NTiR: Paul keeps chucking the first stones (1 Corinthians 13-16)

By | July 19, 2010

Bible and magnifying glassWe are at the end of another of Paul’s letters. There’s only a few more left, right? At least a few more ‘til we get to hear from Peter and Timothy. They can’t be any worse than this, lemme tell you.

Or am I setting myself up for a major disappointment?

Chapter 13

The Wedding Chapter. Everyone knows this one (“love is always patient, always kind…”). Actually, I think everyone knows all of this chapter. Aside from the wedding verses, there’s “When I became a man I gave up my childish ways” (I call bullshit on that, too). There’s also “Faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.”
Chapter 14
Lots of information about speaking in tongues. I don’t think that anyone but Pentecostals will care about this chapter, though there is one line that amuses me: “if the whole church gathers in the same place and everyone is speaking in tongues, when uneducated people or unbelievers come in, they will say that you are out of your mind, won’t they?” That’s why I call it the psycho church! 🙂
Chapter 15
My god this chapter will not end! 58 verses of Paul trying to prove that resurrection is true. He goes so far as to say anyone who doesn’t believe in resurrection has turned their back on Christ. HARSH! But as we’ve already established, Paul has no problems picking up that first stone and letting it fly.
Chapter 16
AMEN!!!! I don’t know what this chapter says yet – I am going to read it for the next paragraph. But for now, I’ll say AMEN for the end of this god-awful letter!
Paul once again finishes up the letter with his travel plans. He’s planning on maybe spending the winter in Corinth, which matches up perfectly with Luke’s description in Acts. Paul also exhorts the church to be nice to Timothy once Timothy gets there. And we are OUT!
Conclusion
Dull. Mind-numbingly dull. And it went on far too long. 16 chapters, one of which was long enough that it should’ve been split into two. A large part of the letter is once again Paul proclaiming himself to be the head of the church, and trying to justify that. And, of course, changing the teachings of Christ to better match up with his own personal beliefs.
All in all, I’d say to skip this book like the plague.
EEEGAH!!!!

Up next: 2 Corinthians

New installments of The New Testament In Review will be posted each Monday and Thursday. The new posts will always be on my blog, http://biffster.org. The entire series is accessible via http://biffster.org/ntir. If you are one of my Facebook friends, you can get an advance preview on my Facebook page. You can also follow me (@biffster) on Twitter to be alerted to new posts.