Greetings and an Earnest Appeal
“Hello Dear, We've Got a Big Problem”
A verse-by-verse explanation of this section.
An overview of the principles and applications from this section.
Tying the section to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of this section.
Zeroing the section in on daily life.
“The church of the apostolic days embraced all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues. There is no evidence in the New Testament for the diversification of distinct denominations, and anything tending to such diversification was condemned. The emphasis falls upon the oneness of faith and the oneness of the fellowship of the saints.”
John Murray
In these verses the apostle Paul gave sincere greetings to the believers in Corinth whom he loved dearly. But his heart was so heavily burdened by reports of troubles in the church that he appealed to them to change their ways.
“Hello Dear, We've Got a Big Problem”
It had been another one of those days at the office. Ron hadn't stopped for a moment, not even for lunch. He'd been running all over town, trying to deal with this project and that project. At last, it was four o'clock—time to start thinking of home. What's going on there? How are the kids? What's for supper? Maybe I should pick up something on the way home, he thought to himself as he reached for the phone.
“Hello?” Mary answered.
“Hi! It's me. How have you been today?”
“Uh…” Mary hesitated.
At that moment Ron could hear a lot of noise in the background: hammers pounding, shouts of workers, radios… and was that a fire truck?… the police?
“Hello Dear,” Mary began again. “Um… We've got a big problem.” When we have not talked with someone we love for a while, we just hate to bring up problems right away. It is much nicer to enjoy one another first, and then bring up difficulties later. But sometimes troubles tower so tall that we have to bring them up in the very first moments.
Today the church has many problems. Some of them are small, and we can afford to take them in stride as we focus on other things. But the church also has some very large problems which it needs to address directly and immediately. One of these is disunity. We have thousands of denominations, and great disunity exists even within many of those denominations. In individual churches, we see strife over building programs and mission statements. People divide over minor theological issues, and even over personal incompatibility. Sometimes church politics cause factions within our ranks.
These are exactly the kinds of problems Paul encountered in Corinth. But unlike us, Paul saw the disunity caused by these problems as a terrible disaster. He was so worried about the divisions in Corinth that he barely got through saying “hello” before he launched into a rebuke against this gospel-opposing behavior.
Paul opened his letter to the Corinthians by declaring, “Hello, we've got a big problem.”
Greetings and an Earnest Appeal
MAIN IDEA: Christians have been so blessed by god that divisions over trivial matters have no place among us.
Introduction (1:1–9)
SUPPORTING IDEA: God's gift of slavation had brought the Corinthians into a relationship with other believers; they were members of one body.
1:1. Paul wrote with the authority of an apostle (one commissioned and sent) of Christ Jesus. He had been called by the will of God, so his words were to be received as God's own commands (Matt. 10:40; 1 Cor. 14:37). Sosthenes, a Jewish believer and resident of Corinth (Acts 18:17), may have served as Paul's secretary for this letter (1 Cor. 16:21).
1:2. Paul sent this letter to believers in Corinth, a Greek seaport and center of international commerce. The apostle's description of these Christians revealed his deep concern for them. First, he called them the church of God. The readers were not merely individuals. They constituted a church community that belonged to God. Only God's desires held sway over the life of this church. Second, the believers in this church had been sanctified, or set apart from the world, by virtue of their faith in Christ. Third, the Corinthian believers were called to pursue pure and holy lives. Fourth, they were called to holiness together with all believers everywhere. Holiness was not to be pursued simply by individuals, but by the entire church.
This opening address set the stage for Paul's central concern in this section: God's gift of salvation had brought the Corinthians into a relationship with other believers; they were members of one body (1 Cor. 10:17; 12:12–27).
1:3. Paul issued a standard greeting among Christians in his day. He expressed his hope that God would continue to bless his readers through Christ with his enabling grace and the experience of peace.
1:4. Before wrestling with a long list of problems in the Corinthian church, Paul mentioned several positive feelings and hopes. He affirmed that he was always sure to thank God for his readers, and explained why.
