1 Corinthians 1:1
Ps Paul Cheng
Dear Bethelites,
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, (1 Corinthians 1:1)
In this new series of the pastoral chat, I have prayerfully decided to focus on the book of First Corinthians.
A brief background - Paul first came to Corinth during his second missionary journey. When he arrived at Corinth, he met Aquila and Pricilla and stayed with them for a while. During that time, he became a tentmaker and at every Sabbath he would preach in the synagogue. He preached very passionately and many Corinthians who heard the message, started to believe. Apollos was another well-known leader in the Corinthian church. Paul ministered in Corinth for one and a half years. He loved the church and was very concerned about the believers because he knew they had many problems, and so he wrote first Corinthians to advise the people to apply spiritual wisdom to their problems. When one applies godly wisdom to his problems, he will receive supernatural results. That was what happened to the Corinthian church.
God willing, this is what we want to learn in the weeks and months to come. In life, we will always face problems. Some of the issues are things we bring upon ourselves, while others come as parts and parcels of life. The question is where will we go to find the answers to our problems? Do we go to the world or His Word? Christians are God’s children, and must always look to His Word for guidance.
Paul began his letter to the Corinthians, Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:1).
Apostles– The word apostle (apostolos) simply means someone who has been sent or a messenger. In the case of the twelve apostles, minus Judas Iscariot who was replaced by Matthias, they were all directly chosen and sent by the Lord Jesus Christ for the foundation of the local church. One important criterion to be part of the twelve apostles was that they must be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, not just Christ but the resurrected Christ and one of the primary responsibilities of these apostles was also to write the New Testament scriptures (c.f. Acts 1:21-24, Ephesians 2:20).
Once the last of the twelve apostles had died, the office for this particular group of apostles was closed forever. That means there was to be no more addition to the Word of God. Apparently, John was the last apostle to be alive and under the inspiration of God, he concluded in Revelation 22:18, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Paul was also such an apostle like the twelve, as he was specially chosen by the resurrected Christ to be an apostle to the Gentiles (c.f. Acts 9:15-16). He was used by God to write many books in the New Testament and he described himself as one who was born out of due time (1 Cor.15:8).
But in the Bible, there were other apostles being mentioned; for example, Barnabas, Timothy, Silas and other outstanding leaders in the New Testament church. However, they were unlike the twelve apostles and Paul; because since the establishment of the church in the book of Acts, there were some believers who were specially sent out by the church as messengers. Perhaps, one can call them missionaries.
Today, some mega charismatic churches claim to have apostles. When they call themselves apostles, they are certainly not referring to being missionaries or specially sent out by the church. They appear to be claiming the office of the twelve apostles. Therefore, they have no qualms proclaiming on the pulpit, “The Lord has revealed to me new revelations. Or the Lord has given me new visions!” In so doing, they have committed the serious sin of adding onto the Word of God (c.f. Revelation 22:18).
Do we still have the office of the twelve apostles in our churches today? No!
Will of God - How did Paul become an apostle of Jesus Christ? Through the will of God. In other words, Paul was saying “I am an apostle not by my own choice, or the church, or the people. I am an apostle specially chosen by Jesus Christ, according to the will of God.”
If a person claims that he is called by God to be a preacher, how can the church ascertain whether his calling is true or not? God has given specific qualifications in regards to those taking up spiritual offices (c.f. 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1), and has also given to the church, spiritual leaders (c.f. Ephesians 4:11). The spiritual leaders must use the stipulated qualifications to consider the person’s life, observe and consider how he conducts himself over a period of time, interview him, and pray for spiritual wisdom to discern the truth about his calling. This must be done to safeguard the church from false teachers!
Paul was with Sosthenes our brother who could be the chief leader of the synagogue mentioned in Acts 18:17. Although he was not a believer in the book of Acts, subsequently he became a believer. Most likely, he was ministered by Paul himself.
With love in Christ,
Pastor Paul Cheng