Author Archives: Gary Davenport

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NIV) Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, ²⁹  so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹  Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

You want success? Here’s your model. You want achievement? Here’s your prototype. You want bright lights, pageants, and media attention? Consider the front-page, center article of the nation’s largest daily newspaper.

It is a caricature of “Miss America.” The vital data of the fifty one participants has been compiled to present the perfect woman. She has brown hair. She has brown eyes. She knows how to sing and has a perfect figure: 35–24-35. She is Miss America.

The message trumpets off the page: “This is the standard for American women.” The implication is clear: Do what it takes to be like her. Get your body ‘in shape.’ Pamper your hair. Improve your walk.

No reference is made to her convictions … to her honesty … to her faith … or to her God. But you are told her hip size.

In a small photo, four inches to the left, is another woman. Her face is thin. Her skin is wrinkled, almost leathery. No makeup … no blush … no lipstick. There is a faint smile on her lips and a glint in her eyes. She looks pale. Perhaps it’s my imagination or perhaps it’s time. The caption read, “Mother Teresa: In serious condition.”

Mother Teresa. You know her story. When she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, she gave the two hundred thousand dollars to the poor of Calcutta. When a businessman bought her a new car, she sold it and gave the money to the underprivileged. She owns nothing. She owes nothing.

Two women: Miss America and Mother Teresa. One walks the boardwalk; the other walks the alley. Two voices. One promises crowns, flowers, and crowds. The other promises service, surrender, and joy.

Now I have nothing against beauty pageants (although I have my reservations about them). But I do have something against the lying voices that noise our world.

You’ve heard them. They tell you to swap your integrity for a new sale. To barter your convictions for an easy deal. To exchange your devotion for a quick thrill.

They whisper. They woo. They taunt. They tantalize. They flirt. They flatter. “Go ahead, it’s O.K.” “Just wait until tomorrow.” “Don’t worry, no one will know.” “How could anything that feels so right be so wrong?” …

For amidst the fleeting promises of pleasure is the timeless promise of [God’s] presence.

“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

There is no chorus so loud that the voice of God cannot be heard … if we will but listen. (From In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado)

The Corinthians had a tendency to be “puffed up” with pride (1 Cor. 4:6, 18–19; 5:2). But the Gospel of God’s grace leaves no room for personal boasting. God is not impressed with our looks, our social position, our achievements, our natural heritage, or our financial status. Note that Paul wrote many, not any. In the New Testament, we do meet some believers with “high social standing,” but there are not many of them. The description Paul gave of the converts was certainly not a flattering one (1 Cor. 6:9–11).^[1]

The world is full of ‘somebodies’ and ‘nobodies’,  and it does neither  of them any good. That’s  not the way God intended it to  be. Every human   being,  man,  woman,  child,  and  even unborn child, bears the image and  likeness of God, and  has neither more nor less dignity because some other people have heard  of them, look up to them, or think  they’re  special.

But in most parts  of the world, at most  periods  of history – and, as the story shows, often enough  in the church  itself – people feel  that  it’s better  to  be ‘somebody’. The  cult  of fame  has reached  monstrous proportions in recent days, to the absurd point  where  many  people are now famous  for being famous. We know their names, we recognize their faces, but can’t remember whether  they are footballers, film stars  or fashion models.

The Corinthian saints were status seekers. Paul wanted them to see how foolish this was in the light of divine wisdom and power and how inconsistent status-seeking is with the gospel.

Paul challenges his readers to take a good look around the church to note who was not present among them. This he did in verses 18-25. Glaringly absent in the church are those people who hold positions of status in the secular world, in accordance with secular values. The church is not made up of wise men, scribes, and debaters: ²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?^[2]

Paul reminded them of what they were (v. 26). One would be gravely mistaken to think that 1:26 contained the doctrinal seed needed to promote Christianity as a religion of the proletariat (workers or working-class people, regarded collectively). All the evidence points to the fact that Paul’s urban churches contained wealthy members.

This Corinthian church contained people of wealth who served as host not only to Paul, but to the entire congregation (Rom 16), people who owned homes in which they could eat (1 Cor 11:22), and at least one of the influential members, namely Erastus (Rom 16:23), was an administrator in the Roman colony of Corinth.

The religious perspective of this verse is one which runs throughout the Scriptures, and Paul’s choice of ideas here was influenced and inspired by the long history of God expressing his sovereign will through his choice of foolish and weak individuals to carry out his agenda. Whether one considers God’s choice of Israel, or of Moses, or of Gideon, or of David, or of Mary the mother of Jesus, the Scripture is clear in its depiction of a God whose list of friends portrays a lot of foolishness and weakness by human standards.

The following chart of the links will help make Paul’s correlation of the ideas of 1:26 with 1:27–28 clearer.

Corinthian Status	God’s Choice	God’s Purpose
Not many wise (sophos)	Foolish things	To shame the wise (sophos)
Not many influential	Weak things	To shame the strong
Not many of noble birth (eugenes)	Lowly things (agenes)	To nullify existing things[3]

Paul possibly went over the membership of the Corinthian church in his mind as he wrote verse 26. He reminded them that they had very few who were famous, wealthy, highly educated, powerful, or influential when they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is likely that, when they became Christians, they lost a great deal of the prestige, influence, and income they did have.

Consider your calling, brethren, he says. Paul always uses the term calling to refer to the saving call of God, the effectual call that results in redemption. “You know what sort of persons you were when God called you out of darkness. You know that He did not accept you as His child because you were brilliant or wealthy or intelligent or powerful. If you were any of these things,” he says, “you were saved in spite of them not because of them. If anything they were stumbling blocks that hindered you, obstacles between you and God’s grace.” He implies that they should be glad that not many were wise according to the flesh or mighty or noble. Such things often keep people from the sense of need that leads to salvation. If more of them had been wise, mighty, or noble, it is likely that fewer of them would have been saved.

God is not looking for Phi Beta Kappas to save and to do His work. Nor is He looking for millionaires or famous athletes or entertainers or statesmen. His salvation is open to them just as surely as to others, but only on the same basis of faith. The very things that put them ahead in the world may actually put them behind with God. It is the feeling of inadequacy that makes people aware that they have need, and often draws them to the gospel.

Jesus prayed on one occasion, “I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes” (Matt. 11:25). As the context makes clear, this prayer was spoken publicly as a part of His preaching to the crowds. He was addressing His hearers as much as His Father when He prayed these words. He wanted them to know that God wanted only their faith and nothing else. He was also warning that “the wise and intelligent” were at a disadvantage as far as spiritual life and understanding are concerned. It is not that they could not accept and believe, but that pride in and dependence on their accomplishments and abilities could keep them from the kingdom. Weakness and insufficiency are the climate in which God’s strength is made manifest.

God’s wisdom is a kind of paradox. In human thinking, strength is strength, weakness is weakness, and intelligence is intelligence. But in God’s economy some of the seemingly strongest things are the weakest, some of the seemingly weakest things are the strongest, and some of the seemingly wisest things are the most foolish. The paradox is not by accident but by God’s design.

A simple, uneducated, untalented, and clumsy believer who has trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and who faithfully and humbly follows His Lord is immeasurably wiser than the brilliant Ph.D. who scoffs at the gospel. The simple believer knows forgiveness, love, grace, life, hope, God’s Word—God Himself. He can see eternity. The unbelieving Ph.D., on the other hand, knows nothing beyond his books, his own mind, and his own experience. He sees nothing beyond this life, and he cannot be considered anything but foolish.

We are often tempted to think that it would be wonderful if such-and-such a great athlete—or brilliant scientist, popular entertainer, or world leader—would become a Christian. But Jesus did not think this way when He chose His disciples. Some were probably well known in their local circles and perhaps a few of them were well off financially. But He did not choose them for their wealth or influence, and in His training of them He did not try to capitalize on any such things. None of them had anything so great that he was not ready to leave it to follow Christ.

