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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 was well versed in the Old Testament and referenced it often. Sometimes these references are so subtle or well-crafted that we have to pause for a moment to appreciate what he’s doing in a given passage, and how his use of the Old Testament informs his message. 

Read God’s promise to Israel in Ezekiel 36:26-27 and Paul’s message to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3:2-6.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV

 

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:2-3 ESV

  1. Paul retains the majority of the language from Ezekiel 36:26-27 but adjusts one key term in his letter, in the highlighted portion of the verse above. What is this term?
  1. Knowing what you do about Paul and his message, why do you think he does this?
Paul and Ezekiel

Paul inserts the term “tablet” when alluding to Ezekiel’s prophecy. This term recalls the Ten Commandment tablets from Exodus. It would have been heard as a reference specifically to the Old Testament Law.

God promises to remove “hearts of stone” and replace them with “hearts of flesh” in Ezekiel. Paul keeps the reference to “human hearts” as the focus of God’s saving work, but contrasts this new life in the Spirit not with “hearts of stone,” but with “tablets of stone.”

Thus, the Law isn’t discarded in Paul’s view, but rather fulfilled through the indwelling Spirit. The Spirit empowers us and enables us to follow Jesus and keep His teachings. In this way, He reframes the meaning of the law for God’s people, while also claiming the Old Testament prophecy from Ezekiel—“I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

Reference: Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 1997, pp. 168-177.