A Brief Introduction to The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: 1st Corinthians

Here's a little introductory article I wrote for the Everyday Church in Monroe, WA for Pastor Andy Geer's new series on 1 Corinthians. Nothing to complicated... nothing to crazy. Just a brief simple introduction.


1st Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul to church in Corinth most likely as a response to a letter the Corinthian church had sent to Paul. This letter of Paul is often very directed to specific trials that the Corinthian church was dealing with at the time of the letter. The very pastoral, direct teaching of Paul is very relevant to the modern church as he deals with many cross-cultural issues that all Christians despite their time period, socio-economic background, culture, or denomination can easily benefit from.


Paul wrote 1st Corinthians while he was living in Ephesus in the Roman province of Asia. Most scholars agree that it was written between or in 53, 54, or 55 A.D. Paul had previously been living in Corinth for 18 months teaching and establishing the Christian church there. (Acts 18:1-8)


The ancient city of Corinth was not too different from the culture we know in Seattle. Corinth was located on the isthmus that connects mainland Greece with the Peloponnese. (The peninsula that makes up the southern part of Greece) Located between Ionian and Adriatic seas on the west and Aegean Sea on the east, Corinth was a port city that had ports on both sides of it. . The city was a large metropolitan area with an estimated 400,000 people living there in time of Paul. This brought in the influences of many cultures and religions making a very conflicting culture to be a Christian in, thus Paul’s main focus in the letter: correcting a church who was learning to love God but was living in sin.


The Corinthian church seemed to consistently struggled with sexual immorality, and through the points Paul makes in this letter, the church seemed to have some major pride issues as they were trying to constantly “one-up” each other. Paul firmly but lovingly reminds the church in Corinth that Christians are meant to be set apart. There should be a difference between a Christian and another citizen in the world. Paul is never afraid to call sin what it is. One of his major themes in this letter is to deconstruct their worldview on spiritual gifts, and remind them that God grants his followers these gifts as a means to build up the church, not as a means to gain power.


In studying 1st Corinthians, we can use the wisdom that the Apostle Paul gives to this church to look at areas in our own lives where we may be arrogant instead of being obedient to the grace that God gave us through his son Jesus on the cross.

The Infallible Truth of the Bible.

How do we know, as Christians, that the Bible is true? How do we know that it is a reliable and trustworthy source? Though this seems like it may be one of the most obvious things a Christian would know, truthfully it is one of the most commonly overlooked doctrinal issues of the modern church. Deciphering whether the Bible is completely infallible and inerrant could be one of the most crucial ideas in a Christian’s view of God and how the church should live. Sadly, though found in nearly every Christian denomination’s doctrinal statements, the inerrancy of the Bible is often not taught or stressed as important.

Of the churches whose members statistically have a higher belief of inerrancy, the Assemblies of God places high importance on the issue of inerrancy.[1] They state their doctrine in what they call the “16 Fundamental Truths.” Number one on their list is the inspired Scriptures. They state, “The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.”[2] In their position papers they explain what it means when the Bible is referred to as inerrant and infallible. Inerrancy means “exempt from error” representing the truthfulness of the Bible. Infallibility means “incapable of error” showing the trustworthiness of the Bible.[3]

I believe God is completely capable of creating a means to communicate with his people with or without the Bible, but he knew the sinful nature in mankind would blind us and confuse us, so he provided a constant for his people. The “first edition” of the Bible was given to the Israelites through Moses on Mt. Sinai.[4] “The first written Word of God, the first Bible…” as John Frame says in his article on inerrancy, “was the ten commandments, written by the very finger of God tables of stone.”[5] The Bible we have now is our God-given tool to measures our own character against the character of God. As stated by Abraham Lincoln, "It (the Bible) is the best gift God has given to men. All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong."[6]

I don’t think it is a very hard argument to convince Christians why we should examine our beliefs, but I will name a few reasons why it is necessary to examine the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy. As Christians, we are meant to build our lives on the truths taught in the Bible. As a Christ-follower, the teachings of Jesus (which are taught exclusively in the Bible) are the basis of all true Christianity. If the Bible was false, a person’s life as a Christian would be an eternal waste of time and an utter shame!