Paul glories in the fact that, for the most part, the Church was composed of the simplest and the humblest people. We must never think that the early Church was entirely composed of slaves. Even in the New Testament we see that people from the highest ranks of society were becoming Christians. There was Dionysius at Athens (Acts 17:34); Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Crete (Acts 13:6–12); the noble ladies at Thessalonica and Beroea (Acts 17:4, 12); Erastus, the city treasurer, probably of Corinth (Romans 16:23). In the time of Nero, Pomponia Graecina, the wife of Plautius, the conqueror of Britain, was martyred for her Christianity. In the time of Domitian, in the latter half of the first century, Flavius Clemens, the cousin of the Emperor himself, was martyred as a Christian. Towards the end of the second century Pliny, the governor of Bithynia, wrote to Trajan the Emperor, saying that the Christians came from every rank in society. But it remains true that the great mass of Christians were simple and humble folk.^[4]

In a.d. 178 the philosopher Celsus mockingly wrote of Christians: Let no cultured person draw near, none wise and none sensible, for all that kind of thing we count evil; but if any man is ignorant, if any man is wanting in sense and culture, if anybody is a fool, let him come boldly [to become a Christian].… We see them in their own houses, wool dresses, cobblers, the worst, the vulgarest, the most uneducated persons.… They are like a swarm of bats or ants creeping out of their nest, or frogs holding a symposium around a swamp, or worms convening in mud.

That is also what much of the rest of the world of his day thought of Christians. The simplicity of the gospel and the humility of faithful believers is incomprehensible to the world; it seems to be abject foolishness. The Lord planned it that way. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and … has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are. It is interesting to note that the despised means, in the root form, “to be considered as nothing.” The Greek is in the perfect tense here, indicating that what was once despised will continue to be despised. So people who were thought to be nobodies in society would continue to be thought of as nobodies. The phrase things that are not translates the most contemptible expression in the Greek language. “Being” was everything to the Greeks, and to be called a nothing was the worst insult. The phrase may have been used of slaves.

The world measures greatness by many standards. At the top are intelligence, wealth, prestige, and position—things which God has determined to put at the bottom. God reveals the greatness of His power by demonstrating that it is the world’s nobodies that are His somebodies.

According to God, the greatest man who ever lived, apart from Jesus Himself, was John the Baptist. He had no formal education, no training in a trade or profession, no money, no military rank, no political position, no social pedigree, no prestige, no impressive appearance or oratory. Yet Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matt. 11:11). This man fit none of the world’s standards but all of God’s. And what he became was all to the credit of God’s power.^[5]

Now, in verses 26-31, Paul wants the Corinthians to give thought to who is present in the church. “Look at yourselves,” Paul challenges the Corinthians. Granting the possibility of a few exceptions, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the rule. By and large, the church is not composed of the wise, the mighty, or the noble, when judged by fleshly (unbelieving) standards: 1 Cor. 1:26: For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Instead, God has chosen to save the foolish, the weak, the base and despised, the “nobodies.”

Following the principle set down in verse 19, Paul explains why God selected the undesirables of this world for salvation. God has purposed to nullify the wisdom of the wise and to humble the proud. He has chosen to do so by employing means and people that the world rejects as weak and foolish and worthless.

They were not wise, mighty, or noble. God called them, not because of what they were, but in spite of what they were! The Corinthian church was composed primarily of ordinary people who were terrible sinners. Before his conversion, Paul had been very self-righteous; he had to give up his religion in order to go to heaven! The Corinthians were at the other end of the spectrum, and yet they were not too sinful for God to reach and save them.

Paul reminded the Corinthians of why God called them (vv. 27–29).

²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,^[6]

he purpose of god’s wisdom: The first and primary purpose of the wisdom of God that produces salvation is that He be glorified.

(i) He is wisdom. It is only in following him that we walk aright and only in listening to him that we hear the truth. He is the expert in life. No man will ever have a reason to boast before God. Foolish, weak, base man can do nothing for himself; God has done everything. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship” (Eph. 2:8–10).

God also has a purpose for those who are saved. His purpose for His redeemed has many aspects, four of which are mentioned in verse 30. Because they are in Christ Jesus, they receive God’s wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

First, believers are given God’s wisdom. They not only are saved by God’s wisdom rather than their own but are given God’s wisdom to replace their own. The truly wise of this world are those whose wisdom is not of this world but is from the Lord. Christians can say, without pride or self-boasting, that they have become wise in Jesus Christ. They stand as a testimony for all time that God in His wisdom chose the sinful, the weak, and the unwise in order to make them righteous, strong, and wise. God grants them His wisdom that He might be glorified, that it might be clearly seen that the wisdom Christians have is not their own but is by His power and grace.

Men are saved not by their intelligence, accomplishments, or human wisdom. Those who trust in these will never receive God’s salvation and life and wisdom—because these may be had only by humbly receiving what His Son has done on our behalf on the cross. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6), and, on another occasion, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (8:31–32).

The wisdom received from God through Christ is both instant and progressive. In his next letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). The maker and giver of physical light is also the source and giver of spiritual light. The first thing a believer learns is knowledge of God’s glory.

The glory of God signifies His majesty and His greatness. But in its fullest sense it represents all that God is—all of His attributes, His whole nature, the fullness of His divine being. We come to know personally the creator of the universe and the source of all life and all goodness.

Godly wisdom also has a progressive aspect. The God whom we have come to know through Christ we come to know better as we live by His Spirit. Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers to be given “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him,” that is, of Christ (Eph. 1:17). They already had the initial gift of God’s wisdom, received when they first believed. But the apostle was concerned that they continue to grow in His wisdom and truth (cf. 2 Pet. 3:18).

Wisdom from God also has a future aspect. In this same prayer Paul asks, “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (v. 18). Both “hope” and “inheritance” suggest future fulfillment of wisdom and knowledge. God has given us wisdom, He is now giving us wisdom, and He will ultimately give us wisdom.

The person of the world cannot see or receive God’s wisdom, the wisdom that could show him God Himself, His plan for the world and for His people, and the future eternity that He gives through His Son. And so men live only for the moment, for the now, having no idea where they came from, where they are going, or what they are doing here in the first place. Yet the simplest, most uneducated person who humbly places his life in Christ’s hands is given the truth about all of these things. He knows what all the sages and philosophers of all time have never been able to discover or will ever be able to discover. He has God’s wisdom as one of His Savior’s precious gifts.

Second, believers receive God’s righteousness. In the writings of Paul righteousness always means a right relationship with God. Of our own efforts we can never achieve that. It is ours only by realizing through Jesus Christ that it comes not from what we can do for God, but from what he has done for us.

They are made right with God and they participate in His righteousness, His rightness.

Rightness means to be as something or someone should be—right as opposed to wrong, good as opposed to evil, sinless as opposed to sinful. God is totally righteous because He is totally as He should be. He cannot vary from His rightness. When we trust His Son, He shares His Son’s righteousness with us. “To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness” (Rom. 4:5). God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). When God looks on a Christian He sees His Son and His Son’s righteousness. When a person trusts in Christ, his unrighteousness is exchanged for Christ’s righteousness, “that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil. 3:9). Man has never had any righteousness of his own and can never have any righteousness of his own, that is, which originates in him. The only righteousness he can have is that which God gives him through His Son. It is the only righteousness he needs, because it is perfect righteousness.

Third, believers receive God’s sanctification. He is consecration. It is only in the presence of Christ that life can be what it ought to be. Epicurus used to tell his disciples, “Live as if Epicurus always saw you.” There is no “as if” about our relationship to Christ. The Christian walks with him and only in that company can a man keep his garments unspotted from the world.

In Christ we are set apart, made holy. We are declared righteous in Christ and are made holy in Christ. When we receive Christ’s nature we receive His incorruptible seed, the seed which is not, and cannot be, habitually corrupted by sin. With the flesh still present, we can slip into sin, but only intermittently. As we spiritually mature the frequency of sin decreases. The righteousness that is counted to us judicially also becomes ours in actuality—in holiness, in sanctification. We are given life in the Spirit and we begin to walk in the Spirit (Rom. 8:4–11). We begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23) as we are being transformed into Christ’s image (2 Cor. 3:18). Our new nature is “created in Christ Jesus for good works,” for holiness (Eph. 2:10).