Paul first explained that the cause of his gratitude was the grace, or unmerited favor, the Corinthians had received in Christ Jesus. Some interpreters have also suggested that grace refers to the Corinthians’ charismatic gifts. The phrase in Christ appears often in Paul's writings. It refers to his teaching that all who trust in Christ have been joined to him, participating in his death and resurrection. Those united to Christ die to the judgment of death and come alive to countless blessings of new life, sharing in Christ's inheritance (Rom 6:1–7; Gal 3:28–29; Eph. 1:3–14). By being united to Christ, believers draw their life from him (Gal. 2:20; cf. John 15:1–8; 17:22–23), and Christ represents them as righteous before the Father (Rom. 5:15–19; 1 Cor. 15:22).
1:5. Paul specified a number of blessings which the Corinthians had received. Their lives had been enriched with speaking and knowledge. Chapters 12–14 explain that Paul's readers greatly prized their spiritual gifts of revelation and knowledge. Although the apostle warned against the abuses of these gifts (1 Cor. 8:1–13; 13:1–2), he was also pleased that God had granted them these blessings.
1:6. Paul acknowledged the great privileges that God afforded the church at Corinth. Then he foreshadowed the argument he would pursue later in this chapter. He pointed out that the Corinthians’ gifts confirmed the testimony, or witness, which he himself had given them. Paul's preaching of the gospel had been the conduit of their gifts of revelation and knowledge. As a result, the presence of spiritual gifts in the church confirmed the efficacy and truth of Paul's gospel message. This brief aside was important because the Corinthians took great pride in human wisdom. Yet, the gospel that had enriched their lives with these gifts was not based on human wisdom and pride, but on humility and spiritual wisdom.
1:7. Although the Corinthians longed for Christ to return in glory, their spiritual gifts equipped them to live lives of faith in the meantime. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:14, the Holy Spirit “is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession.” The Spirit supplies believers with a host of blessings as they long for Christ's return.
Paul mentioned the return of Christ here to remind the Corinthians of the true nature of their condition. Many people in the Corinthian church thought they were more blessed with gifts than they actually were. For example, Paul wrote, “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings—;and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you!” (1 Cor. 4:8). He also had to remind them that their gifts were only temporary, partial manifestations of the blessings they would receive at Christ's return (1 Cor. 13:8–13). Paul probably mentioned Christ's return to remind them that they needed to stop being satisfied with the progress they had made. They needed to apply themselves to waiting eagerly for Christ's return.
1:8. The gifts of the Spirit displayed in Corinth gave Paul great confidence that God would keep them safe until the end of this age. The day of our Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the great “day of the LORD” (Amos 5:18–20; Joel 2:31). That day will bring judgment against the enemies of God and wondrous reward for God's people (Joel 3:14–21; 2 Pet. 3:10–13). Although Paul later warned the Corinthians that flagrant apostasy could prove their faith in vain (1 Cor. 9:27; 10:1–12), he fully expected them to be blameless, without guilt.
1:9. Paul's confidence in the Corinthians’ future rested not on them, but on God's faithfulness both to them (1 Cor. 10:13) and to his Son (cf. John 10:29; Eph. 1:18; Heb. 2:13). God had called them into fellowship with his Son (cf. 1 Cor. 1:4), and God… is faithful. He will keep all who believe safe until the end. Paul did not place his confidence in the church as the Corinthians did, but in the church's God.
Paul pointed out that God had called the Corinthian church together into fellowship with his Son. He did this not only to assure them of their salvation, but also to remind them that the fellowship they shared with one another was in Christ. When they disrupted their fellowship with one another, they disrupted their fellowship with Christ.
After his brief greeting, Paul immediately turned his attention to one of the dominant problems in the Corinthian church. Instead of serving one another in harmony, Paul's readers had divided into factions, each of which thought itself superior in wisdom to the other segments of the church. This section first describes the problem, and then introduces two responses to it.
