Buried and Born: A New Humanity, Fully Alive

Chapter 15 - The Holy Spirit Renews Nature 15:1-11 - Christ’s Resurrection is the Beginning 15:12-34 - Our Resurrection Will Follow 15:35-58 - The Body of the Resurrection

All Things Decently and In Order  (Ch 14) 14:1-5 - Pursue Love and Desire the Gifts 14:6-25 - The Proper Purpose of the Gifts 14:26-36 - Decency and Order

The Excellency of Charity  (Ch 13) 13:1-3 - The Gifts Cannot be Apart from Charity 13:4-7 - The Nature of Charity 13:8-13 - Charity is the End

The Gifts and the Body  (Ch 12) 12:1-3 - The Essential Spiritual Manifestation 12:4-11 - Diversity of Gifts and Unity of Body 12:12-20 - Separation from the Body 12:21-26 - Rejecting others from the Body 12:27-31 - Order in the Church and Order of Excellence

The Lord’s Supper  (Ch 11 pt 2) 11:2, 17-22 - New Factions 11:23-26 – The Tradition of the Supper 11:27-34 – Discerning the Body

Chapter 11 begins Paul’s second major attack on personal ambition. In 5-10 Paul argues against liberty (or authority) which dominates our discernment and judgment, and  he demonstrates the damage it does to the body. He ends with a call to do all things in such a manner that we are fellow partakers in the life of the Gospel. Now he establishes order in the church by placing restrictions on the body. While they have authority, it must be at times set aside because not all things are good for building up the body as a whole, which he established as a priority in the church in the prior section. Paul’s polemic has been to take various connected and unconnected illustrations (created order, local customs) to discourage division among the sexes, to tamper out paganization of the worship service and to call for orderly practices that edify one another. He believes that men and women play equal but distinct roles in that. Each of us exists because of the other and to have a truly complete worship both are necessary. Both are the image of God, rely on the other, reflect the glory of the other and see the glory of the other.

Things Written Of - Participation is Greater Than Individuality (Ch 10) 10:1-5 - God’s Hand in Israel’s History 10:6-10 - Repeating Israel’s Failure 10:11-13 - Avoiding the Presumption of Righteousness 10:14-22 - Participation in Christ and His People 10:23-32 - Doing All to the Glory of God

Things Written Of - Necessity is Greater Than Freedom (Ch 9) 9:1-2 - Paul’s Superior Authority 9: 3-11 - Paul’s Rights and Liberties 9:12b-14 - A Rejection of Rights 9:15-18 - Necessity is Greater Than Freedom 9:19-23 - Sharing in the Gospel 9:24-27 - Obtaining the Gospel

Things Written Of - Food Offered to Idols (Ch 8) 8:1-5 - What we know 8:6-13 - What we do with what we know Subscribe for more resources at ⁠⁠⁠buriedandborn.substack.com⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Buried and Born - Medium

Things Written Of: Marriage and Mutual Benefit (Ch 7) 7:1-7 - It is Good Not to Touch a Woman 7:8-9 - To the Unmarried 7:10-11 - To the Married 7:12-16 - To the Rest 7:17-24 - Live as You are Called 7:25-31 - To the Virgins (and the Unmarried?) 7:32-35 - Free From Anxieties and Devoted to the Lord

Section 2: Chapters 5-10 - Divisions: Being Dominated By Sin A: Immorality and Abuse (Ch 5 & 6) 5:1-2 - The First Report: A Man Takes His Father’s Wife 5:2-5 - Paul Demands Excommunication 5:6-13 - Purging the Leaven 6:1-8 - Compounding Abuses of the First Report 6:9-11 - Vice List #2: Abuse and Exploitation 6:12-20 - The Body and the Future Subscribe for more resources at ⁠⁠buriedandborn.substack.com⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Buried and Born - Medium

Section 2: Chapters 5-10 - Divisions: Being Dominated By Sin A: Immorality and Abuse (Ch 5 & 6) 5:1-2 - The First Report: A Man Takes His Father’s Wife 5:2-5 - Paul Demands Excommunication 5:6-13 - Purging the Leaven 6:1-8 - Compounding Abuses of the First Report Subscribe for more resources at ⁠buriedandborn.substack.com⁠ and ⁠Buried and Born - Medium

