1 CORINTHIANS
1:2
[Christians are] "all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"
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Those who "call on the name of The Lord" is an Old Testament way of referring to followers of the one true God, Yahweh [e.g., Joel 2:32]. Stunningly, Paul changes the Old Testament phrase by substituting the name of Jesus for the name of Yahweh (Yahweh, spoken as Adonai in the 1st century and meaning "my Lord," here becomes "our Lord Jesus")!
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1:8
He will also strengthen you until the End, so that you will be blameless
on the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Paul's second Old Testament substitution quickly follows the first. Being declared "blameless" occurs at the future Final Judgment, on what the Hebrews called "The Day of Yahweh." This central image of Jewish Eschatology was also called "The Great and Terrible Day of Yahweh" in the very last passage of the Old Testament [Mal 4:1–5]. Paul continues his identification of Jesus as Yahweh by changing the Old Testament phrase—instead of "The Day of Adonai," Paul writes "on The Day of our Lord ... Jesus Christ!"
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2:7–8
But we speak of The Wisdom of God,
concealed in a mystery,
whom God foreordained before all the ages for our glory,
whom none of the rulers of this age recognized.
If they had understood,
they would not have crucified The Lord of Glory.
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Jesus—who is The Wisdom of God, The Lord of Glory, and part of the mystery ("secret revealed") of God's nature—was always going to be the Savior of the world on the cross. He was ordained to accomplish that task by The Father before time began [1 Cor 2:7; 2 Tim 1:9]; it was not merely "the plan of God" which was foreordained. Jesus is eternally existent [Mic 5:2; John 1:1], and shared glory with The Father before time began [John 17:5] despite Yahweh not sharing glory with anyone [Isa 42:8].
→ See The Mysterion of God
→ See Pre-Existent and Otherworldly
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2:16
And who has known the mind of The Lord, and who can advise Him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
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Paul isn't a quarter of the way through 1 Corinthians, and he has already said Jesus is eternal and called Him Yahweh twice. Paul's third, direct OT substitution of Jesus with Yahweh quotes an exact Bible verse rather than a well-known phrase. Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13, and answers, 'We do': we have the mind of Christ [The Lord].
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4:4b–5
The one who judges me is the Lord.
So then, do not judge anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God.
Paul says the one who judges him is The Lord [Jesus], when every Jew knew that the Eschatological Judge was Yahweh alone. Not only is "Lord" usually Jesus in Paul's rhetoric, but it is immediately confirmed here when he says, "Wait until the Lord comes." The Father is not coming, The Son is! Jesus will also reveal the hidden motives of every human heart, a divine action. Jesus is the Eschatological Judge. Jesus is Yahweh.
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6:11
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
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Cooperation of The Son and The Spirit in divine actions to fulfill The Father's will.
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7:22b–24
the one who was called as a free person is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men.
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Be Christ's slave. Do not become the slave of a [mere] man.
Jesus was not a mere man.
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8:6
yet for us there is one God, the Father from whom are all things and for whom we live,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we live.
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This would have been the highest blasphemy Paul could possibly write—unless Jesus is Yahweh. Paul just took The Shema [Deut 6:4], the holiest confession of Judaism, and said that Jesus was included in it. We know this is in direct reference to The Shema because Paul just quoted a clause of it in v.4.
This is far, far stronger than saying, "Jesus is God."
This is saying, "Jesus is Yahweh—Yahweh in The Shema."
→ See Conflations, Yahweh and The Son
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10:4, 9
For they [the Israelites in the Exodus] were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.
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Jesus existed in the Old Testament. Both Paul and Jude explicitly say that He did.
But Jesus wasn't a second god, or a metaphorical presence. He was Yahweh.
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12:4–6
Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are different ministries, but the same Lord.
And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone
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Here is the triune God. "God" is the usual New Testament ascription for The Father, due to the influence of the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So, God-Lord-Spirit confirms the three named by Jesus Himself in Matthew 28:19 of Father-Son-Spirit.
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1 Corinthians Summary
Paul substitutes Jesus's name for Yahweh's name in several Old Testament quotations, including the One whose Name believers call upon [Joel 2:32; 1 Cor 1:2]; regarding the Eschatological Day of Yahweh [Malachi 4:5; 1 Cor 1:8], the Eschatological Judge is Jesus instead of Yahweh [1 Cor 4:4-5]. These amazing declarations are surmounted by a stunning capstone—that Jesus is included within the holiest confession of Judaism, The Shema [8:6]. This would be the highest blasphemy Paul could have possibly written, unless Jesus is Yahweh.
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Jesus was Yahweh in the Old Testament [10:4], the one whom the ancient Israelites put to the test in the exodus from Egypt [10:9]. He is part of the triune God, who gives humans spiritual gifts, appoints their ministries, and produces different results in them [12:4–6].
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