Fourth, believers receive God’s redemption. He is deliverance. Diogenes used to complain that men flocked to the oculist and to the dentist but never to the man (he meant the philosopher) who could cure their souls. Jesus Christ can deliver a man from past sin, from present helplessness, and from future fear. He is the emancipator from slavery to self and to sin.^[7]

To redeem means to buy back. God by Christ has purchased us from the power of sin. Christ “is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:14). Peter reminds us that we “were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold … but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18–19).^[8]

God has not done this because the weak and foolish are any better than the powerful and the proud. He has set aside the highly regarded and employed those things which are disdained so that all the glory might come to Himself and not to mere men. This is the concluding point Paul makes in verses 29-31.

²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

This verse provides the results and rationale of God’s ‘strange’ choices throughout history. The upshot of Paul’s point is that God’s intention was to remove all possibility of mankind’s boasting. The term boast is used here because it specifically represents one of the fundamental causes of the quarreling and division at Corinth. Unlike the sin of boasting that is referred to in other Scriptures and is rooted in ritual or moralistic self-righteousness, Paul here mentions a type of boasting that is rooted in party loyalty and worldly evaluation. In the presence of God and in light of the divine modus operandi highlighted in 1:27–28, every form of human boasting is precluded once for all, especially a boasting in human status (cf. 3:21).^[9]

Finally, Paul reminded the Corinthians of all they had in Jesus Christ (vv. 30–31). ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

Paul has explicitly mentioned the term God thirteen times in the section 1:18–29 and has thereby maintained a visible theocentric focus. In verse 30 Paul gives attention to Christ, though still in the framework of a theocentric Godhead. This theocentricity is evident in the phrase “it is because of him (God) that you are in Christ.” This attention to the work of Christ, or rather God’s work (from God) in Christ is intended to prepare the way for the Scripture quotation in 1:31 which clearly points to Christ. Paul reaffirms a Christ-centered focus for God’s wisdom given to Christians. The Apostle then explains what God’s wisdom consists of for those in Christ Jesus. The three concepts of righteousness (δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosynē), holiness (ἁγιασμός, hagiasmos) and redemption (ἀπολύτρωσις, apolytrōsis) are all well known doctrinal concepts in the Pauline corpus. Fee captures Paul’s sense here in these words, “[God’s] wisdom does not have to do with ‘getting smart,’ nor with status or rhetoric. God’s wisdom—the real thing—has to do with salvation through Christ Jesus.”

This world believes the “shakers and the movers” are the ones who make things happen. Even the church seeks to evangelize and train those whom the world regards as “most likely to succeed.” But God chooses the opposite, those whom we expect to fail (or, more accurately, those we already deem to be failures), so that when His wisdom and power are evident, there are no wise and powerful men to take their bows before men. Instead, men must bow before God, giving all the glory to Him. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Corinth,  as a proud  Roman  city, was exactly  the  sort  of place where people would look up to the ‘somebodies’,  and do their best to join them. Then, as now, there were the obvious routes to fame: political power, and royal or noble birth. And, as we’ve seen (though this doesn’t hold for all cultures), Corinth paid special attention to people who could speak well, public rhetoricians, lawyers and the like. The wise, the powerful, the noble: these were the ‘somebodies’ in Corinth.

And Paul reminds  his readers  that  most  of them  were, on the  same  scale, ‘nobodies’. When  he first came  to  town  and announced the gospel of King Jesus as Lord, and they believed it, most of them weren’t among the ‘wise’ whom society looked up  to. Most  of them  didn’t have any social power  (though Erastus, the city treasurer, is mentioned as a Corinthian Christian  in Romans  16.23 . Most of them didn’t come from well-known, ‘noble’ families.

‘But God . . . ‘ Those are some of Paul’s favorite words. He often describes a human  situation or problem  and then takes delight  in showing  that  God has stepped  in and  done  something  to change  it drastically. They were ‘nobodies’,  but  God has  made  them  ‘somebodies’.   Not  the  sort  of ‘somebodies’ the  world  would  recognize  as such, but  the  only sort  that mattered.

And what is important in this paragraph is the fact that  God has taken the initiative in it all. The Christian  gospel is a matter of  grace  from  start  to  finish.  God  chose  these Corinthian  ‘nobodies’  (verses  27,  28);  God  ‘called’   them through Paul’s  announcement of the  crucified  Jesus as Lord (verse 26; the word  ‘call’ is Paul’s regular  word  for  what  we sometimes  call ‘conversion’);  God gave them  the status  in his eyes that  the  Messiah himself has  (verse 30). They are who they are, as he says in a rather shorthand way, ‘from God in the Messiah’ (verse 30). This is the same sequence  (chosen, called, justified) as Paul sketches in the famous  summary in Romans 8.29-30, though there  he extends  the sequence backwards to God’s original plan and forwards to ultimate glorification  as well.

God chose the foolish, the weak, the base (“low born”), and the despised to show the proud world their need and His grace. The lost world admires birth, social status, financial success, power, and recognition. But none of these things can guarantee eternal life.

The message and miracle of God’s grace in Jesus Christ utterly confounds (“puts to shame”) the high and mighty people of this world. The wise of this world cannot understand how God changes sinners into saints, and the mighty of this world are helpless to duplicate the miracle. God’s “foolishness” confounds the wise; God’s “weakness” confounds the mighty!

The annals of church history are filled with the accounts of great sinners whose lives were transformed by the power of the Gospel. In my own ministry, as in the ministry of most pastors and preachers, I have seen amazing things take place that the lawyers and psychologists could not understand. We have seen delinquent teenagers become successful students and useful citizens. We have seen marriages restored and homes reclaimed, much to the amazement of the courts.

And why does God reveal the foolishness and the weakness of this present world system, even with its philosophy and religion? “That no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor. 1:29). Salvation must be wholly of grace; otherwise, God cannot get the glory.

It is this truth that Paul wanted to get across to the Corinthians, because they were guilty of glorying in men (1 Cor. 3:21). If we glory in men—even godly men like Peter and Paul and Apollos—we are robbing God of the glory that He alone deserves. It was this sinful attitude of pride that was helping to cause division in the church.

 ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” ^[10]

Because the Christian stands before God in Christ Jesus and because the benefits of righteousness, holiness, and redemption come through Christ, Christ is the only one in whom the believer should boast. To a church whose fragmentation arose as a result of boasting, Paul gives the exhortation that boasting is only acceptable if it is boasting in the Lord. It is only from the immediate context that one can identify the term Lord with Jesus Christ.^[11]

Although in Christ we have received God’s wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, we have no grounds for pride or boasting, because we did not deserve, earn, or produce any of them. Man’s wisdom can produce none of those things. It can only produce pride, misunderstanding, strife, and division. As Jeremiah had written hundreds of years before Paul quoted him, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” “May it never be,” he wrote the Galatians, “that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).^[12]

Since every believer is “in Christ,” and he has all that he needs, why compete with each other or compare yourselves with each other? It is the Lord who has done it all! “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31, a quotation from Jer. 9:24, quoted again in 2 Cor. 10:17).

The spiritual blessings that we need are not abstractions that elude our grasp; they are all in a Person, Jesus Christ. He is our wisdom (Col. 2:3), our righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21), our sanctification (John 17:19), and our redemption (Rom. 3:24).

Actually, the emphasis here is that God shows His wisdom by means of the righteousness, sanctification, and redemption that we have in Christ. Each of these theological words carries a special meaning for Christians. Righteousness has to do with our standing before God. We are justified: God declares us righteous in Jesus Christ. But we are also sanctified, set apart to belong to God and to serve Him. Redemption emphasizes the fact that we are set free because Jesus Christ paid the price for us on the cross. This will lead to complete redemption when Christ returns.

