[inspiring music] [inspiring music] >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. We're glad that you are joining us today. Today we are beginning a brand new quarter, 13 lessons, 13 weeks where we are going to be diving into Paul's letters of 1 and 2 Corinthians.
These are some amazing letters, a real anchor in the New Testament, and some of the things that Paul teaches and helps us to understand about Christ. So we're starting today. Lesson number 1 is "Paul's Ministry in Corinth.
" We're going to begin with prayer and we're going to come right back with the author of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. So let's start with prayer. Father, we thank You for drawing us together so that we can learn more about You through the writings of Paul.
We thank You for inspiring him to write 1 and 2 Corinthians and for the lessons that we are about to learn. So we ask that You will guide us through our study, and we thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. So we're grateful to have with us also here the author of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson.
This is Dr Adenilton Aguiar. You are a professor of New Testament interpretation, but you also teach on Old Testament as well. We're grateful that you're here.
>>Adenilton Aguiar: I'm very glad to be here. It's a great pleasure. Thank you for having me.
>>Eric: So 1 and 2 Corinthians, why are those two letters that Paul wrote, why are you so passionate about them to write 13 lessons on it? That's no small task, and we'll talk about that in a moment. But what is so special about 1 and 2 Corinthians to you?
>>Adenilton: Well, to be honest, I was caught by surprise when I received the invitation to write on 1 and 2 Corinthians. My PhD was in New Testament, and I wrote on Revelation. Revelation is my first passion, but obviously I love the whole Bible and the whole book, the--all the books of the New Testament.
And 1 and 2 Corinthians call my attention especially because they present Paul as a great pastor. He's a great theologian, but he's a great pastor concerned about the church. He loves the church.
He works for the church. He's willing to sacrifice himself for the church. So, especially 2 Corinthians shows the man, the pastor, the man who was willing to do anything to see the church growing.
So this calls my attention because 1 and 2 Corinthians show Paul as a great theologian, but especially as a great pastor. >>Eric: Now, you are currently serving as a professor down in Brazil. You're busy already, but you were asked to also write this quarter and a companion book on 1 and 2 Corinthians.
How did that come to pass? How long ago did that process begin? Because it's not something that happened two or three months ago; this is--it's a huge process.
There's a lot that goes into it. Kind of walk us through briefly how that came to pass. >>Adenilton: Yeah, that's right.
I teach Old and New Testament classes in Brazil. Today I'm serving at the Adventist University Center of São Paulo. And I received the invitation to write on 1 and 2 Corinthians in March of 2022, and they gave me 18 months to do the whole task, 18 months.
And I sent the manuscript in August of 2023, basically 17 months later, [chuckles] a month earlier than the due date. It was hard, but it was also a blessing because I learned so much about Paul. As I mentioned, what mostly called my attention in 1 and 2 Corinthians is the fact that those letters present Paul not only as a theologian, as we know he is, not only as a missionary, as we know he is, but especially as a passionate pastor.
So it took 17 months for me to write, from March of 2022 until August of 2023. >>Eric: And then once you've written it, it has to be translated into many different languages and distributed around the world so that--so that everyone can benefit from it. >>Adenilton: Yes, I had a--I had the blessing-- when I received the lesson in Portuguese, it was so special to me because I read the "Sabbath School" lessons since I was a child.
And when I received the lesson that I wrote, it was so, so powerful. I was so glad with that. >>Eric: And today many people around the world are being blessed by it, so this is an exciting journey.
So let's dive into lesson number one, "Paul's Ministry in Corinth. " What are 1 and 2 Corinthians about? Give us an overview of those two books.
>>Adenilton: Okay, very good. So I think we should start by the book of Acts. Luke reports when Paul left Athens and went to-- and went to Corinth, and Paul stayed there for 18 months.
This is mentioned in Acts 18, verse 11, 18 months. So after Paul left Corinth, he went to Ephesus, and there he received the visit of some people from the close family. We don't know for sure who they are, but they must be a very known family in the church because Paul does not present any more details about them.
But they went to Paul and they said, "Paul, "things are not going well in Corinth. You have to do something. " And after that Paul also received a letter from them asking specific questions.
And basically, this visit from the people from Chloe, Chloe's family, and the letter that the Corinthians sent to Paul, these things control what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians. So in the first chapters, chapter 1 through chapter 4, Paul is speaking about the divisions in the church. Perhaps we should read 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 11, verse 10 and 11: "Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name "of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak "the same thing, and that there be "no divisions among you, but that you be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
" Verse 11: "For it has been declared to me "concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. " So this one was-- this is one of the problems that Paul faced. He had to deal with the members of Corinth, so he writes about unity from chapter 1 to chapter 4.
