Starting At 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 1:1-3 NIV
Paul, called apostle of Christ Jesus, through the will of God and Sosthones the brother To the church of God, to the one being in Corinth, to the purified ones in Christ Jesus, to the ones called holy with all the ones calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in all the places of them and us. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.


Corinth despite what is popularly asserted was a rather normal Roman Hellenistic city. It had been a thriving cosmopolitan complex until its destruction in 146 B.C. But in 46 B.C. it was restored under the leadership of Julius Caesar and made a Roman colony. Like other colonies, it was settled by Roman veterans who established its allegiance to Roman principles, values and customs. As a port city and a strategic commercial thoroughfare, it quickly rose in prominence and became a wealthy center of commerce and culture. People from all over the world settled there and it was a strategic location for a church to be founded. As the Gospel spread through the city, it naturally was taken abroad by new converts who were engaged in international commerce. Many think of Corinth as a center of immense corruption but in Paul’s time it probably was not much different from any other Roman city. It was however a place where there were throngs of poor and a concentrated minority of the immensely rich. No form of corruption was kept from the wealthy and that is where its reputation for perversion rested.

Most scholars contend that the book of 1 Corinthians was written by Paul from Ephesus in Asia Minor somewhere between 55 and 57 AD. His introduction at first glance would sound a bit self-promoting, a bit like someone referring to himself in the first person plural or calling himself “Mr. President”. Yet with his words, “Paul, called apostle of Christ Jesus” is establishing his identity as nothing more than one sent out by Jesus. He is not a shop keeper, not a baseball player, not a father or husband or rock and roll singer. He is a “sent out” (the meaning of apostle) because Jesus has sent him out. Identity is quite simple. It is what God designs us to be. The most fragile and disconcerting part of life is the step away from this one part. I have a point and it is completely tied to God.

Paul wasn’t an apostle because he always had a fascination with that sort of thing. He certainly never listed it as a young student on any vocational interest surveys. This apostleship was thrust upon him…not like a dog owner puts a vest on her little poochie but as a part of a complete transformation of identity. Paul was not an apostle as such, not even an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was a “called” Apostle of Christ Jesus and that completely altered the way his core operated. He could not drop his work in Ephesus because Paul was a called apostle. He could not stop loving the crazy Corinthians because he was a called apostle. As long as you are an apostle you can do whatever you feel like doing, even if you are an apostle of Christ Jesus Himself because it is just a work you do. A called apostle though cannot. He is transformed into this identity…much as a parakeet who is miraculously transformed into a seal no longer avoids swimming and stops wanting to fly. A called apostle has a new view of all he does and why he does it. He is who he is because he is first and finally called.

To Be Continued