Paul's Appeal in Response to Church Divisions (1:10–12)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul appealed to the Corinthians to heal the divisions that had developed in the church.
1:10. The apostle began with a respectful but forceful appeal. In this verse and the next, he called his readers brothers to remind them of his intense familial affection for them.
Paul also revealed the intensity of his concern by appealing to his readers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. By so doing, Paul reminded them that the authority of Christ himself stood behind his exhortations.
The appeal divides into three parts. He asked the Corinthians to agree with one another, to eliminate divisions, and to be perfectly united in mind and thought. Each part says basically the same thing: the Corinthians needed to eliminate the divisions in their church. They needed to become like-minded with one another.
Paul did not desire unity at the expense of truth (see 11:18–19). Paul himself stood against others in the church when the central truths of the gospel were at stake (Gal. 2:5,11; 5:12). Here, he expressed plainly that Christian unity requires like-mindedness. The verses that follow reveal the beliefs which should have formed the center of agreement among the Corinthians.
On the other hand, Paul did not mean that unity implied uniformity on all matters. As he pointed out in several places, there is much room for disagreement and diverse opinions over secondary issues in the Christian church (Rom. 14:1–14; 2 Cor. 8:10).
1:11. Paul revealed the source of his concern for the unity of the Corinthian believers, whom he again called brothers. He had received information from members of Chloe's household. Scholars disagree about whether Chloe was a member of the Corinthian church. In any case, members of her household had informed Paul about some serious problems in the church. Paul had learned that there were quarrels within the church.
1:12. Paul got right to the heart of these quarrels: the church had divided into personality factions. It is possible that the use of the singular “I” as opposed to the plural “we” in this context indicates that these groups were not organized, solidified factions. The problem may have been much more individualistic.
Whatever the case, Paul identified four factious loyalties in the church at Corinth. First, some declared themselves followers of Paul. As much as this group may have fed the apostle's ego, he rejected its practice as inappropriate. Second, some followed Apollos, a teacher who came to Corinth after Paul (Acts 18:24–19:1). He was the subject of concern several times in this epistle (3:4–9,22; 4:6). Apparently, his following was substantial. Third, others followed Cephas (the apostle Peter) believing he had the greatest insights of all.
Finally, one group claimed to follow Christ. Although this claim sounds positive on the surface, it is likely that Paul included this group in his list because even they thought themselves superior to others because they refused to identify with a human leader. Boasting in Christ would have been fine (1 Cor. 1:31), but boasting in oneself for following Christ was sin (1 Cor. 1:29–30; 4:7). All of these groups or individuals took pride in the fact that they followed one leader or another.
It appears that a good number of the Corinthians also rejected Paul's authority to speak to matters of theological substance. This may help explain Paul's defense of his apostleship and authority in this letter (1 Cor. 1:1,17; 4:9; 9:1–2; 11:1; 14:37–38).
Divisions Are Contrary to Paul's Ministry (1:13–17)
SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul declared that divisions in the church are contrary to the unity that exists in Christ's body.
1:13. The apostle responded to the strife within the church by asking three questions to which he expected negative responses. First, he asked, Is Christ divided? The kinds of divisions in the Corinthian church could be justified only if Christ's own resurrected body had been dismembered. Elsewhere, Paul described the church as the body of Christ, the community of those joined to him and to one another by faith (Rom. 12:3–5; Eph. 3:6). If Christ had been dismembered after his resurrection, the divisions within the church might have been theoretically acceptable. But since Christ remained whole, the church needed to do so as well.
Second, because some members of the Corinthian church identified themselves as the followers of Paul (1 Cor. 1:12), Paul asked if he himself had been crucified for the believers in Corinth. By this question he made it clear that to identify oneself as a follower of Paul was to insult the saving work of Christ. Paul was the servant and apostle of Corinth, but he was not their Savior.