And after that, Paul deals with some issues related to sexual immorality. And when we go to chapter 7, verse 1, Paul begins to deal with the questions that the Corinthians asked. So these things control what he writes in 1 Corinthians.
So chapters 1 to 4, unity, he's speaking about unity. Chapters 5 to 7, he's speaking about sexual immorality. Chapters 8 to 10, he's speaking about idolatry.
Chapters 11 to 14, he's speaking about the order of worship, some things that they were not doing very well about worship. And in chapter 15, he speaks about the resurrection of Christ because it seems that this was also a question that they were asking to Paul. They wanted--they wanted to understand a little bit more about Christ's resurrection.
When you go to 2 Corinthians, we see that when Paul wrote to the-- to the Corinthians, they received the letter, and after that Paul went to there, and he made a visit. He paid a visit to them, but this visit was kind of painful. He had--he had to deal with all of--all of those things, and this was a painful visit.
He promised them that he would visit them to spend a large time, but he did not-- he did not, this visit. He--rather, he wrote a letter, which is known as the severe letter. Only after that he went to visit them.
But in between, in between he writes 2 Corinthians, and in this letter, in 2 Corinthians, he's speaking about reconciliation, he's speaking about his love for the church. So we see the pastor, the passionate pastor in 2 Corinthians. So this is all what those two letters are about.
In 1 Corinthians he's speaking about the problems, and in 2 Corinthians he's writing a letter of reconciliation. So to speak, this is a love letter from a pastor to the members. >>Eric: Very good, and we're going to be unpacking that as we go this quarter.
So let's come back to-- let's take a step back and ask, who was Paul? What does the Bible reveal about the man, Paul, who penned these letters? >>Adenilton: Okay, first of all, I think we should say that Paul is a person that loves Jesus very much, very much.
When you read 1 Corinthians, verses 1 to 9, we see there the opening of the letter, the thanksgiving section, and Paul mentions Jesus nine times in nine verses. Paul is the person that--he's not-- he does not stop to-- does not--does not stop thinking and speaking about Jesus. He loves Jesus very much.
For instance, if we go to Philippians 2:1, Paul says, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. " He also wrote in Philippians 3, verses 7 and 8, "But what things were gain to me, "these I have counted loss for Christ. "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ.
" Who is writing these things is someone who loves Jesus very much. But in addition to that, Paul was also a theologian, a scholar; he loved the Bible. He loves very much the Bible, the Old Testament.
We see when Paul is writing his messages, we see that the Old Testament comes very easily to his writings, because he loves the Bible. But he also loves the church, as I mentioned. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse-- if I'm not mistaken, verse 23 or 28, he speaks about his concern for the churches, so he's someone who loves the church, the churches.
He's also a missionary. He's also a letter writer. He is a busy guy.
[chuckles] He does many things, but especially, I would say, Paul is someone who loves Jesus. >>Eric: So we have an author here, inspired by the Lord. Paul, who loves Jesus; he loves the church.
He--we're gonna find that he loves the cross; he--in the appropriate way and what the cross stands for. And we're going through a journey here, over the course of the next several weeks. You've written the quarterly, the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide.
But if somebody wants to dig deeper into this, if they really want to understand Paul, that you can only squeeze so much into that little book-- you've also written a companion book to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. Tell us a little bit about that book and why someone might want to pick that up. >>Adenilton: Okay, very good.
I have here the companion book. So I think one should go to the companion book to go a little deeper because we have-- on the quarterly we have many things to say, but we have--we don't have too much space to say what we wanna say. So here in the companion book, one will find my comments on many passages that I quote, that I mention in the--in the quarterly.
But here in the companion book, I can go deeper and deeper to comment those texts, to relate to those texts with other texts from Paul and from other parts of the Bible. So if one wants to go deeper in the quarterly, I would recommend for them to read the companion book. >>Eric: So I will make that recommendation as well.
I will second the recommendation. If you want to go deeper into this quarter's subject-- that is "First and Second Corinthians"-- make sure you pick up the companion book to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. You'll find it very easily at itiswritten.
shop. Again, that's itiswritten. shop.
If you teach a Sabbath school class, you absolutely want to pick this up. It will add depth and length and meat, as it were, to your Sabbath school class. And if you are a student in a Sabbath school class, you will be able to contribute much, much more to the discussion if you are able to pick this up and mine the depths of it to learn more about it as well.
