Study questions

Life-Study of 1 Corinthians

1. Introduction (1)

  1. What are the two crucial points concerning 1 Corinthians addressed in the introduction? Hint: the first crucial point indicates that 1 Corinthians illustrates three categories of spiritual life. Indicate what these are in your answer.
  2. How can we see both the universal church and local church in 1 Corinthians 1:2? What is significance of each?

2. Introduction (2)

  1. What are the two callings in 1:2 and how are they related?
  2. What are the initial gifts in 1 Corinthians 1:7 and how are they different from the miraculous gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12?

3. Introduction (3)

  1. What is the deep meaning of fellowship in 1:9?
  2. How does mutual fellowship result in the oneness within and among all the churches and in the elimination of our preferences?

4. Christ and His Cross the Unique Solution to All the Problems in the Church (1)

  1. Using 1 Corinthians 1:1-13, explain what Paul's solution was to the problem of division in the church.
  2. How is having no preferred place, speaker, or doctrine a practical application of taking Christ as our center?

5. Christ and His Cross the Unique Solution to All the Problems in the Church (2)

  1. What does it mean for Christ to be the center of God’s economy and also your unique portion?
  2. What is the wonderful work and purpose of the cross in our experience?

6. Christ Not Divided

  1. What does Paul mean when he speaks of “the same thing” in 1 Corinthians 1:10 and how can we speak the same thing?
  2. What is the only way to avoid division and what does it mean to be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion?

7. Christ Crucified, God's Power and God's Wisdom (1)

  1. Why did Paul stress the crucified Christ in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25?
  2. How does the cross of Christ deal with the problem of division as seen among the Corinthians?

8. Christ Crucified, God's Power and God's Wisdom (2)

  1. What does it mean for the crucified Christ to be God's power?
  2. What does it mean for the crucified Christ to be God's wisdom?

9. Christ Our Wisdom: Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption

  1. What should be testified through the living of God's chosen ones, according to 1:26-28?
  2. Give an example for you how you need to experience Christ as your wisdom today, as either righteousness, sanctification, or redemption.

10. Four Crucial Matters for the Participation in Christ

  1. List the four crucial matters and verses covered in this message.
  2. In your own words, connect the four matters together to show how they all relate to the solution to all problems in the church and to God's economy.

11. Participation in the Fellowship of Christ

  1. What is God’s good pleasure and how does He accomplish this good pleasure?
  2. What does it mean to be called into the fellowship of God’s Son and how can we experience and enjoy this fellowship?

12. Partaking of Christ as Our Portion

  1. How can we see Paul’s ways of dealing with problems from 1 Corinthians 1:2 and 1:9?
  2. According to 1 Corinthians 6:17, what is the key to our experiencing the fellowship which we have been called into?

13. Experiencing Christ as Wisdom to us from God

  1. What does it mean to say that wisdom is our way, the freeway in our Christian life, and righteousness, sanctification and redemption are the materials used in the construction of this freeway?
  2. How can we experience Christ as wisdom to us from God in each of the three aspects—righteousness, sanctification and redemption?

14. The Fellowship of Christ Issuing in the Experience of Him

  1. What is the meaning of fellowship as referred to by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:9?
  2. How does our enjoyment of Christ in this fellowship issue in our experiencing Him as wisdom in the aspects of righteousness, sanctification and redemption?

15. Christ Crucified, the Focus of the Apostle Paul's Ministry

  1. What is the testimony of God to which Paul refers in verse 1?
  2. How can you say that determining to know only Christ includes the church? How can practicing this solve problems in the church life?

16. God’s Wisdom in a Mystery, Christ as the Deep Things of God

  1. Using 2:6-10 as expounded by verses from chapter 1, explain what your destiny is as a Christian.
  2. What are the deep things of God and how can we understand and experience them?

17. Communicating Spiritual Things by Spiritual Words to Spiritual Men

  1. What does it mean to communicate spiritual things with spiritual words? Why is this an important lesson for us?
  2. What is the difference between a soulish man and a spiritual man and how can we become the spiritual men who discern spiritual things?