Third, Paul asked if the Corinthians had been baptized into the name of Paul. The New Testament makes it plain that Christian baptism was performed in the name of the Trinity (Matt. 28:19). This formula was often abbreviated as baptism “in the name of Jesus” (Acts 2:38; 19:5). Even so, nowhere in the New Testament were believers baptized in the name of an apostle or church leader. The loyalties of believers in all ages must be directed toward Christ alone.
1:14–15. Paul breathed a sigh of relief that he had not baptized many people in Corinth. In his evangelistic work there, he had baptized Crispus (see Acts 18:8) and Gaius (see Rom. 16:23), but no others. These words do not suggest that Paul did not consider baptism important. Elsewhere Paul stressed the importance of baptism. It is the sign and seal of faith in Christ, demonstrating union with the Savior in his death and resurrection (Rom. 6:4). For this reason, evangelism normally included baptism. Even so, in this particular circumstance where believers aligned themselves against others as followers of Paul, he was relieved that he had not provided them with support for their divisive spirit by baptizing many of them.
1:16. Paul qualified his statement that he had only baptized Crispus and Gaius. In the process of writing these verses, he recalled that he had also baptized the household of Stephanas (see 1 Cor. 16:15). Stephanas himself may have reminded Paul of these baptisms as Paul dictated, since Stephanas was apparently with him (1 Cor. 16:17). Beyond this, however, the apostle confessed that he could not remember if he had baptized anyone else. This qualification indicates how intent the apostle was on not providing his opponents any grounds for objections to his argument.
1:17. This verse serves as a hinge in Paul's discussion. It closes his preceding discussion of baptism and transitions to his next topic. The conclusion to the previous matter amounts to an explanation that Christ did not send him to baptize, but to preach the gospel. It would appear that Paul followed the example of Jesus in this matter. Christ preached, and delegated baptism primarily to his disciples (John 4:1–2). Paul followed the same practice; he proclaimed the gospel and left baptism primarily to his converts, who supervised the ongoing life of the church.
The expression “preach the gospel” moved Paul's thoughts in a different but related direction. What was the nature of the gospel he preached? It was devoid of words of human wisdom. This phrase may be translated more literally, “wisdom of words.” The idea is that his preaching did not rely on cleverness or eloquence. Paul distinguished himself from the Greek orators of his day who sought to persuade with impressive rhetoric and style. Paul insisted that his own preaching was simple and straightforward. He avoided great oratory because he did not want to distract from the message itself. His style of preaching was self-effacing, pointing to the source of salvation, Christ.
Paul was concerned that the cross of Christ not be emptied of its power when presented in preaching. The gospel message contradicts human wisdom, so that it cannot be mixed with the power of human wisdom and manipulative persuasion. For this reason, those in Corinth who tried to defend their faith and practices through human wisdom actually opposed the way of the gospel. The power of the cross was the “power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Salvation comes only from the atonement of Christ, purchased by his suffering on the cross. The recognition and reception of that power was Paul's chief concern as he proclaimed the gospel.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Christians have been so blessed by God that divisions over trivial matters have no place among us.
It is hard to imagine, but Christians can actually find themselves doing things in the name of the gospel that are absolutely contrary to the gospel. Many Corinthian believers had fallen into such a predicament. They had aligned themselves against one another, using human wisdom and persuasive powers to support their divisive ways. Paul's response to this situation cut straight to the heart of the matter. To divide the church on the basis of human wisdom is to oppose the gospel of Christ. The true gospel does not rely on human wisdom, but on the power of God received through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ.
APPLICATIONS
I saw something on a special news bulletin recently that caught me off guard. Mark McGwire, the first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, set a new major league baseball record for the most home runs in a single season. On the opposing team, the Chicago Cubs, was Sammy Sosa, a player who had almost as many home runs as Mark McGwire, and who was also a contender to break the same record. The two teams were opponents, and they both had leaders in home runs on their teams.
