1 and 2 Corinthians
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Lesson OneOverview of 1 and 2 Corinthians (Skim 1 and 2 Corinthians)24 Activities|1 Assessment
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Getting Started
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Lesson Text: Read 1 and 2 Corinthians
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In | The Greeting of 1 Corinthians
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In | Workbook: Blamelessness and Purity, Part 1
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In | Workbook: Blamelessness and Purity, Part 2
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In | Responses to Reports
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In | Workbook: Matching Responses to Reports, Part 1
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In | Workbook: Matching Responses to Reports, Part 2
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In | Responses to Questions
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In | Rights, Tongues and Resurrection
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In | Living with an Imminent Death
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In | The Cross Is the Path of Glory
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In | Boasting, Foolishness and Wisdom
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In | Key Terms in Corinthians
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Behind | Corinth
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Behind | iMap: Letters and Visits on Paul’s Journeys
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Behind | Onsite: Corinth - Paul's Final Appeal for Judgment
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Behind | 360 View: Corinth - Bema Seat
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Behind | Claudius Expels the Jews from Rome
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Behind | Synagogues and Assemblies
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Behind | The Gallio Incident in AD 51
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In Front | Pneuma: Spirit and Spirituality
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In Front | Workbook: Wisdom and the Spirit
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson TwoHoliness in the Context of Freedom (1 Corinthians 5–8, 10, 15)20 Activities|1 Assessment
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Getting Started
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Lesson Text: 1 Corinthians 5–8, 10, 15
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In | Extremes: Legalism and License
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In | Saved by Grace or Constrained by Love
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In | Workbook: Getting the Alignment Right, Part 1
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In | Workbook: Getting the Alignment Right, Part 2
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In | Gnosticism vs. Torah Holiness
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In | Mediators of a New Covenant
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In | Workbook: Paul and Ezekiel
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In | Workbook: Leviticus and 2 Corinthians
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Behind | Geographical and Cultural Setting
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Behind | Onsite: Liberty and Love - View from Corinth's Marketplace
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Behind | God's New Temple
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Behind | Onsite: Corinth - God's Temple in a Promiscuous Port
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Behind | Religious Background in Corinth
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In Front | Isolation vs. Assimilation
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In Front | Workbook: The Church and Culture
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In Front | Ritual and Recognizing the Spirit
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In Front | Workbook: Rituals in the Church
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson ThreeUnity and Order in the Context of Diversity (1 Corinthians 1–3, 11–14)19 Activities
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Getting Started
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Lesson Text: 1 Corinthians 1–3, 11–14
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In | Workbook: Unity and Division
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In | Division and Diversity
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In | Order in the Assembly
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In | Workbook: Paul and the Church
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In | The Lord's Supper
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In | Paul's Statement Regarding Women
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In | Workbook: First and Second Adam, Part 1
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In | Workbook: First and Second Adam, Part 2
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Behind | Farming Metaphor
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Behind | Body Metaphor
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Behind | Women in Corinth
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In Front | Torah as Principles: Dr. Dan Juster
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In Front | A Contextualized Movement
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In Front | Gifts of the Spirit
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In Front | A Ministry of Reconciliation: Dr. Salim Munayer
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In Front | Real Love: Abuna Elias Chacour
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson FourPaul's Apostleship (1 Corinthians 4, 9, 16, 2 Corinthians 1–7)19 Activities|3 Assessments
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Getting Started
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Lesson Text: 1 Corinthians 4, 9, 16, 2 Corinthians 1–7
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In | Workbook: Paul the Apostle
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In | Apostleship in a Spiritual Kingdom
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In | Suffering as an Apostle, Part 1
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In | Workbook: Suffering as an Apostle
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In | Suffering as an Apostle, Part 2
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In | Workbook: Present and Future
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In | Paul and the Beatitudes, Part 2
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In | Workbook: Paul and Jesus
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In | Workbook: One Untimely Born
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Behind | Onsite: Demolishing Strongholds - Paul's Way of Waging War
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In Front | Persecuted and Prosperity Churches
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In Front | The Prosperity Gospel and the Persecuted Church
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In Front | "Wounded" and "Muscular" Christians
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In Front | From Abuse to a Ministry of Grace: Bob Osborne
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In Front | Workbook: Persevering Through Suffering
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In Front | Workbook: Prosperity vs. Persecution
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Lesson FiveAuthor and Audience (2 Corinthians 8–13)25 Activities|2 Assessments
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Getting Started
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Lesson Text: 2 Corinthians 8–13
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In | Workbook: 1 and 2 Corinthians “Farewells”
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In | Paul's Relationship with Corinth
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In | Workbook: Paul's Lost Epistles, Part 1
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In | Paul's Lost Epistles
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In | Workbook: Paul's Lost Epistles, Part 2
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In | Paul Among the Corinthians
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In | Workbook: Boasting in 1 and 2 Corinthians
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In | A Pre-Pauline Baptismal Formula, Part 1
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In | Workbook: A Pre-Pauline Baptismal Formula, Part 2
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In | Workbook: Acts 9 and 2 Corinthians 11
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In | Preparation, Inspiration and Illumination
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Behind | Stoicism and Passive Fatalism
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Behind | Epitaphs from Roman Tombs
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Behind | Super-Apostles
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Behind | Plutarch’s Criticism of Boasting
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Behind | Workbook: Paul’s Boasting in Greco-Roman Context
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Behind | 360 View: Corinth - Erastus Inscription
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In Front | Pleasure and Comfort
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In Front | Workbook: Reflection on Comfort
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In Front | The Ancient American Church?
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In Front | Offering Peace in Persecution: Pastor Sameh and Nader Maurice
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In Front | Workbook: Guiding Questions - 1 and 2 Corinthians
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Wrap-Up
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Getting Started
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity|1 Assessment
Participants 6
In | Workbook: Paul and Ezekiel
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
- 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?
- Knowing what you do about Paul and his message, why do you think he does this?
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.