Tag: Corinthians

George Cattermole, "The Scribe" public domain.

Come Follow Me: 1 Corinthians Part 2

August 31, 2023 /

Corinthians, continued

The latter part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians has a definite flow and organization to it. While our tendency is to zoom in on a single verse or even sentence, sometimes we miss the forest for the trees. So, let’s start with an overview and then zoom in a little.

Chapters 8-11 deal with two seemingly unrelated topics: food and sexual immorality. This is puzzling to us, but logical to Paul’s readers. We’ll return to this to unpack why.

In chapter 11, Paul regulates some issues about how the community should function, both relating to gender and the Lord’s Supper, which Latter-day Saints call “the sacrament.” (Shortened, apparently, from “the sacrament [ordinance] of the Lord’s supper.”)

Then he moves on to a potentially more destructive issue; the Corinthian saints are highly competitive and trying to one-up each other, but with spiritual gifts. Who is the most blessed? Who is the most spiritually in-tune? This is not terribly unusual. The Apostles themselves had argued about which of them “was the greatest” and even asked Jesus to settle the matter- Luke 9:46, 22:24, Matt 18:1 Continue reading

2 Corinthians

September 2, 2019 /

2 Corinthians constitutes the first preserved “sequel” in Paul’s letters.  In fact, Paul wrote three or possibly four letters to Corinth. Some scholars speculate 2 Corinthians is actually an edited copy of two letters smushed together, based on differing tone and structure. (There’s a break in 2:14 that picks back up in 7:5). In fact, the whole thing is a bit confused. This is one of those letters that emphasizes the fact that we get only one side of the conversation, and have have to muddle through in trying to piece it together. We know Paul’s travel plans to revisit Corinth had changed, that something or things significant had happened since the last time he had written. Let’s look at a few things about the entirety of the letter, then some specifics. Continue reading