1 Corinthians 1

The Bible has just what we need for the life of faith in the Lord’s church. That means that we are given not only a theological treatise (like Romans) with one of the most systematic presentations of Christian faith and life available anywhere; but we are also granted the pastoral pronouncements of a first century apostle written to a church that is vibrant in the Spirit and getting into all kinds of trouble. Both types of letters are of enormous value. First and Second Corinthians are more the latter than the former.

As in all of Paul’s letters, we begin with an introduction that is appropriate to the message in the rest of the letter. Paul emphasizes the matter of calling, preparing His readers for an authoritative Word for the church. He is called “by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus,” and those who are receiving this inspired correspondence are called to be “the church of God that is in Corinth.” To be the church of God in Corinth is to be a part of a larger entity. The Corinthian church is not to develop its own theology, its own ethics, and its own spirituality. They are to be “saints,” which was the word used in the first century to designate all of those marked by the church as set apart, holy for Jesus Christ. They were to be “saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul then extends a greeting of grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shares the fact of his great thanks to God for this church, since they have displayed such great blessings of God in knowledge and spiritual giftedness. This kind of boast cannot have as its final target the people of the church, since it is God who has clearly given them everything that they have, and it is God who will sustain them as they wait with the church throughout the ages for the return of Christ from heaven. Because of Jesus they are not only guiltless before the throne of God today, but they will be guiltless on the day of the Lord’s return.

This is all from the faithfulness of Almighty God, and it comes to the church in Corinth despite their very significant confusion, immorality, and false spirituality. This is a church that requires stern apostolic correction, and yet Paul begins this correction with a glowing statement of what these brothers and sisters surely have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The pastoral situation in this church is one where anyone might rightly have said, “Now where do I begin?” There’s plenty of material to work with. There are news reports that he has received that require significant correction, and the letter that has come to him from the church poses questions that show the disorderly way of life that has had its impact upon many who profess faith in Jesus in this great city. With all of these matters before him, Paul begins with the problem of divisions within the church, divisions that are about a very fundamental question of our baptism, and much more than this, of the way that we live the life that Christ has given us.

It seems that factions have divided the church based on the agent of Christian baptism and the human instrument of Christian teaching. Some identify themselves with Paul, and others with Apollos. Both of these men spent a great deal of time in Corinth. Others within the church connect their spiritual life to the Apostle Peter, called here Cephas, and still others invoke the name of the Messiah, as if he were one of the choices alongside Paul, Peter, and Apollos.

Paul’s focus is singular. The Christian church in Corinth and throughout the world is united in only one Name, that Name above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ. This Name must be our unity and our delight. The fact that there is only one Jesus will be the only basis for safe agreement throughout the worldwide church. There is only One Man who was crucified as our Passover Lamb. Anyone else who would make such a claim to our highest affection is an imposter and a false prophet. It is into Christ that we have been baptized, and it is the powerful word of His cross that we have heard, received, believed, and followed.

This word of the cross has never been universally loved throughout the world. It is an embarrassment to many to speak of a God who would be victorious through His willing death as a substitute for sinners. Many Gentiles who heard this word thought it lacked something in wisdom. Many Jews felt that it was too weak to be the truth from God. For those who have believed this Word, so well attested through the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament, for those who have been captivated by the love of God for us in Jesus Christ, we proclaim that the weakness of Jesus is the greatest strength, and the foolishness of Jesus is the most profound wisdom. This is what the church must preach from the Scriptures, the cross of Christ, the death of the One who is our unity and our peace.

Any other message will tear us apart. We will find some way to talk about our own supposed wisdom, our own great family backgrounds, our own strong qualities, real or imagined. God has shown us that such things will never be the basis of true Christian unity. In fact, in the very composition of the church throughout the ages, the message of grace is marvelously reinforced, since so many intelligent people are too smart for Jesus, and so many powerful people are too strong for a King who was crucified. But for those who see Him, those who have been set apart to hear a Word not of our own greatness, but of His, we find in Jesus Christ all the greatness we could ever need or desire. He is the source of our oneness in the church, the sure solution to our greatest needs, our eternal boast, and the author of our one holy calling as worshipers and saints.