So again, you can find that at itiswritten. shop. That's the companion book to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson.
We're going to come back in just a moment as we continue looking at lesson number 1, "Paul's Ministry in Corinth. " We're going to look at-- more at why he did the things that he did, why he said the things that he said, and we'll be back in just a moment here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. [inspiring music] >>Eric: At It Is Written, we are passionate about studying the Word of God, and we encourage you to be serious about it as well.
If you want to dig deeper into God's Word, here's what you do. Go to itiswritten. study for the It Is Written Bible Study Guides online.
They're 25 in-depth Bible studies that will take you through the major teachings of the Bible. You'll be blessed, and it's something you'll want to tell others about also: itiswritten. study.
Go further, dig deeper: itiswritten. study. >>male announcer: Journey through earth's history and the spiritual wars waging behind the scenes.
Purchase your copy of "The Great Controversy" today by visiting itiswritten. shop or call us at 888-664-5573. [inspiring music] >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written.
We're looking at 1 and 2 Corinthians this week, and especially on lesson number 1, we are looking at "Paul's Ministry in Corinth. " Adenilton, we've talked a little bit about what 1 and 2 Corinthians are about, who Paul was, and why he wrote these letters. What was Paul's missionary strategy?
If you were to describe his missionary strategy, here in Corinth and elsewhere, what did that look like? >>Adenilton: Okay, very good. So, Paul was the kind of evangelist who did not waste time to preach the gospel, this is something that calls my attention, and we see this characteristic of Paul in Acts 17, verses 15 to 17.
If you could read for us, please, Acts 17, verses 15 to 17. >>Eric: "So those who conducted Paul brought him "to Athens; and receiving a command "for Silas and Timothy to come to him "with all speed, they departed. "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, "his spirit was provoked within him when he saw "that the city was given over to idols.
"Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue "with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, "and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. " >>Adenilton: This is very interesting, especially verse 17, because this shows that Paul used to go where people were. So verse 17 mentions the synagogue and he found Jews there, but the text also mentions that he went to the marketplace.
So he wanted to see people, he wanted to see people to share the gospel with them. And this is a very special message to us. If you want to go, if you want to share the message of Christ, the gospel message with people, you must go where people, where people are, and this is what Paul did.
Paul did not waste time; he went to where people were to share the gospel with them. I think that this is a very special strategy that Paul followed, and we should put into practice as well. >>Eric: So very practical for us today, a very powerful lesson.
There's something interesting that Jesus tells Paul about going to Corinth. He tells Paul, "Don't be afraid. No one's going to attack you.
No one's going to harm you. " What kind of dangers did Paul feel that he was facing, or what kind of dangers was he really facing? >>Adenilton: Okay, so this is mentioned in Acts 18, verse 10.
This is a very special passage in the book of Acts because it seems that Paul was a little afraid there. And the text does not mention what was going on there, but it seems that Paul was a little afraid. And the fact that Jesus mentions the people that he had there, this is a--this is a thing that calls especially my attention.
To understand what's going on here, we should read a few passages. First one, 1 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians 5, verses 9 through 11: "I wrote to you in my epistle "not to keep company with sexually immoral people. "Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people "of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, "or idolaters, since then you would need "to go out of the world.
"But now I have written to you not to keep company "with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, "or covetous, or an idolater, "or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person. " So these were the kind of people that Paul met in Corinth. But regarding your question, we see that the fear of Paul was related to something that he suffered before.
For instance, if we go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 23 to 28, we have here a list of sufferings. And perhaps here we have the better picture, the best picture to understand the fears of Paul in Corinth. Chapter 11, verses 23 to 28.
Paul says, "Are they ministers of Christ? -- "I speak as a fool--I am more: "in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, "in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. "From the Jews five times "I received forty stripes minus one.
"Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; "three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep. " This is enough for us to understand that Paul suffered very much for the gospel's sake. So perhaps he feared that he would face some things like this, but Jesus is assuring him that He would be with him.
So the presence of Jesus brings to Paul the assurance that he would not be alone in doing his evangelism in Corinth. >>Eric: So that was clearly a message received by Paul because he went to Corinth and he shared the messages and so forth. So Paul's letters that we have, 1 and 2 Corinthians, they're what we might call occasional letters.
There were-- there were reasons that Paul wrote these letters. Why did Paul write 1 and 2 Corinthians? You've touched on it a little bit already, but I want to dive into this just a little bit more.
