1Corinthians
Feb 2008 Men’s Bkfst
Ch 11
Following, Remembering, and Keeping
10:33 Even as I please all [men] in all [things], not seeking mine own profit,
but the [profit] of many, that they may be saved.
Be ye followers of me, even as I also [am] of Christ.
Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the
ordinances, as I delivered [them] to you.
Paul gave unselfishly to the Corinthians church. He gave unselfishly by risking
his life and his finances to bring them the gospel, the good news of salvation by
faith in Christ. He gave unselfishly by living among them for a year and a half.
He gave unselfishly by continuing to keep a relationship going with them. He gave
unselfishly, because Paul had been received the unselfish love of God.
11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also [am] of Christ.
Paul didn’t just preach the gospel. He stayed with them. He parented them. He
loved them. The Corinthian believers were Paul’s letter of love.
One of the reasons Jesus came to earth was to give us an example that we could
see and imitate. Colossians says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Paul
was an example to them of Christ. You may be the only example of Jesus some
people meet. Can you confidently state this to others? Imitate me as I of Christ.
11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep
the ordinances, as I delivered [them] to you.
Follow me, remember me, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered to you.
Follow me (as I follow Christ), remember me (in all things), and keep the
ordinances (as I delivered them to you).
The word for ordinances is paradosis [3862] = “beside (para [3844]) + “giving”
(didomi [1325]). That which is delivered in word and speech. Paul writes to
the nearby Thessalonians there in Greece
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the
traditions which ye have been taught, whether by
word, or our epistle. (2Th 2:15).
Here, Traditions is that Greek word paradosis again. And here it teaches us
what paradosis really means: Word + epistle. Word is logos: spoken word, and
epistle is the Greek word epistle for a written letter.
1 Corinthians
pg 1
Paul’s original letters to the churches were written in Greek, the international
language of his day. In fact most of the New Testament was originally written in
Greek. Paul’s canonized letters were considered Scripture even when the Apostle
Peter was still alive around 30 years after Christ’s resurrection.
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these
things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace,
without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that
the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also
our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom
given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all
his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in
which are some things hard to understand, which
untaught and unstable people twist to their own
destruction, as they do also the rest of the
Scriptures. (2Pe 3:14-16 NKJV).
Paul, near the end of his life, asked Timothy to bring the books (Gk biblion,
New Testament book shaped papyrus pages) and the scrolls (Gk membrana, OT
written on animal skins, parchment) (2Ti 4:13). So Paul likely carried copies of
the New Testament Biblion containing the gospels of Matthew and/or Mark (Luke
and John had not yet been written), as well as membrana parchment scrolls
containing the Books of the Old Testament. Copies were received from a
reputable copyist by Paul and carried to a new location where they were used by
Paul and received from Paul and copied for use at the local church. These
documents carried a pedigree from their messenger, from their public usage, and
left a lineage of copies.
Pastor Chuck mentions that there was a Scriptural copying industry set up as a
ministry of the church at Antioch, where Paul came out of, churning out high
quality Greek Scripture manuscripts. It is also likely that there was one of these in
Ephesus where John the Apostle was churning out disciples. In the Greek
churches, older manuscripts were used to teach from and to verify and certify the
newer copies until they wore out. When they were no longer useable (faded ink,
etc.) they were destroyed so as not to mislead future readers. The new copies took
over where the old left off.
The Greek (Eastern Church or Byzantine Church) received these manuscripts
and faithfully copied them down to modern times so that today literally 90-95% of
the 5,500 or so manuscripts are of Byzantine origin.
While the seat of power in the Roman empire rested in Rome, the seat of
scholarship in the Roman empire rested in Alexandria in Egypt. Copies of these
manuscripts made it down to the secular Divinity school down in Alexandria
1 Corinthians
pg 2
where worldly brilliant men used their worldly philosophies (such as gnosticism)
to determine that Words which disagreed with their world-view should be omitted.
They produced a text of Scripture which was very different from the Greek text.
The Codex Vaticanus differs from the Received Text as follows: 2,877 words
omitted, 536 words added, 935 words subsituted, 2098 words transposed, 1,132
words modified, making a total of 7578 verbal differences. The Sinaitic
manuscript differs by almost 9,000 differences.1
Secular Scholarship: Alexandria, Rome, Wescott-Hort.
Tertullian, circa 200 AD wrote that those inquiring of salvation should, “...go
through the apostolic churches, in which the very chairs of the apostles still
preside, in which their own authentic letters are publicly read, uttering the voice
and representing the face of every one. If Achaia is nearest, you have Corinth. If
you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi, you have Thssalonica. If you
go to Asia, you have Ephesus. But if you live near Italy, you have Rome, ...” 2 The
authentic letters were still being read perhaps 150 years after they were written.
Many of you have Family Bibles from the 1800’s handed down to you from your
families.
As early as the second century a theological school flourished in Alexandria, in
which Clement and Origen taught as pioneers in biblical learning and Christian
philosophy. From Alexandria the gospel spread throughout the region. At a
council in 235, twenty bishops from the Nile region attended. 3 “The Alexandrians
freely fostered all sorts of peculiar views, which were afterwards rejected as
heretical;”4 The Alexandrians, for example, “enlarged the idea of inspiration [of
the Bible] to a doubtful breath. Clement of Alexandria calls the works of Plato
inspired, because they contain truth; and he considers all that is beautiful and good
in history, a breath of the infinite, a tone, which the divine Logos draws forth from
the lyre of the human soul.”5 Origen had volumes of theological works
meandering until his great learning led him out of the orthodox Christian faith.
Dr. David Otis Fuller, “True or False”, copyright 1973, 1983 Grand Rapids International
Publications, 1990 Institute for Biblical Textual Studies. Page 78.
2
“History of the Christian Church,” Volume 2 by Philip Shaff p 526
3
Shaff Vol 2 p 25
4
Shaff Vol 2 p 527.
5
Shaff Vol 2 p520.
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1 Corinthians
pg 3