A Failure of Judgment - Boasting in Knowledge (Ch 4)4:1-5 - Servants and Stewards are Faithful, Not Prestigious In chapter 1, Paul asked the Church to be of the same mind and the same judgment. Chapters 2-3 explained the mind of Christ in the cross. Chapter 4 calls out their failure to judge (discern) properly. V1 - Revisiting the “Apollos” arc, he thinks leaders should be viewed as:  servants (ch 3) and  stewards of the mysteries of God (ch 2 & 15).  The leaders in Corinth gathered followers for what they gained and  The followers believed the leaders led them to greater prestige. V2 - The leaders take nothing from the followers as their goal is to be considered faithful at the coming of Jesus. Paul’s rhetoric subtly questions how the leaders can be concerned with faithfulness to the truth and commitment to the growth of the people when they have so much to gain by maintaining a following. V4-5 - While Paul does want the church to honor his authority, he cuts at their ability to make wise discernment (although they brag about it in v7) by saying he isn’t really concerned with their decision to disregard his teaching or criticize him directly because they clearly haven’t displayed the ability to choose leadership based on sound judgment. 4:6-7 - Boasting in a Knowledge They Aren’t Exercising V6 - Without the ability to discern through the lens of the cross, our judgments come from a puffed up attitude (which he will contrast in Ch 8 when he says how puffed up knowledge harms the consciences of our neighbors) V7 - If everything we have is something we have received, wouldn’t that teach us that judgment/discernment is primarily that we might better know how to treat others rather than how we might better serve ourselves (boasting in knowledge)? This is a build up to the arguments he will make in 5-10 - that the judgments made by the church are harming rather than helping one another and they are allowing sin to dominate the body. 4:8-13 - Rich Corinthians and Poor Apostles Note: This entire section shifts tone and is fully sarcastic. Paul returns to his model of calling things by the opposite of what they really are. Wise/Foolish, Rich/Poor. V8 - Playing off the boasting in v7, Paul says they don’t need anything anymore. No teaching, no wisdom. They have everything within their own selves and it has made them rich rulers. V9-13 - Paul gives a long list of things that clearly, anyone with knowledge and wisdom and discernment would avoid at all costs. Last of all, sentenced to death, spectacle to the world, fools for Christ, weak Hungry, thirsty, poorly dressed, buffeted, homeless, laboring When reviled-bless; when persecuted-endure; when slandered-entreat Scum of the world, refuse of all things The contemplation here is to ask what is really good for us. If the current leaders seeking gain and followers chasing prestige aren’t Paul’s understanding of properly discerning good and evil, what if Paul is asking the church to reverse what it calls good? Instead of being full, maybe it’s good to be hungry. 4:14-21 - Be Imitators of Me V14-15 - While we all have many guides, there are few that truly care about our well-being. Paul says everyone pulling them intends to guide them someone, but only he was their spiritual father concerned for their spiritual growth. V16-17 - The judgment displayed by the church has resulted in the issues Paul will raise in the next 5 chapters. It stems from their boasting in knowledge. “All things are lawful for me.” Paul insists that instead, they imitate him. (vs9-13) V18-21 - Paul contrasts “talk” and “power”. He views all the philosophies of the world as powerless to initiate the life they want. He knows that the Spirit, teaching them how to properly discern good and evil, will lead them through hunger, thirst, etc, toward self-sacrifice - the cross - and to the true joy and peace of the Kingdom of God. Subscribe for more resources at buriedandborn.substack.com and Buried and Born - Medium