As stated before, the vast majority of “Christian” denominations claim the Bible to be inerrant, but most do not faithfully teach or stress the importance. A 2001 Barna Group poll questioned over 6000 members of multiple Christian churches and denominations revealing that only “41% of adults strongly agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all that it teaches.”[7] Their polls go to further show that many of the churches that participated in the poll are below that national average (41%) including many Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Mormon, Catholic, and Episcopalian churches.[8] All of this shows the desperate need for the church to figure out what it believes, and to actually teach it. John Piper pointed out in his 2008 sermon on 'why he trusts the scriptures' that in the near future the rise of other “holy books” is coming.[9] As books like the Muslim Qur’an, the Mormon’s Book of Mormon and others, Christians will need to be able to defend the Holy Book, the Bible, when the time comes. Also Piper points out that if the Bible is true, it is the only message of eternal life.[10]

So to tackle this considerable topic we must establish a few things. First, we must choose to take the Bible as a whole. We cannot accept any leniency in saying that the Bible may only be partially true. It’s original autographs must either be completely pure or it is simply not trustworthy as a source at all. If that is a hard concept to grasp, think of it this way. Imagine your grandma making an incredible batch of her famous brownies. She slaves away making sure that all of her measurements and ingredients are perfect, and just before she is ready to bake them, she decides to put a small piece of her dog’s feces in the dough. Unless a person has an abnormal liking for dog feces in their brownies, any normal person would consider the entire bowl of brownie dough to be ruined. Most people would never take the chance of eating a possible “infected” brownie and consider the whole batch bad. If we are to base our lives on the things taught in the Bible, we must take it as a whole.

God is an infinite being. Humans are finite beings. He is beyond our limited human comprehension. So for him to communicate with us he would have to give us a constant resource that we, as finite beings, would be able to understand. He gave the Bible as a tool to measure our character against his own, and his son Jesus as the living example for us to follow. God, wanting to offer redemption and forgiveness to mankind, wouldn’t make a cruel game of figuring out what part of the Bible may be true or not. There is too much, and it would be impossible to filter. So I repeat we must take the Bible as a whole.

There are a few more commonly used arguments promoting the Inerrancy Doctrine. While they may be valid arguments to Christians, they are inadequate logically to even the weakest scholarly rebuttal. These arguments can be good and wonderful confirmation to a person who has already been convinced of the Bible’s truthfulness. In a sense, they are “icing on the cake” for the “believer.”

One commonly used argument is the self-proclamation of the Bible. In an article refuting unsound arguments for inerrancy, John H. Gerstner points out that some 3000 times throughout the Bible it claims to be the Word of God through phrases such as “Thus saith the Lord.”[11] The Bible is full of self-proclaiming phrases and quotes, but this argument cannot stand on its own. Though as Christians we believe the very words that come out of God’s mouth as absolute truth, for God is incapable of lying, I do find it completely reasonable to test the Scriptures to see if they are truly God’s words. If we did not, then we may falsely assume that books such as the Book of Mormon, or Apocryphal books[12] to be the very words of God. Though not on the same level of depth, it may be easily logically disputed the same as if I claimed that this article was written by a peach. (I am not a peach.) I am by no means saying that there are not proofs that can be found within the pages of the good book. There are abundant amounts of confirmations and truths found within the pages of the Bible, I am merely stating that we cannot use this argument solely based on the Bible’s own words of inerrancy without further evidence.

