Their conflicts undoubtedly had its theological and philosophical dimensions, but it was social as well, human and petty, high on pride and low on love (Polhill 233). In verse 11, Paul gives the reason for his appeal for unity in the church at Corinth. And he speaks in the name of or by the authority of, our Lord Jesus Christ. WebWhat were the causes of division in the Corinthian Church? This division in the church was over their own selfish ambitions evidenced in what they wanted. When the Corinthians divided into factions, it wasnt so much about core doctrine (nature of God, nature of Christ, the Gospel, the nature of man). What is a clique? They embraced the values of their Roman society, which divided over ethnicity (e.g., Jews vs. Gentiles) and social rank (wise vs. foolish, powerful We came to life in Christ by Paul, and Paul is the one we're going to listen to above all others." There are three different causes of divisions in churches that Paul mentions in I Corinthians. There are three different causes of divisions in churches that Paul mentions in I Corinthians. It builds him up too much; it makes him a rival, to some degree, of the Lord himself. Then there were the traditionalists (there always are), those that say, "Well, I don't know about Paul or Apollos. We need to be perfectly joined together in the love of Christ. The bride is limping! Others were saying, "Well, Apollos himself baptized me." Near the cross, O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me. Offshoots had disturbed the church. He was introduced in a rather extended and flowery way, but he came on and in his great, booming voice said, "I'm not Dr.Oswald Hoffman, the great preacher of the Lutheran Hour. The basic meaning is to put back together and make one again something that was broken or separated. Paul did not want to present the Gospel as an orator, competing for students as they did. Now, in one verse he introduces to us the cure for these divisions (Verse17): For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom [literally, "wisdom of words"], lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. If I am not out of line I seem to remember that Constantine played a large role in allowing Pagan influences back into the Christian Life. I. PAULS APPEAL FOR UNITY (verses 10-12). We all know what a clique is. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. WebAnd you know, that gives me some idea of how important this is to God, because from 1:10 to the ninth verse of the sixteenth Chapter, he just talks about the errors in the church. We had some great meetings and great times together. That is why the apostle appeals to it. The human condition is, unfortunately, one of comparison that seeks to place oneself or their beliefs over another. I think that some of the ways we have failed to de-paganize is because we are still so focused on the little things that make up the church. The organ begins the bridal march, and everyone stands. We have our theological view points, and even our philosophical ones (even though we could have less of that in our churches today in my opinion) but we also have our social dimensions as well. In the same way, thats not the way the Church was meant to be fitted together. There was extreme competition among the orators for honor and power. One of the celebrities was Paul himself some believers at Corinth actually claimed to be his followers. This doesnt mean that they have to agree on the minutest points in areas where there is no clear teaching in Scripture. One day in Africa, a small boy was lost. Paul doesnt want these divisions to continue, so he offers them an alternative. 2 Corinthians 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ.". Webdivided. Are we willing to love each other as Christ loved us? Who are we, that we should put our interests and our desires ahead of that of the Lord for his church? These are two common causes of church divisions in the West. Members follow him blindly and whatever they do seems right to them. This is the result of a religious snobbery associated by cliques that produced pride and conflict. The divisions of Christendom are the scandal of Christianity. There is not a single Christian teacher who ever lived who can help us be forgiven one single sin, not one. In conjunction with this, some people were questioning Pauls character and authority ( 1 Corinthians 14 ). There was nothing wrong with them, they were very helpful, but it was not very long before they became status symbols, and they were used to put down, not always intentionally, those who did not have them. 2- The Churchs division. I would like to start off with a quote (forgive me for the length) from Polhill that I found to be all to strikingly familiar of todays churches. All are mere teachers; there is only one Lord. Now, here the apostle makes very clear that the tendency among groupies is to distort the meaning of symbols. A. How important is it that there be unity within the Church? In my experience though, I find that it is carnal and unspiritual leaders that put up walls and fences between members of the body. What should our evaluation of a ministry look like I wonder if its not by numbers? He finds that there is a great deal of parallels between the disciple-teacher relationship in the culture of Corinth and the problem of divisions in the church over the authority of