophets. Doing that. And we have.
[59:26] Examples. Of prophets. Of different levels. Again. An agabus. Who comes down. And gives a prophecy. About. The famine.
[59:37] To come in Jerusalem. He seems to be. Not a. He's not given. Normative revelation. He doesn't write. Any scripture. Then we've got.
[59:48] Prophets. On. Unnamed prophets. In Corinth. Whose prophecies. Are to be tested. We have prophecy. Among the.
[59:58] The church. In Thessalonica. To whom. Paul writes. One. One Thessalonians. Five. Don't despise. Prophecy. But test everything. So.
[60:11] There's clearly. Different levels. Of prophecy. In the New Testament. But the ongoing gift. Is not normative. I mean. I just. You know. God.
[60:22] God. Used them. To. God. Inspired them. The spirit. Inspired them. To give. Normative revelation. The early church. Recognized their writings. As normative revelation.
[60:33] God. Insured. The canon. The church. Didn't create the canon. God. Created the canon. God. Gave us those books. The church. Just recognized it. The Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit.
[60:47] Self. Attestation. We see. In those books. God. Breathed. Scripture. So. They weren't apostles. So. Prophet. Seems to be. An appropriate name.
[60:59] For him. Yeah. That's not a hill. I want to die on. No. Yeah. Exactly. Well. It's. It's a great question. You guys. He's not.
[61:10] He's called. He's called. An evangelist. Acts 21. Philip. The evangelist. I think he's called. The evangelist. Because. Of all the evangelism. He did. He said. Man.
[61:20] This guy's going. All over. He was a deacon. But then. He's going to Samaria. And the Ethiopian eunuch. So. What's Philip? Look at what he did. He's an evangelist. He's clearly has the gift of evangelism.
[61:32] But he's not. Play. He doesn't seem to be playing a. Yeah. So what's. What's. What's the difference? Well. He's.
[61:43] In. In. Here's how I think about it. Now. There's. There's not a lot of verses here. It's not one of these areas. It's real clear. I. I think one of the things that marks. And. That marked Paul. His apostolic ministry.
[61:56] Over against. In evangelistic ministry. Is the way. Paul. Paul didn't just preach the gospel. But he gave birth to communities. And he cared for those communities. In an ongoing way. He never.
[62:08] Felt. He never lost a burden. For those churches. He revisited those churches. I think it was Paul's. Ongoing care. And responsibility. For.
[62:18] For. Those churches. That mark his apostolic ministry. Over against. An evangelistic ministry. Now. I can't give you verse.
[62:29] I could give you a bunch of verses. That might. Sort of point to that. But there's not a verse. That says that. That in my mind. Is. Is kind of how. I think it's a. Is a biblical way. To think about it.
[62:40] An evangelist. I mean the word. Just means. One who proclaims the gospel. And. You don't have. In the New Testament. A gift of evangelism.
[62:54] And I think that's on purpose. Because if you had. A gift of evangelism. You know what. A lot of Christians would do. I don't have the gift. Sorry. I think all Christians.
[63:05] Are called to give an account. For the hope that's. Within us. Right. All of us are. There's no gift of evangelism. I don't think. But. That's not to say. Certain people are more gifted. At it.
[63:17] And I know people like that. You know people like that. Maybe you're one of them. I know guys who are just. They're just not like me. Just. Every. Conversation. Becomes a gospel conversation.
[63:28] In ways that just amaze me. And I just think. Man. This guy's gifted. In evangelism. But that doesn't. Alleviate me. But I think. An evangelist.
[63:39] In Ephesians 411. Because what does it say? Prophets. Apostles. Evangelist. Apostles. Evangelist. Teachers.
[63:49] To equip the saints. So that points me to. I actually did teaching. Well. Not too long ago. On the gift of evangelist. I think what's in view there.
[64:00] Is not just someone. Who's good at evangelism. But. I think an evangelist. Is one. Who. Not only. Is gifted. In evangelism.
[64:10] And fruitful. In evangelism. But has a leadership gift. With it. That helps equip others. Because that evangelist. Is given. In that list. For the equipping.
[64:21] Of the saints. So that evangelist. Equips saints. So I think it's a combination. Of very. Someone who's very fruitful. In evangelism. And gifted in it. But also. There's a leadership gift.
[64:31] With it. That enables them. To function. In a way. That equips others. And so. In sovereign grade. We've sought to apply this. We've. We've now. We've got a guy.
[64:41] Who teaches evangelism. In the pastor's college. Did he come here? Did Bill. Did. Did. Jim. Donahue. Come here. Okay. Well.
