1 Cor 4 | Power, Status & the Cross
.
.1 Cor 4: 6 - 21 / PM
Paul's questions posed:
◘ What makes you so superior?
◘ What do you have that isn't a gift?
◘ Why do you act as if you're self-made?
[ Paul’s rebuke - Gal 3:3 NLT - How foolish can you be?
After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? ]
1. Puffed-up (v. 6 - 10)
- 'collective narcissism';
being better than; the need to push others down
1 Cor 2 Previous themes & teachings:
wisdom / weakness / reliance on the Holy Spirit
1 Cor 3 v.6 I planted the seed in your hearts, & Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow
______________
He chose us (Eph 1)
- Nothing can make us more secure than being in Christ
~ holy, chosen, blameless; adopted
*Blameless = amomos | "unblemished"
the same word as for Christ's perfect sacrifice
cf. Heb 9:14, 1 Pet 1:19 / spotless lamb
__________________
2. Humble & hard up (v. 11 - 21)
Puts into contrast the realities of the life they're living
Tribal identity mindset:
Kristin Kobes Du Mez writing on situation / schism in the US -
" thrived on manufacturing a sense of threat posed by outsiders "
- in which one only identifies who they are by what they're against
3. The freedoms which come from (2.)
- response should be led by grace, kindness,
security in God as opposed to a self-made status
.1 Cor 4: 6 - 21 / PM
Paul's questions posed:
◘ What makes you so superior?
◘ What do you have that isn't a gift?
◘ Why do you act as if you're self-made?
[ Paul’s rebuke - Gal 3:3 NLT - How foolish can you be?
After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? ]
1. Puffed-up (v. 6 - 10)
- 'collective narcissism';
being better than; the need to push others down
1 Cor 2 Previous themes & teachings:
wisdom / weakness / reliance on the Holy Spirit
1 Cor 3 v.6 I planted the seed in your hearts, & Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow
______________
He chose us (Eph 1)
- Nothing can make us more secure than being in Christ
~ holy, chosen, blameless; adopted
*Blameless = amomos | "unblemished"
the same word as for Christ's perfect sacrifice
cf. Heb 9:14, 1 Pet 1:19 / spotless lamb
__________________
2. Humble & hard up (v. 11 - 21)
Puts into contrast the realities of the life they're living
Tribal identity mindset:
Kristin Kobes Du Mez writing on situation / schism in the US -
" thrived on manufacturing a sense of threat posed by outsiders "
- in which one only identifies who they are by what they're against
3. The freedoms which come from (2.)
- response should be led by grace, kindness,
security in God as opposed to a self-made status