Sermon

1 Corinthians 1:1–17 — Unity in the Church

December 29, 2002

Today we begin a series on the book of 1 Corinthians. In so doing, we have an opportunity to come to know for the first time, or to gain a deeper acquaintance with, this important letter from the pen of Paul. We will be dealing with roughly one chapter each week. We have an opportunity to study together this important letter. So, I want to encourage you to take the opportunity to read through this book. Look at the Evangel for the upcoming texts and read ahead so you can get the most out of what is coming. I did not know this when I chose this book, but it is also the subject for our annual SBC-wide Winter Bible study, so we will be joined in this study by many other Baptist congregations.

Why did I choose this book for our next journey? I chose it because it is a letter to a concrete congregation that was dealing with difficult issues relating to its identity and its faithfulness.

In his commentary on 1 Corinthians Charles Hodge lists eight dangers that were threatening the church at Corinth (xvii-xxiii):

1. Various internal disorders and conflicts had arisen in the church, fueled in particular by some who had rejected Paul’s authority as an apostle;

2. The church had been lax in the practice of church discipline (correcting in love those who had gone astray);

3. They had tried to settle differences by going to pagan law courts (see chapter 6);

4. They had abused the freedom we have in Christ by condoning sinful behavior. In other words, they so much wanted to avoided being “legalististic” that they had an “anything goes” kind of mentality.

5. There was disorder in their understanding of Christian marriage.

6. They had trouble separating themselves from the idolatry of the surrounding culture;

7. There were abuses occurring in their celebration of public worship. As we shall see, much of this had to do with teaching relating to the possession and exercise of spiritual gifts.

8. Some were denying the resurrection. Note: we are going to be looking at 1 Corinthians 15 right when we approach Easter.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it gives us a good idea of what is ahead. This book is, of course, appropriate for the church in any age in all circumstances, but it seemed to me to be particularly appropriate for Jefferson Park Baptist Church as we live out the gospel together in 2003 in Charlottesville, Virginia. I hope those reasons will become apparent to you too as we come to this letter together.

1.1 The letter begins with an identification of the author. We begin our letters “Dear ....,” but ancient letter begin with the name of the sender. “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Paul is, of course, the man who used to be called Saul. He was a man who was a zealous Pharisee who initially hated Christians and saw them as blasphemers and theological heretics, because they confessed Jesus as Lord. But then God appeared to him on the Damascus Road and spoke to him and blinded him and sent him a discipler, Ananias (Acts 9). His blinded eyes were opened and he was baptized, and he then became the most courageous earlier proclaimer of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God delights in taking men and women who hate him and making them his choice servants!

God had a unique role for Paul and a few others to play in the unfolding of the Christian drama. He would be an apostle. Apostles were those who had seen Jesus and were commissioned by him to do the work of laying the foundation of the Christian movement.

You know when you build a house you don’t begin with the framing or with the roof or with the siding. No. You start with the foundation. And that was Paul’s special role, along with the Twelve disciples, to lay the foundation correctly. If the foundation is not level and square then the whole building gets out of kilter.

Listen to the way Paul describes his role as “the least of the apostles” in 1 Cor 15:9-11. Listen to how he describes his call in Galatians 1:11-17. And did God ever use Paul! He was used to establish churches throughout the major cities of the ancient world, but his most enduring legacy were the 13 letters he wrote that are included in the NT and have touched untold millions.

You’ll note that Paul always takes pains to stress that being an apostle was never his idea for himself. It was God’s idea for him. This present came as a complete surprise to Paul. He did not choose it, wrap it up, and put it under the tree for himself!

We see this in v. 1 as he stresses he was “called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” This means that no one else did the calling but God alone. No one else gets the credit (or blame!) for Paul’s ministry. These days in our state denomination we have heard about a coming “clergy shortage” and so our state leaders are designating certain people to be “scouts” to be on the lookout for “emerging leaders.” I think that Paul would be baffled by that. We do not seek out people called to ministry the way we recruit people to become nurses or social workers or teachers. It is not an option we want folk to check off on career day. It is the work of God. We pursue ministry when God calls us to it.

We might note that Paul mentions an assistant whose name is Sosthenes. He is not an apostle but was likely one of Paul’s many proteges in ministry. Maybe he served as Paul’s secretary and wrote down this letter (cf. Tertius in Rom 16:22). This reminds us that Paul was no lone ranger in ministry. He worked in cooperation with others and not in competition with them.

