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1 and 2 Corinthians

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of 1 and 2 Corinthians (Skim 1 and 2 Corinthians)
    24 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  2. Lesson Two
    Holiness in the Context of Freedom (1 Corinthians 5–8, 10, 15)
    20 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  3. Lesson Three
    Unity and Order in the Context of Diversity (1 Corinthians 1–3, 11–14)
    19 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Paul's Apostleship (1 Corinthians 4, 9, 16, 2 Corinthians 1–7)
    19 Activities
    |
    3 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    Author and Audience (2 Corinthians 8–13)
    25 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

Paul’s authority may seem obvious to us today. At the time Paul wrote his letters, there were still many false prophets and apostles, as there had been at the time of Jesus. Paul’s authority is a driving concern in the Corinthians letters, and he defends it in a variety of ways.

Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me.
1 Corinthians 9:1-3 NIV

 

For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.
2 Corinthians 11:5-6 NASB

Near the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul recalls his personal encounter with Jesus. Note that he closes this with a reference to Jesus’ appearance to himself as “one untimely born.”

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NASB

  1. In the context of this passage, what do you think Paul means by saying he is “one untimely born”?
One Untimely Born

Paul was alive for much of Jesus’ earthly life but never met Jesus before his vision on the road to Damascus. The fact that he didn’t walk and talk with Jesus before His ascension became a problem in churches like Corinth. While apostles like Peter, Mark and John could appeal to their time as Jesus’ disciples in defense of their authority, Paul had to work harder at establishing his apostleship, as we’ve seen throughout these letters.

Assessments