Commentary: I COR 1

Comments on the Holy Apostle Pauls letter to the Church at Corinth I, the first chapter:

[1] Sosthenes was head of the Synagogue in Corinth and became Bishop at Colophon, having been led to Orthodoxy by the Apostle. The Apostle uses the “episcopal we” in calling the bishop “our brother”.

[2] We are all called to be Saints, though we would not call ourselves Saints.

[3-9] This can be looked upon as a discussion of our salvation – of theosis and the fullness of Orthodoxy.

[10] It is fitting that we all share one doctrine, not many, and that we not multiply factions over doctrine or opinions.

[11] Notice that everything is in the open, about who has said what, and what has been said.

[12-13] We should not make our favorite teachers the justification for factions, not even by claiming to follow Christ alone and making that a faction. Having teachers and being disciples of fathers is part of our tradition, but there is no division in Christ, or between Christ and those who represent him. And certainly Christ is Lord of all, our only Teacher and Father, so that all is held in His Name.

[14-16] The Apostle is glad that he can hardly be mistaken for starting his own Church, baptizing in his own name.

[17] If the Apostle made the gospel into a set of propositions, a thing composed of words, such a gospel could not save. It would be an intellectual construct – a dialectical abyss.

[18] The true Gospel fails to appeal on a purely intellectual level to those who look for a propositional epiphany, but to those being deified, we know its working in us, in a way that cannot be contained or conveyed in dialectic.

[19-25] The intellectual of the world system (and not even the blind religious believer) can discover proofs of the mystery of the Gospel. But to some, who truly know the mystery, it is power and wisdom of God.

[26-29] If you look at yourselves, you can see we’re not the haven of the intellectual, the powerful, or the elite. But weak things have been made the bane – the  antagonist – the nemesis of the strong – by God’s choosing. In this way, no one can claim greatness on either account.

[30] But you are made people ‘of God’ by your union with Christ, and Christ has become your wisdom, your righteousness, your setting apart, and your redeeming. If there is anything to exalt in that, it is God.

These thoughts are only my own flawed thoughts, and are offered as informal commentary, not presuming to be comprehensive, or without error, or even entirely correct.

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