1 Corinthians 1
The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians
Salutation
1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2. To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord {Gk [theirs]} and ours:
3. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. I give thanks to my {Other ancient authorities lack [my]} God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,
5. for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind--
6. just as the testimony of {Or [to]} Christ has been strengthened among you--
7. so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Divisions in the Church
10. Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, {Gk [brothers]} by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.
11. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. {Gk [my brothers]}
12. What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ."
13. Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14. I thank God {Other ancient authorities read [I am thankful]} that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15. so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.
16. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
17. For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
18. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19. For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
20. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21. For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
22. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
23. but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
24. but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26. Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: {Gk [brothers]} not many of you were wise by human standards, {Gk [according to the flesh]} not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
27. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
28. God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,
29. so that no one {Gk [no flesh]} might boast in the presence of God.
30. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31. in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in {Or [of]} the Lord."
The term Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopalian has many meanings to most people, but very few truly understand the connotations of being members of such Christian groups. To be honest and fair, most people are not that really bothered – for they belong where their parents belonged, or they go to the church building that is nearest to them. Indeed, if we go through the rank and file membership here we will meet former members of the Presbyterian, Episcopal and Roman Catholic Churches and a few from small non-mainstream independent denominations.
For most, the name of the denomination means nothing, the title is insignificant as it is the fellowship that is valuable to them and the friends and the families that have grown together, which makes the choice of church. Indeed all too often when I tell someone that I am a minister of a Congregational Church, their immediate response is, “Is that Church of Scotland?” (Presbyterian) I tell them about the Congregational Federation and I can see by the puzzlement in their eyes, they are confused and no longer wish to engage in the conversation – unless they are real skilled debaters, usually atheists looking for a good debate!
The truth about our denomination is that we are somewhat unique, we govern ourselves, no one, no external man made authority can dictate to us! We make our own decisions, some churches have managers, elders or deacons some have all of them and some have none! Our governing body is the Church Meeting, where all who are registered members of the congregation have a voice, the right to be heard, and the right to decision making. We try to term this as democracy, but it isn’t in its strictest terms. It is responsibility!
In congregational terms, each of us who are members of a congregational church are called into membership of Christ’s body and it is He, who dictates our progress. Of course, we can go of at a tangent, discern our own will, divide into camps and pull strokes on one another, but then we cease to be following Christ’s will and theologically speaking, we become at best a Club, with some Christians in its membership and at worst, we become a secular organisation with religious overtones!
In our rich diversity, Congregationalists have usually (not always) had an aversion to creeds or formulas, which are man made, that means those items not included in Scripture, such as the Nicene or Apostolic Creeds and the Westminster Confession of Faith. In the majority of congregational churches throughout Great Britain – new members are usually admitted to the role after an interview with the Minister and Church Secretary, before hand they are normally required to sit in the pews for three months to establish their patterns of attendance. As the communicants’ class is a man made Presbyterian tradition and to Congregationalists, who are congregational by conviction – this is an unbiblical method of judgement.
We are a Free Church that means free from State interference but not free to do our own wishes, especially if they go against the will of God, and the advice of Scripture. Although we are independent, we are interdependent on each other congregational church and we are dependent on the continuing blessings of God in our assemblies, our church meetings and these take place every Sunday when we meet for worship.
The church at Corinth is reputed to be a prime example of an early biblical New Testament Church, indeed many Congregationalists make the claim it is a congregational church. Evidence to suggest this is wrested in the text, especially when Paul interacts with them and the Corinthian passage today, is a letter to that church from the Apostle Paul.
Notice that Paul does not command the church to get itself back into shape; he rebukes them for dividing the unity of Christ. He quotes those who speak about, which person they follow, Cephas, Apollos and bids them to refrain from such divisive talk and unite.
Paul then goes on to explain the equality of all before God, never in such early times have we seen such strong evidence to confirm that all are equal before God. Its all here in the text, Paul is writing to the church, telling them that whilst Jews demand signs and Greeks demand wisdom, we as members of Christ’s church require no such things, all we require is faith. Wholehearted, spiritual discernment, raw faith! We require nurturing that faith, to feed it with knowledge and understanding, to strengthen that faith with unity in fellowship with other members, other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Yes, it’s true that some would claim Paul to be the embodiment of an Episcopalian bishop, or elder as in the early church both bishop, elder, deacon, all meant the same thing – teacher. Strange that Rabbouni or Rabbi in Hebrew means teacher also and Christ was the first minister of all.
Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth rebukes and encourages those individual members to put aside their differences and follow God. He further exhorts them to boast, not that they are members of Apollos, Cephas or Paul, but that they are to boast of being members of Christ, one body and one church. God is the source of all wisdom, strength, unity and equality and we as members of his church, should make that proud boast also. We are not just Congregationalists; we are the members of His Church – one foundation! Amen.