1.2 In v. 2 we get the identification of the recipients of this letter. “To the church of God in Corinth.”

Corinth was a major city in Greece. It held a strategically important place, commanding the strategic east-west rout between the Aegean and Ionian seas. The Romans had destroyed the city in 146 BC and then rebuilt it in 44 BC. Like all ancient cities it was a very religious place. The Corinthians seldom met a god they wouldn’t worship. The city was filled with statues to the gods and goddesses. A magnificent statue to the goddess Athena stood in the agora, the marketplace.

According to Acts 18, Paul was among the first to preach Jesus in the city. He was aided by the husband-wife team of Aquila and Priscilla. As usual with Paul, he began his preaching in the Jewish synagogues until he was kicked out for causing trouble (read Acts 18:1-8). No doubt, there were both Jews and Gentiles who responded to his preaching of the gospel and these formed the core of the Corinthian church. Paul stayed for a year and half with “teaching them the Word of God” (v. 11) until he left for Ephesus, accompanied by Aquila and Priscilla (v. 18).

Although he refers to them as the church of God in Corinth, Paul was probably writing to several pockets of believers who met in various homes in the city. One commentator I read suggested that at this time there were probably at the most 150-200 believers in Corinth (Hays, First Corinthians, 7). We can just imagine them gathering to hear the words of Paul (cf. Col 4:16). One thing this reminds us is that scripture is not just meant for our private consumption. Faith in Christ is not a private, individual matter. It is not just about me and God. I do not “come to the garden alone.” Scripture is not meant merely for my personal devotions and “quiet times,” valuable as these are. It is meant for the church.

How does Paul describe the church? He writes “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy.” Now, as we are going to see later in this letter there were some serious perversions in the church at Corinth. How then can Paul write to them as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus”? Because he knows what God is doing to them. That’s the amazing thing about being a Christian, isn’t it? We are made right with God (justified) and yet we remain sinners. If God’s calling is authentic, he also begins in us the process of sanctification, making us holy and pure before God. Now that is a process that is never complete on this side of the kingdom. It is only finally and perfectly fulfilled by the Lord (cf. 1 Cor 13:9-10, 12). Paul here sees the Corinthians not as they are but as they will be. This verse implies too that sanctification is not just a work on the individual believer but also in the church. God is calling his church to greater purity and greater holiness before him. We will never fully get there on this side of the kingdom, but we are reaching and striving to that end, by his grace.

Paul then widens the circle by saying that this letter is to “all those who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ–their Lord and ours.” This includes not just the Corinthians but others who will receive this letter, and that includes us here today.

1.3 In v. 2 Paul has stated that Jesus Christ is Lord for believers. This is an affirmation of the identity of Jesus as God. That continues in the greeting in v. 3 as the Lord Jesus is paralleled with the Father.

1.4 In v. 4 we begin the “thanksgiving” part of the letter. All of Paul’s letters (except Galatians) include a thanksgiving. It was a standard part of an ancient letter. Whereas pagans might thank the gods, Paul gives thanks to the one true God: “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.”

1.5-6 First he thanks God that they have been enriched in every way “in speaking (logos) and all your knowledge (gnosis)” (v. 5). Paul thanks God for their competence in talking about and understanding the things of God. Now that is kind of ironic given the criticisms that will come later. Maybe what we should get from this is that even if we can talk and good talk about the faith and even if we have all our beliefs perfectly in line with orthodoxy, we can still miss the mark in living out the believing life. Still, Paul can thank God for their enrichment in this area. He can even look back with satisfaction, having been the one to teach Christ to them, and say, “our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.” You have really become believers!

1.7 Paul also thanks God that they “do not lack any spiritual gift.” Again, given what is to come there is some undercurrent of irony here. They had all kinds of gifts. Their worship services had become confusing and disordered experiences as different members of the body jockeyed with others to display his or her gifts. Some were thinking of themselves as more valued members of the body, because of their particular gifts. Still, Paul can thank God for their giftedness! That they had gifts was good, now Paul’s task would be to encourage them to use those gifts in harmony and for the purpose not of building themselves us but for building up the body of Christ (see 1 Cor 12-14).

1.8-9 In v. 7 Paul mentions that they are eagerly waiting “for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed (apokalypsis).” Then in v. 8 there is this incredible promise for this (as we shall see) incredibly fouled up congregation. “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus.” Is that a promise that you need today? Do you feel that you have a made a mess of your Christian life? Have you not been faithful? Have you slipped and stumbled? This is an incredible word of assurance. This is one of those places in scripture where we get ammunition for the doctrine of the perseverance or, better the preservation, of the saints. We can lay it aside Phil 1:6: “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

And what is the ground of this hope? Is it the ability of the church or the people in it to finally get things together and in order? No. Not at all. The root of this hope is not in the potential faithfulness of the Corinthians but in the God who has called them: “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” Cf. 2 Tim 2:11-13.

