1 Corinthians 1:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 1:2

Comments

Paul now gives us this instructive definition of a church. How do you define the church? ‘Unto the church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Both theirs and ours.’ Now the classic definition of a church that was given by the Reformers is that it is composed of people who profess Christ, among whom the word of God is preached, the ordinances, baptism, and the Lord's Supper, are honoured, and discipline is exercised. Well that is true; that is a fine definition, but it is not enough. All those things can be in place, and yet the people could be unsaved; they could be formal nominal Christians, who roughly speaking believe in their heads the doctrines of the Bible, but have never personally come to Christ or been saved. When we see Paul's definition here, it adds something vital. Sanctified means set apart, but it generally is taken to mean ‘made holy’. Something has actually been done to them by God. They have been changed; they have been transformed. They were worldly people, living just for this world with no deep interest in the living God, but now they have been changed, sanctified, made holy in the sight of God, set aside from the world. They are not typical worldlings any more. They don't go to the world’s dances; they don't dance to the world's tune, the world's entertainments, the world's delights. They have got new tastes, spiritual tastes, and they are different. This is part of the definition of the church: it is composed of people who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. ‘Called to be saints’, called; it translates the Greek ‘invited’ to be saints. They have heard a voice, not a literal voice. Better translated, perhaps not ‘invited’, but ‘summoned’ by God, because there is a wonderful compulsion in the kind call of God that draws us to himself. The call of God comes when we are convicted of our sins personally, and we realise we need a Saviour, and we must come to Christ for cleansing. We hear the voice of Christ, as it were, saying, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, but I will give you rest’ – laden and heavy laden, burdened by guilt and sin. This is the call: ‘called to be saints’, ‘set apart’; it is almost the same word as sanctified, set apart for Christ. So they are changed and they are called and drawn by God. ‘With all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord.’ So there are three factors here: they are changed, they are called and drawn, and they pray; they call upon the name of the Lord.

Application

So far as we know from the Scripture – this may not be the case – but so far as the Scriptural record is concerned, the first time Paul heard the gospel was when he was Saul, and he was present at the martyrdom of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He heard Stephen preach and he did not agree with that at all. In fact, it enraged him. It infuriated him, because Stephen proved that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and that he was God divine, and that he had suffered and died for our sins, and was now in heaven. But when Stephen ended and they executed him and killed him, he cried out to God these words, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ He called upon the name of the Lord, and that was probably the first time Paul heard anyone – he was Saul then – call upon the name of the Lord. That is what we do. We call upon the name of the Lord. We pray, mostly to the Father in the name of the Son, and that is calling on the name of the Lord. The name Jesus Christ, trusting in him, going through him. Very often in our private prayers we pray directly to Jesus Christ, and the Father hears just the same. We are people who call upon the name of the Lord. The apostle Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus, had never really prayed. Prayer was a mechanical thing, in the temple, in the synagogue. He didn't feel he knew God, and yet here is Stephen, praying as though he knows Christ, calling out to him, and his face is that of an angel: ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ That was one of the goads or pricks of conscience that troubled Paul as time went on. He hated it at first, but it must have spoken to him. Remember Stephen; he knew Christ, he almost saw him in glory and cried out to him. It is a term from the Old Testament: ‘with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ.’ What a definition of the church!

People who have been changed people, who have felt a personal drawing or calling to God, people who call upon the name of the Lord, because they have come to know him. Is that your experience friends? That is the definition of a church and of a Christian.

Questions

Note that Corinth is a church of God. Wait a minute Paul. Surely you have got that wrong. Is it not the church of Greece (or as we would say, the Church of England) and Corinth is just a branch of it? What are you doing writing to Corinth as though it is in itself a church, fully fledged, complete within itself? Yes, that is what he is doing. The Bible, the New Testament does not know anything about the Church of England, or the church of here, or the church of there. All it recognises is a congregation. Each and every congregation is a fully fledged church in the Bible and nothing else is known. So if you want to talk about the church in the country, strictly speaking, you should say the churches in the United Kingdom, because each congregation in God's sight is a church, autonomous, directly accountable to him.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

1 Corinthians 1:2 Commentary and Bible Study