So, in one sense, we have the three tenses of salvation given here: we have been saved from the penalty of sin (righteousness); we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification); and we shall be saved from the presence of sin (redemption). And every believer has all of these blessings in Jesus Christ!

Therefore, why glory in men? What does Paul have that you do not have? Does Peter have more of Jesus Christ than you do? (It was likely that Jesus Christ had more of Peter, but that is another matter!) We should glory in the Lord and not in ourselves or our spiritual leaders.

Is Christianity a Crutch for the Weak?

Is Christianity just another crutch for people who can’t make it on their own? In one sense, yes. “Those who are well have no need of a physician,” Jesus said, “but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:31, 32). Jesus bypasses those who pretend to be invincible, those who think they have it all together. Instead He reaches out to those who know that something is wrong, that their lives are “sick” with “illnesses” such as greed, lust, cruelty, and selfishness. Jesus knows that no one is spiritually healthy. No one is righteous enough to stand before a holy God. That’s why He came into this world, to restore people to God. The good news is that Christ gives us the power to overcome sin and the ways it pulls us down time after time. What happens to the “weak” who avail themselves of this “crutch”? Consider Mother Teresa, who emerged from an insignificant nunnery to love the helpless and homeless of Calcutta and became a worldwide symbol of compassion. Or consider Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a forgotten political prisoner rotting away in the gulag system of Stalinist Russia. Surrendering himself to Jesus, he gained renewed strength to challenge a totalitarian regime on behalf of human dignity and freedom. These are but two examples from the millions who have thrown away the self-styled crutches on which they used to limp along the road of life, opting instead for the seasoned wood of the cross of Christ which has transformed their weakness into strength. In one sense, Christianity is a crutch for the weak. But those who dismiss it for that reaon usually do so to deny their own inadequacies. They use that excuse as a way to evade the claims God has on their lives. They cannot accept that He takes wounded, fractured people and makes them whole.[13]

As you review this chapter, you can see the mistakes that the Corinthians were making, mistakes that helped to create problems in their church. They were not living up to their holy calling, but were instead following the standards of the world. They ignored the fact that they were called into a wonderful spiritual fellowship with the Lord and with each other. Instead, they were identifying with human leaders and creating divisions in the church. Instead of glorifying God and His grace, they were pleasing themselves and boasting about men.

They were a defiled church, a divided church, a disgraced church!

But, before we pass judgment on them, we should examine our own churches and our own lives. We have been called to be holy, called into fellowship, and called to glorify God.

Are we living up to this calling?^[14]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 571.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:20.

^[3] Richard Oster, 1 Corinthians, The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1995), 1 Co 1:27.

^[4] William Barclay, ed., The Letters to the Corinthians, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1975), 21.

^[5] John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Corinthians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), 50–52.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:26–28.

^[7] William Barclay, ed., The Letters to the Corinthians, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1975), 22–23.

^[8] John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Corinthians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), 52–54.

^[9] Richard Oster, 1 Corinthians, The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1995), 1 Co 1:29.

^[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:29–31.

^[11] Richard Oster, 1 Corinthians, The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1995), 1 Co 1:31.

^[12] John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Corinthians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), 54.

^[13] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999), 1462.

^[14] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 571–572.

Paul is not discussing the differences that exist between denominations and brotherhoods. In his day, there were no denominational or brotherhood divisions. Paul is striking out against division in a local congregation of the church. Most division in the local congregation today is not over matters of faith, but rather the result of personalities that are in conflict.

The problem was a burden, not something to be covered up. They went to an inspired apostle with the problem. We can often do that by going to the Scriptures.^[1]

Division has always been a problem among God’s people, and almost every New Testament epistle deals with this topic or mentions it in one way or another. Even the 12 Apostles did not always get along with each other.

The church at Corinth was in a sad state. The fellowship among believers had deteriorated to such a degree that it was about to crumble and collapse. There was severe division and dissension in the ranks: verbal accusations, differing opinions, competitive positions, power struggles, envy, contention, grumbling, griping, complaining, murmuring, quarreling, attacking, and gossiping. Believer stood against believer, and there was no give in any corner. Disaster was about to strike; the church was divided and a severe split was threatened.

This was the first problem dealt with by Paul. It had to be dealt with first, for a house divided against itself cannot stand. There were other problems in the church, other matters that had to be handled, but the people could not handle them unless they were brought together in one spirit and mind. The ministry and mission of the church could not effectively go on until the people stood together. Worship, exhortation, missions, and reaching and ministering to people—the very cause of Christ, the very reason He came to earth and died—were affected and would continue to suffer until the people were brought together.

The word division (schismata) means to split, to rend, to tear apart. Note the words “among you.” The division or dissension is not outside the church; it is not out in the world. It is inside the church.

• The divisive church is not working to bring peace, love, and brotherhood to the world; the divisive church is not seen out in the world ministering to the starving, diseased, and lost masses of the world.
• The divisive church is seen fuming and fighting. The sinful and devastating problems of dissension are within the divisive church.
• The divisive church is splitting, rending, and tearing itself apart.^[2]

Most of us who have attended church for a number of years have been in or know of a congregation where there was a split or at least serious quarreling. The problem has existed in the church from New Testament times. The Corinthian believers fell short of the Lord’s standards in many ways, and the first thing for which Paul called them to task was quarreling.

Quarreling is a reality in the church because selfishness and other sins are realities in the church. Because of quarreling the Father is dishonored, the Son is disgraced, His people are demoralized and discredited, and the world is turned off and confirmed in unbelief.

In His high priestly prayer, the Lord prayed repeatedly that His church would be one (John 17:11, 21–23). Immediately after Pentecost the newly empowered believers were in perfect harmony with each other—sharing, rejoicing, worshiping, and witnessing together. Their unity bore great fruit in their ministry to each other, in their witness to the world, and in their pleasing and glorifying God.

The first need of the Corinthian church was for that sort of harmony. And so Paul made a plea for doctrinal agreement, for repenting of their tendency to form factions around high-profile personalities, and for remembering the great priority of the church: preaching the gospel. Paul argued that supernatural unity can occur only when God’s wisdom is valued over earthly wisdom (1:18–2:16), and when believers walk in the power of God’s spirit rather than giving in to the sinful desires of human flesh (3:1–23).^[3]

Christ is not divided, and his true followers should not allow anything to divide the church. Don’t let your appreciation for any teacher, preacher, speaker, or writer lead you into intellectual pride. Believers’ allegiance must be to Christ and to the unity that he desires.

I regard it as clear that these believers were not intentionally choosing Paul or Apollos or Cephas as replacements for their devotion to God or Christ. Carnal decisions by Christians are rarely so self-evident.^[4]

Paul will point out in 1 Corinthians 3 that there can be no competition among true servants of God.

This is a graphic picture of what happens when the church (the body of Christ) is divided. With so many churches and styles of worship available today, believers can get caught up in the same game of “my preacher is better than yours!” They follow personalities and even change churches based on who is popular.

To act this way is to divide Christ again. But Christ is not divided, and his true followers should not allow anything to divide the church. Don’t let your appreciation for any teacher, preacher, speaker, or writer lead you into intellectual pride. Believers’ allegiance must be to Christ and to the unity that he desires.