1.10-12. Now that the niceties of the thanksgiving are over, Paul then turns to directly address the troubling issues in Corinth. The thanksgiving was kind of like the sugar and now comes the medicine.

Paul begins: I appeal to you (parakaleo). Paul exhorts with apostolic (prophetic) authority. This is not a suggestion. Paul depends not on his own authority but he appeals to them “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What greater appeal is there than this? What greater motivation than to do something for the name of Jesus?

His appeal is that “all of you agree with one another.” The Greek uses the verb lego, “to speak.” They are to be speaking the same language. The fruit of this agreement is that there be no “divisions [schismata]” (v. 10), but that they share “the same mind (nous-reason, attitude, intention, purpose, understanding, discernment) and thought (gnome-purpose, intent, will, opinion, decision, consent).”

In v. 11 Paul tells the Corinthians that he has heard a report of “quarrels” among them from some from Chloe’s household. This report is, no doubt, what prompted Paul’s letter. I love the way Paul does not hide his source. He does not say, “Well, some people say....” But he directly identifies where he got this information. In secular family systems language we might say, Paul does not triangulate. He is direct and honest. Nothing is hidden, including the source of his report.

Then, in v. 12 Paul explicitly defines what the source of the division has been in Corinth: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul.’ Another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ another ‘I follow Cephas,’ still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ The problem in the church was factionalism. The larger group had divided into smaller groups or cliques based on their loyalty to a particular leader. There are at least four groups identified here. Some claimed to follow Paul. Perhaps these were Gentile Christians. Other claimed to follow Cephas or Peter. Perhaps these were Jewish Christians. Others claimed to follow Apollos (see Acts 18:24-28). Apollos was a Jewish believer from Alexandria who was a learned man and was perhaps especially skilled in rhetoric. Perhaps his followers were the intellectuals or those who loved philosophical discourse. The last group claimed allegiance to Christ. This may mean that they were followers of James who came from the family of Jesus. Or it may just mean that they were a kind of a spiritually superior type who might say something like, “Well, you all do want you want, but I just want to follow Jesus.”

1.13-17 Paul’s response to this factionalism is a powerful rebuke. He asks: “Is Christ divided?” The answer to that question is, “NO!” I think what Paul says next is a measure of his greatness and his worthiness as a model for imitation. He might have said: “You guys who follow Cephas and Apollos and you self-righteous nose in the clouds types are all wrong, you ought to be listening to the group that follows me!!!” But, look, he models the unifying behavior he calls for. “Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (v. 13). You know this is the mark of an authentic teacher. He does not have a Christ complex. He does not want people to become his followers. He does not want people to hang on his words or know his life story. He wants them to know Jesus. For he is the only one who could make perfect atonement for them, not Paul. Paul is saying, “If anyone becomes my disciple, he is following the wrong man.”

In vv. 15-16 Paul actually says that he is thankful that he only baptized a couple of people in Corinth (Crispus, Gaius, and, oh yes, the household of Stephanus). We are getting back to Paul’s ministry as an apostle. His was not the calling to be an elder or pastor, to care over the long haul for the flock. He was there to lay foundations.

He says as much in v. 17: “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

Paul begins this letter with a call for unity in the church. Now I think we have to go back for a moment here. I do not want to leave you with the impression that Paul was for unity at any and all costs. His was not a weak, “Can’t we all just get along” kind of philosophy. Paul was passionate about the truth of the gospel, and he did not hesitate to call a spade a spade if someone was wandering away from the gospel. This is exactly what he attacks in Galatians (cf. the anathemas of Gal 1:6-9).

There are legitimate reasons to remove oneself from a fellowship of believers that I think Paul would affirm. If a people are not standing for the truth of the gospel, for the atoning death of Christ on the cross, for his glorious resurrection, for his anticipated coming, and for salvation by grace through faith in Christ, then we are justified to depart from those who have departed.

This was not the problem in Corinth. The problem here was factionalism. The issue was not allegiance to the gospel but to factions among those who affirm the gospel.

Paul’s call was that they put those things aside and begin to speak the same language so that they might share the same mind, dream the same dream and share the same journey.

The book of Corinthians begins with a call for unity. And because it does, the message of this book begins with that same word to us.

Jeffrey T. Riddle
Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church

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Sermon

1 Corinthians 1:1–17 — Unity in the Church

December 29, 2002

Jeffrey T. Riddle Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church

Jeffrey T. Riddle
Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church