teachers. That is the problem, and it is still going on today. Paul exhorts them to agree. From the book of Acts we learn that Apollos was an outstanding orator in a world that loved and appreciated oratory. Unless its mended, the tear gets bigger and bigger, doesnt it? This Bible was pushed by the Navigators, and everybody had to have one. The word divisions comes from the Greek word schismata, from which we get our English word schism. I would like to close this service by reading what one man wrote about the cross: It is well that we should think sometimes of the Upper Room and the Last Supper, and of his soul, "exceeding sorrowful unto death"; of Gethsemane and the deep shadow of the olive trees; his loneliness, prayers, and disappointment with his disciples; his bloody sweat; the traitor's kiss; the binding, the blow in the face, the spitting, the buffeting, the mocking, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the smiting; the sorrowful way and the burdensome cross; the exhaustion and collapse; the stripping, the impaling, and the jeers of his foes, and the flight of his friends; the hours on the cross; the darkness, his being forsaken of God; his thirst, and the end. It is well known that division in the church of Corinth was over leadership. It seems unbelievable at first to think that this kind of division exists within the modern church, but more often than not it is actually one of the most common reasons for division. Paul continues in verse 10 by saying that there be no divisions among you. He had received a report from the household of Cloe that there were quarrels among the members of the Corinthian church. Throughout this 2000 year process of normalizing divisions among believers, we have consistently neglected the fact we Jesus should unite us, and unless we choose to make a change, we will continue to forget this fact. They read only his books or listen only to his tapes. Every Navigator had to have a Scofield Reference Bible; that was the only "Authorized Version." The better the orator, the higher the fee, and the more disciples he will attract. You may be reminded by his words in Verse10 of the similar passage in his letter to the Philippians where, in Chapter2, he says to that church, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind," (Philippians 2:1-2 RSV). That, of course, is as it should be. And some of them are really gross. What is a clique? So we have the possibility for this very thing right here. Sermon 5: Who is the Most Important? In what ways have we failed to de-paganize? (Phil Long). These kinds of things happen when there are divisions in a church. Not when we hear of churches with factions or cliques of people who sit on opposite sides of the aisle. He recognizes that we share a common life if we have come to Christ; we are brothers and sisters because we have his life in us. You may recall also that in writing to the church at Ephesus, he exhorted the elders there to be careful to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," (Ephesians 4:3 RSV). In Philippians 2:9 Paul said of Christ, Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. No Christian, no Christian minister, is to put himself in Christs place, or allow himself to be put in Christs place, and take the authority and honor that is due to Christ alone. The news went out but no one had seen the little fellow. I hang on every word you say. 1 Corinthians 1-4 Division in the Church, division in the church of Corinth was over leadership, 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 Lawsuits Among Brothers, Corinthiaka in New Testament Blogs | Corinthian Matters, The Book of Enoch for Beginners: A Guide to Expand Your Understanding of the Biblical World. 4-The churchs failure to discipline. That is why Paul calls us back to it. (1Corinthians 1:17 RSV). Like I talked about in the first posting, the emerging church makes me question a lot of things they are doing. 11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. Were you baptized into the name of Paul? This Western Church soon became known as the Roman Catholic Church. When you follow one man you are getting a view of Christ, but there is no teacher in the church who has ever come along -- including the Apostle Paul himself -- who has ever had a totally complete view of Christ. I personally experienced this at work about a year and a half ago. I thank God that only a few of you can say that about me." WebThe Christians at Corinth were dividing the church by pledging their loyalties to different celebrities. I would like to approach it from an evangelistic standpoint. With Pauls harsh criticism of said divisions, you would think that we might have learned how to move beyond that in the 21st Century, however, that is not the case. We tend to deify men, and people look at them as if they can do no wrong, can made no errors, that they know everything and can settle all questions. When the Corinthians divided into factions, it wasnt so much about core doctrine (nature of God, nature of Christ, the Gospel, the nature of man). There are many other things that do cause serious problems stemming from the outside world. Some had no problem with consuming meat that had been sacrificed to idols; for others, it was a real offense. In the year 1 054 the Church was divided into two parts: 1) The Greek Eastern Church 2) The Roman Western