Helpful Quotes by Carson and Moo

From 1 and 2 Corinthians, in their book, An Introduction to the New Testament...

"In 8:1-13, Paul insists that divisions of opinion as to whether it is proper to eat food that has been sacrificed to idols must be resolved on the basis of self-sacrificial love, not claims to superior knowledge.  Chapter 9, cast in part as Paul's defense of his apostolicity, shows that Paul perceives that connection between this problem and the divisiveness he treated in chapters 1-4: in both cases a raw triumphalism prevails.  Paul combats this evil and addresses both problems by pointing to his own commitment to self-denial as the very hallmark of his apostolicity: despite his many rights as an apostle, he voluntarily lays them aside so as to win as many as possible to Christ.  This model of self-control and self-denial must characterize all Christians (9:24-27)." [p. 417, emphasis mine]

"These sorts of social pressures [lust for a high social status] were still shaping immature Corinthian believers. The problem was not so much that they were relapsing into paganism, as that their Christian faith, however sincere, had not yet transformed the worldview they had adopted from the surrounding culture. They had not grasped how they theology of the cross not only constitutes the basis of our salvation but also and inevitable teaches us how to live and serve - and such teaching is in radical contradistinction to a world dominated by self-promotion and social climbing." [p. 427, emphasis mine]

"Because in 1 and 2 Corinthians Paul passionately develops a theology of the cross that shapes Christian ethics, Christian priorities, and Christian attitudes, the apostle directly confronts all approaches to Christianity that happily seek to integrate a generally orthodox confession with pagan values of self-promotion." [p. 450, emphasis mine]

"The cross not only justifies, it teaches us how to live and die, how to lead and follow, how to love and serve. These two letters therefore speak volumes to contemporary Western Christianity, which often prides itself in its orthodoxy but is far more comfortable with twenty-first century secularism than it has any right to be." [p. 451]

"These two epistles [1 and 2 Corinthians] constitute the most telling condemnation of arrogance, self-promotion, boasting, and self-confidence in the Pauline corpus; conversely, they describe in practical terms the nature of the Christian life and witness, emphasizing service, self-denial, purity, and weakness as the matrix in which God displays his strength. Perhaps the high-water mark is the emphasis on love as "the most excellent way" (1 Cor. 12:31-13:13) all Christians must pursue." [p. 451, emphasis mine]

Hope this blesses you in some way!