[64:52] Jim. There's a guy. In a church. In Philadelphia. Who's just a real. Gifted evangelist. But so. But he's a pastor. And so much of his ministry. Is developing structures. And like.
[65:03] And. Like a new. You. Like. Kind of what you guys are doing here. Sort of an exploring. Christianity type thing. Okay. There you go. Jim. Is like.
[65:14] And so. One of the phrases. We'll sometimes use. Is an equipping evangelist. And so. He. He. Goes around. Sovereign grace. And equips others. And he's now identified.
[65:25] Guy. One guy. In each of our regions. In the United States. Who's gifted in that way. And he's investing into them. So those guys can invest. Into other churches. I think it's just an expression. Of that. Ephesians 4. 11 gift.
[65:36] So a guy. Who's evangelistically gifted. Who can come alongside. Other churches. And stir them up. And give them ideas. And help them become more effective. Evangelistically.
[65:46] I think that's what's. The Ephesians 4. 11 evangelist is. Which I love having that category. Right. I mean the Bible gives us that category.
[65:57] And when you have the category. You know what you'll do. You'll identify the gift. And you'll deploy the gift. Instead of saying. Yeah. God gives evangelist. And so it's over there somewhere.
[66:08] No. It's a gift. To equip the saints. And so let's look for those people. Let's. Let's. Identify them. And deploy them. And benefit from their. From their gifting. So I.
[66:20] There's a real benefit. In letting the Bible. Create our categories for us. So. We're. We're going to get back to the letter. And. All right.
[66:31] So. We've talked about Paul. How he's addressed himself. Then. He addresses the church. And. I want you. Just. I want us to note. How careful he is. With this. Look at verse two.
[66:41] To the church of God. That is in Corinth. To those sanctified. In Christ Jesus. Called to be saints.
[66:52] Together with all those. Who in every place. Call upon the name. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both. Their Lord. And ours. Grace to you. And peace. You see. You see. You see what he's doing.
[67:03] He's. He's going out of his way. To make certain points. So this is a. Dense. Address. That's packed. With theological. And pastoral.
[67:14] Significance. In fact. In no other letter. Of Paul. Does he give such an elaborate. Description of the church. That he's addressing. So just a few things. We're going to roll through this quickly.
[67:25] First. They are. The church of God. Four times. In this letter. He speaks of the church of God. How often does Paul speak of the church of God?
[67:49] Four times in this letter. Only once in 2 Corinthians. Once in Galatians. Once. Luke says it in the book of Acts. In Paul's words.
[68:01] To the Ephesian elders. In Acts chapter 20. In other words. This is not a common phrase. In the New Testament. It's the. Ekklesia. Of God.
[68:13] And that word. Ekklesia. Is rich. With significance. The. The Septuagint. You familiar with Septuagint.
[68:23] The Greek. Translation. Of the Hebrew Old Testament. The Septuagint. Uses. Ekklesia. I'm not going to draw this on the board. Just to save time. To translate. The Hebrew word.
[68:34] Kahal. Which is. Means. Assembly. Or congregation. And so. Many times. In the Old Testament. You have the. Kahal. Of.
[68:45] God. Or the. Kahal. Of. Israel. Israel. The. The assembly. Of Israel. The gathered. People. Of. God. And so. When the New Testament. Right.
[68:55] And so. In the old. In the Septuagint. Those verses. Are translated. With. Ekklesia. And so. When you get to the New Testament. And you see. New Testament. People of God. Called the.
[69:06] Ekklesia. Ekklesia. What goes off. In your mind. They are the inheritors. Of this. Noble. Identification.
[69:17] Of the Old Testament. We. Are now. The. Kahal. Of God. The assembly. Of God. The very. The gathered. People. Of God. So.
[69:29] It's rich. With. Significance. Whenever you see the word. You know. We throw around. Church. It's because it's a common word. But when you think. Ekklesia.
[69:39] Ekklesia. Boy. It is loaded. With significance. There's ecclesiology. In that word. And so. What he's. What he's telling them. Is. You're not just a church.
[69:50] No. Your identity. Is rooted. In the very. Foundational. Purposes. Of God. To have a people. For himself. Distinct. From all. The nations. He's reminding them.
[70:05] Of this. Heritage. That they have. You see. And then he goes on. What does he say. Of God. The ecclesia. Of God. That's weighty.
[70:15] They belong to him. And not. As we will see. To any other Christian teacher. Or any other Christian leader. Not to Paul. Not to Apollos. Not to Peter. You see how he's already laying the foundation.
[70:29] They are. The ecclesia. To Theu. The ecclesia. Of God. That's who they belong to. And Paul will use that phrase. To Theu. Of God.