But when McGwire hit his record-breaking home run and ran the bases, everyone he passed on the other team either shook his hand and patted him on the back, or actually hugged him. If the teams had acted like the Corinthians, they would have used McGwire's new record as an occasion for division, not as a cause for mutual celebration.
Our lives and churches parallel the Corinthians in many ways. First, the church today is blessed in countless ways just as the Corinthians were. Second, the modern church is bonded together by the blessings we have received in Christ. Most of us do not value our brothers and sisters because we forget that we all need Christ and the power of his death and resurrection.
Because of the importance of this bond, we need to evaluate carefully the divisions that occur in our churches. Are we separating ourselves from those who deny the gospel of Christ? Or are we dividing and quarreling because of human pride? By keeping Christ central, we can avoid many of the factions that develop around persons and doctrinal issues. We can also stem the personal abuse that takes place and draw ourselves back to treating others as we would treat Christ himself.
Lord Jesus, you have given your followers so many mercies. We all depend solely on you for our life now and our eternal life to come. When we are tempted to quarrel with one another, do not allow us to fall prey to human wisdom and pride. Help us to stand for the truth of the gospel, but make us humble because of our total dependence on you. Amen.
A. Corinth (1:2)
Corinth had a sordid history. Strabo claimed the city had one thousand temple prostitutes servicing the temple of Aphrodite on the Acrocorinth. Archaeologists have discovered many clay models of human genitalia offered to Asclepius, the god of healing, presumably to petition him to heal venereal disease. But that perverse city was destroyed by Rome in 146 B.C.
The Corinth Paul knew had been rebuilt on the site of the ancient city by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. It was populated largely by freemen whose status was barely above that of slave. It was a center for international trade, attracting people from all over the world. It followed Roman laws and culture and Greek philosophy and art.
Corinth's religious composition varied greatly, including worship of the Roman and Greek gods, the mystery cults from Asia and Egypt, and Judaism. Because of its commercial strength, the city possessed wealth. These riches brought all kinds of people to populate the area: the educated and sophisticated; people seeking their fortunes; prostitutes and criminals. The Corinthian church itself contained people who had been sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals offenders, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers, and swindlers (see 6:9–11). Not many were “wise by human standards,” “influential,” or “of noble birth” (1:26). Rather, they were “foolish,” “weak,” and “despised” (1:27–28), and some were certainly “slaves” (7:21–22; 12:13).
B. Sanctified, Holy (1:2)
Given the nature of Corinth and its people, and of the Corinthian church itself, it is no wonder that Paul reminded the church that it had been “sanctified” or set apart as God's people, and was “called to be holy” (1:2). “Holy” referred to the fact that the church was to remain dedicated to God as his people, and that it was to be pure. It may have been a remembrance of the church's formerly deplorable members that caused Paul to be so thankful for the “grace” given to the Corinthian church (1:4), and for their spiritual gifting which “confirmed” that they had believed the gospel (1:5–6). Paul reminded them that Christ would keep them strong until the end because their past lifestyles tugged strongly at them through the influence of the Corinthian society and culture (1:8; cf. 12:2).
C. In Christ (1:2,4)
Central to Paul's thinking in all his letters was the concept of being “in Christ” (1:2,4). He used this exact phrase seventy-three times and frequently employed related phrases and concepts. This complex idea incorporates both a legal and an experiential aspect. On the one hand, “in Christ” refers to the fact that believers are covered by Christ's imputed righteousness (Rom. 5:15–19; Gal. 2:17). Because Christ has died for them and imputed his righteousness to them, believers stand before God's judgment throne with Christ's own status. They are accounted righteous because Christ stands in their place as their representative.
On the other hand, “in Christ” is also much like John's term “abide” (John 15:1–7, NASB), meaning that Christ lives within believers, and they live in him (Rom. 6:23; Gal. 3:28). It refers to an intimate union that affects believers on the level of their very being.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. COMMENTARY
C. CONCLUSION: HOME RUN