Another of the commonly used arguments is the doctrine of the Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, the voice of the Holy Spirit can be a sufficient, complete testimony in itself as solid enough proof for Biblical inerrancy. This may be an absolutely relevant argument if the Holy Spirit chooses to reveal this to you. But as Gerstner also states in his argument, “I have never met anyone who claims to have heard the Holy Spirit say that [the Bible is the Word of God] or anything like that to the soul. In fact, the advocates of the Internal Testimony as the basis of Inerrancy never quite get around to saying it either.” [13] So even though the Holy Spirit may choose to reveal this revelation to specific believers, we cannot use it as a valid argument for all who have not had this direct testimony.

The Church’s Testimony for the basis of Biblical Inerrancy is also a commonly used argument. It is true that the Christian church, even to the “church” of the Old Testament, has testified that the Bible in its various forms throughout history is the authoritative words of God. If the church throughout its history had retained all of its integrity, its testimony may still be a valid argument, but the truth is in many scenarios the church has blown it. It seems that every few months a new national news story comes out about a different pastor being arrested for sexual sin, drug use or some other ways of breaking the Ten Commandments. There also is continuing rise of documentaries pointing out the obvious flaws of some the “extreme” churches such as movies like “Jesus Camp” or “The Lord’s Boot Camp.” The church as a whole has spoiled her testimony.

Historically the discussion of Biblical inerrancy is not a new topic of debate. It appears that through most of history inerrancy doctrine has been widely accepted.[14] The Bible’s validity has been sought out and tested by the biggest names and contributors to theology for nearly two thousand years. Just as any historical document has been tested for its validity, the Bible has gone through and stood true through the same tests. The following shows a non-conclusive list of a few of the important people and councils who have defined and examined Christian doctrine, all in which have concluded that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God.

- Clement of Rome (30-96 A.D.)

- St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)

- Former Pope, St. Gregory the Great (540-604 A.D.)

- Council of Florence (1438-1445 A.D.)

- Belgic Confessional (1561 A.D.)

- Council of Trent (1545-1563 A.D.)

- Westminster Confession (1647 A.D.)

- Council of the Vatican (1869-1870 A.D.)[15]

Starting with a non-theological view from history, we can find many views of external evidence supporting the view of inerrancy. There are nearly endless records of Jewish authorities endorsing the Old Testament books as inerrant from ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (approx. 37-100 A.D.) to Hellenistic Jewish Philosopher Philo of Alexandria. (20 B.C. – 50 A.D.)[16]

Archaeologically there have been numerous discoveries that verify exact texts that we use. As quoted from McDowell’s book, Nelson Gluek, a renowned Jewish archaeologist wrote, “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.”[17] As our knowledge through archaeological finds increases, the more the Bible is being confirmed as a historical source of truth. Incredible finds like the famous Dead Sea Scrolls have brought back manuscripts of the Old Testament texts showing with incredible accuracy how carefully the Bible has been translated at copied over the years. A highly notable find was the Isaiah scrolls, a complete, word-for-word perfect scroll that is over 1000 years old.[18]

There are more copies of the of the New Testament ranging from times over 1500 years that are nearly word-for-word identical. We know more about the New Testament than any other historical document in existence.[19] There are more copies of the New Testament manuscripts than any other ancient document ever recorded. According to A.T. Robertson, an author whose specialty is in the comprehensive grammar of the New Testament, notes that there are more than 8000 manuscripts of the original Latin Bibles, at least 1000 of earlier versions, and over 5000 Greek manuscripts totaling over 13,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament.[20] All this to show that from a historical external perspective, without even claiming the supernatural power behind the Bible, there is proof to show the Bible as an accurate historical document.

The New Testament stands as a strong testimony of the Old Testament. Jesus Christ himself endorsed the Old Testament as the infallible truth of God.[21] Jesus referred to many Old Testament stories as truth.[22] Within the 27 books of the New Testament “all but six books of the Old Testament are either quoted or alluded to as genuine.”[23] All of this on top of the many manuscript copies found throughout history proving the Old Testament is at least a genuine truthful historical document.

