1COR 1:1 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This letter was intended to be shared by the Christians in Corinth with “all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.“ Glad it made its way to us!
Paul used letter writing as a discipleship opportunity, helping another believer learn and grow in ministry by co-authoring ministerial letters. Most of Paul’s letters included someone else’s name with his. …
Sosthenes sent this letter along with Paul.
Acts 18:17 tells us that Sosthenes was formerly the ruler of the Jewish synagogue in Corinth. His people turned on him and beat him. Evidently, he later became a Christian and was in Ephesus with Paul at the time this letter was written. Paul sent the letter from himself and his disciple.
Paul opens by affirming his apostleship, their existence as a church, their call to holiness, and their part in the universal body of Christ. Then he blesses them, which was standard for Christian letters in that day: “Grace and Peace from the Father and the Son.”
Notice also that he calls them the church of God. This may seem unremarkable until you read through the letter. This group of people had cliques, bitter fights (perhaps class and ethnic racial conflicts), gross immorality that they tolerated, false teaching, and much more. Yet it remained the “church of God at Corinth.”
1COR 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The bulk of this letter will not be complimentary. The church at Corinth has a long list of significant problems, and Paul is about to address them. But before doing that, he begins by describing their good qualities.
Notice, though, that all of the compliments he gives them are from the perspective of what God has done: God gave them grace in Christ Jesus; God enriched their speech and knowledge; God confirms in them their testimony about Christ; and because of those things that God did, they don’t lack any spiritual gifts.
When you feel the need to compliment another Christian, find ways to compliment what God has done in and through them rather than what they have done for God. He gets all the credit for anything worthwhile.
Paul assumed that these Christians were “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In this case he’s referring to the second coming of Christ (the revealing of Him) rather than to receiving personal revelation from Him. I have commented so many times before about how saturated the early Christians’ minds and hearts were with anticipation of Jesus’ return. It is what drove their lives and ministries. That could be said very little about the modern church.
1COR 1:8 who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
God will keep you strong so you will be blameless when Christ comes. He called you into fellowship with his Son, so you can know that He will be faithful in preserving you.
The word translated “blameless” here (
anegklētos, ἀνέγκλητος) means “without accusation” rather than “without guilt.” If you assaulted me and I chose to not press charges against you, you would be “blameless” of the crime in the sense intended here. You would be “unaccused.”
1COR 1:10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”
Unity was a huge issue for Paul. Compare the following:
-
Philippians 2:1-2: “
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”
-
Ephesians 4:3: “
Be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
And it’s no wonder this was such a big issue. Jesus Himself charged His disciples to be united and prayed to the Father “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:21-23).
If unity is that big of an issue, I think it’s worth spending a little time understanding exactly what it should look like.
What is the foundation of our unity? It is the name (i.e., the authority) of our Lord Jesus Christ (
v.10).
What does Paul say unity looks like? Being an undivided people. Having the same mind and same judgment. No quarreling.
What does it mean to have the same mind and judgment? Paul gave more insight into this in
Philippians 2:2: “
Be of the same mind, maintain the same love, be united in spirit and intent on one purpose.”
Then he explained how to achieve this kind of unity:
“
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (
Philippians 2:3-4).
He went on to describe Christ’s wisdom as a willingness to give up rights and personal privileges and take a lower place. And then he described Jesus like this:
“
Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (
Philippians 2:6-8).
So back to the question: What does it mean for Christians to be united? It means that we demonstrate Christ’s self-sacrificial humility toward each other.
Is that what you see when you observe the congregation of which you are a part? Do you see people agreeing (not just being agreeable) with each other? Do you see people united in purpose, rallying together for a cause that builds Christ’s kingdom and prepares the world for His coming?
I’ve been part of several congregations in my 28 years as a Christian nd have had the privileges of coaching several pastors, consulting for several churches, and being active in ministerial associations. My own observation is that many churches consist of programs and activities and things like that, and that modern church leaders are more inclined to expanding the buffet of things to do than on unifying the church toward a common, intense, world-changing purpose.
What is a modern version of “I follow Paul, Apollos, Cephas, etc.” (
vv11-12)? How about some follow John Calvin, or Creflo Dollar, or Martin Luther, or Mary Baker Eddy, or Joseph Prince? How about “I’m part of this church and you are part of that church and so for the most part we don’t have much interaction in our ministry… see you in heaven!”
At Corinth, some followed Paul, a highly educated (though not eloquent, see
2:4) evangelist. He established the Corinthian church. That appealed to some of them. Others followed Apollos, who was a great speaker and debater, which the Greek culture held in high regard. He stayed in Corinth to lead the church when Paul left for Ephesus (read the end of Acts 18 and the beginning of
Acts 19). That appealed to some of them. Still others followed Cephas (i.e., Peter), who had evidently visited Corinth at some point. Peter was the only one of the three who had been in Jesus’ “inner circle.” He walked and talked and ate and ministered with Jesus. As a fisherman, he also would have been a plain-speaking, earthy guy. That appealed to some of them. And then some followed Christ. There may have been some who had actually known, met, or listened to Christ himself. They may have been unwilling to accept teaching from any apostle or other teacher. They only wanted to preach the red letters in their Bibles. That appealed to some of them.
The point is that these believers were picking teams which, to one degree or another, separated them from the rest of the body. While Jesus’ closest disciples consisted of people as diverse as fishermen, a tax collector, and a man who would steal from the treasury and betray Him to His murderers, the Christians in Corinth were splintered.
That’s not the humble way of the cross.
Paul was not flattered by having his own followers in this mix either, as the following verses emphasize. He is focused on an undivided Christ, and he wants their focus to be on that as well.
1COR 1:13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. 16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
SIDE NOTE:
Before he became a Christian, Crispus was the ruler of the synagogue (Acts 1:8) just as Sosthenese had been.What a repulsive thing it is, this image of Jesus Christ divided into pieces, His body parts scattered here and there! I’d like to invite discussion around 3 questions that I’ve been reflecting on in this study:
- In what ways does the body of Christ divide itself in modern America?
- Whether based upon experience or reason, what do you see as the effects of divisions in the church?
- What can we learn about baptism from vv. 14-17?