Church. So Paul is insisting that the Corinthians, and all believers, have doctrinal unity that is clearly based on Gods Word. I told them GBC and they said something along the lines of, Oh a Bible college? With that spirit of self-righteous smugness, they were separating from the rest, dividing up the congregation and quarreling with one another over these things. Bruises show on her arm! As a result, this led to the division among Christian converts and to the Christian community as a whole. There is no other name big enough, great enough, glorious enough, and powerful enough to gather everybody together, despite the diversity of viewpoint and the differences of background or status in life, than the name of Jesus. He had received a report from the household of Cloe that there were quarrels among the members of the Corinthian church. Was Paul crucified for you? When the lifeless body of the little one was carried back to the anxious mother, she cried aloud, Oh why didnt you join hands before?. There has been no other cure that I know of through the years. Paul, however, was a good leader. These were not schisms yet; they had not split off into other congregations, but there were four cliques, or factions within the congregation. The church at Corinth had divided loyalty to different leaders. (1 Corinthians 1:12 RSV) Now, there was the trouble at Corinth. In 2019 he published a commentary. Conclusion. Lovelessness among Christians is not a light thing.. If you limit yourself to one speaker or one teacher and feed only on him, you are getting a distorted view of Jesus Christ; you are chopping Christ up, dividing him and taking one little portion as one man reports it and ignoring the rest, thus your view of Christ is deficient and unable to satisfy you as it was intended to do. I used to attend a Navigator group which met in Honolulu on Sunday afternoons. And there were some who said, "Well, when Peter came through, he baptized me. Some say, "I am of Gothard," and others say, "No, I am of Bright." It seems like this isnt a problem and doesnt affect the church much in its present state. This also brings up another Pagan influence which is naming the days of the week after the planets. There were, first of all, the loyalists who said, "We are of Paul. Religious snobs want to be a part of a small group who In this passage of Scripture, Paul is very careful to focus the attention on Christ and not on himself. Its not just the denominations per se any more theres also a proliferation of house churches too. 2 Corinthians In the year 1 054 the Church was divided into two parts: 1) The Greek Eastern Church 2) The Roman Western Church. The other reason is the division among churches of the same denomination. WebThe Corinthians were basically making a mockery of Communion. They are his family in Christ. Now, it cannot. The Corinthian Church. The words made complete mean to be perfectly joined together, like a jigsaw puzzle. Some followed Apollos whom they honored above Paul (1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:4; Acts 18:24 to 19:1). The Corinthian church had many problems, and most of them were the result of pride and placing so much emphasis on social status. They were also not afraid to be mentioned in Pauls letter to the church. Some sued their fellow Christians in the secular courts. 1 Corinthians 1:10: I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.. Others bragged that they were followers of Peter (1 Corinthians 1:12). He had received a report from the household of Cloe that there were quarrels among the members of the Corinthian church. Paul, however, was a good leader. Let's get back to the beginnings. The first and perhaps biggest is denominations. I have had people say to me, "Oh, Mr. Stedman, when you speak I see so clearly! Help me walk from day to day, with its shadows o'er me. We all know what a clique is. The third thing that every Navigator had was a little black notebook covered in rough-grained leather. That is what they were doing with baptism here in Corinth. The most well known one is having worship on Sundays instead of the Sabbath. WebThe members of the Corinthian church we disunited because they were pledging their allegiance to human leaders rather than God. WebPaul goes right on, in Verse 12, to describe the forms that these divisions were taking in the church of Corinth: What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas" [another name for Peter], or "I belong to Christ." The divisions of Christendom are the scandal of Christianity. Unlike most of his other epistles, Paul plunges right into the heart of the practical problems that were affecting this church, and the first of these, the problem of divisions within the church, he begins to deal with in Chapter1, Verse10. Other divisions were to follow. That is why we have four gospels, because not even one of the disciples who was with the Lord was capable of giving us a complete enough view of Christ. There are three different causes of divisions in churches that Paul mentions in I Corinthians. God only sees one fold, (John 10) and there is only one faith, one Lord, one baptism etc. Paul gives the church a stern warning about their actions and the proper way to participate. Some followed Apollos whom they honored above Paul (1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:4; Acts 18:24 to 19:1). The ground, of course, is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Corinthian Church. In verse 11, Paul gives the reason for his appeal for unity in the church at Corinth. Some are of Ritchie, and some are of Roper, and a few of Stedman! I still have at home the Scofield Reference Bible with the index ladder drawn by him. They forget, of course, that the church never belongs to anybody but the Lord. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. Now, how could that be? [Then he thinks of another group that he had baptized] (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. In Jesus' name, Amen. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else). That was a mark of status with them. WebAccording to Paul, the communitys problems were the consequence of the Corinthians mistaken belief that they had already been exalted. 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospelnot with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. In 1 Corinthians, Paul consciously avoids disciple-teacher language. The divisions of Christendom are the scandal of Christianity. 6-Members defiling the Lords Supper. And some of them are really gross. Paul then goes on to give us three very carefully stated clues in Verse13 as to what is wrong with this kind of thing. It is well known that division in the church of Corinth was over leadership. It wipes out all the petty distinctions that men make among themselves. He said so himself. Weve seen how important unity was to the apostle Paul. We tend to fall out along doctrinal lines or because we are drawn to one charismatic pastor over another. Was Paul crucified for you? A young pastor who was facing that problem in his church called me this week from another state. Then comes that great Christological passage where he describes how Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. We get so off track of what Christianity is all aboutMark 12:30-31 and begin focusing on worldly things like Rob Bell debated are actually being held to see if this Pastor is even Christian! He didnt focus on himself being superior to all the rest of the church leaders. (1 Corinthians 1:12 RSV) Now, there was the trouble at Corinth. Not when some people in the congregation wont look at, speak to, or even acknowledge the existence of certain other people in the congregation. (I suppose that if Dio were commenting on the modern world, he would describe the wretched bloggers shouting abuse at the temple of WordPress!). (1Corinthians 1:12 RSV), Now, there was the trouble at Corinth. They were caused by Cliques (1:12; 3:4). They were caused by Cliques (1:12; 3:4). Instead of tearing themselves apart, he urges them to be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Although the modern church has improved in many ways compared to the ancient churches, there is still the issue of division that exists among differing churches as was in the ancient churches. Paul wants the Corinthian church to mend the broken relationships that have been caused by the divisions among its members. Others bragged that they were followers of Peter (1 Corinthians 1:12). Have you ever tried to put a jigsaw puzzle together with the pieces turned upside down so that they are all blank? (1Corinthians 1:13b-16 RSV). 7-False zeal for spiritual gifts. But even if there are multiple house churches founded by different leaders, Paul passionately argues that the body of Christ cannot be divided in this way. There are several things that split the church today. Luke says in Acts 4:12, And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. The ground is level at the cross. The cross strips away our illusions and brings the pride of men tumbling down from that high place where it exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It took four viewpoints to report his earthly life and ministry accurately enough to us. The words made complete in verse 10 are translated from a Greek word that was used to speak of mending such things as nets, bones, dislocated joints, broken utensils, and torn garments. But when each piece is fitted together into its proper place in the puzzle, you have a beautiful and complete picture. Every piece of that jigsaw puzzle is different, isnt it? 2- The Churchs division. Subject to permissions policy, all rights reserved. The elders should make their decisions with the same mind and the same judgment. Paul was the apostle to the gentiles. Dio Chrysostom complained that Corinth was filled with wretched sophists, many of whom were debating one another with shouting and abuse near the temple to Poseidon. The Corinthian church had many problems, and most of them were the result of pride and placing so much emphasis on social status. The families have been seated. He had received a report from the household of Cloe that there were quarrels among the members of the Corinthian church. There are several important terms in this passage. To resolve this issue, he encourages communal love. Just as there was competiveness for honor and prestige among the orators of the first century, it also seems like there is competition between the pastors and churches of today. It tells about the most climactic moment in a wedding ceremony. Therefore, the only basis upon which you can get Christians to agree is by setting before them the Person of the Lord Jesus, and calling them back to that fundamental base.