There are nearly endless mounds of available information aimed to show the complete historical and external evidences of the Bible’s accuracy. There would be enough to write a 500 page book if I were to try and reproduce them, so instead, this condensed analysis of some of the “easier” arguments. There is a ton more out there supporting the Bible historically, but these pale in comparison to the life of Jesus to show that the Bible is not only true, but also the Word of God.

Internally the Bible has an amazing and bold testimony of itself. As I stated earlier, there are some 3000 times the Bible makes its claim for itself. The Bible was written over 1600 years, through over 60 generations. Over 40 authors from Kings to Slaves to Doctors to Fishermen, all from different lives, cultures, places, and times were used by God to compose the Bible. The authors all wrote in different moods from the treacherous depths of sorrow to the loftiest heights of joy. The Bible was composed on 3 different continents and in 3 different languages.[24] Despite the vast variety of authors, time differences, and such, the teachings within the Bible’s pages to do not contradict, but quite the opposite actually compliment each other.[25]

The Westminster Larger Catechism (a document that many reformed theologians base their doctrine from) states that the Scriptures “by the consent of all the parts, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God.”[26] Examining all the parts of the Bible, throughout its 66 books, throughout its various known and unknown authorship, it stands as a whole to bring glory to God. It is a nearly impossible to get 2 people to actually agree on anything, much less to get over 40 men over 1600 years to write in such unison with each other. It would take something more than just a few smart men to compose such a perfect collection of literature. The hand of God must have been at work in the Bible’s composition!

The greatest support of the Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy is found in the life and person of Jesus Christ. He is the center of Christianity and for what the entire religion gets its namesake. There is more evidence to support Jesus’ life than Julius Caesar, whose existence remains largely undisputed. Not only from the 27 New Testament documents accounting for Jesus’ existence, men throughout history as early A.D. 37 write directly of Jesus’ person and life. [27] There should be no doubt that Jesus Christ actually existed. The records of his life show that he truly was in himself God the Father, as well as the fully human Son of God.

In Systematic Theology, Strong firmly points out that Jesus is too perfect to be created by man. “No source can be assigned from which the evangelists could have derived such a conception. The Hindu avatars were only temporary unions of deity with humanity. The Greeks had men half-deified, but no unions of God and man. The monotheism of the Jews found the person of Christ a perpetual stumbling-block…. No mere human genius, and much less the genius of Jewish fishermen, could have originated this conception. Bad men invent only such characters as they sympathize with. But Christ’s character condemns badness.”[28]

Strong writes, “Between Pilate and Titus 30,000 Jews are said to have been crucified around the walls of Jerusalem. Many of these were young men.”[29] What makes just one of over 30,000 people crucified outside of Jerusalem becomes arguably the most influential person in history? Mark Driscoll writes in Vintage Jesus, “…Jesus is the most influential person in all human history. More songs have been sung to him, artwork created of him, and books written about him than anyone who has ever lived. In fact, Jesus looms so large over human history that we actually measure time by him; our calendar is divided into the years before and after his birth, noted as B.C. (“before Christ”) and A.D. (anno Domini, meaning “in the year of the Lord”), respectively….No army, nation, or person has changed human history to the degree that Jesus, the homeless man, has.”[30]

Thus all of that shows that Jesus was absolutely real. Jesus believed the Old Testament with everything in him. [31] Jesus often quoted the Old Testament.[32] He spent most of his conscious life until he was nearly 30 studying the same scriptures that are known to us now as the Old Testament. The only Biblical record of Jesus’ youth is a story of his parent’s “anxiously searching” for Jesus finding him studying in the temple.[33] Jesus’ entire ministry was dependent on the Old Testament.

"Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”

Matthew 5:17-18 [34]

Jesus’ life was a testimony of truth. There is nothing to fault him on. He built his life on the scriptures and lived a life without breaking the laws of God. Through trusting in Jesus either as an important figure in history, or as a Savior through his substitutionary death on the cross, with faith we can trust that the Biblical text is correct. Jesus’ perfect, sinless life combined with the perfection and unity found within the pages of the Bible, shows that the Bible is truly the inerrant, infallible Word of God.

This is only a summarization of the hundreds of pages and articles that I have read and mentally processed. There are hundreds of books and resources dedicated to just this subject alone, in which I am least of all to compare myself with. I can only hope and pray that I have interpreted what was intended by the original authors correctly, and that what I may write can be used through the Holy Spirit to make sense to other people. But truly, no amount of evidence can stand alone as absolute proof. Belief requires faith. Faith in Jesus is the assurance of Biblical inerrancy.

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[1] B. A. Robinson, “Biblical Inerrancy and Infallibility,” Religious Tolerance (March 11, 2008), Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 2007, http:www.religioustolerance.org/inerran4.htm

[2] “16 Fundamental Truths of the Assembly of God,” General Council of the Assemblies of God (March 16, 2008), The General Council of the Assemblies of God 2008, http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_Fundamental_Truths/sft_full.cfm#1

[3] “The Inerrancy of Scripture,” General Council of the Assemblies of God (March 16, 2008), The General Council of the Assembles of God 2008, http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_4175_inerrancy.cfm

[4]Exodus 19:20-25; 20:1-22

[5] John Frame, “Is the Bible Inerrant?” TheResurgence (March 11, 2008), TheResurgence 2006, http://theresurgence.com/john_frame_1999_is_the_bible_inerrant

[6] “Word of God,” Christian Quotes (March 17, 2008), ChristianQuotes.org 2002-2007, http://christianquotes.org/tag/cat/34

[7] George Barna, “Religious Beliefs Vary Widely by Denomination,” The Barna Research Group (March 16, 2008) The Barna Group, LTD 2007, http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=92

[8] B. A. Robinson, “Biblical Inerrancy and Infallibility,” Religious Tolerance (March 11, 2008), Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 2007, http:www.religioustolerance.org/inerran4.htm

[9] John Piper, Why I Trust the Scriptures, 25 February 2008, Resurgence Text + Context Conference 2008, http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/RecentlyAdded/2629_Why_I_Trust_the_Scriptures/

[10] Psalm 96:5; John 14:6; John 6:67-68; Acts 4:12; 1 John 2:23; 1 John 5:12; Luke 10:16

[11] John H. Gerstner, “Part I – Some Unsound Bases for Sound Doctrine,” Biblical Inerrancy, (March 11, 2008), http://www.the-highway.com/inerrancy1_Gerstner.html#Part%201

[12] The Apocryphal books are books that are not included in the Protestant Biblical Canon. There are books used solely in the Roman Catholic church that are not found in Protestant Bibles, nor even in the Bible that Jesus studied and taught from.

[13] John H. Gerstner, “Part I – Some Unsound Bases for Sound Doctrine,” Biblical Inerrancy, (March 11, 2008), http://www.the-highway.com/inerrancy1_Gerstner.html#Part%201

[14] “The Inerrancy of Scripture,” General Council of the Assemblies of God (March 16, 2008), The General Council of the Assembles of God 2008, http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_4175_inerrancy.cfm

[15] B. A. Robinson, “Biblical Inerrancy and Infallibility,” Religious Tolerance (March 11, 2008), Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 2007, http:www.religioustolerance.org/inerran4.htm

[16] Augustus Hopkins Strong. Systematic Theology. The Judson Press, 1907. Pg. 166.

