Contention Intervention (January 22, 2023 Version)

I Corinthians 1:10. I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12. 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." 13. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14. I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15. so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 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. 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (NIV).

CONTENTION INTERVENTION

Text: I Corinthians 1:10 - 18

“In the late 1800s, there were just two deacons in a small Baptist church in Mayfield County, Kentucky. The two deacons hated each other and always opposed one another. On a particular Sunday, one deacon put up a small wooden peg in the back wall so the minister could hang his hat. When the other deacon discovered the peg, he was outraged that he had not been consulted. The church took sides and eventually split. The departing group formed a new church, called The Anti-peg Baptist Church. (Raymond McHenry. ed. McHenry’s Quips, Quotes And Other Notes. [quoted from: Doyle L. Young. New Life for Your Church, 1989, p. 63]. Third Printing. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004, p. 270). The identity of this church----the “Anti-peg Baptist Church” bears a hint of its history in its name.

The kind of contention that Paul addressed in Corinth was not between two deacons but between factions in the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth had former fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers who had been washed, sanctified, justified in the Name of Jesus and in the Spirit of the Lord (I Corinthians 6:9 - 11 paraphrased). Some in that crowd were having quarrels over who baptized them as if those that baptized them had differing ranks. They were choosing sides contrary to the Gospel which calls us to be united to be united through Christ (I Corinthians 1:12 -13). .

If we were to put a label on what Paul was trying to do we might call it “contention intervention”. Clearly, those who were quarreling had failed to see the “message of the cross” that was foolishness to those who were perishing--- not saved (1 Corinthians 1:`18).

CONTENTION

What was at the root of the contentions Paul was addressing in the first chapter of Corinthians? Paul was addressing the clashes when he spoke to those who claimed their allegiances to Paul himself, Apollos, or Cephas. Someone (Kenneth L. Chafin) has noted what the agenda of each of these factions were.

1) Factions: First, [t]hose who associated themselves with Paul were more then likely Gentile converts who were charter---founding members of the church of Corinth. >>>>> The second group who associated themselves with Apollos because “they were drawn to his preaching”. >>>>> The third group associated themselves with Cephas (Peter, [see John 1:42]). The Cephas group was more than likely a group of Jewish converts. (Lloyd J, Ogilvie. General ed. Mastering The New Testament: 1, 2 Corinthians. Volume 7. Kenneth L. Chafin. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1985, pp. 33 – 34). The Corinthians were forgetting that Jesus Christ is Lord!

2) Unity: In Galatians 3:28 Paul explains how the baptized are all united through Jesus Christ: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (ESV).

Wasn’t competition supposed to be null and void between the members of the Body of Christ? Whether it is in a church or between churches on a charge, there are often competitions between members. The story of Anti-peg Baptist Church even reminds me of two churches I once served. The history of those two churches that I once served is that one church came out of the other. A faction happened that caused a split in the original congregation. That split eventually rivaled enough support for the establishment of the other church. Now the split that I am talking about had happened over some fifty years ago. But, even still, the churches tried to compete with one another. One got a gymnasium and the other one got a gymnasium. It was the same thing with a church van. One got a van and the other one went got a van. The vans and gymnasiums were in existence even before I got there. There were times when the relations between these churches resembled a sibling rivalry more than they did a Christian fellowship.