[70:41] Elsewhere. In this letter. Chapter 3. He's going to call them. The field. Of God. He's going to call them. The building. Of God.
[70:51] Time and again. Paul said. Paul is making clear. Who we belong to. Who our master is. So what's he doing? That's what I said in our introduction.
[71:03] He's reworking their identity. Stressing who it is. Just who it is they belong to. And let me mention this too.
[71:18] That phrase. And again. It's unique. In Paul's addresses. To his churches. It wasn't invented by him. In intertestamental.
[71:31] Jewish literature. When I say that. You know what I'm talking about. Right? Jewish writings. Of the second temple period. So Jewish writings. Between. The testaments.
[71:42] That phrase. Was actually used. In apocalyptic writings. The church of God. To refer to. God's. In time. People.
[71:54] The people that God. Would intervene. In history. To deliver. His people. As they will exist. In the last days. When. Well. It's gone. But.
[72:05] His people. As they exist. In the last days. When God intervenes. When Yom Yahweh. Comes. When God intervenes. To vindicate the righteous. And judge the wicked. And fulfill the promises.
[72:15] To Israel. And bring all history. As we know it. To an end. God. So if you know. Jewish literature. You're thinking. We're that. Yes.
[72:27] We're that. So the early church. Recognized. That it was. The inheritors. Of God's promises.
[72:38] It was. God's elect. Called. Into existence. By him. Through the work. Of Christ. Christ. So you see. What he's doing.
[72:48] He's reminding them. He's shaping them. By this lofty name. They are holy. Unlike. Any other groups. In Corinth. Any religious cults. In Corinth.
[72:58] Any trade guilds. In Corinth. Any social clubs. In Corinth. Any other. Human. Gathering. Or association. Because they're not.
[73:09] A merely. Human gathering. They are the church. Of God. And central. To God's plan. And so. Sunday morning.
[73:20] When we come into this room. I hope you come in. With new eyes. I hope you come in. Going. This isn't just Sunday meeting.
[73:32] This is the ecclesia. Of God. This is God's own. Possession. This is the people. Called. By. God. Acted upon.
[73:43] By God. Fulfilling God's role. In the last days. The last days. Being. The whole time. Between. The ascension of Christ.
[73:54] And the return. Of Christ. Sunday morning. This is no human gathering. That's amazing. Pastors. Have to look at their church.
[74:05] That way. Keep you from complaining. About your church. About your church. Complete. Protect you. Against thinking. About your church. As a. Just a bunch of.
[74:16] Troublesome people. Can't they get their lives together. No. These are. This is the church of God. It's not my church. I'm called to lead. But it's the church of God.
[74:27] It's amazing. Ecclesiology. Right? And Paul's not finished. They are. What? What does he say next? Sanctified.
[74:38] In. Christ. Jesus. Called. To. Be. Saints. Again. Rich. Old Testament. Significance. To be sanctified. What does it be sanctified mean? In the first instance.
[74:49] Yes. Set apart. To be. To be. Set apart. By God. For the service of God.
[75:00] Like Israel's priests. They were sanctified. The vessels in the temple. They were. Sanctified. He's not. Referring to their present state of godliness.
[75:11] Is he? Not at all. And it's not a select few. It's. You know. You got a couple of godly guys in your church. And. Mainly women.
[75:21] They tend to be the most godly ones. It's not just a few. Who are godly. The entire. Community. Is godly. And. And we won't. I wish we had time. To just.
[75:32] Plow through this in the Greek. But you see the word sanctified there. It's a participle. And it's in the perfect tense. What does that mean? They are.
[75:44] They. They have been. And now are. Sanctified. They exist. Just. Sanctified. This is a state. Of being. A state of being. That they have entered into.
[75:55] And that characterizes. The entire. Community. Continually. So they weren't. Sanctified. In the past. When god called them.
[76:06] They stand. Sanctified. Now. This is the nature. Of their existence. As the people of god. God. You see. And. And. And.
[76:16] And. And we must note. In what way. They were sanctified. They are sanctified. In. Christ. Jesus. So. Paul's reminding them.
[76:27] Of. The. The means. And nature. Of their sanctification. It came. Because. Of. Jesus Christ. It came. Through. Jesus Christ. It's only.
[76:37] Because. By virtue. Of their union. With. Jesus Christ. That they are sanctified. That's the only way. They could be sanctified. But.
[76:49] They are. And remain. United. With. Jesus Christ. That's their identity. Their very. Existence. In.
