1 Corinthians...The book of THE's

For folks who have trouble with parables.

Mk 4:33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
Mk 4:34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

During the brief time Jesus was here in His ministry, the bulk of lessons that he gave…whether to lost people or disciples…was done in parables. Not all. But most. It was rare that He just spoke directly and said anything like, “Here! Do exactly THIS!” Or, “Take this down! THIS is precisely the answer to that question!”

One reason may be because in order to know what He was saying, a disciple would be forced to get a grasp of the Father’s Kingdom….first. In short, if you don’t ‘get it’…you’re not gonna get it. But if you DO get it, you’ll ‘get it.’

Kinda Catch-22. And He ain’t kiddin’…


Mt 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mt 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

This is one (of several) reasons why brand new Christians have difficulty understanding the Bible for the first time. They usually start in either Genesis (if they’re ambitious) or Matthew (if they want to cut to the chase) and in either case, they usually get bogged down before they can get a grasp of WHAT DOES JESUS WANT FROM ME?....Genesis has mostly creation stories. Matthew has the ‘begats’ (which strangely stops a lot of folks right away. It’s only one page)….aaaannnnnnnddddddd….parables.

Any life answers that might be gleaned from them is likely to take some study. And what folks REALLY want (‘cause let’s face it…we’re an impatient bunch)…is for someone to just TELL US! Speak directly! DO…this! DON’T do…that! Here is what God thinks about….THIS!

And it’s in there. It’s just that newbies often don’t know where to look, ‘cause they’re still wading through the ‘begats’.

Enter the Epistles.

The term ‘epistle’ means ‘letter’ or ‘correspondence’. They are found entirely in the New Testament and relate directly to Christian teaching and understanding. Every Epistle was originally just...a letter. From...someone who literally had the right and authority to speak on behalf of God...usually to a specific person or group...ALL of which was and is...meant for each and every Christian. And in fact, the guys doing the writing KNEW...they were creating Holy Writ. There are a few passages that make that clear.

Life lessons. Spirit lessons. And they speak plainly about things. NO…parables.

Good stuff. (Not that the Gospels AREN’T good stuff. This is just different good stuff)

Beyond dispute, most of the Epistles were written by Paul. I say ‘dispute’ because the authors of a couple Epistles ARE in some dispute. Hebrews, for example. But we know which ones are from Paul, 'cause he tells us up front that he's writing them. Or at least dictating them. There's strong evidence that Paul's eyesight was not great, so he probably had someone do the actual writing.

But the ‘biggee’s of all the Epistles…are from Paul. And there are really two…’biggee’s. They are Romans…and 1 Corinthians. And we may address Romans at a later date, but for now we will turn our attention to 1 Corinthians.

It’s named FIRST Corinthians because there’s also a SECOND Corinthians. Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote to them the first time. The church in Corinth was undergoing some turmoil (well...a LOT of turmoil) and needed some straightening out. And Paul…uh…gave it to them. Yes. Yes he did. Both barrels, if you’ll pardon the cliché’. No parables. Just tell it like it is.

Bad for them. Good for us.

And I like to think of 1 Corinthians as the Epistle of the ‘THE’s….for almost every one of the sixteen short ‘chapter’s of 1 Corinthians…is THE definitive explanation of what God thinks about things. For instance…in the ‘biggee’ Epistle…THE ‘biggee’ message of the entire Epistles…is also THE ‘biggee’ message of the entire New Testament. THE RESURRECTION CHAPTER...of the entire Bible, containing THE earliest ‘creed’ of Christianity…the creed of Jesus' resurrection and what it means to us. Without the resurrection, Christian faith has no power. And 1 Corinthians was written YEARS…before any of the Gospels. So it’s not just first Corinthians. It’s also THE first record of the resurrection.

Chapter 13 is THE definitive description of Godly charity (interchangeable with ‘love’ or ‘mercy’…it’s the same word)…in the Bible. Paul speaks plainly on behalf of Jesus, telling us how generous our hearts should be. Chapter 13 should be required reading for all new Christians. And all old Christians.

Chapter 12. THE explanation of spiritual gifts.

Chapter 11. THE Lord’s Table.

Chapter 7. THE instructions on marriage. Yes, marriage.

etc.

There are other places in the Bible to find instructions, wisdom, parables, Psalms and/or Proverbs on any of these topics. And those other passages do ‘round out’ our understanding. But 1 Corinthians is a great place to start. Maybe even THE place to start.