“They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.”
These words were written by Paul the Apostle while he was looking over Corinth. This description gives you an idea of who Paul was writing to when he wrote First and Second Corinthians. This is why about one of the lowest insults you could sling out at some one back in those days was to call them “a Corinthian.”
The church of Corinth was defiled, they were known for their immoral acts and worldly living. This is why Paul was writing. But Paul does not open his letter by berating them, he opens by thanking God for them. (1 Cor. 1:4) He finds their commonality that they share the grace of God and reminds them that they have been enriched in every way through the Cross. (1 Cor. 1:5)
Yet the church of Corinth was not only defiled, but divided. As Paul wrote, “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’” (1 Cor. 1:11-12) People also argued over who they were baptized by (1 Cor. 1:14-16) rather than who they were baptized in.
Those kind of quarrels are pointless and unimportant. Paul shows the folly of the church through a series of questions, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:13) The answer to each of these question is obviously, no. Christ is not divided; no one but Christ died to save us from our sins; and we were baptized in the name of Jesus, no one else.
Then Paul says something that made me think: “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.” (1 Cor. 1:17) Human wisdom, as Paul points out later, is foolishness compared to God’s.
Paul emphasizes, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor. 1:20) The standards of the world is foolish. The ways to be accepted in this world is foolish. The wisdom of this world is foolish. The Greeks look for wisdom and the Jews demand miracles (1 Cor. 1:22) which is why Jesus is a stumbling for the Jews and foolishness for the Gentiles. (1 Cor. 1:23)
Paul also dismissed worldly standards of acceptance, “Brothers and sisters, 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. 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.” (1 Cor. 1:26-27) Being influential, of noble birth, wise according to the world or strong according to the world, all of these things are worthless if you still stand sinful in the eyes of God.
Paul was calling the church of Corinth (and us), as Christians, to act like Christians. Our spiritual calling is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. Not to have pointless quarrels and abuse the grace of God with immoral acts. We shouldn’t seek our significance from man with words of human wisdom but from God. We should not create divisions among us; we should focus on the commonality we have in Jesus and push on in unity.
We have been called to be holy. (1 Cor. 1:30) Are we living up to such a standard? We have been sanctified — set apart — (John 17:19) through Jesus. Being set apart from the world means we should be nothing like the world.
“God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him.”
The church of Corinth was defiled and divided. But we should not be so hasty to cast judgement on them. In our daily lives we are supposed to act in faith, obey the commandments of God and spread the Good News. Are we doing such things?
Paul said, “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” (1 Cor. 1:7) The only person stopping you from sharing the Good News is you (and, of course, the Devil is always ready to help.) You don’t lack anything necessary to share God’s Word. Start in prayer, and read God’s Word; then we almost can’t help but share.
-Ben
Devotional: 1 Corinthians 1
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