[17] Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972. Pg. 68

[18] “25 Fascinating Facts About the Dead Sea Scrolls,” CenturyOne Bookstore. (April 2, 2008) http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html

[19] Paul Copan, “You Can’t Trust The Scriptures. They’re Unreliable.” (March 29, 2008), Apologetics Index 2006, http://www.apologeticsindex.org/r14ac.html

[20] Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972. Pg. 46

[21] John 10:35; Matthew 15:3; Matthew 15:6; Matthew 5:18, Matthew 22:31

[22]Luke 17:29, 32; Luke 11:51; Mark 12:26; John 6:31-51; Matthew 1-1:21; Matthew 19:1-6; Matthew 24:37;

[23] Augustus Hopkins Strong. Systematic Theology. The Judson Press, 1907. Pg. 165

[24] Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972. Pg. 18

[25] Augustus Hopkins Strong. Systematic Theology. The Judson Press, 1907. Pg. 175

[26] “Westminster Larger Catechism,” Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics, (March 29, 2008), http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/larger1.html

[27] Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972. Pg. 84-89

[28] Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology. The Judson Press, 1907. Pg. 186-187

[29] Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology. The Judson Press, 1907. Pg. 187

[30] Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears, Vintage Jesus. Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois. 2007. Pg. 12

[31] John 10:35; Matthew 15:3; Matthew 15:6; Matthew 5:18, Matthew 22:31

[32]Luke 17:29, 32; Luke 11:51; Mark 12:26; John 6:31-51; Matthew 1-1:21; Matthew 19:1-6; Matthew 24:37;

[33] Luke 2:21-52

[34] New Living Translation

A Faulty Introduction.

I am not one to talk. I am one of the most under qualified, inexperienced, unknowledgeable bachelors out there. To try and conquer my own feeble mind’s lofty attempts at understanding the things of God, almost seems like a mindless gamble. With my limited understanding of things, I have for some reason decided to create this blog. Not even fully understanding my own goals with this, nor having thought out the reasons of why and how I should post something like this… I’ve decided to do it, even if for nothing more than for my own personal gratification of getting myself to move. Hopefully, though this may be a short lived project, it will at least get me to start thinking and moving toward a fuller life in Christ. And maybe someone like you reading this, could benefit from it… but that’s not up to me.

In writing this, I must confess and confirm the fact that I do not in any way claim to know what I am talking about or that what I may say is correct. My hope is that maybe my perception and understanding of things may be at least on the right path. So in response to my shortcomings… feel free to kindly, but firmly point them out to me. I will evaluate and test what you say. If you have questions… I don’t claim and never will claim to have all the answers; so I may or may not even be able to attempt to answer them. Anything and everything I may write is in constant edit. (Meaning, I am constantly questioning and testing it.) In all regards though, feedback is welcome at:

providenceandy@gmail.com

So this is my first attempt at this. I think what I’m feeling most pressed to begin with is what I dearly believe. So going through my box of theological thoughts and nailing down the things that are most important to me. To start out I will state that a few things that are key to my beliefs and could not be any other way.

1. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is God. He alone is sufficient to meet every possible need I or anyone could ever have. (John 10:30; 2 Corinthians 12:9)
2. The true meaning of being Christian is living a life of progressive sanctification toward being like Christ, driven by a renewed heart with a hatred of sin. (Philippians 2:12-13)
3. The Bible is the ONLY God-inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God. (Psalm 19:7-8)
   
4. A Christian life should be one of authenticity with a basis of integrity. (John 8:32)

I know that this is a very improper introduction. So I will introduce myself with lame words on the internet that I don’t compose all that gracefully. Anyways, my name is Andrew P. Horst. I love and live near Seattle. I don’t really want to take the time to go into depth on my background and history here. I am currently an active musician working full time with my newest and greatest friends This Providence. This blog however has nothing to do with the band. This is not a fan-site. This is not band-related by any other means than the fact that I happen to play drums for them. This is however, as complicated it may be… me. I will write as I feel led. I will post when I feel somewhat satisfied with what I’ve written.

So here it is for now. All the best,

Andrew. P. Horst.

{NOTE: The Above Picture is (c) 2007 Andrew Horst Photography}