18. The Two Spirits in Knowing Christ as the Depths of God

  1. What are some of the things of man discerned by the spirit of man?
  2. How does knowing the two spirits relate to knowing the depths of God? How does this relate to our being a spiritual person?

19. The Spirit of Man Knowing the Things of Man and the Spirit of God Knowing the Things of God (1)

  1. How can we compare Romans and 1 Corinthians and in what sense can we say the 1 Corinthians is more precious than Romans?
  2. From Message 19, and based on 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2, what are some of the things of man and the things of God to which Paul was referring in 2:11?

20. The Spirit of Man Knowing the Things of Man and the Spirit of God Knowing the Things of God (2)

  1. What are the two extremes related to the knowledge and experience of the Spirit?
  2. What is the Lord's recovery today and what should be our concern in His recovery? Make sure to mention how this relates to the central vision.

21. The Spirit of Man Knowing the Things of Man and the Spirit of God Knowing the Things of God (3)

  1. Give an example from your experience, how exercising your spirit caused you to embrace the two-foldness of a divine truth.
  2. According to your experience, what does exercising your spirit to know your self usually result in?

22. The Church, God's Farm and God's Building (1)

  1. In 3:9 the church is called "God's cultivated land." What does He grow on His farm?
  2. How can we help one another as plants on God's farm, to grow? Who should do this work?

23. The Church, God's Farm and God's Building (2)

  1. How can we water others who come to us for fellowship?
  2. How can we see God's eternal goal in 1 Corinthians 3?

24. Growth in Life Needed (1)

  1. What is the difference between the initial gifts, the miraculous gifts, and the mature gifts?
  2. What does it mean to grow in life and how can we grow?

25. Growth in Life Needed (2)

  1. What is Paul's burden in 1 Corinthians 3?
  2. What are three signs of spiritual infancy that reveal our need to grow in life?

26. The Building Work with Transformed Materials

  1. What is the meaning of laying another foundation and how can we avoid doing so?
  2. In a practical way, what does it mean to build with gold, silver, and precious stones? Use examples.

27. THE BUILDING WORK WITH NATURAL THINGS

  1. What does it mean to build the church with wood, grass, stubble? How can we avoid it?
  2. What is the warning to those who build with wood, grass, and stubble? Is it a loss of your eternal salvation?

28. Building on the Unique Foundation

  1. What is Paul's burden in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15?
  2. How do we apply Paul's word to our Christian life today?

29. Feeding, Drinking, Eating, Planting, Watering, and Growing

  1. What are the six crucial expressions used by Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and how can we experience each of these matters?
  2. What is the greatest need and how should we respond to this need? What should our cooperation be?

30. God's Farm and God's Building

  1. What does God’s farm have to do with God’s building and how can one be built into God’s spiritual building?
  2. What is the unique foundation of God’s building and how can we be saved from laying other foundations?

31. Transformation for the Building

  1. How does the relationship between God's farm and His building indicate a metabolic process of transformation?
  2. What do we need in order to experience the transfusion that results in transformation for God's building?

32. Building or Destroying the Temple of God?

  1. How can we be constituted with the Triune God? And how does this process of transformation relate to the building?
  2. What is Paul's warning not to destroy the temple of God?

33. All Things for the Church and the Church for Christ

  1. Why is there a lack of genuine building up of the church today?
  2. What does it mean to say that all things are ours, we are Christ's, and that Christ is God's? How can we have the assurance that all things are ours?

34. Stewards of the Mysteries of God (1)

  1. What is a steward of the mysteries? Explain first what a steward is and then what the mysteries are.
  2. How can we be the faithful servants of Christ?

35. Stewards of the Mysteries of God (2)

  1. What was Paul's burden in referring to himself as both the offscouring of the world and a begetting father? Based on this word, how should both the Corinthians and we today imitate the apostle?
  2. Explain how Paul's word in verse 21 about coming to the Corinthians with a rod or a spirit of meekness reveals his genuine spirituality. How should we learn from Paul in this matter in order to build up the church?

