Jeff Ragan’s Reviews > The First Epistle to the Corinthians > Status Update

"No 'church' can long endure as the people of God for the new era in which the old distinctions between bond and free (or Jew and Greek, or male and female) are allowed to persist. Especially so at the table, where Christ , who has made us all one, has ordained that we should visibly proclaim that unity" (603).

"...such an abuse of the 'body' is an abuse of Christ himself. The bread represents his crucified body, which, along with his poured-out blood, effected the death that ratified the New Covenant. By their abuse of other believers, the offenders were also abusing the One through whose death & resurrection they had been brought to life & formed into this new eschatological fellowship, Christ's body the church" (589).

"...the very fact that Paul argues in this way, and that even at the end he does not give a commandment, suggests that such a 'church custom,' although not thereby unimportant for the Corinthians, is not to be raised to canon law...in each culture there are surely those modes of dress that are appropriate and those that are not" (586).

"While it is true that woman is man's glory, having been created for his sake...Paul now affirms that that does not mean that woman exists for man's purposes, as though in some kind of subordinate position to his aims and will To the contrary, God has so arranged things that 'in the Lord' the once cannot exist without the other...that as believers man and woman are mutually dependent on each other" (578-9).

"...in either case, her action (1) must have been deliberate, (2) must be understood to bring shame on her 'head,' and (3) probably had inherent in it a breakdown in the distinction between the sexes. Thus Paul wants her to return to what is customary, and will so argue in what follows" (563).

"It is...difficult to understand Paul's answer unless their 'spiritualized' eschatology...involved some kind of breakdown in the distinction between the sexes...they were perhaps...already acting as those who would be 'like the angels,' among whom sexual distinctions do not exist...they were...disregarding some very customary distinctions between men & women, which would...have been regarded as disgraceful" (549-50).

"...'freedom' does not mean that one does whatever one wishes with no regard for others; nor do the limits on freedom suggested here mean that another's conscience dictates conduct. To the contrary, everything is for God's glory and for the sake of the gospel, that is, for the good of all, which from Paul's point of view means that others might be saved" (539).

"They were arguing for the right to attend pagan feasts & were trying to 'build up' others by having them attend as well. Paul says No. Not only is the latter action totally unloving...but the action itself is totally incompatible with life in Christ as it is celebrated at the Lord's Table. Thus he appeals, exhorts, & finally warns that such attendance is absolutely forbidden" (523).

"Through his death and resurrection Jesus Christ marks the turning of the ages; the old is on its way out, the new has begun...He has set the future irresistibly in motion; and the new people of God, whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, who belong to God by grace alone, are the people of the End, 'on whom the culmination of the ages has come' and 'toward whom all history has had ts goal" (506-7).

"...the picture intended is probably...of their corpses being 'strewn all over the dessert'...all of them had experienced...Christian 'baptism' & 'Lord's supper,' yet the vast majority of them also experienced God's judgment...[Paul's] own point...just as God did not tolerate Israel's idolatry, so that of the Corinthians will not be tolerated. We deceive ourselves if we think God will tolerate ours" (497).