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: One Untimely Born
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
- In the context of this passage, what do you think Paul means by saying he is “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.