Immaturity and the Spirit’s Work - Boasting in Association (Ch 3) 3:1-4 - Corinthians as Infants V1-2 - In contradiction to 2:6, Paul addresses Corinth as infants, not ready for the meat that is fed to the mature; that is, the Spiritual teaching of chapter 2. V3-4 - 2:13 explained to us that Spiritual Wisdom is taught by the Holy Spirit to those “of the Spirit”. Paul condemns the Corinthians for behaving as if they were still “of the flesh”, and with a bit of sarcasm calls their best attempts at achievement “merely human”. 3:5-16 - The Field, The Building and the Temple V5-6 - Much of our attention has been to the leaders or dividers in the church. Paul has used the name Apollos mostly for his example, but we have to read carefully because now he wants the church to get their minds off the factions. Just as he mocks their best attempts at wisdom as “merely human,” now he’s going to take their favorite leaders and reduce them to “servants.” Paul and Apollos, far from upper class, eloquent philosophers, instead play the role of planters and waterers. V7 - God himself is producing fruit. The evidence of the Spirit in the church isn't from their associations, but directly from their intimate union with God, producing out of their bellies, rivers of living water. V8 - The fellow workers should be one in mind and judgment (per chapter 1) and not drawing you apart from each other. V9 - Along with verse 21, the apostle uses three illustrations to turn the focus onto the people and not the leaders. We are workers, but you are God’s project. He wants they: God’s field God’s building God’s temple V10 - Paul switches from planter/watered to founder/builder, but it’s the same point he made prior. V11-15 - These verses have a dual meaning. Primarily, it’s a warning to the teachers. Practically, it is an instruction for each person’s own life. V10 - Care must be taken while our lives are built. Once and done salvation is not Paul’s Gospel. See again all of chapter 2. V11 - He reiterates that Christ (crucified) is the only foundation (2:2). V12 - Two building materials: Gold etc. - The Spiritual teaching of 2:2, 10, 16 Wood etc. - Boasting in status, association, accomplishment V13 - The Day is referenced in 1:7-8. More than the Second Coming, it’s the new day, the final day, the day of no hiddenness, the day of purging, of knowing, of seeing, faith becoming sight, transformation, transfiguration, cumulation, totality. On that day light will flood the darkness. All will be known, judged and made right. Everything will be touched by fire (The Holy Spirit). V14 - What has been built by the Spirit through the cross of Jesus in us will return to us a reward. V15 - What has been built by boasting will result in total loss, pain and ruin, but that fire itself will save us. V16-17 - Paul moves to the pinnacle of his argument which will lead us into the next few chapters. We are God’s temple. Along with 1:18 and 2:7-9, this passage is an anchor point in the book. Paul has crafted a two point argument: First, the things we seek for ourselves are so much lower than what God is doing. Second, if we are each part of this temple, we ought to be careful how we treat that temple. V18-20 - Paul reiterates his earlier thesis. 3:18-23 - The Church is and has All Things That are Christ’s V21-23 - Paul concludes what he began at the start of his field/building/temple illustration. Why boast in your association when what you essentially are is so much greater already? Why boast in status when your lowly status is what saved you (ch 1)? Why search for secret wisdom that turns out to be merely human (ch 3)? We align with things we think have something that we don’t when the reality is all things are already ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.