36. Dealing with an Evil Brother

  1. How could Paul say "when you and my spirit are assembled" if he was not in Corinth? How does this indicate we should deal with all things in the church life?
  2. Why does Paul refer to Christ our Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread? What does this indicate to New Testament believers?

37. DEALING WITH GOING TO SECULAR LAW

  1. What was the source of the problem of lawsuits among believers? When have you experienced this source?
  2. Why does Paul say the saints were washed in the name of Christ rather than in His blood? How can we be washed in His name?

38. Dealing with the Abuse of Freedom in Foods and in the Body (1)

  1. What is the basic principle of living to which Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 6:12? How does this principle relate to our living in the central lane of God's economy?
  2. What two areas of abuse of freedom addressed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:13? How should we apply his word in exercising a proper care for our body today?

39. Dealing with the Abuse of Freedom in Foods and in the Body (2)

  1. What is the crucial significance of 1 Corinthians 6:17 and how do you practice being one spirit with the Lord?
  2. Describe the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry and your seeing of this vision.

40. Dealing with the Abuse of Freedom in Foods and in the Body (2)

  1. How can our bodies become members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit?
  2. Explain how the three matters of our bodies being members of Christ, of our being one spirit with the Lord, and of our body being the temple of the Holy spirit are three aspects of one reality.

41. Dealing with Marriage Life (1)

  1. Instead of analyzing our married life, what should we do?
  2. How does Paul's word in 7:7 about remaining single or married depend on the gift not to marry?

42. Dealing with Marriage Life (2)

  1. How does 1 Corinthians 7 convey the spirit of the writer, Paul, and what was in his heart as he was writing this chapter to the saints there?
  2. How does Paul's word about not initiating anything and accepting our circumstances express his absoluteness for God? How will entering into his spirit in this chapter also bring us into oneness with God?

43. Dealing with Marriage Life (3)

  1. What is the principle of incarnation? How we see an example of the principle of incarnation with Paul in 1 Corinthians 7?
  2. Why does Paul say that he charges, yet not he but the Lord?

44. Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (1)

  1. How does Paul deal with the problem of eating things sacrificed to idols according to the principle of love that builds up? How does our loving God cause us to be known by Him?
  2. In dealing with the eating of things sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 how can we see that Paul’s heart and spirit were concerned for Christ and His members?

45. Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (2)

  1. Many matters in human life are complicated and difficult. According to 1 Corinthians, how can we solve these questions in a simple way? By what principle?
  2. According to 1 Corinthians 9, what is an apostle and what should be the result of an apostle's work?

46. Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (3)

  1. Explain using 1 Corinthians 9 how the burden Paul was given was also an enjoyment and a potential reward to him.
  2. Explain the matter of reward or punishment for believers using the race metaphor from 9:24-25 as if you were speaking to a Christian who is "waiting to go to heaven"

47. The Type of Israel

  1. Why in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 does Paul refer to Israel as a type?
  2. What are the aspects of Israel as a type that we can apply to our running the Christian race? Include the nine items of the warning regarding being strewn along in the wilderness.

48. Growing into the Full Possession and Enjoyment of Christ

  1. What is the span and scope of God's salvation as portrayed by the first section of Israel's history?
  2. How can we apply this part of their history to our experience today and how can we be assured to have steady growth in life?

49. The Lord's Table (1)

  1. What is the meaning of the word “fellowship” in 1 Corinthians 10:16, 18, and 20?
  2. What is the result of our partaking of the Lord’s table?

50. The Lord's Table (2)

  1. How does 1 Corinthians 1:2, 9, and chapter 10 show us it is not sufficient only to believe in and rely on Christ?
  2. According to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and our experience, how is the Lord’s table related to the good land?

51. The Proper Eating

  1. How can we be delivered from idolatry in the matter of our enjoyment and be simplified to enjoy only Christ?
  2. Rather than focusing on the four basic principles for the believers' living what should be our focus in this section of 1 Corinthians?

52. An Overview of 1 Corinthians

  1. What are the four crucial verses in 1 & 2 Corinthians that speak of the Spirit?Explain how these verses are connected.
  2. What are the six problems in the realm of human life and the five problems in the God's administration covered in this bird's eye view of 1 Corinthians and what are the basic factors for solving the problems in these two realms?