We might sum up the divisions in this way:

• I follow Paul—This group may have taken the attitude that Paul started this church and he will always be our leader. These are the traditionalists. Some of the believers followed Paul, who had founded their church. Although Paul was Jewish, he had been called as a missionary to the Gentiles, so he probably attracted many of the Gentile believers. Paul used great logical arguments but apparently did not have powerful speaking ability (2 Corinthians 10:10).
• I follow Apollos—These people may have put great emphasis on knowledge of the Scripture. Apollos was mighty in his use of the Word (Acts 18:24, 25). These may have been the Bible intellectuals. A third group chose to follow Apollos, an eloquent and popular preacher who had had a dynamic ministry in Corinth (Acts 18:24; 19:1; Titus 3:13). Apollos was from Alexandria and had become distinguished for his speaking ability. Oratory and eloquence were highly valued in the culture of the day, so Apollos probably attracted the highly educated and distinguished believers in the congregation.
• Others chose to follow Peter (Cephas). A Jew and one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, Peter probably attracted many of the Jewish believers who had come to doubt Paul’s apostolic authority. It is unknown whether Peter had ever been to Corinth, although some of the Jews may have heard him in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Or it is likely that the believers simply knew that Peter was the leader of the apostles. I follow Peter—These may have put great emphasis on the church and were taking the attitude that Peter had been given the keys to the kingdom, instituted the church on Pentecost, and they would follow him. They may have been great “church” men without going further.
• I follow Christ—These may have been saying, “We don’t need anyone or anything but Jesus.” Finally, a fourth group claimed to follow Christ. This group may have boasted a special relationship to Christ, or they may have been positioning themselves above the fray, saying that they had chosen to follow Christ alone, not any human leader (see 2 Corinthians 10:7).^[5]

There were probably three basic problems causing the division within the church.

1. There was the problem in preaching ability and style? There was no difference in the messages preached by Paul and Apollos. They both preached the gospel of Christ, but there was a difference in their style of preaching and ministering. Apollos was an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures (Ac. 18:24). Paul was not a great orator (2 Co. 10:10; 11:6); therefore, some undervalued Paul as a preacher and surrounded Apollos. They failed to see God’s distinct call and gifts to each minister.

Paul was a small-framed missionary, gifted in the understanding of the Scriptures and gifted as an administrator in church order. Both gifts, although not so much out in the forefront of public recognition, were of immense value. Paul excelled in strengthening believers, in growing disciples, and in establishing churches. There is a good possibility that the Apollos party began to intellectualize and socialize Christianity, to turn it away from the doctrine of salvation in Christ, and to deemphasize the utter necessity to walk in Him day by day.

1. There was the problem of turning liberty into license? Peter’s emphasis had to deal with the traditions and rituals of the church, for he was the apostle to the Jews (Ga. 2:7). Some believers preferred that the traditions and rituals be stressed more, and that Paul’s emphasis upon doctrine, salvation, and the daily walk of the believer be stressed less. The two groups began to gather around the name of the two apostles and form cliques.
2. There was the problem of those who claimed to be “of Christ.” These were probably fed up with the other groups and set themselves up as being more spiritual than the others. They looked upon themselves as being too spiritual to lower themselves to the level of becoming identified with any clique. They probably began to think of themselves as the only true spiritual Christians in Corinth. They claimed to follow Christ alone, and they denied needing or receiving the help of any man.

From this letter we’ll see the Corinthians considered themselves to be so advanced in maturity that it gave them a privileged position. They set themselves up as the judges of others. They usurped God’s authority. They took it upon themselves to judge teachers (1 Co. 1:12f), to judge the wise and the unwise (1 Co. 1:19; 2:1f), to establish moral standards (1 Co. 5:1f), and to judge the gifted and their gifts (1 Co. 12:1f).^[6]

It is wrong to identify any man’s name with your baptism other than the name of Jesus Christ. To do so is to create division.

Ephesians 4:5 states that believers are united by “one baptism.” Believers are not baptized “into” different preachers—they are baptized into the family of believers. Baptism replaced circumcision as the initiation rite of the new order, the new covenant.

Christians need only “one baptism” by which they publicly acknowledge their one faith in one Lord.

Paul wrote in 12:13, “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (nrsv).

This expression of faith through baptism brings unity to believers. Far from it being divisive, baptism is a key unifying factor in the church.

Style and Substance: Some speakers use impressive words, but they are weak on content. Some preachers make the Bible marginal in their sermons in order to hold people’s attention. Even Bible studies give less focus to the Bible than they do to fellowship.

Paul stressed solid content and practical help for his listeners. He wanted them to be impressed with his message, not just his style (see 2:1-5). You don’t need to be a great speaker with a large vocabulary to share the gospel effectively.

The persuasive power should be in the story, not the storyteller. Paul was not against those who carefully prepare what they say (see 2:6), but against those who try to impress others only with their own knowledge or speaking ability. Make Christ the center of your preaching, rather than trying to be impressive.

WHAT IS SECTARIANISM? (by Charles Hodge) Sectarianism is sinful thinking. It comes from evil attitudes. Notice our text. Paul said, “There were contentions.” He did not say there were mis-understandings, different consciences, various opinions, or disagreements.  There were schisms, divisions, alienations. It amounted, simply, to “my bunch over Jesus.”

It was personal pride over Jesus. An emphasis upon being in the right bunch had blinded them to their own sins. These were good people going bad. Why? A contentious attitude. Too many have been converted to a preacher, a church, an idea, or a pet peeve instead of Jesus. This is a personality disorder, not doctrine. Someone observed, “You can get off any horse but a hobby horse.” This is so true yet so sad. It is not conviction; it is being contentious. Contentious brethren cannot even get along with themselves.

A family moved from the North to the South. They were at first glad and then sad with so many congregations. One town had seven. Most came from splits. They said, “When some get annoyed, they just go start their own church.” A Hodge observation is: “Any church that started out wrongly never gets right.”

There is another evil attitude even worse than “stinking thinking.” “We did it for God!” After all, who can argue against God? Recently, the world has been shocked with the Muslims. A man authored a book, The Satanic Verses. The Ayatollah Khomeini has offered $5 million to anyone, an Arab, who would assassinate the author. In fear, bookstores have removed the book. It was not selling until a price was placed upon the author’s head. Now it can be a bestseller. But the rationale is this: “We are killing in the name of God.”

“Oh, the crimes committed in the name of religion.” In Afghanistan we finally got the Russians out. Now the war is worse among factions. Perhaps we are more Islamic than we thought! “The church of Christ is the only army that shoots its wounded!” To purify the church we will divide, yea destroy it. All in the name of God!

Paradoxically, this temptation comes with our territory. We seek the truth; we condemn error. We then conclude we are saved by knowledge not faith. We go on witch hunts. The Crusades! The Inquisitions! All were done in the name of God!

Religious wars are always the meanest and bloodiest. There is a fear-dominated law-keeping rather than grace. Beware of the bad habits learned in controversy! Beware lest you become like the monster you fight! When brethren cannot bear the sight of each other, they cannot look the world in the eye  either!

Sectarianism! Religious paranoia! Keep the unity of the  Spirit!  Be  a  peacemaker!  Avoid  sectarians. Jimmy Allen (professor of Bible at Harding University) said 30 percent of his students came from split congregations! Reuel Lemmons once observed, “Hodge, we are too fragmented to split.”

HOW IS SECTARIANISM OVERCOME? Sectarianism can only be overcome by spiritual maturity: You cannot build a community out of anything except “disciples.” We are a crowd. Will we become a church? Let us be of Jesus, not sectarians.

God is changing me. This gives me the strength to accept all others God is changing. Unity validates truth. Jesus said, “By this [love] shall men know that you are My disciples.” Until the church is one, the world cannot be won. A lost world is the price of religious division. Unity in Jesus—not agreement over personal opinions.

Unity can only be had from diversity. Unity is not union, sameness, or conformity. By the way, conformity demands a creed! Diverse elements unite because of a higher cause. This is unity. My wife and I have much in common. However, we have major and minor differences. The unity f marriage transcends these differences. Unity is not pluralism. Pluralism is only a mixture, a syncretism.

Unity transcends diversities!

Re-read Amos 3:3: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” This misleads. Read the NIV: “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to do so?”

Some, even in 100 percent agreement, cannot walk together. You do not walk together in agreement only; you walk together in unity. We must make a vow for unity. “I’ll stick with those I am stuck with.”

An Indian was walking up a mountain when he heard a voice.

“Carry me with you,” it requested.

The Indian turned and saw a snake. He refused. “If I carry you up the mountain you will bite me.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” the snake assured. “All I need is some help. I am slow and you are fast; please be kind and carry me to the top of the mountain.”

