Paul ends his letter to the Romans in chapter 16 with greetings and final salutations to various members of the church; he gives a warning about causing division in the church; and he concludes with a benediction to the ‘only wise God’.
Next in the reading is the book of 1 Corinthians, written by Paul to the church he founded at Corinth, which is a city in ancient Greece that was a successful trade centre and metropolis famous for sporting events and contests. The city was known for sophisticated multiculturalism, intense religiosity and rampant sin including temple prostitution.
Paul stayed with the church for about a year and a half when he started it, but after he left the church began experiencing severe problems among the mixture of believers – amongst the Jews and non-Jews, among the wealthy and the slaves. And it is into this context that Paul writes this letter teaching the believers how to get along and exhorting them with the simple message of Jesus Christ crucified.
And so the first three chapters opens with Paul’s greetings in chapter 1 and his expression of thankfulness for the church while also calling them out for the division over loyalties to their different spiritual leaders. He calls the wisdom of the world foolishness compared to God’s wisdom.
And In chapter 2 he states his commitment to know nothing else but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He then explains that he is coming to them with power and the Spirit and not just with words. And he ends chapter 2 with a comparison between the natural man and the spiritual man.
In chapter 3 he introduces the idea of working together with God to build and therefore warning that they should be careful of how they build. He ends chapter 3 with the admonition that the people are the temple of God with the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them.
