A gifted but chaotic church divisions, immorality, lawsuits, confusion

about gifts and resurrection.

Paul calls them back to the cross and shows what love looks like.

Hello, this is Seek Go Create.

You are listening to read the New Testament in 90 days, 27

books in order in context.

We're walking through the New Testament, the way it was written so that

you can hear it the way the first.

Churches did.

It's been so powerful for me to immerse myself into the first

century and try to understand what the audience of that time heard so

that then I can apply it to my life.

So many times we read scripture and we apply it to our lives, which is cool.

That's the thing we want to do.

But man, it is awesome when we truly understand the context.

One thing to do before we jump in here, make sure that you're

getting all the information that we're providing in this plan.

Go to K two M Foundation slash NT 90.

And there's a hub there that's got the links to all these episodes,

to a downloadable reading plan.

There's also notes and sources with a lot of the background info

that we use to create this plan.

So go check it out.

K two M Foundation slash in.

T 90.

All right.

We have left the forties of the first century.

We've moved into the fifties, and there's been a few years gap that we're deep

into Paul's writing, and today we stop.

In First Corinthians, Paul's longest letter.

To his messiest messiest church, which of course that probably does apply a

good bit to us today, but we want to understand who he was writing to then so

that then we can apply it to ourselves.

We know that the author of this letter is Paul.

The cool thing about.

The letters that we have from Paul is that we can really cross reference

those to the Book of Acts and what was going on there so that we can

really get good dates and locations.

Some of the other gospels and a few of the other letters, we can't do that as

well, but boy, we could do that with.

Paul, so we have a high level of confidence about the author and the

timeframe of some of these that we're hitting as we head into the fifties,

which is deep into Paul's writing.

So Paul was the author written in AD 55.

The audience we have no doubt is the church in Corinth.

It's a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles Rich.

And poor.

Let's set the timeframe here about 25 years post resurrection.

Paul is writing from Ephesus to Corinth.

25 years is an interesting timeframe just in your life right now.

Think back 25 years, a major event or something that occurred 25 years ago.

Do you recall all the details?

If it was something significant, like right now when we're recording this in

2026, which is when this is being done,

I'm not sure when you might be listening in, but if we go

back 25, 26 years, we have.

Nine 11 and most of us remember where we were, what was going on.

So that is about the timeframe.

If you're listening to this currently, that you could think to go back and

recall events from 25 years ago, and there were still eyewitnesses that

were there at the cross Resurrection.

That may be still around that, that would remember things like that.

Let's talk about the city.

Corinth sits on the narrow isus connecting northern Greece to the peons.

There are two ports.

They're port cities, two seas.

Everything passes through these areas.

Everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Merchants, sailors, immigrants, slaves.

There are temples in this city to a dozen gods at least the great temple

of Aphrodite on the acro Corinth.

Hope I'm pronouncing that right.

Sexual immorality is so normalized that to Corinthian eyes.

Was slang for sleeping around.

we discuss often how bad things are today.

there was a lot going on in Corinth.

We, uh, we would probably say, Hmm, may not be that bad today.

Anyway, wealth, status, rhetoric, everything was for sale.

Everyone was competing in this town.

The believers.

The audience came out of this.

Most weren't wise by worldly standards.

Not many were powerful or well born.

They were just ordinary people.

Former pagans, former idol worshipers, some still figuring out what it meant

to follow a crucified Jewish Messiah in a city that worshiped power and.

Pleasure.

Let's talk about Chloe, because Paul addresses Chloe right at the beginning.

We know her name because Paul mentions it.

Chloe's people brought the troubling reports in chapter one, verse 11.

She's likely a business woman with connections between Ephesus.

And Corinth, her household included slaves, freedmen, or business associates.

They carried the news of division.

She's a reminder that the early church ran on ordinary people doing

ordinary things, traveling for work, carrying letters, telling.

The truth, sharing the gospel.

Little bit of historical context here.

Rome Nero is now the emperor, a young Nero, and he's young and

cultured, and he is advised by Seneca.

The expulsion is over.

