A Coptic Orthodox Journey through the Bible

In the last episode we reviewed verses 1-34 where St. Paul discussed a heresy among the Corinthians. Some in the Corinthian Church were saying that while they believed that Christ had risen from the dead, they did not believe in the final resurrection of the dead for people. While St. Paul is concerned that they understand this theologically, he is also concerned how their mistaken idea negatively impacts their daily lives. He wants them to “sober up” and “not sin.” He also wants them to recover their moral zeal that they had when first coming to Christ.As I mentioned last time St. Paul answers four important questions in this chapter: 1) Is there a resurrection from the dead? (verses 1 to 34) - which he answered last time; 2) With what body shall we be raised up? (verses 35 to 51); 3) What will be the position of those who will be living when the Lord comes? (verses 51 to 54); and, 4) What is our practical role through our hope in the resurrection? (verses 55 to 58)

This is the first part of chapter 15. In this episode we review verses 1-34. Having dealt with problems of divisions and immorality in the community and having answered the questions asked of him, St. Paul turns to a heresy among the Corinthians. Some were saying that there was no final resurrection of the dead. They were not denying that Christ had been raised—only that we would also be raised. Here St. Paul reminds them of the Gospel Tradition that they have received, which includes the promise of their own resurrection. While he is concerned that they understand this theologically, he is also concerned how their mistaken idea negatively impacts their daily lives. He wants them to have the correct view of the Resurrection and to awaken from the idea that what they do now does not matter because there is no resurrection of the dead. He presents to us the resurrection of the Lord Christ as a confirmation and a firstborn of our own resurrection from the dead, the firstfruit of the harvest among the dead. In this chapter, as well, he answers four important questions:Is there a resurrection from the dead? (verses 1 to 34) With what body shall we be raised up? (verses 35 to 51) What will be the position of those who will be living when the Lord comes? (verses 51 to 54)What is our practical role through our hope in the resurrection? (verses 55 to 58)This episode looks at the first question, “Is there a resurrection from the dead?” In the next episode, we will finish this chapter and go through the remaining questions.

Chapter 14 begins just after the 12:20 mark in the podcastIn looking at this podcast, we remember that in chapter 12, St. Paul discussed spiritual gifts and how all spiritual gifts are offered by the Holy Spirit for the benefit of the Church. We should not be jealous of other’s gifts and we should not take pride in any gifts we may have. Here in Chapter 13, he pauses to discuss love. He seems to be pausing because he is aware of all the issues in Corinth and he wants to emphasize the importance of LOVE before returning to his discussion of gifts because without LOVE the rest of the discussion does not matter. St. Paul returns to discussing spiritual gifts in Chapter 14. So far he has compared all the spiritual gifts to a body and that all are necessary; he discussed some specific spiritual gifts and then in chapter 13 he discussed that the love that unites and bonds as a community is more important than any spiritual gift. In this chapter he returns to spiritual gifts, specifically speaking in tongues. This comes up, in part because as was mentioned when we discussed chapter 12, the Corinthians took great pride in this particular gift and would boast about it with others. Additionally, this is the chapter where St. Paul mentions that women should be silent in church. Of course, when we get to that point in the chapter we will discuss these verses, which are actually part of a larger section where St. Paul is discussing order/structure in the church.

Beginning with this chapter, St. Paul deals with spiritual gifts that members of the church in Corinth have received, though many have misunderstood and abused the gift they received. He highlights that spiritual gifts are offered by the Holy Spirit for the sake of the one Church. They have to be diversified, so that the members support each other in their various needs. None of them should boast over another believer regarding the gifts they have received. God gives freely for the uplifting of everyone in the Church.

Starting with this chapter, St. Paul changes subjects. He has been dealing with social issues, including divisions in the church, sexual immorality, and eating food that had been dedicated to idols. Now he shifts to questions regarding worship. In this chapter, the apostle deals with certain spiritual church regulations. He specifically discusses 1) head covering for women during prayer: and 2) believer’s behavior and attitude in the church due to the divisions that existed in the church at that time, which impacted them when they came to together to celebrate communion (vv17-34)