>>Adenilton: Okay, very good. So, we mentioned that Paul was in Ephesus, and he receives the visit from people from the house of Chloe, and they bring-- they bring him the message that things were not going well in Corinth, and some things that they mention are related to--especially to factionalism in the church, divisions in the church. So Paul writes to deal with these things.
He's very concerned about this problem because in the mind of Paul, the church has to present the same kind of unity that we see in the-- in the persons of the Godhead. They work united among themselves. So we have factionalism, but in addition to that, as I mentioned, Paul receives a letter from the Corinthians, and they ask many types of questions, and one of those is a question regarding sexual immorality.
And Paul--and Paul mentions that in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1. But there are many other-- many other issues. Perhaps we should read some passages to understand.
So let's read 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, chapter 7, verses 7 and 8: "For I wish that all men were even as myself. "But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. " Verse 8: "But I say to the unmarried "and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am.
" So we have the problem of celibacy, people are asking questions to Paul about this-- about this topic, but also we have the problem of idolatry. First Corinthians 10, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 14, Paul says, "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. " So Corinth was a very problematic church.
People who are watching us may think, "Well, my church has many problems," but if you take a look at what Paul is saying about the church in Corinth, you will see that your church perhaps has not so many problems as we see here in the church of Corinth. Paul is facing, is dealing with many problems. He mentions another one.
For instance, if we go to 1 Corinthians, chapter 14. Chapter 14, verse 1, verse 1, and this text is very--is very important for us to understand what is--what is he speaking about love in chapter 13. In chapter 14, he says, in verse 1, "Pursue love.
" "Pursue love. " Why is it necessary for Paul to tell to them, "Pursue love"? It is because Paul realizes that they lack love, right?
So the lack of love is also a huge problem and perhaps we should say that this is the major problem. That is why Paul speaks so much about love in this letter. But in addition to that, if we go to 2 Corinthians, if we go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, chapter 11, verse 13-- could you read for us, please?
>>Eric: "For such are false [prophets], "deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. " >>Adenilton: Okay, so Paul had also to do-- to deal with false teachings, false masters, false professors in the church. So this is a--this is-- this was also a huge problem in the church of Corinth.
But I would say that there is also a problem that relates to many things that we face today, which is the fact that the church somehow was influenced by the surrounding culture, and this is a problem that we also face today. Perhaps we should read 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 5-- 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 5. We read some texts to understand this topic-- 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 5, which says, ".
. . that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men.
" Why is Paul mentioning wisdom of men? Because the Greeks, they loved wisdom, philosophy, and somehow the church was being influenced by this type of thought external to the church. In addition, we could read chapter 6, verse 12.
chapter 6, verse 12, which says, "All things are lawful for me, "but all things are not helpful. "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. " So when he says, "All things are lawful for me," perhaps he's referring to the behavior of people in the surrounding culture.
So all these things Paul had to face, to deal with when he was writing to the church and he was pastoring the church. So the church in Corinth was a very problematic church, and Paul is dealing with a lot of these things when writing to them and when visiting them, as he did three times. >>Eric: So, Adenilton, we're going to be taking a journey through 1 and 2 Corinthians.
We don't have much time left in today's lesson, but give us a preview of where we're going. What's this journey going to look like? >>Adenilton: Okay, so we're going to speak about unity.
This is a major topic in 1 and 2 Corinthians. We'll speak about spiritual gifts. God gives us the talent, the gifts to do His work in this, in this world.
We'll speak about love, a portrait of love, the resurrection of Christ, the ministry of reconciliation, generosity. We'll speak about the way we can participate in the mission of God by giving ourselves. But not only giving ourselves, but also what we have to make the-- to do the gospel message, to reach other people.
And finally, we'll speak about three things that we must as a church have today, which is love, faith, and especially fellowship. So Paul begins by speaking about unity, and he finishes 2 Corinthians speaking about unity. This is a major topic, but as I, as I mentioned, we'll speak about many other things during this journey.
>>Eric: So this is going to be a fantastic 13-week, 13-study journey, and we're glad that you are going to be leading us through it. We are also glad that you are going to be joining us on this journey. You don't want to miss a single lesson, a single episode.
We're looking at pictures of Christ and God's plan for us through the writings of Paul in 1 and 2 Corinthians. When we come together next week, we're going to be looking at lesson number 2, "The Message of the Cross," and you are invited to join us. We'll see you next time here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written.
[uplifting music] [uplifting music] [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www. aberdeen.