53. Dealing with Head Covering

  1. Based on 1 Corinthians 11:3, explain how head covering is related to the headship in God's government?
  2. According to 1 Corinthians 11:7-15 what are the five reasons Paul gave for His teaching concerning head covering?

54. Dealing with the Lord's Supper (1)

  1. What is the difference between the Lord's table and the Lord's supper?
  2. How can we see both the Lord's physical body and His mystical Body on the table and what does it mean to discern the Body?

55. Dealing with the Lord's Supper (2)

  1. How should we take the Lord's supper for the remembrance of Him?
  2. How can we partake of the bread and cup in a worthy manner and what does it mean to discern the Body of Christ?

56. Dealing with the Lord's Supper (3)

  1. What does it mean to declare the Lord's death and how is this related to the two comings of Christ?
  2. What is the proper result of our eating the Lord's supper and how is this accomplished?

57. Dealing with the Gifts (1)

  1. What is the governing principle of the all the spiritual gifts?
  2. What does it mean that to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable? How is this matter of profit reflected in Paul's listing of the gifts?

58. Dealing with the Gifts (2)

  1. In 1 Corinthians 12, what are three matters that Paul emphasizes in dealing with spiritual gifts?
  2. What is the constitution of the Body of Christ and how can we participate in it?

59. Dealing with the Gifts (3)

  1. What is the meaning of "God has tempered/blended the Body together" in 12:24? How can we be blended?
  2. For what purpose has God given gifts to members in the Body?

60. Dealing with the Gifts (4)

  1. Why is 1 Corinthians 13 on love in the middle of a section on spiritual gifts? How do we have such love?
  2. According to the definition in 1 Corinthians 13, how can you say that God is love?

61. Dealing with the Gifts (5)

  1. As we consider the spiritual gifts, we need to ask what the gifts are for. According to 1 Corinthians 14, what was on Paul's heart as he was dealing with the matter of spiritual gifts?
  2. What is the meaning of prophesying from the Bible? Explain the difference between telling for or telling forth and foretelling. In which aspect is growth in life needed?

62. Dealing with the Gifts (6)

  1. What is the distinction between the Body and the church in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14?
  2. What is the problem with today's tongues speaking? What are four reasons for not encouraging tongues-speaking?

63. Dealing with the Gifts (7)

  1. What does the word “has” mean in 1 Corinthians 14:26 and how is this related to the unique purpose and goal of our meetings?
  2. What does it mean for “the spirits of the prophets to be subject to the prophets” in 1 Corinthians 14:32?

64. A Proper Christian Meeting

  1. How did the early Christians meet and what should be exhibited in a proper Christian meeting?
  2. How can we have a proper daily Christian life and how does this relate to our meetings?

65. DEALING WITH THE MATTER OF RESURRECTION (1)

  1. What is resurrection and how is it central to God's administration?
  2. What would the gospel and our Christian life be like without the resurrection of Christ?

66. DEALING WITH THE MATTER OF RESURRECTION (2)

  1. How does Paul use experience rather than doctrine to refute the claims of no resurrection?
  2. How does resurrection relate to the kingdom and heading up by Christ?

67. DEALING WITH THE MATTER OF RESURRECTION (3)

  1. According to the context of 1 Corinthians 15:33, what is Paul's reference to the Greek saying, “Do not be deceived, evil companionships corrupt good morals,” referring to?
  2. How is the reality of resurrection contained and concealed in nature, especially in the plant life?

68. DEALING WITH THE MATTER OF RESURRECTION (4)

  1. Explain how the resurrection of Christ is related to us and our experience subjectively.
  2. Describe how the resurrection is a motive in the work of the Lord.

69. Dealing with the Collection of the Gift and Conclusion

  1. How is it possible for us to overcome the power of mammon?
  2. What five matters in the second section of 1 Corinthians that are needed to carry out God's administration? Focus particularly on how God's administration depends on our living in resurrection.