The Spirit Teaches a Hidden Wisdom (Ch 2) 2:1-5 - Paul Expands on the Meaning of  Power V1-2 - Lofty speech and wisdom is not anti-intellectual or poor grammar. Paul means that he didn’t have the appearances that the divisive leadership had at Corinth. He made no claims to transcendent knowledge that the Corinthians craved. Rather, he came knowing only the wisdom of Christ crucified.  V3 - He has reverted back to the Corinthian paradigm, that wisdom is power and the cross is foolishness when he says that he was with them in weakness. V4-5 - A new set of contradictions: Persuasive words versus a demonstration of the Spirit and his power. A leader may speak in a way that moves someone to be convinced of, or the Holy Spirit may manifest himself to the hearer and powerfully bring something into being. What the Spirit is doing is Paul’s summary of both the chapter and the letter as a whole. While the Corinthians were seeking a force (leader with lofty words) that had the capacity to bring them to a higher plane of being, the Spirit, through the word of the Cross (the crucified Jesus) is doing just that. So, Paul says, rest, not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Note: Paul returns to this in 4:19-20. 2:6-10 - God Has Prepared Something For Us By the Spirit    V6 - Paul will speak in two parts now. First, for the rest of the chapter, he will explain what a truly mature person would understand. After that, in chapter 3 he will tell the Corinthian that they are infants and can’t understand the Spirit’s power, which is why they continually act against it. “Pass away”: He will use death as a key player in his story onward. There are two deaths. The passing away of the rulers and wisdom of the world and the death of the cross. “The rulers of this age” could be either human rulers or the demonic spirits. V7 - A secret and hidden wisdom is Paul’s version of the Corinthian idea of transcendence. God prepared this before time. V8 - Two good takes in this passage: That the rulers of this age killed Jesus is evidence that the two types of wisdom contradict each other, serve different ends and can’t cohabitate. We either die with Jesus or we crucify him. Many in the church have speculated that Satan and the demons never grasped how God would redeem man. It was a secret even to them, which is why they killed Jesus unknowingly. V9 - “Eye has not seen…” Paul’s letter has the goal of the Corinthians seeing and knowing all that God is doing. His end is summarized in chapter 15 where the fleshly body is planted in death and the spiritual body is raised through the power of the Spirit. V10 - These things prepared do not remain hidden to us. They aren’t still a secret. We are meant to know them “through the Spirit”. 2:11-16 - The Spirit, The Mind of God and the Mind of Christ in Us V11-12 - The Spirit knows and understands the mind of God. He has been given to us so that we too can know and understand the mind of God. V13 - Again the contradiction, the mind of God can’t be known in words of human wisdom, but they are taught by the Spirit to those who are spiritual. Spiritual here is not a measurement of quality of someone’s Christianity. Spiritual means “of the Spirit” as opposed to “of the flesh”. V14 - The natural/human person does not have the Spirit and therefore is not being taught the things that exist in the mind of God. He cannot see or accept these things. They remain folly to him. V15 - The spiritual person, Paul assumes, interacts so closely with God, that he has proper judgment of all things. There’s nothing left to judge in the spiritual person because they have become united with God and inseparable in thought, will, understanding and action. V16 - He summarizes the power of the Spirit: He who knows the Father intimately has brought us into and brought into us the mind of Christ. for more resources at buriedandborn.substack.com and https://medium.com/buried-and-born/first-corinthians/home

Natural Wisdom Opposes the Cross - Boasting in Status (1:10-31) 1:10-16 - Paul Addresses the Primary Concern: Divisions 1:17-25 - Eloquent Wisdom vs the Word of the Cross 1:26-31 - Boasting in the Lord Subscribe for more resources at buriedandborn.substack.com and https://medium.com/buried-and-born/first-corinthians/home

Chapters 1-4 - Contradictions and Paradoxes in Finding Wisdom Introduction and Foundation (1:1-9) Natural Wisdom Opposes the Cross - Boasting in Status (1:10-31) The Spirit Teaches a Hidden Wisdom - Boasting in the Lord (Ch 2) Immaturity and the Spirit’s Work - Boasting in Association (Ch 3) Apostles’ Poverty & Corinthians’ Riches - Boasting in Accomplishment (Ch 4) Subscribe for more resources at buriedandborn.substack.com

Today we introduced Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. Major Divisions of the Epistle: 1-4 - Contradictions and Paradoxes in Finding Wisdom Introduction and Foundation (1:1-9) Natural Wisdom Opposes the Cross - Boasting in Status (1:10-31) The Spirit Teaches a Hidden Wisdom - Boasting in the Lord (Ch 2) Immaturity and the Spirit’s Work - Boasting in Association (Ch 3) Apostles’ Poverty & Corinthians’ Riches - Boasting in Accomplishment (Ch 4) Be Imitators of Me vs “All Things are Lawful for Me” 5-10 - Divisions: Being Dominated by Sin Things Reported Protecting the Body from Corruption - An End to Boasting The Need for Wise Judgment Refraining from Immorality Things They’ve Asked About Marriage Cultural Customs Self-Denial and Mutual Benefit the Cure for  Paul’s Rights - Boasting in the Gospel Idolatry Be Imitators of Me vs “All Things are Lawful for Me” 11-14 - Order and Unity: Things that Build Up The Supper The Gifts 15 - The Holy Spirit Renews Nature 16 - Paul’s Project for the Saints Subscribe for more at buriedandborn.substack.com

In this final week, we walked through an Examination of Conscience (available on our blog on Medium) comprised of questions concerning the Apostles' Creed. This book is available on Amazon and also as a free PDF download. Find more info by signing up for our Substack or following us on Instagram @buried_and_born

This week we discussed the conclusion of the of the Apostles' Creed. This book is available on Amazon and also as a free PDF download. Find more info by signing up for our Substack or following us on Instagram @buried_and_born