Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, April 24th, 2024
the Fourth Week after Easter
the Fourth Week after Easter
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Bible Commentaries
Concordant Commentary of the New Testament Concordant NT Commentary
Copyright Statement
Concordant Commentary of the New Testament reproduced by permission of Concordant Publishing Concern, Almont, Michigan, USA. All other rights reserved.
Concordant Commentary of the New Testament reproduced by permission of Concordant Publishing Concern, Almont, Michigan, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliographical Information
"Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3". Concordant Commentary of the New Testament. https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/aek/1-corinthians-3.html. 1968.
"Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3". Concordant Commentary of the New Testament. https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (50)New Testament (18)Gospels Only (1)Individual Books (15)
Verses 1-4
21 To this day the great, the noble, and the wise are a small minority among the true saints of God. It is a matter of extreme thankfulness that this is so. If high birth or wisdom or any other attainment were necessary to His choice, how few would be able to measure up to His standard, and how little glory would there be for Him! Yet now we see those mentally deficient, chosen by Him, acting more wisely than the philosophers who shut God out of their lives. Here in Corinth we see the trembling apostle, scorned even by those to whom he has been the means of blessing, doing a work which has brought more glory to God and good to man than all the efforts of the might and nobility of all time!
30 Would that we would cease looking for anything in ourselves! Let us not boast in our wisdom, or our holiness, but find these only in Christ. Then let us boast to our heart's content in that which we have in Him.
1 Eloquent appeals, logical arguments, or profound philosophy, have no place in the proclamation of the evangel. We are to proclaim the word, testify to the truth. The subject matter is all provided by God. Nothing would have appealed to the Corinthians better than some new philosophy, or some astute line of reasoning. But faith does not rest on reason but on a message backed by the power of the Spirit of God. What is needed today is a return to the simple, unadorned proclamation of the evangel, the death of Christ on the cross for our sins and the resurrection of Christ because of our justification. The power of this good news is as great today as it proved to be in Corinth.
7 Though God has repudiated the world's wisdom, there is a divine wisdom, of which the world knows nothing, which even the saints do not apprehend until they attain maturity. This wisdom is fully unfolded in Paul's later epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians.
It cannot be grasped, even today, by carnal saints. It is for the spiritual, who have seen the end of the flesh.
7 " Before the eons" shows that the eons or ages are not eternal in the past, but had a definite beginning.
9 We need only consider our own desire to surprise and gratify those who love us to realize a little of what is in God's heart toward us. God gives of His Spirit, that we may apprehend His further gifts. The secret here hinted at by Paul can be none other than the secret economy unfolded in his Ephesian epistle, which is based upon the secret of Christ, or His exaltation as the Head of the whole universe. As such He is the Lord of glory, for no one on earth, or in the heavens, approaches the honor and dignity which will be His in the eons of the eons.
11 The apostle appeals to our own experience. Human beings can understand one another because they have the same spirit. But animals cannot enter into the recesses of human experience. No more can a man apprehend things divine without the interpretive presence of
God's holy Spirit.
13 The Scriptures often lay stress on the character of the words employed by the Spirit of God. A large measure of the current confusion may be traced to the loose, unscriptural terms which are used. Timothy was urged to hold to the pattern of sound words. If this is true in the original language, how much more should we endeavor to fulfill this charge!
13 The term "matching" has been rendered "comparing". But the thought of the passage is not the agreement between spiritual things, but the adaptation of spiritual things to mankind. It is useless to teach a soulish man spiritual things, for he has no means of grasping them.
1 Doubtless the apostle would gladly have instructed the Corinthians in the deep things of God, but they were not able to bear them. And what was the sure sign of their carnality? Division. While some were the partisans of Paul, who planted, and some of Apollos, who watered, and strove about God's gifts in the person of His servants, they were effectually frustrating any further outflow of His favor. And so it is today. If any yearn to know the deep secrets of God, let them purge themselves of all party spirit, and thus open their hearts to the great Giver Himself.
Verses 5-23
5 Apollos was a Jew of Alexandria, a scholarly man, and able in the Scriptures. He came to Ephesus, full of zeal, but versed only in the baptism of John. Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak boldly in the synagogue, so they took him to themselves and expounded the way of God more accurately to him. On his way back he passed through Achaia and doubtless spent much time in Corinth. While there he parleyed much with the believers and strenuously and thoroughly confuted the Jews, publicly exhibiting, through the Scriptures, that Jesus is the Christ ( Act_18:24-28 ).
8 There is little doubt but that Apollos taught precisely as Paul did. They were one. Indeed, Apollos received much of his teaching indirectly from Paul, through Priscilla and Aquila.
9 Paul seeks to draw their hearts from occupation with men, by comparing them with a farm on which he was merely a laborer, or a building on which he was only a craftsman. He did the first work. He planted. Apollos gave the crop water. But they could not make a single seed grow. Growth is due to God alone.
10 Paul had laid the foundation in Corinth. Apollos and others were building on it. The gold and silver, precious stones, wood, grass, straw, represent the character of the doctrines with which these teachers seek to edify the ecclesia. It is not a question of quantity but quality.
Wood, hay and grass would easily make an imposing pile, but they will not stand the fire in the day when each one's work will be tested. They doubtless represent the human philosophies and base additions to the truth which today almost cover up the great verities of divine revelation. Gold stands for that which is divine, silver for redemption, precious stones for those gems of grace which adorn them, especially the secrets at which Paul has been hinting.
14 Let all who teach take this to heart: their work will be tested to see what kind it is . It is better to have a little after the fire than much before it.
15 The question here is not salvation , but service . It is not concerned with the conduct of the believer but with the doctrine of those who teach.
18 The wisdom of the world is a far greater menace today than in the days of the apostle. The nominal church has no hesitancy in following, not only the wisdom of the world, but its folly as well. On every hand we are assured that the church must get on a business basis and use modern methods. The aim of the preacher is popularity, the confidence of the multitude is in men. Proclaim a great truth, freshly found in the word, and who will listen? Set up a great leader and men will flock to hear his eloquence. God is forgotten in the church more grievously than in the world.
22 The cure for a partisan spirit is the recognition that the men who are given by God to edify His saints are all ours. We should not single out a single one, but include them all. We should not say "I am of Paul", so as to exclude Apollos or Cephas, but realize that they are all ours, and a gift from God, not to quarrel about, but to appreciate and enjoy. The heritage of Huss and Luther and Darby has descended to us, though we may not belong to their party.
1 Doubtless those who were not of the Pauline party were inclined to be captious and question his motives or his methods. But Paul will not allow this. He did not receive his commission from them and refuses to acknowledge their right to examine him. What if they did? Their standards were not God's, and their surface knowledge was no basis for any decision. This is man's day. The current of the world's affairs is contrary to God and any arraignment of God's servants now will need very much revision indeed when freed from the prejudice and baneful influence of the day of man.
4 The possession of a good conscience is no justification. Paul knew that he had a good conscience even when he was a bitter opponent of Christ.
5 When the time for examining the service of God's stewards comes it will he based on truth. Not only the outward act but the inward motive will be brought to light. Many who seem to accomplish little, purposed greatly in their hearts, and will be rewarded according to their intention, rather than their failure to fulfill.