[76:59] Jesus Christ. All the blessings. Of salvation. Come to them. By virtue. Of this union. With Christ. Indeed. They share his. Risen life. In your.
[77:12] Soteriology course. I suppose. You talked a lot. About. Union with Christ. Right. Yes. And this. Then. Gets reinforced. By. The next phrase.
[77:22] Sanctified. In Christ. Jesus. Called. To be. Saints. Called. To be. What is it. In the Greek. Hagioi.
[77:36] Right. A substantized. Form of. The adjective. Holy. Hagios. Holy. Hagioi.
[77:48] Holy ones. Saints. They are saints. By calling. One. One of Paul's. Favorite. Words.
[77:58] For believers. And. The word. And. The idea. Came at the very. Founding. Of the nation. Of Israel. After the exodus.
[78:10] After the red sea. Deliverance. You remember what happened. God gathers them together. This. This motley crew.! Of clans.
[78:20] And tribes. Well. God gathers them together. At the foot of Mount Sinai. Acts. Or. Exodus 19. And for the first time. Forges them. They weren't a nation.
[78:32] They were clans. And tribes. And cousins. And now. He's forging them. Into a nation. And not just any nation. Exodus 19. 6. What does he say?
[78:43] They were to be a. Kingdom. Of priests. And a what? Holy. Nation.
[78:57] A people. For God's own. Possession. Set apart. From. Himself. And this will be echoed. Again. And again. Throughout Israel's history. What is. In verses like.
[79:08] Leviticus 19. You shall be. Holy. Because. I am holy. You shall be.
[79:19] Hagioi. Because. I am. Hagios. You shall be. Holy ones. Because. I. Am. The. Holy. One. So.
[79:31] Paul. When. When. Paul. Applies. This. Historic. Lofty. Language. To the. Corinthians. He's. Echoing. The very. Call. Of. God. To. Israel. He's. Echoing.
[79:41] The deliverance. Of. Israel. He's. He's. Echoing. The setting. Apart. Of. The people. Of. God. For. Himself. So. Again. This is. Going. To be. Paul. Part.
[79:51] Of. Paul's. Pastoral. Strategy. Numerous. Times. In this. Letter. He's. Going. To describe. These. Rowdy. Corinthians. Predominantly.
[80:03] Gentile. Fellows. as members of the covenant people of God. Whatever their race, whatever their background, whatever their former lifestyle, what they are now are God's covenant people.
[80:18] Now they're caught up in the story of God's gracious elective purposes. They become heirs of Israel's story. God's treasured possessions, representatives of the kingdom of God within a world that does not know God.
[80:35] Pastoral application. It's part of our task to inform, to remind, to build this mindset into the people of our churches.
[80:49] Christians are not just moral people who obey the things that are important in this church to get along. You want to be a good member of this church?
[81:01] Well, you do the things we do. This is how you're part of this church. No. We are inheritors, not only of God's forgiveness, but not only of God's blessings, but of a special calling, a vocation, a calling to know God and worship God and delight in God and demonstrate to the world through joy and faith and peace and transformed lives just what life is meant to be, lived in fellowship with the one true and living God.
[81:31] So, again, in legalistic settings, and I know some of you would have heard some of those stories, would have come out of that background, in our teaching and our preaching and our pastoring, we're not just commanding people.
[81:44] We're not just keeping people in line with rules. We're not just seeking moral people. We're not just helping people be successful, giving pragmatic advice for life.
[81:59] Hey, this morning we're going to talk about seven principles for successful living. If you do these things, God will bless you. No. What are we doing?
[82:09] We're shaping identities. We're informing worldviews. And at the center of those identities and worldviews is a glorious and sovereign God who rules over all things in wisdom and love and faithfulness and His Son, Jesus Christ, who reveals God to us and by His death and resurrection brings us to God and who alone satisfies our souls and our deepest longings and who is at work by His Spirit in us to strengthen us in temptation and sustain us in suffering and transform us into His image and who's with us in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, holding us and even working through us as we proclaim His name and serve His purposes and await His return.
[82:59] In other words, what a privilege that we have to serve God's people in laying hold of Christ and who they are because of Christ.
[83:09] So that's what Paul's doing on page one. And he's already introducing a tension here.
[83:22] What's the tension? They're God's holy people called out of the world with a unique identity and a holy vocation.
[83:35] And then what are we going to see very quickly? The Corinthians' conduct often stands in stark contradiction to that calling.
[83:47] So Paul is already introducing the tension and if they're paying attention and they're meditating on this, they're going to start to, they should start to say, if all this is true, I'm not sure we're living up to it.
[84:05] That's the tension he's introducing. So Paul is a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button for a button