If you recall, Claudius expelled, the Jews from Rome.

Jews are starting to return to Rome now.

Priscilla and Aquila are rebuilding the church there.

We'll hear more about them later.

The roads are open, the gospel is spreading.

There's a lot of moving around because there is peace in the empire.

Persecution is still distant, but there's still pressure.

No one knows that this same emperor near will soon light believers on fire.

Torch them in Jerusalem.

The temple is still intact, sacrifices are continuing, and it's about 15 years

before the destruction of the temple.

The church, Corinth was planted by Paul three years earlier.

He had an 18 month stay while he was there.

Now it's fractured into factions.

Paul is writing to churches in chaos, and these letters will shape Christian

theology for we know now 2000.

Years.

Here's the tension that's going on.

Reports arrive from Chloe's household divisions, immorality,

lawsuits are going on.

There's chaos at worship.

Plus a full list of questions about marriage meet.

Gifts.

They just the, the Corinthians, they've got a lot of questions.

Why now?

Why would Paul write this letter now?

He writes to confront correct and call them back to the cross.

Why this letter to the Corinthians matters at that time.

Paul's answer to all of this.

Isn't just ethics and rules, it's the resurrection.

Chapter 15 isn't an appendix, it's the climax, it's the meat, it's the core.

Why does your body matter Resurrection?

Why does love outlast tongues and prophecy resurrection?

Why is death not the end?

The risen Christ has already won.

Every correction in this letter flows from that foundation.

Here's what you're gonna find in one Corinthians.

It is very corrective and it's pastoral.

Paul addresses a church that's gifted but chaotic.

Here's what you'll hear about factions.

You'll hear things like, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos.

I follow CFUs Peter, celebrity.

Christianity, even in the mid fifties of the first century existed.

Who do you follow?

And that's what was going on here.

Immorality.

A man was sleeping with his stepmother.

The body as a temple of the spirit will hear about that.

Lawsuits, legal issues, believers are suing each other in pagan courts.

The Lord's Supper will be addressed Rich.

Gorging while the poor go hungry.

They're turning the Lord's Supper into Feast for the Wealthy, while

others aren't sharing in it.

Paul will talk about spiritual gifts.

The body needs every part, but Tongues Without Love is just noise.

The famous chapter in one Corinthians, the Love chapter, chapter 13,

we need to keep that in context.

It's actually a correction.

We use it.

Gloria and I did in our wedding ceremony, the chapter on love.

It's not exactly wedding poetry.

If we take it in context, it's a correction for a group of

people that were not using.

Love the foundation of God's kingdom correctly.

So keep that in mind as you read this in context.

That doesn't mean we can't.

Take that and possibly use it in our wedding ceremonies 2000 years later.

But that wasn't the original intent.

And then of course there's resurrection.

If Christ hasn't been raised, then faith is futile.

But he has been raised o death.

Where is your sting?

Christ has overcome death.

All right, so here's our reading assignment in First Corinthians.

We've got five sessions to read this, a few chapters every day.

Like I've been encouraging you if you can try to read bigger chunks, if not

the whole thing in one setting, and maybe do it multiple times over the

next few days, that would be awesome.

Next up, of course, we're going to second Corinthians and all that.

That implies there's a lot going on with the Corinthians in the mid fifties,

obviously, of the first century.

Paul opens his heart in that letter to a suspicious church

and he talks about strength.

In weakness.

Alright, one more reminder, make sure you go to our hub, K two M

Foundation slash NT 90, get all the resources, the downloads, et cetera.

Share that link with others who might want to get scripture.

With context.

Alright, now before you read, let me set the scene here.

The year is AD 55.

Paul is in Ephesus when the reports arrive from Corinth.

Troubling news about divisions and immorality, Corinth.

Is a mess.

Sexual immorality so normalized that two Corinthian eyes was

slang for sleeping around.

The community is fracturing into factions.

I follow Paul.

I follow Apol.

I follow CFUs.

They're treating the gospel like a brand and their teachers like celebrity.

Paul grabs parchment and begins to dictate.

Now let's read.