It was against his better judgment, but the Indian agreed. He picked up the snake, put him in his shirt, and resumed the journey. When they reached the top, he reached in his shirt to remove the snake and got bit.

He fell to the ground, and the snake slithered away.

“You lied!” the Indian cried. “You said you wouldn’t bite me.”

The snake stopped and looked back, “I didn’t lie. You knew who I was when you picked me up.”

We hear the legend and shake our heads. He should have known better, we bemoan. And we are right. He should have. And so should we. But don’t we do the same? Don’t we believe the lies of the snake? Don’t we pick up what we should leave alone?

The Corinthian Christians did. One snake after another had hissed lies in their ears, and they had believed it. How many lies did they believe?

How much time do you have?

The list is long and ugly: sectarianism, disunity, sexual immorality. And that is only the first six chapters.

But First Corinthians is more than a list of sins, it is an epistle of patience. Paul initiates the letter by calling these Christians “brothers.” He could have called them heretics or hypocrites or skirt-chasers (and in so many words he does), but not before he calls them brothers.

He patiently teaches them about worship, unity, the role of women, and the Lord’s Supper. He writes as if he can see them face to face. He is disturbed but not despondent. Angry but not desperate. His driving passion is love. And his treatise on love in chapter 13 remains the greatest essay ever penned.

The letter, however personal, is not just for Corinth. It is for all who have heard the whisper and felt the fangs. We, like the Indian, should have known better. We, like the Corinthians, sometimes need a second chance.^[1]

^[1] Max Lucado, Life Lessons from the Inspired Word of God: Book of 1 Corinthians, Inspirational Bible Study Series (Dallas, TX: Word Pub., 1997), 7–9.

^[1] Ben Merold, Sermon Outlines on 1 Corinthians, ed. Sam E. Stone, Standard Sermon Starters (Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 1995), 9.

^[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The First & Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 14.

^[3] John MacArthur, 1 Corinthians: Godly Solutions for Church Problems, MacArthur Bible Studies (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2001), 14.

^[4] Richard Oster, 1 Corinthians, The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1995), 1 Co 1:12.

^[5] Ben Merold, Sermon Outlines on 1 Corinthians, ed. Sam E. Stone, Standard Sermon Starters (Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 1995), 9.

^[6] Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The First & Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 15.

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

Note how Paul approaches the severe problem of division: he does not have fire in his eyes nor a spirit of rebuke and fight in his heart. There is not even a trace of anger in him. On the contrary, his heart is tender and full of love. He graciously appeals to the Corinthians.

→ He says, “I beseech you.” The word beseech (parakalo) means to call to one’s side. Paul says, “I call you to my side; come, let’s share together, talk the matter over. I ask, plead, beg—hear what I have to say.”

→ He calls them brothers twice in just two verses (v. 10, 11).

→ He begs them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to heed what he is saying. He pleads with them to consider their love for Christ. They must do away with their divisions and be unified once again—for the sake of Christ. For Him and His cause they must obey Him and be united in one spirit and one mind.

Ministers of the gospel and leaders must not lambaste nor attack and censure those in the congregation who cause trouble, dissension, and division. Rather, they must approach the divisive person in a spirit of tenderness and love, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes it may be difficult because of the severity of the problem and the arrogance and unwillingness of the troublemaker. Nevertheless, the heart of Christ is love and restoration. Therefore, we must always reach out in a spirit of love and restoration before church discipline is ever attempted^.

The exhortation is strong; it is direct and straightforward. And note: it is immediately given. There is no hesitation and no equivocation in giving it. There should be no problem in understanding it, for it is plainly and simply stated.

The exhortation is to agree in speech: reach agreement, quit talking against each other, accusing, attacking, murmuring, grumbling, griping, complaining, gossiping. Quit using the tongue to stir dissension and division.

The exhortation is to allow no dissension or division. The word division (schismata) means to split, to rend, to tear apart. Note the words “among you.” The division or dissension is not outside the church; it is not out in the world. It is inside the church. The divisive church is not working to bring peace, love, and brotherhood to the world; the divisive church is not seen out in the world ministering to the starving, diseased, and lost masses of the world. The divisive church is seen fuming and fighting. The sinful and devastating problems of dissension are within the divisive church. The divisive church is splitting, rending, and tearing itself apart.

The exhortation is to be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” The words perfectly joined together mean just what they say: to be in perfect union with each other; to be perfectly united and joined together; to be restored to the perfect union of being together. The idea behind the Greek word is that of a torn net being repaired and mended (Mt. 4:21), or a man’s broken and dislocated limb being restored to its proper place.

The union is to be in both mind and judgment. The mind would involve thoughts, reasonings, affections, emotions, motives, and intentions. Judgment would involve conclusions, purposes, goals, and objectives. The exhortation is for the Corinthian church to restore itself, and note: they are not just to be joined together—they are to be perfectly joined together in mind and judgment.

¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.

The tragic report is that contention is within the church. The contention was so severe that some believer went to Paul about the matter. Just who the believer was is not known. He or she was of the household of Chloe, who was apparently a believer well known to the Corinthians. Chloe was probably a citizen of Ephesus and not of Corinth. Paul would never have identified his source of information if he or she had lived in Corinth lest some of the arguing parties turn against Chloe and her household. Paul was writing to Corinth from Ephesus, so a member of her household probably reported the matter to Paul on some return trip from Corinth.

The depth and seriousness of the division is again brought out by the word contentions (erides). The word means wranglings, strifes, quarrels, factions. Note: the nature of division is more clearly defined by the word. The church was arguing and splitting into groups, contending and quarreling over something. There was a severe strife between factions and cliques in the church. Contention is one of the terrible “works of the flesh.”^[1]

Paul identifies four parties in the Church at Corinth. They have not broken away from the Church; the divisions are as yet within it. The word he uses to describe them is schismata), which is the word for rents in a garment. The Corinthian church is in danger of becoming as unsightly as a torn garment.

Like Christians in Corinth, contemporary believers often cluster around popular preachers and teachers. And the result is just as divisive as in the first century. Instead of dividing over personalities, worship styles, and theological minutiae, we need to focus on Christ. He will unify us. Give your allegiance to no one but Christ. Let him lead you.

It is to be noted that the great figures of the Church who are named, Paul and Cephas and Apollos, had nothing to do with these divisions. There were no dissensions between them. Without their knowledge and without their consent their names had been appropriated by these Corinthian factions. It not infrequently happens that a man’s so-called supporters are a bigger problem than his open enemies.

Division within the church is one of the most serious problems a church can face, if not the most serious. It can devastate the church’s fellowship, worship, mission, and witness to the world unless it is solved quickly. Paul knew this; therefore, he sought to solve the problem immediately. Every church and minister of God needs to study and keep this passage forever in their memories.^[2]

The depth and seriousness of the division is again brought out by the word contentions (erides). The word means wranglings, strifes, quarrels, factions. Note: the nature of division is more clearly defined by the word. The church was arguing and splitting into groups, contending and quarreling over something. There was a severe strife between factions and cliques in the church. Contention is one of the terrible “works of the flesh.”

To be perfectly united does not mean that Paul required everyone to be exactly the same. Instead, he wanted them to set aside their arguments and focus on what truly mattered—Jesus Christ as Lord and their mission to take the light of the gospel into a dark world.

Divisions between Christians work like brick walls and barbed-wire fences to undermine the effectiveness of the message that believers are to proclaim. Focus on Jesus Christ, and the purpose he has for you. Strive for harmony. Keep arguments about allegiances off limits. The internal divisions would only cause strife and hinder the gospel, as well as make the church look ridiculous to those outside.

A thought: Shepherds of congregations and ministers of the gospel and leaders must not lambaste nor attack and censure those in the congregation who cause trouble, dissension, and division as their first action. Rather, they must approach the divisive person in a spirit of tenderness and love, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes it may be difficult because of the severity of the problem and the arrogance and unwillingness of the troublemaker. Nevertheless, the heart of Christ is love and restoration. We must always reach out in a spirit of love and restoration before church discipline is ever attempted.

¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”^[3]

In three short questions Paul shows the critical nature of divisive cliques. Cliques strike …

• at the Person of Christ or His Lordship.
• at the crucifixion or death of Christ.
• at the baptism or witness of the believer.

Note how clearly this is seen as each of the three problems with divisive groups is discussed.

1. Cliques divide Christ. A clique always thinks it is right, no matter how divisive its position is, and it wants its way—too often at any cost.

→     A clique dethrones Christ. It sets itself up as the Lord, as the persons who are able to judge what is right and wrong for the church.

→     A clique attempts the impossible: it tries to divide Christ, to take Christ over to its side. A clique often claims that Christ supports its position, that Christ would hold the position and do exactly what the clique is doing.

Note the question asked by Scripture: Is Christ divided? Is part of Christ over here with this group and part of Him over there with that group? Who rules the church? Who is Lord? Who has the right to judge and say what is right and wrong, the Lord within the church, or cliques within the church?

Jesus Christ cannot be divided. There is only one Lord, only one Person who is called the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not two persons. He nor His will can be split into two divisive cliques. He is one Person and He has one will.

1. Cliques elevate men to be saviors. Paul was not crucified for the Corinthians; therefore, he was not the savior of the Corinthians nor of any other body of believers. This is certain: if Paul was not a savior, then no other preacher nor any other leader of a clique is a savior. Believers do not owe their allegiance to preachers and leaders of cliques; they owe their allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Jesus Christ who died for us, not preachers and leaders of churches. Therefore, we are to obey and follow the will of Christ as dictated in Scripture, and we are to support the servants of the Lord whom He places in our midst to minister to us. The Lord places a particular minister in our midst because he has a unique gift to offer to the church and ministry—a very special contribution that is needed during a particular time.
2. Cliques make a person a man-follower. This is tragic, for a genuine believer is always baptized in the name of the Lord, not in the name of some minister or church leader. In his baptism the believer confessed the Lord and gave testimony that he was committing his life to follow the Lord. He did not confess loyalty to some man, no matter how great and wonderful the man might be. However, when the person forms or joins a clique, he disassociates himself from Christ and the rest of the believers; he betrays his baptism and commitment to Christ and His church, and gives his loyalty to the leader or position of a divisive clique.
3. Now note Paul’s adamant denial that he ever attempted to secure a personal following of believers. He thanks God that he had not baptized but a few believers, for no believer can rightfully accuse him of seeking to form a following or a clique.

¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? 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 may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

Paul used a series of rhetorical questions. First he asked whether Christ could be divided. This is a graphic picture of what happens when the church (the body of Christ) quarrels and argues. Christ is one; the church is one. No church ought to split into warring factions.

Second, Paul asked if he, himself, had been crucified for them. Again the answer is obviously no. Only One had been crucified for the believers—indeed, only One could be crucified to pay the penalty for sins.

Third: Were the believers baptized into the name of Paul (or even of Peter or Apollos)? Again, the answer was no. They were baptized into the name of the One who had been crucified for them. This whole idea of factions was wrong; Paul did not exempt those who desired to follow him, nor did he point out any flaws in the teachings of Peter and Apollos. They all taught the same thing—the gospel—but their demeanor and delivery were different.

Just as Jesus did not baptize people (John 4:1-2), so both Peter (Acts 10:48) and Paul allowed their associates to baptize the new converts. Until the church grew in Corinth, Paul did some of the baptizing; but that was not his main ministry.

In this section, Paul was not minimizing baptism, but rather was putting it into its proper perspective, because the Corinthians were making too much of it. “I was baptized by Apollos!” one would boast, while another would say, “Oh, but I was baptized by Paul!”

^[1] Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The First & Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 15.

^[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The First & Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 13.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:11–12.

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

In chapter 9 Paul used himself as an example of a mature Christian who disciplined himself to better serve God. Chapter 10 presents Israel as an example of spiritual immaturity, shown in their overconfidence and lack of self-discipline.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

This chapter continues Paul’s argument concerning the lifestyle of the believers and the need for self-discipline, as recorded in chapters 8 and 9. At the end of chapter 9, Paul had described his own self-discipline and had warned about the danger of being “disqualified.”

The Christian life is a struggle, precisely because it is “Christian.” It is a struggle to obey God, face persecution, exercise self-control and self-discipline, and deal with sin in one’s life. When people are “saved,” they grow in their relationship with Christ and want to become more like him.

They will not become perfect in this life, but they desire to work toward holiness. Some of the Corinthian believers thought that because they had professed faith, went to church, and joined in the Lord’s Supper, they could then live as they pleased. But this was a false belief, as Paul would show through the example he used from Israel’s history.

A perfect Old Testament example of believing the false notion that one can be saved and then live a faithless, God-less life can be seen in what happened to the Jews’ ancestors in the wilderness long ago. The book of Exodus contains the record of their miraculous escape from slavery in Egypt by the intervention of God (see Exodus 1–12). God gave them a leader (Moses), set them free (through great miracles), and then guided all of them as they moved out of Egypt and headed toward the land God wanted to give them (the Promised Land). “A cloud” refers to God’s presence in the form of a cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13:21–22). Their guide was God himself in a physical form, directly in front of them! When they came to the Red Sea, God brought them all safely through the waters of the sea on dry ground. This event is recorded in Exodus 14.

The emphasis in 10:1–4 is on the word “all,” which Paul used four or five times. Paul was making the point that all of the Israelites experienced the miracles of God’s protection and guidance. Yet, later, so many turned away. Many thought that their place among God’s people assured them the Promised Land. Assuming themselves secure, they refused the life of self-discipline, self-denial, and obedience to God. Because of that, many were “disqualified” from entering the Promised Land.

GENERAL BLESSINGS

From the example of his own life (chapter 9) Paul turned to the subject of the Exodus. God’s power in freeing his people from bondage in Egypt provides countless insights into God’s grace and integrity. The people were liberated en masse. Many walked out of slavery physically, but their hearts, minds, and wills remained captive. Freedom from oppression did not lead them to grateful living. Though all benefitted, many nullified those benefits by persistent unbelief.

Christians today have a marvelous heritage of God’s faithfulness. We also have a lengthy history of human sinfulness. How tragic it is when, through ignorance of the past, we repeat many of the same mistakes that spiritually crippled and limited the spread of the gospel. When we read in God’s Word about the failures of others, do we respond, “That couldn’t happen to me”? If so, we may be falling into the same danger.

² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea

This verse at first seems very difficult to understand. But it must be understood that “baptism” here is used for comparison, not as an exact equivalent. And “into Moses” is used as being analagous to the Christian experience of being baptized “into Christ” (see Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27). The Israelites were baptized in that they shared the blessing and gracious deliverance of God with and through Moses’ intervention and leadership. By their experience of passing through the Red Sea, they were united and initiated together under Moses’ leadership. “When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had displayed against the Egyptians, they feared the Lord and put their faith in him and his servant Moses” (Exodus 14:31 nlt). The cloud represented God’s presence and glory among them (Exodus 14:19–22), indicating his leadership and protection. The sea represented God’s salvation of his people through the Red Sea as they crossed safely to escape the Egyptians. All of the Israelites experienced this “baptism.” However, the common experience of this baptism did not keep most of them faithful to God in the days that followed.

³ and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

  Further miracles sustained the Israelites as they journeyed through the desert. God provided spiritual food in the form of “manna” that came from heaven (Exodus 16:4, 14–31). Paul called it “spiritual” because God had provided it for them. The spiritual drink referred to the water Moses obtained from a rock, again a provision directly from God. Moses got water from a rock both at the beginning and at the end of Israel’s journey (Exodus 17:1–7; Numbers 20:2–13).

⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

  God had performed great miracles for his people—setting them free from slavery, guiding them through a sea, and giving them food and drink in a barren wilderness. Yet after all this, most of the people rebelled against God.

The word “most” is actually an understatement; of the thousands who stood at the very edge of the Promised Land, only two men had faith enough in God to enter (Numbers 14:5–12). Because of their lack of faith, God caused the people to turn back from the land and wander for forty years in the wilderness.

God destroyed them in the wilderness by causing them to wander until they died. Only Joshua and Caleb lived long enough to enter the land (Numbers 14:30). The rest died without ever having entered the Promised Land—this was God’s punishment on them for their disobedience and rebellion against him. See Hebrews 3–4, where the wilderness example is also used as a warning.

⁶ Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

Far from being irrelevant to New Testament Christians, the stories of people in the Old Testament provide examples from which the believers can learn. In particular, the story of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt teaches believers to not desire evil as they did. Clearly, the Israelites’ status as God’s people and recipients of his love and provision did not mean that all of them loved and served God in return. Instead, many actually desired evil and turned away from God, as the following verses describe.

LESSONS

As Paul wrote about the history of his people, he highlighted God’s directions, warnings, and examples. It turns out that events transpired and were recorded for future purposes. Twice in this chapter, he pointed out that “these things occurred as examples” for us (10:6, 11). The examples were specific behaviors: idolatry, sexual immorality, testing the Lord, and complaining. In each case, the consequences were death. Each also represents a real temptation toward “setting our hearts on evil things” (niv).

Instead of obeying the One who gave them freedom, God’s people rebelled. We rebel against God when we give in to our cravings to put pleasures ahead of service to God. Don’t let anything come between you and God.

⁷ Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

This incident, when “the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry,” occurred when the Israelites made a golden calf and worshiped it in the wilderness (Exodus 32). Paul was quoting Exodus 32:6.

The people became idolaters, worshiping an image rather than God, who had brought them out of Egypt. The Israelites claimed to be worshiping God (Exodus 32:5); however, God was dishonored by what they were doing—both by their idol (a golden calf) and then by their “pagan revelry.”

“Revelry” refers to singing, shouting, and dancing that promote sexual immorality. This also shows that the problem addressed in 8:1–13 was idolatry, not merely eating marketplace meat. If those people who had witnessed the miracles of the escape from Egypt could so easily be tempted to turn to idolatry, then the Christians in Corinth, who were surrounded by idols, should also be on their guard.

The Corinthian believers needed to remember that God is completely separate from idolatry. They could not participate in idol festivals or celebrations and claim that they were really worshiping God through them. This dishonored God. He does not overlook sin, nor does he take it lightly. Neither should his followers.

 

Why did people continually turn to idols instead of to God?

Idols were:	God is:
Tangible	Intangible—no physical form
Morally similar— had human characteristics	Morally dissimilar— has divine characteristics
Comprehensible	Incomprehensible
Able to be manipulated	Not able to be manipulated
Worshiping idols involved:	Worshiping God involves:
Sexual immorality	Purity and commitment
Doing whatever a person wanted	Doing what God wants
Focusing on self	Focusing on others

 

⁸ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

This incident, when 23,000 of the Israelites died in one day is recorded in Numbers 25:1–9. The Israelites worshiped a god of Canaan, Baal of Peor, and engaged in sexual immorality with Moabite women.

Part of the worship of this god, Baal, involved sexual immorality; the Israelites had engaged in actions clearly against their own laws in order to “worship” an idol. This occurred during the wanderings in the wilderness, so it involved the same group of people who had left Egypt and had already been punished for worshiping the golden calf (10:7).

Many continued in sin, without regard for the God to whom they claimed to belong. Because of their sin, God punished them harshly. For the believers in Corinth, the comparison would have been inescapable. Much of the idol worship there focused on ritual prostitution and sexual immorality of all kinds. God would not go lightly on those who claimed to be his but still engaged in idol worship or sexual immorality.

IDOLATRY

Today we can allow many things to become gods to us. Money, fame, work, or pleasure can become gods when we concentrate too much on them for personal identity, meaning, and security. No one sets out with the intention of worshiping these things. But by the amount of time we devote to them, they can grow into gods that ultimately control our thoughts and energies. Letting God hold the central place in our lives keeps these things from turning into gods.

Sexual sin is powerful and destructive. That is why God has so many laws about sexual sins. Instructions about sexual behavior would have been vital for 3 million people on a forty-year camping trip. But they would be equally important when they entered the Promised Land and settled down as a nation. Paul recognized the importance of strong rules about sex for believers, because sexual sins have the power to disrupt and destroy the church (see also Colossians 3:5–8). Sins involving sex are not innocent dabblings in forbidden pleasures, as is so often portrayed, but powerful destroyers of relationships. They bring confusion and tear down the respect and trust so essential for solid marriages and secure children.

⁹ We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents

Other versions (such as the niv), following some manuscripts, read “the Lord” instead of “Christ.” But “Christ” has the better manuscript support and is the reading that scribes would be tempted to change because it is difficult to imagine the Israelites tempting Christ in the wilderness. But Paul had already affirmed that Christ, as the spiritual Rock, accompanied them in their wilderness journeys (see 10:4 and discussion). This verse affirms Christ’s deity and preexistence.

This verse also recalls Israel’s complaining about having been brought out into the wilderness. The people complained, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness? … There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this wretched manna” (Numbers 21:5 nlt). The people even complained about the manna—the miracle food that God had provided (see Exodus 16:31–32). They were testing the Lord’s patience to see what he would do, and he punished them for their complaining attitudes by sending poisonous snakes among them. Many were killed by the snakes. Those who claim to be God’s people will not test the Lord to see how much they can get away with. True believers will seek to stay near to God in order to constantly live in obedience to him (see also Hebrews 3–4).

¹⁰ nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

  This incident of grumbling occurred when the people complained against the leadership of Moses and Aaron—an event that actually happened several times. The phrase “God sent his angel of death to destroy them” could refer to when the Israelites grumbled at Kadesh, refusing to enter the Promised Land. God punished them with a plague (Numbers 14:2, 36–37). This could also refer to the incident recorded in Numbers 16 when a group rebelled against Moses, and God sent a plague that killed the rebels. In both cases, the assumption is that the plague that resulted came through God’s angel of death. This angel is first mentioned in Exodus 12:23, with the last plague that came upon Egypt. Grumbling against God or against his leaders results in divine punishment. God does not take this sin lightly either. This was another problem that the Corinthian church was facing (3:1–9).

UNFULFILLED DESIRES

Paul warned the Corinthian believers not to grumble. We start to grumble when our attention shifts from what we have to what we don’t have. The people of Israel didn’t seem to notice what God was doing for them—setting them free, making them a nation, giving them a new land—because they were so wrapped up in what God wasn’t doing for them. They could think of nothing but the delicious Egyptian food they had left behind (Numbers 11:5).

Before we judge the Israelites too harshly, it’s helpful to think about what occupies our attention most of the time. Are we grateful for what God has given us, or are we always thinking about what we would like to have? Don’t allow your unfulfilled desires to cause you to forget God’s gifts of life: food, health, work, and friends.

¹¹ Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

The Old Testament stories were written down as warnings for believers of the first century, and for today. When the Israelites disobeyed, they received punishment. Likewise, when people who claim to be Christians sin with no repentance, no desire to change, and no concern for God’s laws, they too will receive punishment. When Christ came, everything changed. The ages past reached their fulfillment, and now their lessons, recorded in the pages of Scripture, can be understood in the light of God’s mercy and salvation in Jesus Christ.

¹² Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

  The Israelites had received numerous pictures of God’s grace and witnessed many miracles performed before their very eyes. Yet they gave in to temptation and fell away from God. Paul warned the Corinthian Christians to be careful. If they began to take pride in their faith, if they began to take it for granted, if they thought they were standing firm, that was the time to be most careful not to fall. The Corinthians were very sure of themselves, almost prideful. Paul said that if the Israelites fell into idolatry, so could some in the Corinthian church. No human being is ever beyond temptation while he or she is on this earth. Paul warned the believers not to let down their guard. Those most liable to fall are those who think they won’t.